Shen Jianshi issued a certificate to the Capital High Court for Zhou Zuoren, indicating that Zhou Zuoren had made great achievements in safeguarding culture and education and passively resisting the war during his tenure in the puppet government; Zhou Zuoren was a hero of the New Culture Movement and participated in the puppet government. The organization was not based on his true wishes. Thirteen prominent university professors and literary figures signed a petition seeking clemency.
On the morning of November 16, 1946, a police car roared through the main streets of Nanjing and stopped abruptly in front of the Capital High Court established by the Kuomintang government at Chaotian Palace in Nanjing. Several bailiffs escorted a haggard-looking prisoner in a suit from a car to the court. He is the famous writer Zhou Zuoren.
Men of letters and writers helped each other.
On September 2, 1945, the Japanese warship Missouri No. 2 signed the surrender document. Under the pressure of the people across the country, the Kuomintang authorities began to rape the military leader Dai Li in September, and rushed to North China with the task of catching traitors. Zhou Zuoren was naturally included in the list of great traitors. Like other traitors, he lived in fear. On October 6 of the same year, Zhou Zuoren received an invitation signed by Wang Yintai, chairman of the North China Committee, which said that when he arrived in the Philippines, please come. At five o'clock in the afternoon, when Zhou Zuoren arrived as promised, other traitors arrived one after another, and the banquet officially started at 8 o'clock in the evening. Just as everyone was toasting frequently, Dai Li's agents, who had been ambushed for a long time, suddenly appeared, arrested all the people attending the banquet, and escorted them to the prison of the Beijing Artillery Bureau. Six months later, these people were brought to Nanjing and imprisoned in Nanjing Laohuqiao Prison.
While in custody, Shen Jianshi, dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Fu Jen Catholic University, visited Zhou Zuoren in the detention center and said that he had contacted 14 people including Zhang Huai, dean of the School of Education, Professor Dong Xifan, President of Peking University Hu Shi, and Professor Yu Pingbo, to prepare for a collective statement, requesting the court to give a lighter sentence. Zhou Zuoren was moved to tears by his old friend's attention. He sobbed and said: In order to save Zhou Zuoren, you are as kind as a mountain!
On June 18, 1946, Shen Jianshi issued a certificate of merit to Zhou Zuoren from the Capital High Court, saying that Zhou Zuoren had made great achievements in safeguarding culture and education and passively resisting the war during his tenure in the puppet government. Zhou Zuoren was a hero of the New Culture Movement, and his participation in the pseudo-organization was not out of his true will. Thirteen prominent university professors and literary figures signed a petition seeking clemency.
The three-court trial is complex.
On July 19, 1946, the Capital High Court held its first public hearing, and the court appointed lawyer Wan Sheng to defend Zhou Zuoren. During the trial, Zhou Zuoren confessed to his false position. When the judge asked why he wanted to join the pseudo-organization, Zhou Zuoren said that he did not want to be an official, but he was just painstakingly maintaining education and resisting slavery.
In his defense, he vigorously refuted the accusations in the lawsuit; that slavery education was carried out in accordance with the invasion plan; it was not consistent with the facts. Before the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhu Jiahua, Minister of Education of the Kuomintang government, visited Peking and gave lectures to all faculty and staff in Zhongshan Park, clearly acknowledging that education in North China had never been enslaved. Zhou Zuoren provided a report published on November 17, 1945, in the North China Daily, in which Zhu Jiahua declared that education in North China would not be enslaved, as well as a speech by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek in Peiping on June 3 of the same year, entitled Students are not fake, especially Sufficient evidence material. Zhou Zuoren believed that by maintaining his education in North China, he had nothing negative to say about the country and that he was lucky to be able to express himself to the world. He also believes that he has covered underground workers in education, such as Professor Yang from Liu Shuqin Women's College, Professor from Normal University, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Furen University, Shen Jianshi, Dean of Furen University, Dong Xifan, etc. And rescued Professor Lu Zhiwei, Ye Hong, dean of Yenching University, and others. And provided corresponding witnesses to request the court for investigation. Later, during the trial, Yang, a professor of the Chinese Department of Fu Jen Catholic University, a professor of Northwest University, a former professor of the Chinese Department of Yenching University, and a professor of the Chinese Department of Sanjiang University, testified in court, proving that Zhou Zuoren was responsible for underground workers and cultural circles. People have rescued and sheltered. Zhou Zuoren also proposed that when Peking University moved to the mainland after the fall of Peiping, Peking University President Jiang Menglin appointed him to stay, as evidenced by telegrams. Chiang Menglin, then Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan, petitioned the court to prove that he had assigned the late Meng Sen, Feng Zuxun, Ma Yuzao, and Zhou Zuoren to take custody of Peking University's property. On August 19, 1946, professors Cai Yingfan and Zhang Peihu of Northwest University reported to the court that Yang was Zhou Zuoren's son-in-law. His evidence was questionable.
