Professor Cheng Qianfan (1913-2000) gave lessons to students before his death.
Because I left the division after graduation and went to work in Beijing, the first teacher often asked me to handle some books to buy and deliver books; and because I liked to write letters when I was young, I was diligent in reporting to the teachers on what ideas I had in work and research, so I corresponded with my predecessors a lot. In the "Book of Idle Hall", 69 letters of gifts from the ancestors were received. Later, I found several manuscripts from the books stored in my parents' homes and published them in the article "Two or Three Things Between Mr. Qianfan's Books and Books" (Oriental Morning Post, Shanghai Book Review, December 15, 2013), and recalled some of the past events involved. Recently, I sorted out my things and found two more books that were not included in the "Idle Hall Book", and according to the postmark on the envelope, it can be known that they were written on December 30, 1986 and August 19, 1995. The previous letter reads:
Brother Jiang Yin:
Letter received. The Appendix to your article is published exclusively by Heritage, and if there is no manuscript, you can ask it to return it in case he includes it in the collection of essays.
The new poem you have chosen, I have not alluded to. Professor Zhao Ruihong and his wife Yang Wei are both poets, I wonder if you chose their poems? Can you consider asking them to see it first? I'll see it when I get back next year, otherwise I'm afraid of empty talk and I'm not responsible.
Papers should be carried out in a hurry, and the comprehensive score and so on can be slowed down. Liu Zaifu did not reply to the letter, and the Institute of Literature and Research was not necessarily hopeful. (Of course I have to ask.) What else are you going to do, hopefully. wish
Thousand sails
12/30
He also added a letter on the letterhead: "I did not study and work in Nanjing during this time to ask Mr. Zhou for advice. At that time, Mr. Cheng was in Wuhan and was invited by Hubei University to give a lecture in the department of Chinese. The several things involved in the letter, one is that my study work "On the Theoretical System of Ancient Chinese Literature" has just been published in the "Literary Heritage" No. 6, 1986, which is the homework of my "Wenxin Carving Dragon" class, which was corrected by Teacher Zhou Xunchu and revised by Mr. Cheng, who believes that it has reached the level of publication, and when the "Literary Heritage" opened the "Macro Research of Classical Literature" column, it was recommended to the editorial department. The humble article is accompanied by a classification and comparison table of twenty selected articles, which was not compiled due to typographical difficulties. Sir advised that it be withdrawn for future compilation. As a result, this appendix was not found, and when the paper was included in the "Collection of Treatises on the History of Literature of Jinlingsheng" (Liaohai Publishing House, 2013), it could only be typeset according to the manuscript, and the classification of Zhu Quanzai's "Wentong" was missing, which was a pity. This book was rarely seen at the time, and it was never mentioned in the academic circles.
Second, I told the teacher to compile an anthology of the new poems I liked to read, and asked if it was possible to find a publishing house to print. I've loved reading new poems since I was an undergraduate and I learned to write myself. During his doctoral studies, he borrowed all the new poetry collections collected by the Chinese Department's reference room and read them, and the number was quite rich. When I saw my favorite works, I copied them down with a manuscript note, and unconsciously accumulated more than a hundred songs, starting with Shen Yinmo's "Moon Night" and ending with "Looking for Li Bai" in the afterglow, all of which are small and relatively beautiful works. When Mr. Cheng was young, he also liked to write new poems, and he once formed a society with friends such as Sun Wang and Chang Shuhong to publish "Poetry Sail". He was naturally familiar with the history of new poetry, so he asked me if I included the poems of Professor Zhao Ruihong and his wife, and suggested that they should be asked to read them. I am ashamed that neither gentleman's poems have been read, and certainly the selected poems have not been shown to them. When Mr. Cheng returned to Ning after a year, I did not mention this matter, and the poem was always on hold. But I didn't expect that this copy of the poem would later come in handy. In 2002, I was hired by Kyungpook University in South Korea as a visiting professor in the Faculty of Humanities, where I was required to teach an undergraduate course, either selected by the Qin Dynasty or selected readings by the Chinese Modern Literature. I wanted to tell Korean students about the pre-Qin Zhuzi, so how to talk about it, so I chose to read modern literature. Talking about what works, I thought of this "Zhongzhong Collection" and used it as a teaching material for "Selected Readings of Modern Chinese Poetry". Chinese third-year students, Chinese language ability is still limited, half of the poetry course is equal to the modern Chinese class, word by word to dredge the meaning, and then talk about content and rhetoric. The explanation, which is too rough to be more superficial, makes me have a deep impression of the classical poetic elements contained in the new poem. Once in Busan and Kim Tae-wan and other scholars drinking, are professors of modern Chinese literature, talked about the relationship between new poetry and tradition, I said that the influence of classical poetry in new poetry seems to be ignored, they are interested in this issue, hope that I will speak at the Chinese Literature Research Conference held at Busan University, for this reason I had to write my first paper on modern Chinese poetry, "Traditional Factors in Modern Chinese Poetry", which is the last word.
