#title Two Obituaries of Sifo (Shifu)
#date 1915
#source Retrieved on 2023-10-09 from <[[https://reddebreksbowl.blogspot.com/2023/09/1915-two-obituaries-of-sifo-shifu.html][reddebreksbowl.blogspot.com/2023/09/1915-two-obituaries-of-sifo-shifu.html]]>
#lang en
#pubdate 2023-10-09T09:56:47
#topics eulogy or obituary, Chinese anarchism, Shifu, Esperanto
#author Various
#authors K. Ch. San, Reddebrek, anonymous
*** *La Ondo de Esperanto*
This notice first appeared in the Esperanto language journal La Ondo
de Esperanto (The Esperanto Wave) in July 1915 and can be viewed
online [[https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e3d&datum=19150057&query=((text:Sifo))&ref=anno-search&seite=7][here]].
Shifu was an influential Chinese pioneer of Anarchism. He changed his
name on several occasions and was known as Shifu at the end of his life,
though in English he’s remembered under the name Liu Shifu. He was also
an active Esperantist and used the pen name Sifo for Esperanto writings.
I translated a
short [[https://reddebreksbowl.blogspot.com/2020/05/sifo-liu-shifu-1884-1915.html][biography
of his life]] earlier, which may help explain some points.
**** Sifo
Shifu (Liu Shifu) the editor of the Esperanto and Chinese language
weekly newspaper The Voice of the People, died in Shanghai from
tuberculosis. We take some biographical details about Shifu from his
publication’s 23rd issue. Sifo was born in 1884 in
Hongsang[1] in the province of Canton. He was an
extraordinarily talented boy in his youth. At the age of fifteen, he
became a “Sin-Can”[2] the highest student in the
local examinations. He participated energetically within the Chinese
political movement and provided a lot of assistance to the well known
Doctor Sun Yat-Sen. Sifo edited a progressive newspaper in Hong Kong and
opened a school for women.
He was gravely wounded by an explosion and had to have his left hand
amputated. Furthermore, he was arrested and while in prison he wrote the
text On the reform of prison. After reading this text, the city
officials were so stunned by the talent demonstrated by the author that
they ordered his release. In total Sifo spent three years in prison,
while incarcerated he also wrote texts on linguistics, including a book
on the Canton Dialect. In 1912 Shifu founded an Esperanto group
and became a Vice delegate for the U.E.A (Universal Esperanto
Association). In 1913 Shifu published *The Voice of the People,* an
Esperanto and Chinese language newspaper. It wasn’t long before the new
newspaper was suppressed and Shifu had to flee to Macau (the Portuguese
Colony[3]) but the Portuguese authorities also
disrupted the publication of Voice.
Shifu published Voice, until the money ran out. He was an
editor, administrator and printer at the same time. That is why he grew
weaker with the publication of each issue, the work finally consumed him
totally. When he fell ill, his poverty prevented him from seeing a
doctor for treatment. Friends begged him to sell his printing press
(Shifu’s press was operated by hand, or in his case one-handed) but
Shifu refused.
Shifu adored Lev Tolstoy and founded Conscience, a group whose
principles were as follows:
1. Against Meat eating,
2. Against alcohol
3. Against smoking
4. Against slavery
5. Against using human vehicles (I.e. Rickshaws and pedicabs)
6. Against marriage
7. Against families
8. Against deputation
9. Against political parties
10. Against state officials
11. Against war
12. Against religion
During his sickness, his friends begged him to eat meat, but he kept his
principles until his death.
We acknowledge the highly civilized principles of Shifu, but express
extreme regret over his death. China has lost one of the most fervent
and sincere pioneers of the international language.
[1] I have not been able to figure out what the modern
name of the city is, the English language biographies just refer to him
being born in the Canton area.
[2] I don’t know what that means, I believe this is
an academic achievement, the second obituary by the British Esperantist
goes into a bit more detail about this period of Shifu’s life and I
found a little more information in some brief biographies written in
English.
[3] Returned to the control of the People’s Republic
in 1999.
*** Obituary from the British Esperantist
Obituary from the British Esperantist, published in 1915, the original
article can be found
online [[https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e1d&datum=1915&page=149&size=45][here]].
And continues onto the following page.
**** Mr Shifu
Here is a biography of a remarkable man, excerpted from *The Voice of
the People*, a weekly Chinese and Esperanto language newspaper. We
present it here without changes.
**** Biography of Mr Shifu
Mr Shifu was born in 1884 in the city of Hongsang in Canton province. He
was an extraordinarily talented boy in his youth. At the age of fifteen,
he became a “Sin-Can” the highest student in the local examinations.
