Mr. Cai Meibiao (1928-2021)
Editor's note, on January 14, 2021, the famous historian Mr. Cai Meibiao passed away, and on the first anniversary of his death, Mr. Jiang Weisong of Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House wrote a special article to recall his interaction with Mr. Cai.
The first time I met Mr. Cai Meibiao was in April 1982, when I had just graduated from university and entered the historical editorial office of Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House. At that time, the compilation of the "Great Dictionary of Chinese History" began not long ago, and each sub-volume was groping for a sample draft to familiarize itself with and adapt to the requirements of the dictionary style. In order to speed up the process, the Codification Office held a coordination meeting in Shanghai for the editors-in-chief of the whole book and the editors-in-chief of the sub-volumes. 1982 is only forty years old, but the level and concept of economic development cannot be calculated in terms of the road compared with today. To take just one example, there were about forty delegates at the meeting, but a standard room for two people could not be found, and finally the guest house in the Shanghai garrison area was implemented. The conditions are very general, just like today's three-star hotels.
We went to observe the closing ceremony of this meeting, the afternoon of the last day. The attendees were all elderly figures in the field of historiography, except for the editor-in-chief Zheng Tianting, who died at the end of the previous year due to illness, and other leading figures were present. The meeting was presided over by Liang Hanbing, deputy director of the editorial board, and deputy editors-in-chief such as Wu Ze (who is also the editor-in-chief of the historical history volume), Tan Qijun (also the chief editor of the historical geography volume), Yang Zhijiu (also the chief editor of the Sui and Tang Five Dynasties History Volume), Weng Dujian (also the chief editor of the Ethnic History Volume), and Cai Meibiao (who is also the chief editor of the Liaoxia Jinyuan History Volume) all spoke and expressed their positions one after another. When it was Mr. Cai's turn, he said without hurrying: Attending this meeting and knowing that the "Great Dictionary of History" is very important, after returning home, I will tell Yang Ne and Chen Gaohua that we should pay close attention to our work. When passing through Nanjing, they will meet Chen Dezhi and them, and they will talk about the "Encyclopedia of China" (referring to the "Encyclopedia of China") is very important and cannot be relaxed. Back in Beijing, when I met Zhou Liangxiao, I had to say that the "General History of China" was very important and could not go through to the end. Mr. Cai has three "very important" in a row, and the big projects mentioned have a thunderous reputation, and none of them can be abandoned, which does not reflect the current situation that after ten years of catastrophe, the academic garden is barren and needs to be reclaimed? However, the lack of talent and the risk of faults are also an indisputable reality, and the old experts with expertise have become weak and tired of running for their lives, which is a phenomenon that should be paid attention to. Mr. Cai spoke with both truth and humor, and there was heartfelt laughter around the venue, and today, forty years later, whenever I think about it, the scene at that time is vividly remembered.
In the spring of 1983, the year after the closing ceremony, the Liaoxia Jinyuan volume of the Great Dictionary was finalized at Nanjing University. Editor-in-chief Cai Meibiao, together with deputy editors-in-chief Yang Ne and Zhou Qingshu, as well as Chen Dezhi and Qiu Shusen of NTU, did the work of re-examination and final examination. The editorial board of the Liaoxia Jinyuan Scroll has a very good tradition of "only scholarship is the lifting", and people make the best use of their talents, know everything, do not avoid controversy, but do not get away with it. The pursuit of lexicographic language, appropriate expression of the events, characters, and canonical system of this period of history. The work is tense and orderly, the atmosphere is relaxed and free to speak. The good academic atmosphere of this team has been repeatedly praised by colleagues in the field of history. Mr. Yang Zhijiu, who also ruled the Sui and Tang dynasties and the Song and Yuan dynasties, was very envious of Cai Meibiao, and commanded such a team like an arm. Mr. Yang said to me more than once: The Liaojinyuan history scrolls have two weeks (Zhou Liangxiao, Zhou Qingshu) and two Chen (Chen Gaohua, Chen Dezhi) inside, and Yang Ne on the outside, which is really very tough. Later, even his student, Zhang Guogang, president of the Tang History Society, said: There are many big names in the Yuan history circle, and they are not weaker than any one. But they obeyed Cai Meibiao together! Doesn't this show the strength of Cai Gong's "aura", that is, his personality charm?
