An old friend sent an obituary from Tsinghua University on WeChat, and Mr. Pan Jiluan left on April 19 at the age of 95! Although I know that Mr. Pan has been in poor health recently, he still mourns when he receives the nightmare. The philosopher withered, the past, and the scenes of his interaction with Mr. Pan flashed in his mind.
Pan Jiluan (December 24, 1927 – April 19, 2022)
Singing at the alumni meeting
On May 4, 2011, at the Southwest United University Beijing Alumni Conference held at Peking University, I had the privilege of getting to know Mr. Pan. At the scene of the event, he was busy before and after, receiving old alumni for a while, and giving speeches on the podium for a while, always energetic, kind and smiling, without the fatigue of the elderly. This was the first time I attended the Southwest United University alumni gathering, when hundreds of alumni were over 80 years old, and the oldest was Mr. Ma Zhitu, a famous writer who came from Chengdu. Mr. Ma Zhitu was 97 years old at the time and was still full of energy. Compared with many alumni, Mr. Pan Jiluan, who was born in Ruichang, Jiangxi, is relatively young, and in 1944 he was admitted to the Mechanical Department of Southwest United University with the first place in the Kunming Examination District. Like Xu Yuanchong (class of 1938) and He Zhaowu (class of 1939) that I am familiar with, he is a senior of several years. These "eight zeros" got together and were as cheerful as we were when we spent the Spring Festival as children, or two or two pairs, or groups of three or five, or seven or eight piled up, and their faces were full of childlike smiles.
What particularly impressed me was that the first item on the agenda of the conference was to sing the "Southwest United University School Song". All stood up, and the conference hall of two or three hundred people was suddenly quiet. Mr. Fang Kun (Class of 1944 Motor, 1922-2020), former provost of the Central Conservatory of Music and president of the Attached Middle School, conducted in the front, and the alumni of Southwest United University sang loudly - "A thousand autumns of shame, the final snow; Zhongxingye, Su Renjie!" "Everyone looked solemn and their eyes shone. Yes, the enthusiasm for serving the country, which will be victorious in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the rejuvenation of China, is deeply integrated into the blood of teachers and students of their generation. They used their lives to practice the spirit of the school motto of fortitude and perseverance, and used the cultural resistance to continue the cultural context of the nation. Therefore, these lovely and respectable old people can still burst out of the heart-pounding song when they are eighty or ninety years old.
Mr. Pan Jiluan's registration card when he attended Southwest United University
Because there were many people at the scene, Mr. Pan and I just chatted in a hurry for a while. I gave him the character monograph he had just published about Principal Mei Yiqi, and he was very happy and said to me, "Thank you!" Principal May is amazing! "Then I signed his name on my sample book. At the time, I didn't know much about the personality of the world-renowned welding master, and I thought it was just a common polite remark. In 2019, when he was invited to write the preface to "An Era of Sven: Tsinghua President Mei Yiqi" (revised version), he wrote in the last paragraph of the text: "When I went to Nanchang University as president, I also wanted to follow suit, but it did not work..." I suddenly realized that Mr. Pan's words were not false.
The "old gentleman" of the circle of friends
When I saw Mr. Pan again, it was Already May 2012, still at the Beijing Alumni Gathering of Southwest United University of Peking University. We are already "old friends" at this meeting, and he has an impression on me because he has read President Mei's book. At that time, he was newly elected as the president of the Beijing Alumni Association of Southwest United University, and prepared to make the website of the Southwest United University Alumni Association, permanently recording and preserving the "Newsletter of the Beijing Alumni Association of Southwest United University" (50 issues have been published), as well as historical materials related to Southwest United University. I also look forward to doing something for the Southwest United University Alumni Association with my professional ability, at least to help with some editing of the Newsletter. Knowing that I had written books, written books, and made websites, Mr. Pan specifically discussed with me on issues related to website construction and invited me to participate in the work of the alumni website of Southwest United University. We also met at Tsinghua on this matter, but then I was unable to answer the call due to chores, and I missed the perfect opportunity to learn from Mr. Pan at close range. Of course, there is nothing that the old man cannot do, with the support of Tsinghua University, and with the efforts of Hu Kangjian, secretary of the Beijing Alumni Association of Southwest United University, the website of the Alumni Association of Southwest United University was opened on the website of Tsinghua Alumni Association that year.
On November 3 of that year, Tsinghua University held a grand commemorative meeting for the 75th anniversary of the founding of Southwest United University, and I met with Mr. Pan again. In addition to the of course protagonist, Southwest United University alumni, Mr. Yang Zhenning, who has always been low-key, also attended the conference and delivered a speech on the stage, and Tsinghua, Peking University, Nankai, Yunnan Normal University, and Hsinchu Tsinghua all sent heavyweight representatives to the meeting to congratulate the meeting. Mr. Pan is the president of the Beijing Alumni Association of Southwest United University and the host of the event, so naturally he is very busy, and I can only rush to say hello to him before the meeting. After the meeting, I accompanied Academician Chen Lijun, president of Hsinchu Tsinghua University, to visit Huang Yanfu, He Zhaowu and Xu Yuanchong, and left the scene of the event.