The third is about the writing of my doctoral dissertation, and Mr. Cheng urged me to seize the time to finish writing the dissertation. Mr. Cheng trains students to be able to try different types of research during their studies, to undergo more comprehensive academic training, and to form a series of results in their doctoral dissertations. To study a group of writers, in addition to a comprehensive discussion of creation, it is also necessary to compile a genealogy of the group of writers, and then organize their works and compile their research materials. Mr. Cheng had hoped that I would write a genealogy of dali poets in the future and compile a collection of research materials on dali poets. Later, I felt that the life deeds of the Dali poets were mainly examined by Mr. Fu Xuanchun and other previous scholars, and I did not have many inventions myself, and compiling a genealogy was mainly the result of synthesizing the predecessors, which was a bit clever, so I did not do it, and only continued to write the "Study of the Poets of the Great Calendar".
Finally, there is the question of my work. When Mr. Cheng asked me about my intention to take up my job, I felt that I was clumsy in words and incompetent in teaching, and expressed my desire to work in a research institute like the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. When Mr. Cheng met with the discipline planning group, he saw the person in charge of the Institute of Literature and recommended me to him, but he had not received a reply letter by the end of the year, and he felt that there was little hope. In fact, this person in charge attached great importance to this matter, and when he went back, he conveyed it to the two directors of the ancient room, Shen Yucheng and Lu Yongpin, and there was an echo after the Spring Festival. In the summer of 1987, Mr. Shen came to Nanshi to defend and specially asked me to meet and talk about work. Mr. Shen's kind and kind voice is still vividly remembered.
The content of the second letter mainly has three points, one is to affirm the book review of "Cheng Qianfan's Anthology" that I wrote, the second is to talk about the study of Qing Dynasty poetics, and the third is to inform Cheng Zhangcan to supplement the book according to the lecture notes of past literary history. The full text is as follows:
The handwritten letter was received on August 2.
Commenting on the "Anthology" article, I can ask for it, so that I can talk about what I am committed to.
There are many Qing poems and even the entire Qing Dynasty literature that can be dedicated to it. Mr. Mengfu's exposition, so this famous master, but still confined to the interpretation of words and sentences, the compilation of literature. With the in-depth study of modern historiography and aesthetics, it is clear that its source is changing, and it is beyond its reach, and this era is limited to it, and it is not the fault of Mr. The brother can persevere with decades of strength, and will be able to shine brightly. However, the study of Qing cannot stop at the Qing, just talk about the Qing, I am afraid that it is impossible to look at the past, otherwise it is difficult to explain why the Qing is Qing and can only be Qing. (This is a methodological proposition, which can be expanded into a single article)
Zhang Can has gone to Harvard and studied for one year. I have a general history of literature, and he has taken it with me, hoping to add a few chapters to the guest to complete it. There is nothing else outside of this book. Liaoning "Anthology" Jing Xiangyun: When it is available in the middle of September, it will be presented immediately.
Early in the Beijing "Guangming Daily" internship, I don't know if I have come to see? wish
Good family!
Qian fan Yun
August 19
The commentary on the "Anthology" mentioned at the beginning refers to the commentary article written in June 1995 for Master Mo Lifeng's compilation of the "Selected Poems of Cheng Qianfan", which was later published in the third issue of Chinese Classics and Culture under the title of "Professor Cheng Qianfan's Academic Character". The full text is more than 5,000 words, Mr. Cheng affirmed that it can be asked for, and it should be relatively satisfactory to be able to kindly tell where he has devoted his life to.
Cheng Qianfan sent a letter to Jiang Yin.