Mr. Cai is humorous, elegant and not humorous, and the listener is more inspired. I went to NTU with Tan Zongying, director of the Historical Editing Office of the Dictionary Publishing House, to participate in the finalization of the manuscript, and after reading some of the manuscripts, I exchanged views with the editorial board. Mr. Cai said: "Let's not say 'instructions', please talk about it and express your opinions, and if you talk about it, it is called 'talk'. "Naturally, this leads to the topic. During the lunch break, Yang Ne talked about some "Cultural Revolution" incidents in the Beijing opera circles, including Cheng Yongjiang, the son of Cheng Yanqiu, and Cheng Yongjiang, the son of Cheng Yanqiu, who had made a mistake, and entrusted someone to send Yao Wenyuan a set of "Four Series" to avoid disasters. The observers were a little surprised, and they could not get down, and Mr. Cai interjected, "Isn't this the 'secret history of the national dynasty'?" The crowd burst into laughter again. He seemed to arouse his thoughts, and thoughtfully said: "The old cadres are disobedient and let the Red Guards take care of it." The Red Guards disobeyed and left the army in charge. My entry is very concise. "Although it is a vernacular, it is a wonderful truth.
Cai Meibiao was born in Tianjin in 1928 and graduated from the History Department of Nankai University in 1949. From 1949 to 1952, he enrolled in the Graduate School of History of Peking University and served as a teaching assistant. Since 1952, he has worked in the Institute of Linguistics and the Institute of Modern History of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Mr. Cai joined the Communist Party of China in the 1950s and is a high-level intellectual cultivated by the Party. But even so, during the "Cultural Revolution" years, he was also falsely accused of being the filial son and grandson of the "three high" feudal widows, so he was affected. At the climax of the 1966 movement, Han Rulin met Cai Meibiao, who was "obscure-faced" on the streets of Beijing, and the two did not dare to greet each other and looked at each other, which showed that the disaster of the pond fish was not a simple disaster.
In 1983, the second annual conference of the yuan historians was held in Suzhou. Because The president, Han Rulin, has passed away, everyone unanimously elected Mr. Cai as the new president. In 1988, the third annual meeting was held in Jintang County, Sichuan Province. As soon as Cai Gong arrived, he resigned en masse to the general assembly on behalf of the members of the council (he jokingly called the "Cai cabinet"). When the meeting officially opened, all members spoke in unison and unanimously affirmed the contribution of the "Tsai Cabinet". Meng Fanqing of Hebei University said: The president is the image representative of the society, which needs the academic prestige and organizational skills recognized by Chinese and foreign academic circles, and Mr. Cai is an unparalleled iconic figure. Meng Fanqing expressed unconditional support for the re-election of the "Cai Cabinet". Yang Ne, who has been transferred to the deputy director of the National Library (North Map), expressed his support for Chen Dezhi to be re-elected as vice president, because the history department of Nanjing University, where Chen is located, already has a good three-level academic echelon of old, middle and young people, undertakes a lot of conference affairs, and makes great contributions to the society, so "Chen Dezhi cannot go down." Finally, the "Tsai Cabinet" lived up to expectations and postponed the term of office for one term.
Jintang is a county with little fame, ranking in the middle of Sichuan's economic development level, so local cadres warmly welcome Yuan Shi to hold the meeting here, hoping to help improve local visibility and create opportunities for development. They sincerely welcomed the delegates, who called them "the central leaders from Beijing." Mr. Cai said: "We don't have a central head here. Immediately, he ridiculed in front of Yang Ne's face: "If there is, only Yang Gong is alone." "What a pun also!
By 1996, the Yuan History Society held its fourth annual meeting in Guangzhou and Zhuhai, when Cai Gong was nearly old and had been re-elected for two consecutive terms, and his colleagues could no longer keep him. He also recommended Chen Gaohua to succeed him as president. At this time, on the eve of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, he paraphrased the buzzword and said: "We are also in a smooth transition and a smooth handover." The colleagues all laughed and applauded collectively, showing him heartfelt respect.
