"The Remnants and The Second Subjects of the Early Qing Dynasty", by Xie Zhengguang, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, July 2021 edition, 362 pages, 54.00 yuan
Collected Poems of Luo Mu Ling, [Qing] Xu Bo / Yan Zhixiong Edited / Xie Zhengguang Notes, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. June 2020 edition, 731 pages, 118.00 yuan
Mr. and Mrs. Xie Zhengguang pose with Mr. Zhang Chonghe (middle).
At the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the study of the remnants and the courtiers was originally a prominent study, but then somehow seemed to come to a halt. Professor Xie Zhengguang of Greenal College in the United States can be described as a lifelong effort and contribution to the research of this period.
My correspondence with Mr. Xie began probably in the fall of 2012. What to talk about? Mainly some old things that are of interest to both sides. I was once interested in New Asia College in Hong Kong, both political and academic, both of which are inseparable from Mr. Qian Mu. Mr. Xie wrote a letter on 16 August 2016 about some of his dealings with Mr. Qian Mu:
When I joined the Chinese Department at New Asia College in the fall of 1960, Mr. Qian lectured at Yale University. When I was in the second grade, Mr. Qian returned to school and was also the head of the department, regardless of administration and did not start classes. He presided over the monthly meeting every month, and the teachers and students of the whole school listened to his speeches. It mainly talks about "being a person", "people have personality" and so on. Speaking in Wuxi dialect, "man" is pronounced as "god", and probably not many people understand it. I didn't hear him talk about politics. In the third year, Mr. Cheng Yinbai (Qian) was invited from National Taiwan University to be the head of the department. When I was promoted by my classmates to be the president of the student union in the department and wanted to compile the first issue of the department (all journals are studied together), Mr. Qian promised to write an inscription for the cover and visited two or three times. And because I, a Guangxi Yankee, was actually one of the few people who understood Wuxi dialect at that time, I was accidentally ordered to be the recorder of his speech. At that time, there was already a tape recorder, and the manuscript was sent to Mr. Qian for review first, which was not difficult. I also really learned some knowledge of composition. Unfortunately, Mr. Qian's revised manuscript is long gone.
In the same year, the school set up a gule club, Master Qian came to learn the Sichuan school of guqin with Ms. Cai Deyun, and Mr. Qian occasionally came to play the dong gong, because I learned the dong gong in junior high school, so I had the honor to accompany him to play ensemble. After hearing that Mr. Qian and his master and mother had moved to Taiwan, the two of them occasionally played the piano in unison.
In 1964, Mr. Qian resigned as the dean of Xinya, but still held a concurrent position in the institute. After graduation, I entered the institute, majoring in history from Mr. Mou and literature from Mr. Pan Chonggui (Zi Shi Zen, Mr. Ji Gang's son-in-law). Mr. Qian directed philosophical thought, so he did not meet much. But the monthly meeting report of the graduate students, Mr. Qian must be present. The speech was selfless and still not forgotten.
In 1978, I went to Taipei for a meeting and met Mr. Qian alone at the Forbidden City. Mr. Qian still said those words that "how to behave is the first priority", and academic and political matters are still not said. Probably because I lacked Wisdom Root in both of those ways. Some time ago, I sorted out the miscellaneous things in the study, and saw a photocopy of Mr. Qian's handwritten new Asian school song, and brought a copy to you when I came to Shanghai.
This text is only more than five hundred, like a white painting, straight to the point, no description, but full of flavor. So I wrote a half-truth and a half-false letter to encourage Mr. Xie to write more reminiscent words, which had the flavor of persuading celebrities to write autobiographies. Of course, Mr. Xie refused, he felt that only academic writing might still have value, and others were not enough. I will say that you are studying history, and today's news is tomorrow's history, what is the difference? And suddenly changeable, just a few things in the past are true and false and elusive, shouldn't we write down some? Still don't write, it's not easy to convince. It wasn't until about the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 that he decided to write a little bit, probably nonsense in the communication, and some questions he also had fun, right?
What to write first, where does a seventeen history begin? The first time I met Mr. Xie was in the autumn of 2012, and asked him how he got to Hong Kong, he said "smuggled", when he was ten years old, the eldest of four children in the family. Mom took the eldest, hugged the youngest, threw away the middle two, and left her hometown. This is the earliest article "Rong County To Come", Mr. Xie is a native of Rong County, Guangxi, and his article is really thrilling. The time of going to Hong Kong was the same as Zhang Ailing's before and after, and the twists and turns were far away, and the atmosphere was like a large piece of ice in the house in the middle of winter.
I don't know if it was intentional, Mr. Xie next skipped the teachers at New Asia Academy and wrote about an experience at Kyoto University, and I had to wait patiently. Scholars attributed to the Kyoto School are known for their accurate research, but a considerable number of them also have a tendency to invade China and are not very friendly to Chinese students. During Mr. Xie's time in Kyoto, a professor wrote to the Japan Immigration Administration, proposing to refuse to extend his stay and to expel him. It was Mr. Kamiji Shimada who spoke out for Mr. Xie. This article mainly uses the three letters of Mr. Shimada to form the main narrative, and the title is "Three Letters of Mr. Shimada Qianji". Personally, I feel that this article relies too much on the ready-made material of the three letters to replace his own narrative, and Mr. Xie's concise and rigid style of never dragging mud and water has not been fully demonstrated.
