The article of the ages is not exhausted: remembering Mr. Guo Zaiyi

Posthumous photograph of Mr. Kwok Jae-yi (1939-1989). (Photo courtesy of Zhang Yongquan/Photo)

The relationship between people is very wonderful. Some people often don't have a few words together, while others feel very close to each other as soon as they meet, and they talk about everything. My dealings with Mr. Guo Jae-yi fall into the latter category.

Qilu culture and the roots of "Shuowen"

My first meeting with Mr. Zaiyi was at the "Chu Ci Class" in September 1979. At that time, Mr. Jiang Liangfu would give us a big lesson every Thursday morning, and Guo Zaiyi, who was Mr. Jiang's assistant, would sometimes come to listen. He probably heard that I spoke with a Shandong accent, so he came to ask me which county in Shandong I was from during recess, and I told him that he was from Zhucheng County, and he quickly said: "Know, know." There are many celebrities from Zhucheng. Immediately, he told me that he was from Zouping, the same county where Liang Shuming conducted the new rural experiment. In this way, we are considered acquainted.

Soon after, Mr. Jiang was attacked by robbers and hospitalized, the "Chu resignation class" was suspended, and we all returned to our original units. In April of the following year, he returned to Hangzhou University.

I remember that it was the evening of June 9, 1980, and I had just had dinner and came to the dormitory where I lived (room 338 in 8 houses). I handed him a fan, made him a cup of tea, and we talked. He first said that our Shandong is a good place, with four distinct seasons, pleasant climate, rich products, and simple folk customs, no wonder that Emperor Wudi of Han wanted to say that "the birth of a son should be placed in the hometown of Qilu rites and righteousness". Then he talked about the cultural figures of Shandong township, especially in terms of linguistics and philology. Although I am also interested in this topic, I occasionally interject a few words, but basically listen to him. He said that in the Qing Dynasty, the atmosphere of Puxue in Shandong was very strong, and in addition to Hao Yixing's "Erya Yishu", Shandong accounted for two of the "four masters" who studied the "Shuowen", namely Wang Jun of Anqiu and Gui Fu of Qufu. I have known the names of the two sages for a long time. Gui Fu's affiliation is as famous as Yi Bingshou, and I like it very much. Wang Jun and historian Zhao Lisheng are both from Anqiu Jingzhi Town, and they often hear Mr. Zhao tell some stories about Wang Jun. But the two of them have not really read the book "Shuowen" carefully. So Zaiyi introduced me to the works of the two companies. He said that although Wang Jiuyou's "Interpretation of Shuowen" also uses the "Six Books", a number of public rules have been summarized from the "Shuowen", such as "shape and sound and meaning" and "shape and sound and false borrowing", which were the highest achievements in analyzing the composition of the text before the discovery of oracle bones. Therefore, to understand how each character is composed, read Wang's Interpretation. Wang's later "Reading of Shuwen Sentences" uses the standard of "Interpretation of Examples" to specifically explain the composition of each character, which is very convenient for beginners. Gui Weigu (Fu)'s "Proof of Meaning and Meaning of Shuowen" lists the meaning and usage of each character in the ancient book of Shuowen, which is very helpful for a wide understanding of the meaning of the word. The heavy shape of Wang Shu, the heavy meaning of Gui Shu, the emphasis of Zhu Shu (Zhu Junsheng's "Shuowen Tongxun Dingsheng"), coupled with the "Old Ancestor's Duan Note" (Liang Qichao) of this learning, are the "four masters" of the Qing Dynasty's "Shuowen", and it is also the most basic document for the study of "Shuowen". He said that he had read the Shuowen three times, focusing on the Duan Notes and referring to the other three. He also said that the information in the "Duan Note" is too rich, but if you want to quote it when writing an article, you must review the original text. Because the ancients often quoted books only to the general meaning, they were not completely consistent with the words of the original book.