By 2005, I was appointed to "actually preside over the Treatise on Chinese Literature and History", and a few years later I was given the false name of "known for my profound knowledge and seriousness". Thinking of the source of drinking water, we cannot but recite the full support of the scholars of the Yuan history circle headed by Cai Gong. Both Cai Gong himself and Chen Yiyang on Tuesday had a number of macro articles published in the "Treatise on chinese Literature and History" (hereinafter referred to as "Treatise"),which was published in the resumed issue number, which greatly strengthened the prestige of the journal. In 2007, I was interested in celebrating the upcoming 80th birthday of Cai Gong, so I organized a group of articles on the history of Mongolian Yuan, which is expected to be published in the second issue in 2008. Cai Gong himself published an article entitled "Reinterpretation of the Mongolian Long Card in Yenisei Prefecture", which was the masterpiece of his later academic career, with a length of more than 15,000 words, examining the long card quotations and tracing its origins, retranslating the Mongolian characters on the card surface, and making a new interpretation of the dissenting Chinese translation of the word "according to the answer". Although he has been in his old age, his pace of exploration has not stopped, and his vision is more open, his feelings are still sharp, his thinking is active, and his logic is meticulous, which are all signs of longevity! Cai Gong also did not despise the solution of small problems, and in 2009, he sent a short article entitled "A Solution to the Poppy Crown" and modestly asked: "Can it be used as a supplement to your journal?" "It really makes people feel that Tarzan does not abandon the trickle of Egypt to become its big."
In 2008, Mr. Cai celebrated his eightieth birthday. His graduated doctoral student Tian Shu planned to celebrate his birthday in Lanzhou, invited him to attend with his wife, and accompanied the delegates along Zhangye and Wuwei to Dunhuang to investigate the public opinion of the people along the Silk Road, Mr. Cai could not bear the students' good intentions, so he agreed, and called Chen Dezhi in Nanjing, and also thanked The Southern Master Liu Yingsheng and others for their efforts, and said to Chen: "You help me do eighty, and in the future I will help you do ninety!" Cai Gongda Chen Dezhi is five years old, if he can do so, then Mr. Cai will already be a centenarian at that time, Chen Dezhi of course said: "That would be better!" ”
Mr. Cai also called me, told me about Tian Shu's plans, and invited me to speak at the meeting. Of course I have no words. I think of cai gong's life insights: "At the age of eighty, we must be like the Young Pioneers, 'always ready'!" Cai Gong's open-mindedness, not only cherishing the preciousness of life, never making senseless waste, but also not afraid of the advent of the god of death that will come sooner or later, although it is helpless but not negative, this is the noble life realm of "not taking one's own interests as profits" and "not harming oneself". At the Cai Gong Birthday Celebration Conference, I was adhering to his attitude towards life and received applause from the participants. This applause represents everyone's heartfelt wishes for Cai Gong's health and longevity.
Although in the end, due to their advanced age, Mr. and Mrs. Cai did not go to Lanzhou and Dunhuang, they enjoyed the true feelings of young people's birthday wishes. Mr. Cai likes to be with the younger generation and feel the vitality of young people. In his later years, he often said that "from xiao Cai to old Cai, and then to Cai lao", which is the symbol of his life, and he seems to be pondering the inspiration of his own life trajectory. Once, when I talked about my age, I was born in 1947, I was nearly seventy years old, and I had the idea of returning to Lin Quan after leaving my post. Mr. Cai immediately mentioned the linguistics giant Lü Shuxiang. Lü Lao was born in 1904, in 1996 he was ninety-two years old, listened to Cai Meibiao said that he was nearly seventy years old, and immediately said: "Seventy? Young, young! "Mr. Cai used this example to give me a wordless spur. Another colleague of mine, Hu Wenbo, was born in 1983 and was trained as the editorial successor of "On Cong" when he joined the society in 2008. Mr. Cai saw that he was young and promising, asked him how old he was, Xiao Hu of course did not dare to raise him, and replied: "I am still young, thirty." Cai Gong said, "Thirty is not small, Xiang Yu was already thirty when he died." "A seventy-year-old, still saying "young", a thirty- but saying "not small", is this not a snobbish person who makes a statement?