Then Mr. Cheng gave a lecture on the intention to study Qing poetry as stated in my letter, pointing out that there is a lot of room for the study of Qing poetry, and Mr. Qian Zhonglian's Qing poetry is mainly committed to the compilation of documents and the interpretation of other collections, and has not yet been able to make in-depth exposition of the source of Qing poetry from the level of contemporary historiography and aesthetics. Of course, this is not a criticism of Mr. Qian, let alone a literati. Because Mr. Cheng immediately added that "this era is limited, and it is not Mr. Cheng's fault." The "limit of the times" refers to the constraints of the level of academic development, but also contains the experiences experienced by a generation of scholars, and it is not without empathy for sadness. Mr. Cheng's respect for Mr. Qian Zhonglian and his friendship have long been familiar to me from the teacher's usual speech, so I deeply feel the integrity of the previous generations of scholars, and do not confuse academic judgments based on friendship. Subsequently, Mr. Cheng put forward a fundamental admonition: the study of the Qing Dynasty must not be limited to the Qing Dynasty, but cannot discuss the Qing Dynasty, cannot look at the past dynasties, and in the end it is difficult to explain the question of "why the Qing is Qing and can only be Qing". He thought it was a methodological proposition that could be extended to a paper. I think this is the meaning of "opening up" that Mr. Li often emphasizes, and it is his consistent academic thinking. The Qing Dynasty is the summary period of classical scholarship, and the problem handled by the Qing people is the problem of the entire ancient scholarship, so the study of Qing Dynasty poetics is equivalent to facing all classical poetics, and it is difficult to recognize the unique contributions and achievements of Qing Dynasty poetics without understanding the development of the poetics of the previous generation. Later, although I did not write articles on this issue, I often mentioned this point in classes and academic speeches, and my basic idea of studying the history of poetics in the Qing Dynasty also expanded the previous single path of conceptual history into a trinity of conceptual history, criticism history, and academic history, and paid more attention to the practice of Qing poetry criticism and the achievements of sorting out and studying the poetics of the previous generation in addition to poetic concepts.
At the end of the letter, Mr. Cheng mentioned that Cheng Zhangcan went to Harvard to study, and with the teacher's old lecture notes on the general history of literature, he was ready to supplement and enrich it during the visit, and expand it into a complete general history of Chinese literature. Later, this literary history of teacher-student cooperation was published by Liaohai Publishing House in 1999, entitled "General History of Cheng's Chinese Literature", the title of the book is very chic and very meaningful, and later some people asked me whether Cheng Zhangcan was a nephew of Mr. Cheng. "History of Chinese Literature" is a very rigorous concept, and many of the works called "History of Chinese Literature" do not actually deal with Chinese literature other than Chinese. Mr. Cheng's lecture notes mostly embody the experience of long-term teaching and research, and in his later years, he cooperated with protégés and junior scholars to form books, so that his academic ideas could be partially preserved. Du Shi's treatise cooperated with Mo Lifeng and Zhang Hongsheng to complete "The World of Poetry Explored", the Lecture Notes on School Chicken Studies and Xu Youfu to complete "School Chicken Broad Meaning", and the Song and Yuan Literature Lecture Notes and Professor Wu Xinlei to complete the "History of Song and Yuan Literature". By the completion of the "General History of Cheng's Chinese Literature", the surviving manuscripts have been settled, so it is said that "there is no other outside this book", and I am afraid that I am not without pity. Just in the right year, he was beaten as a rightist and let cattle go for more than ten years (really herding cattle). Not to mention the years of wandering, the manuscripts of the works have also lost a lot, and the "Tang Dynasty Jinshi Scrolls and Literature" was picked up by Mr. Shen Zudi by chance. When I read this, I was only happy that my teacher's works had been published, but now that I re-read these words and think of those old memories, I can't help but feel sad.
In the letters mr. Cheng gave me, there were often discourses on learning, concise and concise, and every time people were playful. Some theories say that at that time, they did not understand the deep meaning of it, and many years later they were able to roughly appreciate the depth of the teacher's insight. The "Book of Idle Halls" has been published for many years and is about to be reprinted, and the letters received in recent years will also be renewed. These letters are part of the academic wealth left to us by Mr. Cheng, and I hope that the friends who have Mr. Cheng's codex in the book can be copied and provided to Ms. Cheng Lize, so as to make the content of the "Book of Idle Hall" more abundant. Gradually entering the old realm, it is often inevitable to reminisce about the past, and the two codexes of the First Master of The Mozi Have different feelings, so they outline the contents involved in them to send eternal admiration.
Jiang Yin