However, he did not want to submit to the institution which demanded he
behave like a slave. Instead, he taught himself about many practical
sciences and read every kind of book he could find. Although he learnt
without a guide, he came to understand many subjects at a profound
level. In 1901 an 18-year-old Shifu appalled by the suffering of the
people and disgusted with the rot and corruption of the government
organised a public speech in his home city to inspire a political
revolution, it made a good impression. He later travelled to Japan.
While in Japan, he met Sun Yat-sen who was staying in Japan to recruit
supporters for his organisation “Tongmenghui” after the failure of his
revolt in Huizhou (1900). Shifu assisted Sun Yat-sen for a time. Shortly
after, Shifu returned to China and started publishing a progressive
newspaper in Hong Kong and founded a school for women. In 1907 the
revolutionaries attempted to resume their activities. At that time, the
official Lee Tseng ruled over Canton and opposed the revolutionary
movement. Shifu believed that the first step had to be the removal of
this devil. Shifu lay in wait one morning with a suitcase for Lee Tseng
to pass-by on the road, unfortunately the suitcase exploded before Lee
Tseng had appeared. Shifu was wounded in the arms, head and chest. The
police sent him unconscious to a hospital, after a month in hospital and
a surgical amputation of his left arm he recovered from his wounds. Of
course, he was tried in a courthouse.
Shifu defended himself on several pretexts, but due to suspicion was
sentenced to prison. While in prison, a living hell, he wrote the
text On the reform of prison. After reading this text, the city
officials were so stunned by the talent demonstrated by the author that
they ordered his release. In three years of prison, instead of giving in
to depression, he worked on the book “*Cantonese Dialect”*, a work so
brilliant that even famous linguists admired it. After leaving prison,
he met with some sympathisers and founded a group for assassinations. In
1911 a member of this group Lin Kaun-Si threw a bomb at Lee Tseng while
Shifu wished to go to Beijing to kill the Qing Prince Regent Zaifeng.
Shifu was in Shanghai when the Qing Emperor abdicated, seeing a good
opportunity to promote his ideas, he returned to Canton and founded the
Fui Min (The Cock crows in Darkness) school.
As you know, Chinese students of Anarchism in Paris had already begun
publishing a Chinese language newspaper, *The New Times.* In its pages,
many translations of different Anarchist ideas appeared, including
Bakunin and Kropotkin. However, importing these ideas into China proved
very difficult. Fui Min collecting The New Times and published
them as small pamphlets that were easy to circulate, effectively
becoming the soil seed of Anarchism planted within China.
In 1912 Shifu founded an Esperanto group and soon became a Vice delegate
for the U.E.A. In the summer of 1913 when civil war broke out within
China he witnessed with his own eyes the crimes of the warlords and
fervently attacked militarism in articles that were published in both
Esperanto and Chinese in the newspaper The Voice of the
People Issues 1 and 2. As a consequence *The Voice* was
suppressed and Shifu had to escape persecution to Macau which is ruled
by the Portuguese. But the Portuguese authorities agreed with their
Chinese counterparts to prevent the publication of Shifu’s work. That is
why *The Voice* has only reappeared now after two years of great
hardship. In July of last year, Shifu founded the “Anarchist-Communist
Group” in Shanghai, which is influencing the founding of regional groups
to spread Anarchist ideas throughout China.
Shifu was brave, tolerant, decisive and
hard-working. He published The Voice, with no funds and very
few assistants. He was also its editor and administrator, but none of
this frightened him. It is true that he was also quite sickly, as such
he would fall ill after every issue of The Voice appeared and
would rest for a short time before working just as hard as before once
he started to recover. Understandably, this consumed his young life.
When he fell ill, his poverty prevented him from hiring a doctor. We
begged him to sell his press (his printing press was operated by hand)
but he refused, explaining that the press was the sole source of life
for our ideas in the East. It would be futile to save one person by
selling it.
Later with the help of some friends we were able to send Shifu to
hospital, but alas! It was too late. The disease is incurable and so, at
10 o’clock in the morning of the 27th of March 1915 Shifu passed away
aged 31.
Shifu adored Lev Tolstoy not just for his wisdom, but also for his
morality. Together with some friends, he founded Conscience, a
group whose principles were as follows:
1. Against Meat eating,
2. Against alcohol
3. Against smoking
4. Against slavery
5. Against using human vehicles (I.e. Rickshaws and pedicabs)
6. Against marriage
7. Against families
8. Against deputation
9. Against political parties
10. Against state officials
11. Against war
12. Against religion
During his sickness, his Doctor advised him to eat meat to keep his body
strong, but he kept his principles until his death.
K. Ch. San