Professor Guo Zaiyi in Shuzhai. (Photo courtesy of Guo Xianyu)

During the conversation, because I heard that Zai Yi had named his apartment after "Yi Er Wang Zhai", I raised the question of the study of "Gaoyou Two Kings". Zai Yi is also very interested in this. He said that the knowledge of the "two kings" (Wang Niansun and Wang Yinzhi) indeed spread to Shandong, and the location was in the areas of Rizhao, Zhucheng, and Anqiu, and the earliest representative figure was Xu Han. Xu Yinlin (Han) directly inherited the academic methods of the "two kings", and his way of doing learning was completely consistent with that of the "two kings". Therefore, when Wang Jun wrote the "Interpretation of Texts", every time he wrote a part, he would first seek Xu Yinlin's opinion. Since then, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the style of learning in this area still has a clear "two kings" color. So we talked about Ding Weifen and Wang Xiantang. Ding Weifen was able to trace dialect slang back to the time of the Book of Poetry, still using the method of "seeking righteousness by sound". And Wang Xiantang's phonological enlightenment teacher is Ding Weifen. Wang Xiantang has made extremely high achievements in writing, phonology, epigraphy, archaeology, version, and cataloguing, and is known as "a rare scholar in the three hundred years of Shanzuo". I heard Mr. Zhao Lisheng relay to me a sentence from Wang Xiantang before his death: "Then the knowledge of this belly was taken away like this?" After hearing this, he also sighed very emotionally and said, "It's a pity! If Mr. Wang Xiantang lived another ten years, his contribution to scholarship would be immeasurable. Who knew that the word "pity" was actually used on Yi Yi himself in the end, which is really distressing!

Shandong scholar Wang Xiantang (1896-1960). (Infographic/Figure)

We talked like this and had a great time. When Yi said these words, he always talked eloquently, a little casually; And I seem to have some understanding. I was not only amazed at the breadth of his reading, but also clearly felt that his outstanding achievements in the study of hermeneutics were not only related to his solid roots in the Shuowen, but also inseparable from the immersion of his country culture. For example, his famous work "Chu Ci Xie Zhi" (published in the 6th series of "Literature and History"), it cannot be written without a deep cultural heritage.

Tuber Jiuyo is fantastic

About ten days later, on the evening of June 19, Zai Yi came to my dormitory again. He came this time to inform Chu Ciban about going to Mr. Jiang's house the next morning to discuss with Xiao Bing, but after talking about the topic, they started talking again. This time the conversation was mainly about anecdotes from academics and predecessors, and the conversation was more casual. Those days Hangzhou was particularly hot, and I sweated while sitting. As usual, I handed him a fan and made him a cup of green tea, so he waved the fan and sipped, and talked endlessly, and the more he spoke, the stronger his Shandong accent became—of course, I could understand it all.

He first told Mr. Jiang about being an assistant. At that time, there were many people who wanted to enter Mr. Jiang's door, and Mr. Jiang chose him because his academic performance ranked first in the class, and secondly, because he was recommended by Mr. Gao Heng. Mr. Gao Heng and Mr. Jiang are classmates of the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, and the two have a good relationship. By chance, Mr. Gao read a reading note by Zai Yi and felt that the student was a talent that could be created, so he recommended it to Mr. Jiang. Of course, all this was not known by Yi in advance, and he also heard about it afterwards. After entering Jiangmen, Mr. Jiang found that his handwriting was good, so he asked him to copy the manuscript, and sometimes helped Mr. Jiang find some information. In terms of governance, Mr. Jiang asked him to base himself on "Shuowen" first, saying that this is the root; Then extend outward from the "Chu Ci". He also mentioned that during the Cultural Revolution, he went to Mr. Jiang's house almost every night to listen to Mr. Jiang tell some anecdotes and academic stories of famous people in ancient and modern China and abroad. For example, Mr. Jiang once told him how he went to the Seine River with the sinologist Boschhe to "hunt for treasures" when he was studying in France. Mr. Jiang also told me this story, which was told on the way I accompanied Mr. Jiang to the Yellow Dragon Cave.

Later, Mr. Jiang often entrusted some important things to Yi to do. For example, regarding the establishment of the China Qu Yuan Society, Mr. Jiang entrusted Zai Yi to contact famous Chu scholars from all over the country as the initiator. Although this matter was not promoted in the end for some reason, Zai Yi's ability to do things was highly praised by everyone. There is also the "Narrative" part of Mr. Jiang's "Chu Ci Tongzhi" to be published first, and the quotations and allusions in it must indicate the source, so it took an overnight time to make a 10,000-character note, and Mr. Jiang was very happy to read it. Of course, this is all an afterthought.