In the years that followed, I didn't have much contact with Mr. Pan, only occasionally calling to greet or ask him for advice. In 2019, when I was revising "Sven of an Era: Mei Yiqi, President of Tsinghua University", I wanted to ask Mr. Pan to write a preface to this book. First of all, I greeted him by phone, but I didn't expect Mr. Pan to have WeChat, so we added a friend, who was 92 years old, probably the oldest old man in my WeChat circle. He promised with great enthusiasm, sent me some literature, and asked Teacher Hu Kangjian to forward to me a speech on the spirit of the Southwest United University, suggesting that I should revise it according to my needs. On March 18, after I finished editing, I returned the manuscript to him, but an hour later, he returned to WeChat and carefully corrected some inaccurate statements: "I have read the article you wrote, and I have no opinions." Finally about my resume. There are the following supplements... I was a graduate student at Harbin Institute of Technology, not a master's student, and at that time the country did not establish a doctoral master's degree system, which was called a graduate student. "I revised the article based on his opinion.
Love "Net Red" on Campus
In June last year, a documentary about the children of Southwest United University, "Post-90s", was performed, and Mr. Pan once again became the focus. He is one of 16 90-something Southwest United University co-stars. He said: "To do something big, it is to contribute to the country or to the project." "The 22,000-kilometer high railway journey across the country's border, involving 840,000 welding processes, was completed under the leadership of Mr. Pan, the world's first-class project, which he did after the age of 80. He said quietly that he was no less doing now than he had been when he was younger. He really did his learning in the great rivers and mountains of the motherland. This is Mr. Pan's last mark on me and the last lesson for most of us.
This world-renowned academic titan needs no further words about his academic contributions to the country and the world, and may change or continue to iterate with the progress of science and technology and society. However, the spiritual wealth left by Mr. Pan is timeless.
Why is it that in such a difficult era of Southwest United University, it is still possible to complete high-quality studies? He said, "We don't have the idea of fame and fortune. The country is dying, where do you think of being a long man and getting some money. At that time, there was only one idea, the country was prosperous, we might have a way out; if the country did not prosper, there would be no future. At that time, diligence was beyond utilitarianism, and personal desire was very small. ”
Regarding the success of Southwest United University, he concluded: "Mei Yiqi's view is that universities are the learning of masters. The Southwest United University ran education, and all the faculties and departments invited teachers, and they were the most outstanding figures in that field at that time. Teachers at that time were also very difficult. Take the teachers of the engineering college, the country is so difficult, they still come back. They brought back advanced academic ideas and academic content from abroad, and although it was in wartime, they still allowed us to receive modern and advanced education. ”
In 2019, Mr. Pan Jiluan and his wife Li Shiyu took a group photo in the office
At the age of 90, Mr. Pan used a bicycle to carry his wife Li Shiyu to roam in the Tsinghua Garden, and his wife also raised her hands and smiled to greet acquaintances. The fairy tale of deep love and white head and common old age not only set fire to Tsinghua Garden, but also made Mr. Pan an "Internet celebrity" outside of academia, touching countless young people shrouded in fog.
Mr. Pan used the immortal life of 95 years of mountains and rivers to write "only love in the family and the country, and there is a way to learn", which was given to future generations.
April is the most beautiful time in the world, but the generation of masters Mr. Pan is gone. In fact, mourning is not necessary, Mr. Pan drove the crane to the west to avoid the pain of the world, which is a joy and mourning. But human affairs are worth remembering in the human world. Fortunately, when the poet Zang Kejia was grateful for Mr. Lu Xun, he told people: "Some people are dead, but he is alive." "Now, although Mr. Pan is resting in peace, he will always live in the hearts of the country and the people he loves.
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Pan Jiluan was born on December 24, 1927 in Ruichang, Jiangxi. He is an expert in Welding Engineering in China, one of the founders of welding disciplines in China, and the vice chairman of the International Welding Society. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University, president of the Beijing Alumni Association of Southwest United University, honorary president of Nanchang University, honorary president of Xiangtan University. He was the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University, the director of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua University, and a visiting professor at The Ohio State University.
Photo of Mr. Pan Jiluan as a student at Southwest United University
In 1944, he was admitted to the Mechanical Department of the National Southwest Union University, and graduated from the Mechanical Department of Tsinghua University in 1948 to teach. In 1953, after graduating from the Mechanical Department of Harbin Institute of Technology, he stayed on to teach and participated in the creation of the welding major of Harbin Institute of Technology. In 1955, he returned to the Mechanical Department of Tsinghua University, established a welding teaching and research group and served as the director of the teaching and research group, successively serving as lecturer, associate professor and professor. In 1978, he was a visiting professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University in Germany and a visiting professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the Technical University of Hannover, Germany. In 1980, he was elected as a member of the Faculty of Chinese Academy of Sciences.