One SoutheastErn
The Pearl River runs through the city of Guangzhou, and the secluded campus of Sun Yat-sen University is located on its south bank. Entering from the north gate next to the river, the geometric lawn is orderly, the red wall and green tile building are mixed with Chinese and Western, and the campus known as "Kang Paradise" is a representative of modern architecture and gardens, and was originally built as the campus of Lingnan University, an American church school.
On both sides of the north-south central axis are more than a dozen "Red Chambers", the inner side is the large "hall" that was originally used as a classroom and a science museum, and the second is the "house" for important professors, which is now used for office and teaching, and the pavilion for rest is interspersed. Moving forward along the axis, the flag pole and the statue of Sun Yat-sen looking down at the Pearl River clearly mark the core of the entire campus. When Sun Yat-sen constructed the blueprint for education, he established a "martial arts school", the Whampoa Military Academy, and a "school of literature", Guangdong University, which was renamed National Sun Yat-sen University in 1926 after Sun Yat-sen's death to commemorate the present day. Standing in Zhongshan statue and looking around, you will find a building very special - unlike other professors' residences, this two-story red building is surrounded by independent thousands of square meters of lawn, and the ancient wood is covered with winding paths, and it is self-contained and undisturbed by the outside world. Even visitors who know nothing about the history of the campus can judge by the uniqueness of the space: only the most important people are eligible to live here. This is the first place in the Southeast District, where Chen Yinke lived for nearly 20 years before his death.
The 90-year-old professor Hu Shouwei came to the former residence with the support of his family to meet with us, and the former residence is still dedicated to the memory of Chen Yinke, not for other purposes. In 1949, Hu Shouwei was already studying in Kangyuan And was Chen Yinke's first batch of students in Guangzhou. Later, Hu Shouwei stayed at Sun Yat-sen University and had many contacts with teachers as a young teacher in the history department. "Once Du Guoyu pointed at me and said, You are the most expensive student!" Hu Shouwei said. Because Sun Yat-sen University has always provided Chen Yinke with the highest professor salary in Guangdong and even the whole country, and does not make requirements for his class and the number of students he takes, and there are few candidates for his difficult courses, Du Guoyu, then director of the Department of Culture and Education of Guangdong Province, once said this.
Hu Shouwei pointed to the semi-open cloister on the second floor of the small building and said that classes had been held there before. The first floor of this small building was used by other professors at different times, and the second floor was always used by Chen Yinke's family, with only three or four rooms, but each room was very large. Because of the limited mobility, Chen Yinke's research and classes are carried out at home. Standing on the transparent cloister on the second floor, a small blackboard and more than ten seats are placed here, next to the tall palm trees within reach, the sun shines on the open lawn in front of you, and the scenery is very peaceful. Although Chen Yinke's classes are famous, they are never overcrowded, and the students generally range from a few to more than a dozen, and occasionally other teachers come to observe. He never named names or kept attendance. Once, only Hu Shouwei came to class. "I went to the first floor and saw Mr. Chen, but he asked me to wait. He deliberately went upstairs to change into a long shirt, and then said to my undergraduate: Mr. Hu, let's go to class. Hu Shouwei still remembers this scene nearly 70 years ago, and later he himself became the head of the history department and vice president of Sun Yat-sen University, always giving priority to ensuring that students have time to attend classes.
Next to the small building is a famous path, the school to facilitate the weak vision of Chen Yinke to walk, on this road laid a special white cement, Hu Shouwei said that when the weather is good, you can see Chen Yinke walking here in the company of his wife Tang Yun.
The year 1956, when the trail was built, was also the most enjoyable period of Chen Yinke's time in Guangzhou. The school provided the best possible treatment to this master of history who settled in Guangdong, the Journal of Sun Yat-sen University set up a "special fee" system for Chen Yinke and others, Chen Yinke was also in a relatively vigorous period of creation, and successively published "Shu Dong Jin Wang Dao's Exploits", "Shu Shi Speaking New Language Literature Zhong Hui Wrote Four Books After the Beginning of the Article", "On Li Qijun from Zhao Migration and Wei Wei", "On the Tang Dynasty's Generals and Fu Bing", "Shu Wei Shu Xiao Yan After The Transmission" Five papers written in the 50s, one of the only two cars in the school can be used by him at any time. For Chen Yinke, who rarely goes out, it is more of a symbol of courtesy.