In addition to Mr. Jiang, the old gentleman in the department admires Mr. Jiang Lihong the most. His later research on colloquialisms was deeply inspired by Mr. Chiang. He has visited Mr. Jiang many times to ask for advice, and the relationship between the two is also very harmonious. He said that after he interpreted the "Nine Covenants of Tubo" in "Chuci Conjuring Spirits" as "Tuber Entanglement", Mr. Jiang appreciated it very much and put it together: "The Nine Covenants of Tuber are imaginative." The smug look he had when he said this still appears in front of me. But since he was not Mr. Chiang's disciple, he said that Mr. Jiang had always referred to him as a "friend," while Mr. Jiang called him "Jimen."

Regarding Mr. Xia Chengtao, Zai Yi only told two anecdotes about him. First, on the Qingming Festival one year, Mr. Xia led several young teachers to tour West Lake, and he also went. But when he arrived at the teahouse and wanted to eat tea, Mr. Xia found that he had forgotten to bring money, so he said humorously: "A penny is difficult for Professor Hangda." The second is that before the last study meeting of the department in a certain year, everyone was talking about a topic of "what to be afraid of". Some say they are afraid of snakes, some say they are afraid of mice, and some say they are afraid of caterpillars. Finally, when asked about Mr. Xia, he said that he was afraid of the teapot. Everyone was puzzled, so Mr. Xia stood up, crossed his waist with one hand, and stretched forward with the other, making a teapot shape. Everyone understood that the so-called "teapot" was the image of a woman. Mr. Cai Yijiang also seems to have mentioned this matter in an article, I think I heard it on the same occasion, but the statement is slightly different.

Young Guo Zaiyi. (Photo courtesy of Guo Xianyu)

In that small talk, he also mentioned several old gentlemen in Beijing, such as Wei Jiangong and You Guoen. He said that his "Chu Ci Ji Xie" was sent to Beijing for review, and several old gentlemen gave praise and encouragement. Mr. You and Mr. Jiang have a good relationship, and Mr. Jiang once invited Mr. You to give a lecture at Hangzhou University, and there were two sentences in the invitation letter that he always remembered: "Although there is the beauty of lakes and mountains here, there is no joy in talking." During the conversation, he caught a glimpse of Zhu Jihai's "Chu Ci Xie" on my desk, so he took it and flipped through it casually, pointing to one of the places and saying, "Mr. Zhu is not only a good learner, but also has a benevolent personality. After he discovered the error of Gu Yanwu's quotation, he did not make a fuss, just a passing one, and there was still the meaning of the sage. I took the book and looked at it, it turned out to be an interpretation of the sentence "Xuan Bird to the Lady He Xi" in "Tianwen":

"Nu He Xi" should be praised from a book. Gu Yanwu's "Tang Yunzheng" Yun: "Today's book is happy and is changed by descendants who do not understand ancient sounds." According to the "Later Han Etiquette Record", this work is quoted. "Today, I quoted this as a jia, and I actually saw that in Liu Zhao's "Annotated Supplement", Gu Jun occasionally did not have time to separate, but he looked for ancient sounds, and used the mistake of this book to solve his own thesis.

The phrase "Gu Jun occasionally separated" brought the matter over, and the next "Searching for the ancient sound, with the mistake of ordering the present book, is the theory of self-interpretation" fully affirmed Gu's achievements, and his respect for the ancients was overflowing. I can't help but think that this is exactly what Zaiyi did. Although his research corrected the fallacies of many ancients and timers, he did not mean to criticize the other party, and at best he just said "one has not been reached". Sometimes there are many comments on the annotations of a certain book, and in the end, they do not forget to affirm the achievements and advantages of the book, and call it "a small defect in the big alcohol". This is to be placed on some young scholars today, if they find everyone's white flaws, they don't know how to do the article!

We talked like this, and before we knew it, it was eleven o'clock at night. He looked at his watch and said that there were still classes for tomorrow, so he got up to leave. Interestingly, as soon as I got up the next morning, he knocked on the door again, saying that he had come to return the fan. It turned out that when he went out last night, he shook his fan and left. At that time, the entire city of Hangzhou could not buy a fan, he knew. I still brought it from Lanzhou. Although this is a small section, it shows the seriousness of doing things in Yi.

