A morning
Shi Jingqian, who died of complications from Parkinson's disease at his home in Connecticut on December 25, 2021. The most influential sinologist left behind more than a dozen books on China, from the late Ming Dynasty to the modern era, and the historical scenery, known for its narrative and writing, used his perspective to observe the process of China's decline and revival, and he saw not only the emperors, ministers and literati who occupied the center of the traditional historical narrative, but also the small people behind the history of poor widows. The little-known and fleshy details of his pen make Chinese readers lament that Shi Jingqian is a unique and ingenious observer.
Shi Jingqian
His-shrouded China is undergoing unprecedented upheavals, undergoing a difficult modernization transformation, in which a large number of "intruders" pouring in from the Western world have changed from "strangers at the gate" to guests who have entered the room, and even noisy evil guests, and have begun to change China by themselves. When Shi Jingqian wrote about them, he often had a more sympathetic understanding: "Looking back at the history from 1620 to 1960... The circumstances of these Western advisers can indeed be borrowed: Fu Lanya and Ding Yunliang are stoic, John Tong, Lee Thai and Todd are energetic, Hu Mei and Borodin are insightful, Gordon and Stilwell are shrewd and capable, Hurd and Stilwell are good at organization, Nan Huairen and Bo are ingenious, Wahl and Chennault are courageous, and Bethune is selfless. ”
Shi Jingqian praised the personal virtues of these Western advisers, and did not hide their failures, which were inconspicuous ripples in the collision of tradition and modern tides. Compared with political, economic, and military undertakings, the impact of education is often subtle, more profound, but also more likely to fail. Hu Mei is one of the many "interlopers" in Shi Jingqian's pen, and although he has failed without exception, his career has also left traces in another way.
Born in India in 1876, Hu Mei's grandfather and father taught in India for many years, received a bachelor's degree at Yale in 1897, and worked on plague prevention and control before coming to China in 1905. What attracted him to China was the establishment of a university medical school, which was also his long-cherished wish. With academic and philanthropic expertise, a number of American universities and foundations spearheaded by Yale University became involved in China in an attempt to help a country in social, economic, and political transition for future rewards. Yale University wanted to build a medical school in Changsha, Hunan Province, and they hired Hu Mei to preside over the cause.
Hu Mei built up popularity through her practice of medicine and promoted a series of constructions including Yale-in-China University, Xiangya Medical College, and Xiangya Hospital with the help of Yan Fuqing, the first Chinese doctor to be hired full-time at Yale-China Changsha Hospital. When the new hospital was finally inaugurated in February 1917, Mrs. Hu Mei recalled: "The moon shadow is misty, and we are in the dark shadow, waiting to witness the long-awaited event." Suddenly, it was as if a loud ancient voice was calling, and the hospital was bright. Every window flashed an electric light that Hunan people had never seen before. With this sudden ray of hope, the dark and deep city streets and our small lanterns, we suddenly return to the distant past. At this time, Hu Mei would not have imagined that she would be caught between students, revolutionaries and the council in the future. In January 1927, the Northern Expedition and the Student Tide forced U.S. Vice Consul Fan Xuande to evacuate all expatriates. Hu Mei, who had just returned from the United States, had to evacuate Changsha with her family in the middle of the mail bags in the luggage truck.
Hu Mei (second from right) and Yan Fuqing (first from right) participating in the Xiangya negotiations in Beijing in 1913
Hu Mei once reflected on his failures, arguing that Westerners who have devoted themselves to this cause need to be "more Chinese and more efficient" and "love Chinese" to solve the problems facing Chinese from China's reality. At that time, Hu Mei's colleagues hoped that students would cultivate the "spirit of a sportsman" and "a high sense of honor and responsibility", which was nothing more than self-deception. Hu Mei summed it up in a letter to the Council in 1925: "Unless foreign institutions or foreigners can be absorbed and integrated, as if they were grafted into a living tree, they will perish." We must now try to reinvigorate our efforts to graft our buds onto this living tree in China. The phrase "grafting a living tree" is reminiscent of another metaphor: "old bottles of new wine," from one of Hu Mei's collaborators in China, the architect Henry Kiram Maofei.