At the end of the article, he talks about reluctantly leaving Kyoto to study at Yale. Mr. Xie went to Japan in the sixties, when he felt that Japan was good, after half a century, the old man looked back at the Orient and did not change his original intention. Leaving Kyoto for Yale, I had to mention the "foreign teacher" at Yale. In the conversation with Mr. Xie, every time this teacher is involved, he always calls her "foreign teacher" without a name, let alone talks about it, so the teacher's face has always been blurred, just like the faceless Jiao Ting in "Water Margin", far less clear than Shimada Qianji, not as distinct as Mu Runsun, and even less than Shi Jingqian. Therefore, I always feel that Mr. Xie may not have enough about this teacher, so he does not have much to say. But let's always have a name, he said at the end of the article: "Professor Mary Wright and Professor Arthur F. Wright, both protégés of Professor Fairbank of Harvard University" "I reported to Yale in mid-May 1969 and enrolled in the summer school to study French reading. He also said: "Seven years before and after swimming under the two Professor Rui, there is a mixture of sorrow and joy." He had a chance every day, when another article recounted its beginnings and ends. It should be said that at that time, I had already noticed these two "foreign teachers", but although I noticed them, I did not feel that they were worth noting.
The Present Yu Qin Society welcomes the American guqinist Liang Mingyue, from the left in the front row: Shen Dehao, Liang Mingyue, Gong Yi, Xie Zhengguang
When I moved to pack my things this year, I found a lot of books that I wanted to read but didn't read, some like old acquaintances, some as if I hadn't seen them. Often standing in the middle of a mess of books, I looked at one of them. There is a small booklet of "Yin Haiguang Lin Yusheng Correspondence Collection", published by far east publishing house in 1994, and I met in the old office building where books are dusty and time and space are far away. Unexpectedly, this time we met, I met Mr. Xie's two "foreign teachers".
Lin Yusheng wrote to Yin Haiguang on August 18, 1962:
Arthur Wright, met once, this man is very arrogant, what you said, it is not convenient to open your mouth. (I wonder if he wrote back to you?) Academically, exchange is usually a two-way correspondence. If the third party is not asked, unless it is really a close friend, it is very inconvenient to ask, especially now that many Chinese send people to the fence, help Americans to make Chinese things, mix a bowl of food, many Chinese suffer from hypochondriasis, other Chinese have to be more cautious. ）
Yin Haiguang wrote back on October 12, saying:
You for me to entrust you to see A. Wright, and you don't say it, this kind of disposition and attitude is basically quite proper. Professor Wright had written to me, and seemed polite, and he sent me more than I had asked for. I recently wanted to write to the couple again to discuss some issues. When you say, "This man is arrogant," I don't know what the actual situation is referring to. As far as I know, the Study of Chinese History and Chinese Issues in the Western world over the years has in many respects surpassed Chinese far more. To put it bluntly, most of the Chinese who are in the United States and eat Chinese historical meals are already behind in terms of understanding, at least in terms of understanding, in dealing with materials. Take Professor Wright as an example! What he wrote was amazing, the northern colloquial "Ber bon". I admire him. One of his works, "The Study of Chinese Civilization," which he sent me, showed a depth of awareness that was by no means comparable to Hu Shi. As for the disciples and grandchildren who were only second to Hu Shi, they didn't care! At present, they have suffered a little, but the Chinese is poor, and the "experience (erleben)" is insufficient.
Mr. Xie's foreign teachers are a couple, Mr. Wright and Mrs. Wright. Lin Yusheng said in the letter that "Mr. Wright is very arrogant", not close to people, difficult to approach, so he is reluctant to contact him for his teacher Yin Haiguang. Yin Haiguang said to this statement, on the one hand, that what you did was "basically very appropriate", on the other hand, it seemed to be saying "I feel that he is not arrogant"! It was impossible for Mr. Xie to read the correspondence between their master and apprentice, but his recollection answered this question that puzzled Yin Haiguang for us.
