Tsinghua University took the exam to produce the upper link "Sun Xingzhi", but it was difficult for many talents, and only one person made the lower link
In 1932, in the entrance examination room of Tsinghua University, when the candidates got the Chinese language test papers, they were dumbfounded.
There is a question of pairs, the upper link is "Sun Xingzhi", and the lower link is required, these short three words stumped the vast majority of candidates, and even many people simply handed in the blank paper.
In the end, only one person gave a perfect answer, so what exactly is that person's answer?
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, during the New Deal period, the eight-share literary talent election form that had been used for hundreds of years was abolished, and for a long time after that, the entrance examinations and entrance examinations of major schools were held by the schools themselves, and the examination questions were naturally decided by the teachers of each school.
In 1932, when the entrance examination for freshmen at Tsinghua University was imminent, Liu Wendian, the director of the Department of Chinese Studies, specially invited Mr. Chen Yinke of the Institute of Chinese Studies to help with the questions.
Mr. Chen Yinke is a modern Chinese historian, linguist, and researcher of classical literature.
During his tenure as a teacher at Tsinghua University, Chen Yinke was selected as one of the "Four Great Philosophers" in the century-old history of Tsinghua University, and was also known as the Four Great Masters of History along with Lu Simian, Chen Yuan, and Qian Mu.
Mr. Chen Yinke has been familiar with the 24th History since he was a child, and has studied history and classical literature extensively.
It is precisely because of this that Liu Wendian gave him such an important task as the proposition of the Chinese language exam.
At that time, Mr. Chen Yinke was a professor in the Department of History, Chinese and Philosophy at Tsinghua University, and concurrently served as a director of Academia Sinica.
However, in 1932, when Tsinghua University students were enrolled, Mr. Chen Yinke was ready to suspend work and go to Beidaihe to recuperate because he was unwell.
Just the day before departure, Director Liu Wendian came to the door and expressed his hope that he would give a set of exam questions to the new students.
Time was tight, and Chen Yinke could only agree in a hurry.
That night, Chen Yinke pondered for a long time, and wrote two questions on the paper with a wave of his pen.
One is to write an ordinary Chinese essay with the title of "Sleepwalking in Tsinghua Garden", and the other is a pair, and the upper link given by Mr. Chen Yinke is "Sun Xingzhi".
And it was these seemingly simple three words that stumped the vast majority of students in the examination room.
The first question is easy to understand, but the second question is obviously a bit surprising.
When asked about the intention of this question, Chen Yinke laid out four reasons.
Firstly, the students' application of real and imaginary words was examined.
secondly, to examine the students' ideological conditioning;
Furthermore, the students' application of flat voices was investigated.
Finally, the amount of knowledge of students is examined.
In just three words, it contains so many layers of Mr. Chen Yinke's intentions, which shows his academic attainments, but at the same time, it can be expected how difficult this question is.
Sure enough, when the candidates in the examination room saw this question, they were dumbfounded.
Many candidates couldn't come out of the next link after thinking hard, so they simply had sex with a blank paper.
There are also some students who have written big cases such as Tang Sanzang, Sha Monk, and Zhu Bajie, which should be a bit of luck.
For this kind of answer, Chen Yinke finally awarded zero points.
Among all the freshmen majoring in Chinese language, only a few scored points.
One of them said "The king leads to it", and such an answer got a passing grade.
Some people also answered "Zu Chongzhi", and Chen Yinke gave it excellent.
Only one student named Zhou Zumo finally got a perfect score, and his next link was "Hu Shizhi".
"Hu" and "Sun" are both surnames; "Shi" also has the meaning of "to go" in ancient texts, which happens to correspond to "Xing"; and "zhi" and "者" are both imaginary words.
From this point of view, "Hu Shizhi" is indeed the most perfect answer.
As the exam came to an end, Chen Yinke's couplet question also sparked heated discussions in the academic community.
While everyone praised Chen Yinke's ingenious ideas, many people also put forward different opinions, and they thought that the answer to "Zu Chongzhi" was better.
The word "ancestor" is not only the same surname, but also an antonym with the word "sun", which is more contrivent; the contrast between "chong" and "xing", and "zhi" and "zhi" is also perfect.
For a while, many people stood on the side of "Zu Chongzhi", and even Liang Yusheng, a famous domestic martial arts novelist, thought so.
However, Chen Yinke's later explanation immediately convinced everyone.
Chen Yinke said: The three characters of Sun Xingzhi seem to be quoted from "Journey to the West", but at the same time, it also uses Su Shi's "Seven Laws of Xie Jun, a Warlock in Qianzhou", "I am afraid that I was Lu Xingzhi in my previous life, and I learned to call Han to retreat." ”
In the poem, "Lu Xingzhi" and "Han Huizhi", the combination of movement and static, and the harmony of peace, are just right, and the word "Han Lu" at the beginning of the two is also the name of a dog.
The "Sun" in "Sun Xingzhi" and the "Hu" in "Hu Shizhi" are merged together, which happens to be "Hu Sun (猢狲)", which perfectly fits Su Shi's poems.
Mr. Chen Yinke believes that Su Shi's two poems should not be underestimated in the couplet and literary circles, and the physiology of Chinese literature should be mastered, so he said that the couplet "Sun Xingzhi" examines the students' literary reserves.
Although the lower link of "Zu Chongzhi" met the first three requirements put forward by Chen Yinke, it failed to meet the last requirement, so it is no wonder that the score is inferior to "Hu Shizhi".