Mao Fei
The Connecticut coachman's son, Mao Fei, was a year younger than Hu Mei and graduated from Yale in 1899. "I chose architecture as my major the year I was about to graduate from Yale." Mao Fei once said this to a group of Yale students. Exactly ten years after Hu Mei set foot on Chinese soil, Mao Fei came to China with the opportunity of designing Yale-China University in Changsha, Hunan Province, for Yale-China. He first came to Beijing and spent hours wandering through the courtyards of the Forbidden City, staying for the "majestic and solemn buildings" that took place. "[This] is the most remarkable complex in the world," he declared, "so magnificent that it is hard to find in any other country or city in the world." Mao Fei has since become completely fascinated by China, when he never imagined that he would become the country's most successful foreign architect in the next two decades.
On that hot early summer day, Mao Fei met several members of the Yale-China Committee in Changsha: Principal Gai Baonai, Dr. Xie Weilian, Helhui, Yan Fuqing, and Hu Mei. In a letter to his mother on June 6, 1914, Mao Fei wrote that Dr. Hu Mei "'s glorious optimism and idealism are the spirit and soul of Yale-China." The Yale-China Committee decided to "take all possible measures to preserve the architectural heritage of ancient China to match the structural requirements of today's world". On the one hand, this is to strengthen the connection with the Chinese, and on the other hand, it is also a "disguise" in an exclusive social environment. After all, just a few years ago, the hungry people of Changsha set fire to the Inspector Yamen and other government offices, and destroyed foreign commercial houses and churches, affecting the whole province.
Under the guidance of this thinking, Mao Fei prudently controlled costs on the one hand, and on the other hand, he strived to inherit the "legacy of his ancestors" in China with modern materials. This is evident in his treatment of whether the façade of Yale-China buildings needs to be stuccoed. "When I saw those bricks with my own eyes, the beautiful color on them deeply touched me... What a shame it would be to seal them under a layer of whitewashing, so I suggest simply revealing them... Wilson and Dr. Hu Mei agree..." "Our idea is not to recreate the architecture of China's past in an archaeological way, but to show them what we can do to promote a modern renaissance of their ancestral heritage..."
Mao Fei's interest and strength in the Yale-China University project has brought him material success: "Dr. Hu Mei officially invited me to do a round of planning and design for the entire campus, including the hospital... He also told me that he would entrust us with the design of the new medical school building at the back of the hospital. ”
Striking a balance between the preservation of architectural traditions and the multifaceted functional needs of the latest university buildings, while avoiding catastrophic cost overruns, has become the secret of Maofei's future success. His later projects include four major buildings at Tsinghua University (auditorium, library, science museum and gymnasium), Peking University (Boya Tower and Bei Gong Building), Nanjing National Revolutionary Army Memorial Cemetery, Jinling Women's University, Fudan University and Zhang Ailing's alma mater, St. Mary's Girls' School, and Fujian Union University in Fuzhou. When Hu Mei left China, Mao Fei began to climb to the peak of his career. Sun Ke invited Mao fei to Guangzhou to help him realize his ideal of integrating Chinese tradition and advanced Western technology. In October 1928, Mao Fei was hired as the chief architectural adviser of the Nationalist government's capital plan to participate in the planning of China's new capital. Although Mao Fei's plan was not finally realized, and many of the students on the campus he designed today have no idea who he is, the question raised by Mao Fei still echoes in our cities today: How to adapt China's long and glorious architectural tradition to the requirements of modern architectural layout and construction?
Whether it is "grafting of living trees" or "old bottles of new wine", it is the main axis of Shi Jingqian's observation - heterogeneous cultural interaction. No matter how the balance of power between China and the West changes, interlopers who try to "change" China on the premise of China's "stagnation" can only bring "cautionary lessons, not inspiring propaganda." Only those who respect China's great traditions and face the difficulties in the process of modernization can leave more enlightenment.
bibliography
Shi Jingqian, Changing China: Western Advisers in China
Guo Weijie, "Zhuye China: 1914-1935, Henry Mao fei in China for twenty years"
"Zhuye China: 1914-1935, Henry Mao fei in China for twenty years", [United States] Guo Weijie / Lu Wei, Cold Weather / Translation, Cultural Development Press, January 2022 edition
Editor-in-Charge: Gu Ming
Proofreader: Ding Xiao