Yuan Chonghuan Temple Tomb Keeper She Youzhi

Looking at the old years, I saw the persistence

　　Name: She Youzhi

　　Gender: Female

　　All year round: 81 years old

　　Cause of death: died of illness

　　Yuan Chonghuan Temple in Xiejie of Donghua Market is where She Youzhi grew up. In her early years, She Youzhi got up at 6 o'clock every morning, put on three incense sticks, bowed three times, cleaned the tombs, and trimmed the cypresses. In her twilight years, with the support of her daughter, She Youzhi struggling to pass the first-level threshold, stepped into the ancestral hall, and came to the tomb. Next, sit in a wheelchair again.

　　Outside the wall is rolling red dust, and inside the wall is the loneliness of the She family for four hundred years.

　　At 13:50 on August 12, 2020, She Youzhi, the 17th generation tomb-keeper of Yuan Chonghuan Temple, died in Beijing due to illness at the age of 81.

　　A small courtyard, a solitary grave, She Youzhi sees how old she is, and she also sees her old age.

A four-hundred-year ancestral motto

　　The Yuan Chonghuan Temple surrounded by high-rise residential buildings in Donghua City on the East Second Ring Road in Beijing looks like another world outside the city. Before her death, She Youzhi could come two or three times a week as long as her body allowed it.

　　She Youzhi has a gray suit and has worn it for more than ten years. It was made by a tailor and she chose the fabric herself. When going to Yuanci, She Youzhi often wears a suit and a pair of white shoes.

　　Her daughter Jiao Ying said that in Yuanci, She Youzhi would water the trees and cut the branches and leaves. She would also volunteer to explain to visitors who came to visit.

　　“I always like to tell visitors about General Yuan’s deeds. When I talk about it, I don’t end there. Sometimes it can be delayed for a long time.” Jiao Ying said, often it’s noon in a flash, but her mother is not willing to eat out, so she eats herself. Bring snacks, "Sometimes we give her money and ask her to go out and take a taxi, but she is not willing."

　　Guarding the tomb of Yuan Chonghuan is the persistence of the She family for generations.

　　Xiejie of Donghua Market was originally the She's House, and She Youzhi's ancestors came to Beijing from Guangdong and bought it. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the ancestors of the She family set off from Shunde, Guangdong, and followed Yuan Chonghuan, a fellow Guangdong from Dongguan, who rushed north and south.

　　After Yuan Chonghuan was killed unjustly, only one head was left hanging on Xisi. The ancestors of the She family took advantage of the night when no one retrieved them, and secretly buried them in the courtyard.

　　She Youzhi once told the media that before his ancestors died, they left three lessons for future generations: they must not go back to their hometown in Guangdong; they must read and reason, but not be officials; they must guard the tomb of Yuan Chonghuan for generations.

　　The She family has been guarded for four hundred years. By the time She Youzhi was the 17th generation.

　　From 1970 to his death, She Youzhi and Yuan Ci faced each other for half a century.

　　The world has heard too much loyalty shouting with arms raised, and has also seen the fleeting loyalty, and She Youzhi's persistence throughout his life has moistened things silently.

Running for 24 years to rebuild Yuanci

　　She Youzhi can write poems when she is sad and depressed.

　　"Standing alone in the cemetery thinking about grief, passing on the elemental feelings from generation to generation, and defending the cemetery for three hundred years, who knows my heart's love." 28 words, full of joys and sorrows in the whole life.

　　When She Youzhi first took over, during the "Cultural Revolution", Yuan Temple was destroyed. She Youzhi's heart hurts. In an interview with the media during her lifetime, she once said, “I was afraid of being discovered and dared not to use a flashlight. I could only sneak in the dark. I saw that under the moonlight, the monument fell and the grave was planed, and I felt so uncomfortable. "

　　In Jiao Ying's memory, her mother seldom thinks about difficulties in doing things. "She can't think about these things." "'Youzhi' is a homonym of'naive'. I often say that her mother is a very'naive' person. "

　　After the reform and opening up, She Youzhi worked for 24 years to repair Yuan Temple.

　　Jiao Ying remembered that during the daytime, by the bus and her husband's bicycle, her mother shuttled between various departments. After returning home in the evening, the parents checked the information, sorted out the literature, and reviewed the progress during the day. "Which leader has a good attitude, and where is the cold bench, she must write it down in her notebook."

　　She Youzhi is very meticulous. Jiao Ying said that she cleans Yuanci every day, including pouring a few buckets of water, and her mother should write it down.

　　In 2002, the Beijing Municipal Government decided to repair Yuan Temple. On May 23 of that year, out of consideration of cultural relic protection, She Youzhi's family could only move out of Yuanci.

