Gu Zhuxuan’s character profile

Gu Zhuxuan (April 17, 1885 - July 6, 1956), courtesy name Rumao, was born in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province.

When he was young, his family was poor. When he was sixteen years old, there was a great famine in northern Jiangsu. Gu followed the refugee army to Shanghai to make a living by pulling a rickshaw. Later, he joined the Qinggang, gradually expanded his power in Zhabei, recruited disciples, and became a famous gang leader.

When Shanghai was liberated in May 1949, people were surprised to find that Gu Zhuxuan, a famous gangster, did not flee overseas like Du Yuesheng. In August of the same year, Shanghai held its first meeting of people's representatives from all walks of life, and people saw Gu Zhuxuan attending the meeting as a special representative. People can't help but ask: What kind of person is Gu Zhuxuan?

At the beginning of the 20th century, when Gu Zhuxuan stepped onto the Shiliupu Pier with his blanket on his back, he looked at the bustling market with no extravagant hopes, and regarded adequate food and clothing as his highest ideal in life. He had no support and only one strength, so he rented a shabby shanty on Xinjiang Road in Zhabei and relied on the rickshaws of Lagong *** Concession Xieji Company to make a living. Rickshaws are called rickshaws in Shanghai, and pulling rickshaws is not an easy job. On March 9th, the northwest wind pierced the bones, and the hands and feet were covered with frostbite. The asphalt on the road in Dafutian was burned by the sun, and a row of blisters appeared on the feet. Gu Zhuxuan, who was sixteen or seventeen years old, was not afraid of hardship and finally survived.

Gu Zhuxuan is a generous and righteous man who fights injustices and stands out among the rickshaw pullers in northern Jiangsu. After being introduced by someone, Gu Zhuxuan then worshiped Liu Dengjie, the leader of the Qinggang, as his old man - Liu Dengjie, a native of Siyang, Jiangsu, was the senior leader of the Jiaxing Wei Clan of the Qinggang. After moving to Shanghai, he engaged in politics for a time, and at the same time recruited many disciples, and gradually established positions in Zhabei, Hongkou, and Caojiadu. An intertwined force formed in the area. Gu Zhuxuan had a gang backer, and after being listed as a senior citizen, he successfully entered the patrol house of the public concession and worked as a Chinese detective. The Chinese detectives in the concession era were just pawns in front of their foreign masters, but kings of hell in front of the citizens. Although the salary is not high, the salary is huge. When Gu Zhuxuan became a Chinese detective, he not only greatly expanded his social relationships, but also learned a lot of intrigue and blackmail skills. In addition, he also accumulated considerable wealth. In order to gain a foothold and expand his career, Gu You became a disciple of Huang Jinrong, the Inspector-General of the French Concession Patrol Room.

After accumulating a sum of funds, Gu Zhuxuan resigned from the police station, bought several rickshaws, opened a car dealership in Zhabei, and became the boss. At that time, on the beach in Shanghai, patrols in the concessions and police in the Chinese community were popular in holding licenses, that is, they would confiscate the license plates of rickshaws on the pretext of violating traffic rules, and then force the owners to spend money to redeem them. Because Gu used to be a policeman, his former colleagues always gave him some respect, so that the rickshaws from his dealership could always pass without hindrance. Of course, Gu Zhuxuan was always very polite to the local snakes in the Chinese world. Whenever a new director of the Fourth District Police Station in Zhabei takes office, he sends a brand new chartered car. As a result, Gu's car dealership expanded and became the "king" of the rickshaw industry. Gu Zhuxuan became the target of admiration for the coolies from northern Jiangsu. When they joined his disciples, Gu opened a church and recruited disciples to expand his power. Then Gu opened a Tongqing stage on Mongolia Road and staged Jianghuai operas. This became the gathering place for the Subei Gang in Shanghai. Then he established Desheng Tea House on Xinjiang Road to coordinate disputes between his subordinates and other gangsters. For a time, Desheng Tea House became the authoritative arbitration institution for "eating and talking about tea" in Zhabei area.

With the foundation of social power at the bottom, Gu Zhuxuan began to advance into the political and business circles. At this time, the increasingly powerful Zhabei business community was planning to establish the Zhabei Security Corps. Gu hit it off and became the deputy leader of the security regiment. The regiment headquarters was located on Datong Road and was divided into nine teams. Most of its members were stragglers and rogues. They took refuge in Gu Zhuxuan, so they put on tiger skins and continued to do evil. Then, Gu Zhuxuan became a director of the Zhabei Chamber of Commerce, a counselor of the Jiangsu Appeasement Governor's Office, a counselor of the Second Army Division, etc., becoming a man of the hour who was both an official and a bandit. In the early 1920s, Gu Zhuxuan, who loved drama, co-founded the Tianchan Stage. After 1923, it became a sole proprietorship. The stage was located at the intersection of Nanjing Road and Zhejiang Road. Later, the boss of Yong'an Company colluded with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the company's concession and ordered Gu to move the stage to the east of Yong'an Company. Gu hired a foreign lawyer and argued with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau. This dispute reached the highest level in the UK. court. As a result, it was ruled that the Ministry of Industry and Industry should compensate Tianchan Stage for losses of RMB 100,000. This was one of the few cases in modern times in which a Chinese defeated a foreigner in court, and Gu Zhuxuan's reputation suddenly rose.

