According to the Records of Rebuilding Jingyang County, he was born in the middle and late Qing Dynasty 1868 Sanyuan County, Shaanxi Province (now Sanyuan County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province), and may even be the adopted daughter of the Zhou family rather than his own daughter. At the age of sixteen, Zhou Ying married Wu Pin, the son of Wu Weiwen, a wealthy salt merchant and a senior official of Anwubao, where his parents died.
Full Map of Anwubao City
Although the Wu family is really "powerful", her husband was terminally ill when he got married. The Wu family still married because they wanted to "celebrate" their son through the wedding. However, on the tenth day of their marriage, Zhou Ying's husband died of a serious illness.
In just over ten days, she became a widow from the adopted daughter of the Zhou family.
However, after the death of her husband and father-in-law, those who took over the Wu family's property showed extraordinary business ability, reorganized the Wu family's business and developed into a huge business empire with fields and shops all over the country.
After becoming the "richest woman in China" in the population of later generations, Zhou Ying was also named "Mrs. Erpin" and "Mrs. Yipin" one after another. The legendary fate of Zhou Ying, the titles of two emperors and the folk interpretation of her life story gave birth to the legend that Cixi recognized Zhou Ying as her adopted daughter.
However, Zhou Ying's first imperial seal had nothing to do with Cixi. The reason why she was named "Mrs. Erpin" was because the Confucian Temple in Jingyang County collapsed for a long time in the eleventh year of Guangxu, while Zhou Ying "only recognized the repair and completed it in three years, costing more than 40,000 yuan" and was sealed for this kindness.
Today's Jingyang Confucian Temple
As for the reason of Zhou Ying's Second Seal, it really has something to do with Cixi's inauguration ceremony in the West, and folklore probably deals with it accordingly.
The version of the online legend is this: After Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, Cixi fled to xi 'an. Zhou Ying, who lives near Xi 'an, donated 65,438+12,000 taels of silver to Empress Dowager Cixi, and received a plaque inscribed by Empress Dowager Cixi personally, and was accepted as her adopted daughter.
In addition, it is said that after the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty", Zhou Ying once again paid tribute to silver, and Cixi was so impressed by her righteous act that she was named "Mrs. Yipin Imperial Decree". More legendary, Zhou Ying once presented a screen of twelve nanmu trees as a birthday present to Empress Dowager Cixi, which made her more popular.
Twelve screens of Shanxi Library.
It is recorded in Rebuilding Jingyang County Records that Zhou Ying once made a donation to the court at the call of acting governor of Shaanxi to help relieve the famine in Xi 'an in the same year. Moreover, Zhou Ying did send his adopted son Wu Nianxi to "donate 100,000 yuan to help the poor" and gave him the title of "Yipin Imperial Envoy", and Wu Nianxi also got an official position.
However, in the existing literature, we can't find any clues to support the legend that Zhou Ying was adopted by Cixi. It was Zhou Ying's adopted son who donated "going to the bank", not herself. The reason why Zhou Ying was named "Mrs. Yipin Yu Ling" was because she offered silver to the fugitive Cixi and the emperor, which had nothing to do with the "Xin Chou Treaty".
At the same time, the history books also recorded that Cixi refused to give her extravagant birthday gifts. The list of birthday gifts includes some small personal gifts, but there is no mention of the so-called "twelve nanmu screens for Zhou Ying's birthday gifts".
In fact, as early as 1962, Zhou Ying's cousin and scholar Wu Mi clarified that Cixi recognized Zhou Ying as her adopted daughter. He pointed out that Zhou Ying "never met Empress Dowager Cixi, but she helped the most in 1900, and was named Mrs. Yipin".
Wu Mi (1894- 1978)
However, it should be noted that there are reasons for Wu Mi's clarification. In that year's Chongqing Daily, Li's article "Wubao in Huai 'an" was published, in which it was mentioned: "Widows once welcomed the so-called" holy drive "and entertained stubborn feudal old corrupt officials. In that era when politics was in command, it was necessary for Wu Mi to respond so as not to get into trouble.
History has yet to be verified by future generations!