At the beginning of the school year in September 1956, Chen Yinke received a visit at home to the fresh undergraduate students who had just entered CUHK, which is not common for today's university professors. Chen Yinke asked everyone with great interest how many people had applied for the History Department of Peking University first-choice, and how many people had applied for the History Department of Sun Yat-sen University first-choice, and quipped that it did not matter if they did not go to Peking University, because the teachers there were "my students." Chen Yinke gave everyone two suggestions; one is to learn ancient and foreign languages well and lay a foundation for reading; the other is to exercise well, otherwise it will be abandoned halfway. These warm scenes were recorded in the Journal of Sun Yat-sen University that year. On October 16, Vice Premier Chen Yi, who was inspecting Guangdong, and his wife Zhang Qian came to Sun Yat-sen University to meet Chen Yinke, accompanied by Tao Zhu, Governor of Guangdong Province, and Zhu Guang, Mayor of Guangzhou. This was obviously also a rather pleasant meeting, according to newspaper records, they mainly talked about the topic of "The New Language of the World" and Wei Jinqing, and learned that Chen Yi was also a poet, and after the meeting, Chen Yinke also specifically found his poems to read.
However, this is not a simple story of the transformation of old scholars through three dynasties, and there are still many "discordant sounds" between Chen Yinke and the new era. Shortly before these scenes of harmony in 1956, the famous "Chen Yinke refused to go north" incident occurred. In 1953, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to set up a historical research committee, one of which was to establish three historical research institutes of antiquity, medieval and modern times in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with three of the most prestigious scholars as directors: Guo Moruo of the Ancient History, Chen Yinke of the Middle Ages, and Fan Wenlan of the Modern History. Chen Yinke's appointment was cancelled because he demanded that "Marxism-Leninism not be discussed."
With the disclosure of the file, the inside story of the matter became known. At that time, Beijing sent Wang Ji, a former student of Chen Yinke, who brought handwritten letters from Guo Moruo, then president of the Academy of Sciences, and Li Siguang, vice president of the Academy of Sciences, to persuade the teacher to go north, and in the end the "negotiation" failed, but he completely recorded the dialogue process and recorded Chen Yinke's "Reply to the Academy of Sciences" personally described. Chen's attitude is already very clear in the original text:
My thoughts, my claims, are entirely found in the Kingdom Wei Monument that I wrote. ...... I believe that the most important thing in the study of scholarship is to have free will and an independent spirit. ...... I am in no way opposed to the current regime, and I read the original capital in Switzerland three years after the proclamation of reunification. But I don't think we can have Marxist-Leninist insights before studying scholarship. ...... Therefore, I propose the first article: "The Institute of Medieval History is allowed not to practice Marxism-Leninism and not to study politics." ”...... I also proposed a second article: "Ask Mao Gong or Liu Gong (Note: referring to Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi) to give a certificate of permission as a shield." ”...... You have to bring my opinion no more and no less to the Academy of Sciences.
The other parts of the reply letter are basically specific explanations of the above points of view and explanations of their own physical condition. These two requirements were too "appalling" in the context of the time, and many people for a long time did not believe the truth of the matter. Lu Jiandong, author of "The Last Twenty Years of Chen Yinke," told me that he was deeply shocked to see the original chen yinke's personnel file in the personnel archives of Sun Yat-sen University. The documents in the archives were written by Wang Qi himself, and apparently two copies were copied at that time, one brought back to Beijing and one left in the archives of Sun Yat-sen University.
The reaction and follow-up communication process triggered by Wang Qi's return of the reply are unknown because the file is not fully open. But Mr. Chen maintained decent contacts with Beijing. According to the diary of Zhu Kezhen, then vice president of the Academy of Sciences, at the Standing Committee of the Academy of Sciences on January 30, 1954, only two deputy directors of the Institute of Medieval History were appointed, and the position of director was still vacant, while two days before the Academy of Sciences reported to the Government Council, Zhou Enlai stressed that "we must unite all patriots, such as Chen Yinke." After Guo Moruo sent the letter again, Chen Yinke politely replied that he would continue to engage in historical research and that if there was a need in the future or new progress in his research, he would write and ask for corrections. Since then, Beijing has never invited Chen Yinke to go north.
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