Yandong Garden, located in the northwest corner of Beijing, is an unfamiliar place name to most people. Its predecessor was the Chengfu of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in the 1920s it was bought by the then president of Peking University, Situ Leiden, and became the habitat of a generation of Peking University people, where scholars such as Jin Yuelin, You Guoen, He Qifang, and Jian Bozan spent the 20th century, which was full of great changes and revolutions.
The author, Xu Hong, spent a full formative period here, and most of these scholars who are quite famous in modern history are neighbors she has known since childhood. Years of professional and research training in journalism made Xu Hong decide to write this history - Yandongyuan, which has a history of nearly 100 years, has come to her twilight after experiencing many storms of the times, and as a new generation of Yandongyuan, Xu Hong believes that she "has the responsibility to leave a recourse and record for this garden and these small buildings".
In the book's first offline conversation, Xu Hong said that the process of making the book a book was a struggle against forgetting. After reading "Yandongyuan's Neighbors", the author also understood the weight of "not forgetting": "This is a spiritual map of intellectuals, and it is also a painful history of a rugged era from a small point of view. It should not be forgotten, because a similar atmosphere is slowly repeating itself in the present. The author is not only writing for intellectuals, but also for people with backbone, faith, good thoughts and truth-seeking."
Jin Yuelin, shopkeeper, Zhao Luorui...... In Yandong Garden, there is a painful history of intellectuals buried: silent existence
One
Why Yandong Garden
In modern and contemporary Chinese history, Feng Zhi, He Qifang, Chen Mengjia, and Jin Yuelin are all well-known names, and they all lived in the same place, that is, Yandongyuan, also known as "East Dadi". Yandong Garden is near the east gate of Peking University, formerly known as the Chengfu of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it is said that it was the eunuch barracks during the Qianlong period, and the old eunuchs came out of the palace and were buried here after their deaths. In the 1920s, the then president of Yenching University, Situ Leiden, bought the 77 acres of land and built the current Yandong Garden. Since then, generations of intellectuals have intersected here, including but not limited to You Guoen, Zhao Luorui, Jian Bozan, Hong Qian and so on.
Since the 1920s, Yandongyuan has included a group of outstanding scholars, but the 20th century was an era of revolution and great changes, and intellectuals could not be left alone.
Therefore, Yandongyuan is an important coordinate, but for a long time, there was a lack of a monograph dedicated to exploring its cultural value, until Xu Hong filled this gap. Open this book, you can not only find Wang Shixiang's paradise, He Qifang's reading club, but also Feng Zhi and Yang Hui's "friendship of a Jiazi", Zhou Liang's guilt towards Chen Yinke, and Chen Mengjia and Zhao Luorui who cannot be forgotten. With solid brushstrokes, Xu Hong wrote a spiritual history of intellectuals and rescued a past that should not be forgotten.
Documentary "The Master"
Yandong Park is composed of two residential areas, connected by a cement bridge in the middle, which are called "Qiaodong" and "Qiaoxi" respectively. The author's home, Xu Hong, is at the foot of the western slope of the bridge. Xu Hong was born in a family of scholars, and her mother Han Dechang was a preschool music educator and composer, composing songs such as "Shake, Shake", "Little Duckling" and "Careless Little Painter". Her father, Xu Xianyu, one of the pioneers of computational mathematics in China. He taught at Yenching University and Peking University, and lived until he was 100 years old.
Xu Hong aspired to write, and after graduating, she became a journalist, advocating the professionalism and research of news reporting. In order to complete "Yandong Garden's Neighborhood", she spent several years interviewing and researching 192 residents in 22 small buildings in Yandong Garden, with a total of 211 people. The book has a four-tiered narrative structure. One is the general introduction. The second is the small buildings in Yandong Park that have been hung with the plaque of "Beijing Historical Buildings", and the third is the nine small buildings that are not listed, but cannot be ignored in the history of Yandong Garden (Dongdadi). The fourth is to review the author's own family and summarize the book, which also includes an afterword. The author has a clear idea and uses an architectural approach to build the text. Through 96-year-old Aunt Hu Luxi, Mr. Zhao Jinglun, the son of Mr. Zhao Zichen, the former head of the religious department of Yan University, and Guan Jiaqi, the "second generation of Yan", the author not only sorted out the list of residents of Yandongyuan and its predecessor Dongdadi in detail, but also salvaged many anecdotes related to Yandongyuan.