　　Jiao Ying remembered that on the day she packed and left, her mother walked out of the yard. Leaning on the wall and crying, "I have never left a step."

　　On November 29, 6 months later, Yuanci officially opened to the public.

　　She Youzhi, who was 63 at the time, returned to Yuanci with her long hair that had been left for many years. She once swore, "If Yuan's tomb is not repaired for one day, she will not cut her hair for one day."

　　Standing next to the microphone, holding the speech prepared by her husband, her hands tremble violently because of excitement. "Seventeen generations of people, She's original intention of guarding the tomb of General Yuan has never changed."

Place the ashes of his son in the memorial garden

　　Loyalty and dedication seem to be the legacy of She Youzhi's ancestors.

　　"Mother is a particularly good person to outsiders. It can even be said that between helping outsiders and taking care of family members, mothers often choose the former." When Jiao Ying was over three years old, her neighbor and aunt's life was particularly difficult. "There are five in that family. Children have to apply for tuition and miscellaneous fee waiver to afford school. Auntie also has stomach ulcer and needs hospital operation. During the aunt's hospitalization, the child is unattended, and my mother cooks more food for others every weekend."

　　Jiao Ying remembered that one winter, her mother had to help her aunt go to the hospital for registration. I got up at three in the morning and left. It was dark and cold, and my father was not at home. "I was very scared myself. I cried in the house. I didn't dare to sleep when I was tired. So I waited eagerly for my mother to come back. Then my mother said, After I walked far away, I can still hear the child crying."

　　Her father has always been responsible for all matters in the family. During her growth years, Jiao Ying had resisted her mother and even resented her mother. "She felt that she was different from other children's mothers, as if she didn't care about family matters. "

　　It seems that only guarding the tomb is a matter of concern. Jiao Ying said that her mother likes to invite guests who are interested in Yuan Chonghuan's deeds to come to the home to communicate. "Even during the New Year, I wanted to have a happy family holiday, but I would always be disturbed and the plan would always be disrupted."

　　In 2016, She Youzhi's husband Jiao Lijiang passed away due to illness, leaving behind the last words of "We must stick to the tomb and apply for intangible cultural heritage for Yuan's tomb." In 2003, Jiao Ying's brother Jiao Ping died in a car accident. Before the incident, Jiao Ping was preparing to work at Yuan Chonghuan Memorial Park in Dongguan, Guangdong.

　　After his death, Jiao Ping's ashes were placed in the memorial garden to complete the entrustment of his ancestors in another world.

　　"This matter (guarding the tomb) seems to have melted into the mother's bones." Jiao Ying said.

Old man's last time

　　She Youzhi has always had a strong personality, maintaining the majesty of a patriarch. She doesn't like children joking with herself. If younger generations call their elders without "you" at home, She Youzhi will think it is a kind of "disrespect".

　　When I get older, I am lonely. In June 2020, She Youzhi was blocked by a cerebellar infarction in the hospital for a month.

　　Jiao Ying said that after she was discharged from the hospital, her mother began to be "extremely clingy", "She was sitting on the bed, and she had to be accompanied by someone, and she was not allowed to leave for a second. At first I asked her if you were afraid, she Say no. Later, I told me that I was afraid by myself."

　　A person who has been guarding the grave for half his life is not afraid of cold words, doubts and mockery. In the last moments of her life, She Youzhi had difficulty in keeping herself with herself and loneliness.

　　"What I did to you was wrong." She Youzhi said to Jiaoying. She was strict with her children all her life, never showed weakness, and never said soft words.

　　Jiao Ying once asked her mother jokingly, "What are you living for?"

　　"To keep the tomb for me, to restore the scale of Yuan Temple, and to apply for intangible cultural heritage for Yuan's tomb." She Youzhi paused, "also for you."

　　In his later years, She Youzhi, because of moving away from the second ring road and physical inconvenience, gradually came to Yuanci.

　　In October 2018, She Youzhi visited Yuan's tomb for the last time. On that day, she was wearing a white shirt, supported by her family, scented and bowed to Yuan Chonghuan's tablet, and poured a glass of wine in front of the grave. In front of the tomb, there are fruits such as watermelon, orange, dragon fruit and so on.

　　At that moment, She Youzhi was sitting in a wheelchair and did not speak.

　　On August 18th, in front of She Youzhi's portrait, there were mangoes, flower rolls and a plate of spinach mixed with sesame sauce, the old man's favorite meal during his lifetime. She Youzhi in the photo, wearing that gray suit and black-rimmed glasses, smiles to the world.

　　Beijing News trainee reporter Peng Chong profile picture / Beijing News reporter Li Kaixiang