Mr. Cai is knowledgeable, has a wide range of interests, is studious and thoughtful. Therefore, he was able to follow Fan Wenlan's legacy, lead the people to complete the continuation of the "General History of China", and make great contributions to the study of the history of the Liaojin Yuan, the Mongolian language, and the evidence of the Bashiba Mongolian inscription. He attaches great importance to basic training, returns from Bo, touches the class bypass, and does not rush to achieve results, and does not require students to produce results quickly. He liked Peking Opera, and in the 1980s, there was a dispute between the new and old Cheng (Yan Qiu) schools in Beijing Jutan, and he was inclined to the old Cheng school, that is, Zhao Rongchen's performance style. He said that Zhao Rongchen was "Zhao Puchu's elder brother" and was cultured. The implication is that only after Hanlin sent to the pear garden can there be more room for improvement and the potential to develop Chengpai art. Once, talking about the "Chaotic Chu Palace" and "Zhan FanCheng" and other dramas in the "Spring and Autumn of The Peak" series, he talked about the fact that king Of Chuping listened to the rumors of the courtier Fei Wuji and unjustly killed Wu Zixu's father and brother, thus causing civil unrest in Chu. He said, Fei is lu guo yi, pronounced bi, not fei. Cheng Yanqiu read it correctly and Mei Lanfang read it wrong. I later checked the book and knew that the "Book of Han, The Five Elements of The Chronicle of the Five Elements" Yan Shigu had an annotation, and He Dang read the secret. Mr. Cai was right, and Cheng Yanqiu read it correctly.
Mr. Cai said to me many times, "You are very familiar with those of us (referring to his peers in the Yuanshi circle)." I did get a lot of lessons from the predecessors of the Yuan historical circle headed by Cai Gong, and I received great support in the process of the re-publication of "On Cong", which is something that I and today's editors of "On Cong" and future successors should never forget, without their support (including authors in other fields) would not have the prestige of "On Cong" today. The creation of a brand and being recognized by society is a one-time thing! According to Mr. Yang Ne, in addition to the fact that the two weeks (Zhou Liangxiao, Zhou Qingshu) are closer to Cai Gong's age, Chen Dezhi, Yang Ne, and Chen Gaohua are half a generation younger than Mr. Cai, about seven or eight years old. At a time when the changes between the old and new regimes are alternate and fierce turmoil, in the past seven or eight years, many opportunities have come or gone, and a large number of elite scholars have left their hometowns and gone to Taiwan or even foreign countries, which is related to the survival of some disciplines and the possibility of the loss, preservation and reconstruction of the talent team. Mr. Cai's good fortune is that after graduating from Nankai University with a bachelor's degree, he did not pause and became a graduate student of the Institute of History of Peking University. After graduating from graduate school, he entered the Institute of Linguistics and the Institute of Modern History under the Faculty. First of all, he followed the linguistic predecessor Luo Changpei to start the study of the Chinese language materials translated and written by the Ba Si Ba Mongolian characters. In 1953, he turned to assisting Fan Wenlan in compiling the multi-volume General History of China. Getting along with these predecessors who learned to be rich and rich day and night, and the anointing fire of personally raising the face of life, is a rare and rare cause, so Cai Gong's foundation of learning is better than that of Erchen Yiyang, who is only half a generation younger. Although the Two Chens and Yang Zhujun all have their own outstanding unique features that are appreciated by Cai Gong, from the comprehensive quality, Cai Gong's qualifications, status, insight, talents, and even temperament are slightly higher, and Cai Gong can integrate the strengths of the various kings and make them capable, which may be one of the reasons why everyone can unite around him for a long time.