For example, before 1950, there were many foreign residents in Dongdadi. In the early 1950s, when the Korean War broke out, foreign teachers at Yan University were required to leave. So at about the same time, the author's home suddenly added several pieces of furniture, "a pair of Western-style high-backed beds, two Western-style cabinets, and a few chairs with a unique shape, round chair tops, with a slightly curved back", and a dark green American military blanket.
Another example is Jin Yuelin, who lives on the north half of No. 21 East District of Yandong Park. He likes to fight crickets, and the children of Yandongyuan say that he is a master of fighting crickets. His house has dozens of extra-large cricket jars, one of which is gray and cylindrical, with a diameter of 16 or 7 centimeters and a height of 10 centimeters, equipped with small dishes and small sinks. Another deep impression he left on outsiders was that he was single all his life, and he only took one chef to live in Yandong Garden, and the bread he baked was delicious.
Piggybacking on the book, Xu Hong also clarified one thing. Everyone knows that Jin Yuelin and Lin Hui are confidants, and when Lin Hui died of illness in April 1955, Jin Yuelin wrote a couplet: a poetic Qianxun Waterfall, April day in the ancient world. Soon after Lin Huiyin's death, Jin Yuelin left Yandongyuan, and some people in private said that it was because Lin Huiyin was gone, and Mr. Jin had fulfilled his duty of waiting. This is a romantic statement, but Xu Hong found that several families moved out of Yandongyuan at the same time as Jin Yuelin, including the poet He Qifang. Originally, in June 1955, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established a faculty system, and the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences was one of the four faculties, with seven research institutes. In 1957, the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences moved to the area of Jianguomen Neigongyuan, and these gentlemen moved into the city to settle down.
Two
In Yandong Garden, there is worldly joy and tactful sorrow
The dedication to learning and the human touch in daily interactions are two points that are repeatedly addressed throughout the book. Under Building No. 34 Qiaoxi, You Guoen revised the History of Chinese Literature and proofread the text of Lisao despite his illness. When teaching in the classroom, he has a loud voice, is familiar with classical literature, and can recite at will in class. It is also in Yandong Garden that He Qifang will regularly hold discussions on the Book of Songs at home. In the first half of 1956, You Guoen attended as a special guest, and it is said that He Qifang once asked You Lao in person for advice on what reference books were available for the "Book of Songs", and You Guoen did not hesitate to list dozens of books.
In Yandong Garden, you can see Feng Zhi and Yao Kekun, who "have vine trellises at the entrance of the courtyard and the entrance of the building, and the fragrant lilac flower bunches hang down in spring, which are used at home to make rattan radish cakes to eat", and you can also see Lin Qiwu, who lives at No. 21 Qiaodong, who miraculously lived past the age of 100 after rectal cancer surgery had his anus removed and made outstanding contributions to the cause of Chinese badminton. After surgery in 1952, his stomach and intestines were diverted and he could only defecate through a fistula made in his abdomen. When he was in rebellion, he had to attend some meetings, and he went to meetings with a small inflatable rubber band, which was padded under him, and his pants were often covered with blood. The daughter was ignorant at the time, and complained that her father was carrying "your butt pad" again, and the father said, "No!
You can also see Wang Shixiang. He is a big collector, a miscellaneous man, and a wild man who refuses to be restrained. The Wang family garden where he lives is close to the south wall of the East Land, not a wealthy house, but more like a large vegetable garden and several houses. In this garden, Wang Shixiang planted gourds, raised crickets, walked dogs to catch badgers, carried a gourd in his arms in class, and an eagle on his arm after class. In 1936, Zhao Luorui and Chen Mengjia were newly married, living in the garden of the Wang family, and late one night, they were awakened by a noise, thinking that robbers had come in the house, and they were too frightened to squeak. In the middle of the night before, he and his companions led four dogs to Yuquan Mountain to catch badgers, and when they returned at dawn, they thought that the senior and his wife had already fallen asleep.