In 1930, Gu Zhuxuan moved the Tianchan Stage to Fuzhou Road and expanded the number of seats to more than 3,400. Famous actors from the north and south took turns to perform their special performances here, making it one of the four famous stages in Shanghai.

At this time, the ambitious Gu Zhuxuan moved to No. 13 Yingchunfang, Lane 203, Hubei Road, which was spacious and luxurious. After becoming famous, Gu was very affectionate and often helped the poor. In 1930, northern Jiangsu suffered a flood. Gu sold the Tianchan Glass Factory on Hutai Road and raised 60,000 yuan to send to his hometown for disaster relief. Gu also supported Liu Dengjie, a Qinggang master who had taken over the mountain. On January 22, 1932, Liu died of illness at his residence in Dingkangli, Dalian Bay Road. Gu personally wore sackcloth and mourned for Liu at the Tianchan Stage, thus attracting attention from Shanghai. There was a round of applause from the three-headed and six-armed brothers in the gang.

Gu Zhuxuan, who was in his forties, had reached the peak of his career. However, the murder of Tang Jiapeng, the manager of the Great World, put Gu into trouble again.

The Big World amusement park was founded by businessman Huang Chujiu in 1917. After Huang Chujiu died suddenly at the end of 1931, the Big World was taken over by Huang Jinrong, and it was called "Rongji Big World". Huang's protégé Tang Jiapeng served as manager. Tang Jiapeng, nicknamed Xiaoerzi, was originally from Yancheng, northern Jiangsu Province. He grew up in Shanghai and relied on his uncle Tang Mazi to make a living. It is said that the Tang family has a relationship with Gu Zhuxuan. In the 1920s, Gu Zhuxuan was already a famous "Jiangbei Tycoon". Tang Mazi asked Gu to support his nephew because he was a fellow villager, so Tang Jiapeng went to Gu's house to beg for food. Soon, Tang Jiapeng, who was talented and ruthless, was appreciated by Gu. In order to support and win over Tang Jiapeng, Gu married his beautiful cousin to Tang. Tang was so grateful that he regarded Gu as his reborn parent. However, not long after, when Gu was arranging seats, he neglected Tang, whether intentionally or negligently. Tang Sui held a grudge and immediately turned against him and joined Huang Huangrong's disciples. From then on, he also forged grudges with Gu.

Tang Jiapeng was greedy for money and lustful by nature. After he became the manager of Big World, he arbitrarily controlled all the troupes in the amusement park. He had to get the young and beautiful actresses he liked, otherwise he would give trouble to the boss of the troupe. For a time, Tang's romantic affair spread in the French Concession. Deputy manager Guo Rongsheng thought that if things continued like this, it would harm the reputation of Dajijie and Boss Huang, so he advised Tang to restrain himself. Unexpectedly, Tang was very unhappy. Guo Rongsheng ran to the old man and complained to the old man. Huang was very impressed after hearing this, because Tang was recently taking advantage of the special treatment of being able to enter and leave Huang's mansion at will, and was frequently flirting with Li Zhiqing, Huang Jinrong's newly widowed daughter-in-law, so the two things happened. In agreement, Huang Jinrong has made up his mind to let Guo Rongsheng take over Tang's position.

However, a few days later, Guo Rongsheng was shot dead at Nanyang Bridge. His death cast a shadow over Huang Huangrong: Who dared to kill Huang Huangrong's proud disciple? Maybe it was an internal dispute between students and students? Could it be Tang Jiapeng? Just when he was full of suspicion, Gu Zhuxuan came to Huang's mansion in Junpei and told him that Fan Liangbo, a general of Tang Jiapeng, had assassinated Guo Rongsheng. Huang couldn't help but be furious. When Gu Yi saw that the fire was coming, he said: "These kind of red guys must be eliminated. Zhuxuan came to say hello today." One night in 1935, Tang Jiapeng was preparing to go home from the big world in his own car, when a fierce man rushed towards him. Come, shoot Tang to death at the gate of the big world with one shot.