As mentioned above, Cai Meibiao was a party member who joined the party in the 1950s. Many people in the industry know that when the party organization of the Institute of Modern History voted on Cai Meibiao's application to join the party, Fan Lao did not raise his hand to agree. In 1986, I asked Zhou Liangxiao, a colleague of Cai Gong's Institute of Modern History, for confirmation, and Mr. Zhou bluntly said that there was indeed such a thing. Mr. Zhou also said, "Elder Fan is a person who is jealous and hateful." It is self-evident that the word "evil" is not the original meaning of the word. Elder Fan Cai Meibiao is thirty-five years old, and has developed a virtuous and virtuous fangzheng style of not smiling. And Cai Meibiao is witty and humorous, maybe Fan Lao can't adapt to Cai's blunt words for a while, right? Fan Lao taught at Nankai School and Peking University in his early years, and Cai Meibiao was the "peach and plum" cultivated by these two schools, and there was really a friendship between Fan and Cai, and Did Fan Lao not know that "the Bi of he clan is out of the stone"? He is strictly demanding Cai Meibiao according to the communist concept he cultivated in Yan'an! Fan Lao died in July 1969 shortly after the "Ninth National Congress", and the facts have proved decades later that the person who can live up to Fan Lao's last wish, provoke the big beam, and complete the heavy responsibility of the emperor's great work of "General History of China" is Cai Meibiao! Influenced by Yan'an's style of work, Fan Wenlan, Who was influenced by Yan'an's style, taught Cai Meibiao's historical knowledge and historical talent, and more importantly, Shi De, Cai Meibiao as a soldier, led Zhou Liangxiao's people to cultivate history with the courage of Jin Shike, and finally completed the "General History of China" that generations had been looking forward to for generations, which was a great contribution worthy of the pride of Fan Wenlan and Cai Meibiao's teachers and students, and would be recited to future generations the good words of the revision history that were comparable to those of Sima Tan, Sima Qian's father and son, Ban Gu, and Ban Zhao's brothers and sisters!
Mr. Cai's wife, Hu Wenyan, is a classmate of his history department at Nankai University. After graduating from university, Cai Gong took charge of Peking University, and Mrs. Cai also worked in Beijing, where she worked as an editor at the Higher Education Press, and finally retired as a deputy editor. Although I have a relationship with her, through the phone, Mrs. Cai is already a Beijing film, and there is no Tianjingu hometown accent. Cai Gong was precocious, but the two had no children. Mrs. Cai is not good at housekeeping, all large and small affairs have to be taken care of by Cai Gong, Cai Gong does not think that, many banquets and gatherings, I have never heard a complaint from Cai Gong, nor have I made a joke about myself. It is rare for an honorary faculty member like him to have inexhaustible things on his hands, who do not know the preciousness of time, but cannot but be distracted by taking care of his wife. It's just that Cai Gong is still as calm and calm as a rock, and his writings are constantly coming out, and there is no realm of noble detachment, which cannot be done at all.
Probably in 2015, Mrs. Cai died. As they get older, the couple will always have the day when they will return from the crane. When one party comes to the truth, the pain left for the other party is unforgettable. Zhou Liangxiao's wife, Gu Juying, was also a colleague of the Institute of Modern History, and she told me that Mr. Cai was "in tears" at that time and "never saw Lao Cai look so sad"! This reminds me of what the Xinhai martyr Lin Juemin said in the "Book of Farewell to The Wife", knowing that a wife cannot bear the pain of bereavement, but would rather let her die first and mourn the pain of death herself. After a year, Mr. Cai told me with relief that he had fulfilled his wife's two last wishes: one was to scatter her ashes into the Haihe River Valley, where she grew up; the other was to donate two million yuan to her alma mater, Nankai University, to set up Hu Wenyan's personal financial aid for poor and outstanding female students. Every year, with an interest of 60,000 yuan on the deposit of 2 million yuan, 10 female students are subsidized with 500 yuan per month for meals. In terms of today's domestic food prices, a monthly subsidy of five hundred yuan is undoubtedly not enough, even in a stable area like Tianjin, which is a school canteen. It's just that Mrs. Cai has done her best, how much pension can she have as a retired employee of a publishing house? This donation of two million yuan must have been made with the full support of Mr. Cai. Mr. Cai is a member of the Honorary Faculty with a salary and a fee, but he has a wide range of travels, has always been hospitable, is willing to do public welfare, and does not have much savings. In the eyes of those rich people, the inconspicuous number of two million yuan is really a lot of money that has moved their husband and wife! But we can say that every dollar of these two million yuan is the hard-won income of labor, and it is all clean. Now we can only pray for the steady development of the country's economy, stable prices, money can be worth money, and the bank will no longer cut interest rates, so that the student aid fund of Cai Gong and his wife can operate for a long time, so that more female students in Nankai can benefit. When they recall this experience in school in the future, they may think of Cai Gong and his wife, "They don't have much industry and can't help us more." But they saved us from worrying about three meals a day during the years of our studies." This may be the wish of Cai Gong and his wife?
I would like to use this article to remember Mr. Cai Meibiao.