On September 19, 1946, the court held its second session, and defender Wang Long was appointed to appear in court. After Wang Long, a barrister in the Republic of China, learned that his classmate Zhou Zuoren had been arrested, he insisted on voluntarily appearing in court. After the first trial, the Capital High Court conducted an investigation into the evidence. First, it was confirmed that Shen Jianshi had replied to the court: his underground work in Peiping and his family were arrested by the enemy. It is unknown whether Zhou Zuoren ever interceded with the Japanese. Yang was identified as Zhou Zuoren, who was my son-in-law, and his testimony could not be used. Minister of Education Zhu Jiahua wrote back and testified that the lectures he gave to the cultural circles in Peking were for loyalists, not traitors. However, the Peking Library wrote that its books were left in Peiping and that Zhou Zuoren did not suffer any losses during his tenure. The president of Peking University also appeared in court to testify that Zhou Zuoren's account books were well kept and that they were not lost, increased or decreased. After the trial, the presiding judge informed: Send a letter to the Shanghai High Court and the Ministry of Education to investigate the testimonies of Dong Xifan and Ying Liqian, and then conduct regular trials. At the end of the second trial, the court was unable to make a verdict.
On September 20, 1946, a Beijing citizen wrote to the Capital High Court and sent a fairy tale book by Dazhong newspaper by express mail, proving that Zhou Zuoren not only enslaved modern people, but also enslaved Children teenagers. But Zhou Zuoren retorted that Miss Qing's Dream was written by the author Mei Niang and was just a preface to the writing.
On November 9, 1946, the Capital High Court held its third hearing. The presiding judge read out the Ministry of Education's statement of defense, and it was unclear whether Zuoren was released on bail pending trial after being arrested for the second time. The court obtained new evidence, and Zhou Zuoren gave a speech at the Japan-China Association to express his good impression of the Japanese. And there are newspaper clippings from the Military Command Bureau as proof. According to an investigation by the Military Command Bureau, Zhou Zuoren was unfilial to his mother. Zhou Zuoren argued that he could not leave Peking without him because he was forced by life. Joined the pseudo-organization and served as the administrative supervisor of education in North China and the pseudo-dean of the School of Liberal Arts of Peking University. Although he did many things, his intention was not to make young people fake. At the end of the trial, prosecutor Wang Wenjun claimed that it was true that Zhou Zuoren participated in the fake job, that the defendant had not committed a major crime, and that there were many books to protect, which could be used as a reference for sentencing.
On November 16, 1946, the Capital High Court issued a special criminal verdict and sentenced Zhou Zuoren to 14 years in prison and 10 years of deprivation of public rights for the crime of collaborating with the enemy and conspiring against the country. All his property except his family was confiscated. Living expenses.
Be kind to others.
After the court pronounced the verdict, Zhou Zuoren was stunned and could not say a word for a long time. No matter how the presiding judge and reporters asked questions, Zhou Zuoren remained silent. Back at the detention center, celebrities came to visit one after another, including Shen Jianshi, the former dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Fu Jen Catholic University, and Wang Long, a famous lawyer. Soon a stranger came to the prison and said he was entrusted by his deceased friend to give Zhou Zuoren a letter. I opened it on Monday and saw that it was written in blood by a student named Tan Tianci.
On November 28, 1946, he submitted a petition claiming that he was 63 years old. Although he was sentenced to 14 years in prison, it still seemed no different from a life sentence and was quite a long sentence. Can painting cakes satisfy hunger? Wang Long also applied to the Supreme Court to acquit Zhou Zuoren. On December 19, 1947, the Supreme Court made a final judgment, holding that the applicant did have weak will, defected, and disobeyed, but the fake job he held was biased towards culture, he had not committed any major crimes, and he had contributed to the anti-Japanese war, etc. behavior of the people. Therefore, the punishment was reduced in accordance with the law and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Zhou Zuoren still refused to accept the verdict, but to no avail. He was sent to Laohuqiao Prison to serve his sentence.
In early 1949, the Nanjing National Government moved south in panic. Under pressure from the Kuomintang peace talks, Acting President Li Zongren ordered the release of political and criminal prisoners serving life sentences, and Zhou Zuoren regained his freedom.