Xie Zhengguang's "Six Years of Yale Miscellaneous Memories (1969-1975)" said:
Mr. and Mrs. Have different directions of study and different styles of doing things. I studied the seminar on the history of early China from mr. Wang, and the teachers and students in the class talked and laughed, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Before the gentleman comes to class, he will have lunch at the Yale Club, and before the meal, there are always two glasses of dinner wine, and he will stroll with wine. The first sentence says to the student, "Mr. X, what do you think of a certain chapter of a book?" "Sir is good at intercourse, obviously. Its organizational skills are also strong. The three books on Confucianism are a collection of papers from three international conferences, and they are exquisite and convincing. For the development of Sinology in the school, there are many divine strokes. The fact that Mr. Jao Zongyi was invited to come from Hong Kong as a visiting professor at that year was well known to the world! Madame smiled and devoted herself to her studies. (Southern Weekend, February 27, 2020)
It can be seen that compared with the couple, Mr. Wright is good at making friends with people, and Mrs. Wright is a bit nerdy, not easy to approach, and appears arrogant. So why did Lin Yusheng have such a deep prejudice against this golden-hearted Mr. Wright, who had only met once? The specific situation is difficult to determine, but There seems to be traces in Mr. Xie's article. When Mr. Xie first arrived at Yale, he followed Mrs. Wright to pursue a doctorate: "Immediately after Mrs. Rhett met, she instructed me to do two important things: First, the French reading class will start next week, for a total of eight weeks. Second, in the matter of choosing courses, she must take her seminar on modern Chinese history, and she can choose freely, but the courses of the Department of Politics cannot be taken. Later, I learned that in the American sinology camp, Harvard and Yale in the east belonged to the pro-Chinese mainland faction, and the western one belonged to the pro-Taiwan faction. The western dragon head, named Franz Michael, is rumored to have a frame of jade photographs signed by Mr. Chiang Kai-shek in its research room. The so-called "political science class can not be taken", we can know where the mainstream was at that time; Fei Zhengqing was pro-Beijing, and the Wright couple were Fei Zhengqing's disciples, and Lin Yusheng felt that his "arrogance" was not taken for granted! He Zhaowu's "School History" wrote about Yin Haiguang's feelings were extremely complicated, and one paragraph said: "At that time, there were more leftists than rightists in the classmates, and there were more liberalisms, and most people had a good feeling for the Communist Party, although they did not have specific understanding and feelings, they did not quite understand it, but most of them were sympathetic, believing that the Communist Party was for the country and the people, and really demanded democracy, and even the backbone members of the Three Youth League were rarely as nakedly anti-communist as Yin Fusheng, so we all hated him and thought that he was a fascist." "Yin Haiguang and Mr. Wright's brief exchanges were limited to pure scholarship and had not yet penetrated into political insights, so there was a sense of outsiderism. Big praise for Mr. Wright, saying "what he writes is amazing and I admire him".
Lin Yusheng wrote to Yin Haiguang on November 18, 1962:
Arthur Wright's The Study of Chinese Civilization is probably his best paper, which is great, but his other works are unknown, such as Confucian Persuasion's (1960) Sui Yang-Ti: Personality and Stereotype. (However, his wife's Tongzhi ZTE has great skill.) I don't think this gentleman's social science background is very deep, but it is naturally much more advanced than the Chinese old people who are engaged in sinology in the United States. The Chinese who eat by selling sinology here are no different from a group of old gentlemen in China: the soil is dirty and the brain is only sour.
Here, Lin Yusheng is only willing to admit that one of Mr. Wright's papers is well written, and generally has reservations, and also pulls out Mrs. Wright as a foil. But his judgment this time coincided with Mr. Xie's, xie Wen said: "Mr. and Mrs. Ruite were the husband and wife who studied Chinese history at that time: Mr. and Mrs. Ruite were the husband and wife who studied Chinese history at that time: Mr. and Mrs. Zhiming's history before the Ming Dynasty, and his book "Buddhism in Chinese History" is a new treatise, although it is a small piece, it has lasted for a long time. However, in her early years, she wrote "Tongzhi Zhongxing (1862-1874)", and looked forward and backward, supporting her argument with a large number of documents. The evidence of his later works on the Xinhai Revolution has become more and more acute in his observation of history, which is beyond the reach of his husband! ”
After graduating from Mr. Xie's New Asia Research Institute, he faced a question, whether to leave his hometown and continue his studies, or to work quickly and subsidize his family. Mr. Xie told me many years later in the Hengshan Pavilion that his mother went to Bu Gua and got four words: Takahashi Yuanlu. So I made up my mind and went on. Mr. Xie admitted his memories to the book "Takahashi Long Road".
Takahashi Road is far away
I have a prejudice that reading is not afraid of being late. We all know that "there is a sequence of hearing the Word", but it is generally believed that the sooner the better. In fact, it is not always the case, this is a "encounter" problem, sometimes in front of you, you have not encountered, the wrong body passed. But it will always be encountered, and the "Dan Twilight Encounter" mentioned in the "Theory of QiWu" may mean this. The ancients wrote books and also liked to use this "encounter" word, such as "Encounter Zhuang" and "Four Books encounter". Saying that it is "encounter", I suspect that the author's heart thinks it is the word "enlightenment". "Encounter" wants timing, "enlightenment" needs more timing, but I don't want "soldiers and horses in chaos" and smoke and dust are everywhere, which is the time for me to meet these two "foreign teachers" who Mr. Xie refuses to talk about more.
Recently, I saw a book advertisement, Yun Chen Culture will publish "Yu Yingshi Talk" (compiled by Li Huaiyu) in November 2021, in the chapter of "Yale University", the first section is "Rui Wo Shou and Rui Mary", I am looking forward to reading this text of Mr. Yu.