"Guo Zaiyi's Collected Writings" book shadow. (Photo courtesy of Lu Dunji)

Learning is a pleasure

It is often said that learning is a pleasure and a pleasure. He said that after solving an academic problem, he felt as comfortable as drinking a cup of Longjing tea in Sanfutian. The same goes for reading. When he reviewed his reading life, he wrote: "When the night is quiet, a roll is in hand, the green lantern is alone, and I feel that the joy of life is nothing more than this... Before twelve o'clock at night or even one or two o'clock the next morning, you will not go to bed. ("Looking Back on My Reading Life", Knowledge of Literature and History, No. 9, 1988) Although he does not deliberately pursue fame and fortune, he is still very happy every time an article is published. Once, a journal in Tianjin published one of his short articles, first sent ten sample publications, and then received a 20 yuan manuscript fee, he happily said to me: "A small article, it is already very good to give ten sample publications, and give 20 yuan for the manuscript fee." There was a bit of joy in his words.

In addition to classes, he mainly reads and writes. He was not very sociable, and even less willing to attend flashy academic meetings. In a letter to me dated 14 June 1982, he said: "A certain province is holding a Qu Yuan academic seminar, and an invitation has been issued for my brother to participate, but I do not plan to go. First, because of the busy schedule, and secondly, because of the boredom of such flashy behavior. He wrote a letter of refusal. ”

But he still participates in some important academic conferences. For example, in May 1986, he attended the second annual meeting of the China Qu Yuan Society and the International Qu Yuan Academic Symposium held in Fuyang, Zhejiang Province. But he never sits forward in meetings, only in the last row. It was the same time that time. As soon as I entered the room, he beckoned me to sit with him and started talking. He asked me what the greatest pleasure of attending the academic conference was, and I said it was communication, and he corrected: "It's to see the faces of various people." Then he drew my attention to it, saying that ××× was in the position of a director of an academy in the drill camp, and ××× had been close to the editor of the same journal, and wanted to publish articles. I followed his train of thought, and sure enough. He only listens and generally does not speak. But when there are some academic irregularities, he will also speak out. Or at that Fuyang meeting, a middle-aged teacher quoted "Xianda Father" many times when reading the paper, and Zai Yi immediately interjected and asked: "Whose Xian's father?" Is it your first father or Ma Maoyuan's first father? It turned out that Ma Maoyuan in his "Chu Ci Xuan", every time he quoted the words of his grandfather Ma Qichang's "Qu Fuwei", he said "first big father", this old man thought that "first big father" was a personal name, and also quoted it, resulting in a big joke. In Yi said that a hard injury like this must be pointed out to him, otherwise it will be delayed for the rest of his life.

It was also during Fuyang that we sat down again when we took a boat trip to the Fuchun River. He quietly told me that the State Council Academic Degrees Committee had just named him a doctoral supervisor, and that he was only 47 years old, the youngest among doctoral supervisors majoring in Chinese history. He also said that some academic seniors he had never met had also given him high praise, such as Mr. Xu Fu of Nanjing Normal College.

A generation of handsome shows died in the middle

Zai Yi is a peasant child, and his body is originally very good. He told me that when he was young, he walked around West Lake with several young teachers in the department, and after a few laps, he didn't feel tired. When I knew him, he still looked quite strong and his face was red. But who knew that he left us forever on January 10, 1989! When he died, he was only one day away from his 50th birthday, January 11, 1989.

Mr. Xu Jialu, who is also a scholar of hermeneutics, wrote in the "Epitaph of Professor Guo Zaiyi": "A generation of handsome and beautiful, died in the middle way. When the fierce question came, Shilin was stunned. "That's true. When my friends at Hangzhou University told me about Zaiyi's death, I could hardly believe it. At 50, what does that mean for a scholar who has accumulated deep and is still bearing fruit? This is an age of creativity, an age of endless academic excellence! In the words of Mr. Zaiyi commenting on Mr. Wang Xiantang: "If he lives for another ten years, his contribution to scholarship is immeasurable. ”

After his departure, although he left us with several famous works such as the published "Manuscripts of the Precepts" and "The Study of the Precepts", as well as the finalized "Proofreading of the Dunhuang Variation Anthology", as well as dozens of academic papers that will be collected in the future; But his research project is far from complete (his disciples are working hard to complete it), and his talent has not yet been fully realized. The article of the ages is not exhausted! It has been 34 years since Yi's death, but every time I read his writings, this feeling still hits my heart from time to time.

Zhang Chongchen