Zheng Fang, who once lived in No. 42A Yandongyuan and was born in the Zheng family in Wujiang, Jiangsu, many people know that her husband is Zhou Xiangeng, a professor at the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University, and her own talent and ability are not inferior to her husband. Before her death, her friends knew that she had a strong language learning ability, a good cooking skill, and a love to raise small animals. After her death, when the 700,000-word "Collected Works of Zheng Fang" was published, readers learned that Zheng Fang could write wittily, whether it was prose, novels, or character sketches, and these were all things she did while doing housework and taking care of her children.
Movie "No Questions Asked"
In Yandong Garden, there is sweetness and sorrow. In 1952, the historian Jian Bozan, who was the head of the history department of Peking University, lived at No. 28 Yandong Garden, and moved to Yannan Garden during the Cultural Revolution. In the sixties, he was criticized as a "reactionary academic authority", and on December 19, 1968, when the worker, Master Du Quan, realized that something was wrong and slammed the door open, Jian Bozan and his wife lay flat on the bed, wearing new clothes and closing a new quilt. They had already committed suicide by overdose of "Sleepless".
In the 1950s, there were five famous professors in the Department of Spanish Languages at Yan University, namely Zhao Luorui, Yu Daqi, Hu Jiayi, Wu Xinghua, and Wu Ningkun. Ten years later, except for Wu Ningkun and Zhao Luorui, the other three died in the 1960s.
In 1966, Chen Mengjia committed suicide. After Chen Mengjia's death, Zhao Luorui lived with her father Zhao Zichen at No. 22 Backstreet of the Art Museum. Zhao Zichen lived in this two-hall courtyard house in the style of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties for 29 years and died in 1979 at the age of 91. Twelve years later, in 1991, the Shanghai Translation Publishing House published a complete translation of the American poet Whitman's Leaves of Grass, translated by Zhao Luorui. It took her twelve years to meticulously translate this work. This year, she was 79 years old. She lived until 1998.
Three
There is not a single word of resentment in this book, but there is persistence everywhere
From the Anti-Japanese War to the reform and opening up, a small piece of Yandong Garden has experienced many ups and downs of the times. It's just that it's also heading for its own twilight. At the end of 2021, Beijing completed the first batch of demonstration and listing of historical buildings, and Buildings 21-24, 31-37, 39 and 40 of Yandong Park were selected and listed. The excitement of the past has become history, which is also the reason why Xu Hong accelerated the completion of this book.
"Yandong Garden's Neighbors" not only has historical value, but also a collection of stories full of human feelings. The narrator is like a historical tour guide, returning to his hometown, walking into the old building, and telling the stories behind the house numbers. The author's tone is calm and ironing, neither impatient nor utilitarian with a desire to incite people. After the book was published, I noticed a voice that thought it was an elite book and had nothing to do with ordinary people. This point of view is worth pondering.
First of all, on the surface, this is indeed a book of the elite. Most of the people living in Yandong Park are university scholars, many of whom are celebrities, and in terms of social status, they are de facto elites. However, after reading the whole book, what I feel is not the usual show-off and whitewashing of elite writing, but the author's serious pursuit of specific people, and on the basis of this pursuit that has taken many years of painstaking efforts, he tries to remove the false and retain the truth from the historical scene as much as possible, and the tactful reflection on the historical tragedy.
There is not a single word of resentment in this book, but there is persistence everywhere. Within the limited scope of publication, the author has recorded as much as possible the choices and controversies of a generation of scholars in the great changes of history. The author does not judge the quality of those choices, but adheres to his own sense of proportion as a recorder, and replaces the loud judgments with the thickness of the characters' lives.
In a conversation with Xu Zhiyuan and others, Xu Hong bluntly said: "When I was doing these interviews, I was fighting against forgetting...... It would be very sad for a society, as a people, as a group to forget, and deliberately and selectively, its suffering. Once forgotten, the same suffering will occur a second or third time. ”
After reading the whole book and reminiscing about the past of Chen Mengjia, Zhao Luorui, Jian Bozan and other ancestors, I became more aware of the weight of the author's three words "not forget", and also understood why she completed this book now. This is a spiritual map of intellectuals, and it is also a painful history of a rugged era from a small point of view. It should not be forgotten, because a similar atmosphere is slowly repeating itself in the present. Because of this, the whole book records the past, but it is like a warning to the present. The author is not only writing for intellectuals, but also for people with backbone, faith, good thoughts and truth-seeking.
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