After Tang was killed, Jin Jiuling, the detective who captured the apartment in the public concession, was responsible for solving the case, and soon found out that the murderer was Wang Xinggao. Wang Xinggao was born as a ruffian in the military, with great strength and fierceness, and extremely accurate marksmanship. He had been a bodyguard for Gu Zhuxuan for a long time, but at this time he also frequently went in and out of Junpeili, preparing to "jump off the mountain gate". It is said that Huang Huangrong ordered his disciple Xu Fubao to bribe Wang Xinggao and get rid of Tang Jiapeng. After Wang Xinggao was arrested, Huang, in order to absolve himself of his guilt, covered up the scandal of internal strife, squeezed out and attacked Gu Zhuxuan, who was increasingly powerful, bribed Wang Xinggao, and falsely accused him of being instigated by Gu. As a result, Gu Zhuxuan was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Wang Xinggao was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Gu Zhuxuan was imprisoned for more than a year. During this period, with the help of his relatives and friends, including his family member Gu Zhutong, he was released from prison. He was not acquitted until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War ( In 1953, before his death, Huang Jinrong personally apologized to Gu Zhuxuan in Junpeili, saying: "You were wronged about Tang Jiapeng. I'm sorry. Please forgive me no matter what.").

After the Tang Jiapeng case, Gu Zhuxuan was depressed for a time, but became active again before and after the Anti-Japanese War.

The main positions he held at that time were: Manager of Dasheng Steamship Company, General Manager of Samsung Stage, General Manager of Dajiang Hotel, Chairman of Shanghai Ping Theater Association, Chairman of Wuling Middle School, Chairman of Zhengmin Middle School, Director of the Red Cross Society of China, Tianchan Stage director, supervisor of Shanghai Ping Theater Association, chairman of JAC Shanghai Association.

Gu Zhuxuan saw that corruption was prevalent in the Kuomintang and was unpopular, so he began to get close to the Communist Party, yearning for progress and doing something good for the people.

As early as the Great Revolution, Gu Zhuxuan rescued Jiang Weixin, captain of the Shanghai workers’ picket team (Jiang is the younger brother of Gu Zhuxuan’s niece-in-law Jiang Weishan), and was praised by Zhou Enlai and other leaders of the Communist Party of China; later , and repeatedly covered the activities of Zhu Junxin, an underground party member of EDF, and others.

After the January 28th Incident broke out, Gu Zhuxuan personally led the Zhabei Security Group to cooperate with the 19th Route Army to resist the invading Japanese army. During the Anti-Japanese War in Songhu on August 13, Gu Zhuxuan converted the Tianchan Stage into a refugee shelter.

After the fall of Shanghai, the Japanese and puppet police chief Lu Ying tempted Gu to surrender to the enemy and become a traitor. Gu firmly refused and said: "I will not be a traitor even if I die." At that time, Gu's nephew Gu Shuping was a traitor. Party member, Gu Zhuxuan helped him escort and rescue Communists in and out of Shanghai.

In the autumn of 1943, Gu Zhuxuan and Gu Shuping hid underground party members in a temple, because Japanese Buddhists generally did not search temples. Sometimes, New Fourth Army cadres in northern Jiangsu went to Shanghai for medical treatment due to illness, and they also stayed at Gu Zhuxuan's home. For this reason, the Japanese gendarmerie on Petain Road (today's Hengshan Road) searched Gu's house and Tianchan Stage. Gu also used the concession wharf he controlled to transport medicines to the New Fourth Army base in northern Jiangsu. To express his yearning for revolution, he also sent his fifteen-year-old son Gu Naijin to the base area in northern Jiangsu to participate in the revolutionary struggle.

During the War of Liberation, the Shanghai Bureau of the Communist Party of China established a gang working committee in order to use the power of gangs to fight against the Kuomintang. Gu Shuping was also one of the committee members and was responsible for the work of the Youth Gang.

Gu Zhuxuan fully supports the work of the underground party. The gang working committee is located in Gu’s manager’s office on the second floor of Tianchan Stage. This has become one of the safest meeting places for underground organizations in China because the police are Many of them were Gu's disciples or disciples, so naturally no one dared to disturb the ancestor's office.

In 1946, the Shanghai Bureau of the Communist Party of China decided to let Gu Shuping come forward and use his relationship with Gu Zhuxuan to publicly run for the deputy mayor of Yulin District. Gu Zhuxuan personally came forward to contribute to his nephew's campaign. He asked the Northern Jiangsu Association in Shanghai and his disciples and friends to work together, and the campaign was naturally successful. After Gu Shuping became the deputy district chief, he learned and collected a lot of important information and made special contributions to the liberation of Shanghai.

After liberation, Gu Zhuxuan stayed in Shanghai and urged his Youth Gang disciples and friends not to be enemies of the Communist Party.

In August 1949, Shanghai held the first People’s Congress of People’s Representatives from all walks of life, and Gu Zhuxuan attended the meeting as a special representative.

Shanghai Mayor Chen Yi personally visited Gu Zhuxuan at the Tianchan Stage and encouraged him to continue serving the people; Gu Zhuxuan also visited Hong Kong; later, he rarely appeared in public due to illness.

In July 1956, Gu Zhuxuan died of bulging disease at the age of 75.