#我来唠家常#
▲ The red of the people and the blue of the sky complement each other. Photo by Kang Dong Ho
-The Legend of the Gentleman of Things-
"Ahead to the station—
Renmin University"
In the center of Zhongguancun Street, at the end of the north is Tsinghua University and Peking University, to the south there are Beijing Institute of Technology, Minzu University of China and Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, to the east is the college road with eight colleges, here is the core area of "Haidian School Park City", and also sits in China's "largest" university, a people's university - Chinese Minmin University.
▲ The landmark of the East Gate of the Chinese People's University is generally called "Qiushi Original Chicken" because it resembles chicken nuggets. Photo by Lu Xingji
She has a glorious history: 1937 Shaanbei Public School, 1939 North China United University, 1948 North China University, until 1950, she became the first new type of formal university founded in New China, a university with the mission of cultivating the builders of the People's Republic, and a banner in the field of Chinese humanities and social sciences.
▲ West Gate of Chinese University. Photo by Yuan Yuan
In private, Renmin University students have always implemented the school motto of "seeking truth from facts", and used the "adaptation" of the school's name to express their feelings for this school: Chinese Min's "reading history and classics" university, Chinese Min's 15-minute university, the university affiliated to the High School Affiliated to the National People's Congress, the university Chinese the people's vacation, and the university Chinese the people eat (can't afford) food...... Behind this is the openness and inclusiveness of the school atmosphere.
▲ The open Chinese University used to be able to check the results with scratch tickets, but if you can't scratch them...... That may indicate that there is less bad luck.
If we use the current popular university evaluation criteria - the number of academicians, scientific research funds, teaching facilities, etc., to evaluate, compared with schools such as "Qingbei Resumption of Diplomatic Relations", the National People's Congress can be said to be mediocre. However, in the discipline evaluation of the Ministry of Education, the People's Congress ranks first in nine first-level disciplines, including theoretical economics, applied economics, journalism and communication, law, and sociology.
▲ On June 30, 2020, the graduation ceremony was a student of the university. Photo by Yuan Yuan
The cradle of China's new universities
The predecessor of Chinese People's University, Shaanbei Public School, was a university born in the flames of the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, from the very beginning, she breathed and shared the fate of the country and the nation. "China will not die because of Shaanxi", is the highest praise a national leader has for a nascent school.
▲ The people in the snow are arrogant. Photography / Duan Jingyu
Going to Yan'an and Shangshaangong was the most popular life choice for young people at that time. Despite the war-torn situation, university education is not systematically carried out here. However, there are always many builders of the republic who are speakers at Shaanbei Public School, "These people are not arrogant or limelighters, but people who are down-to-earth and full of practical spirit." This inscription of Northern Shaanxi Public School has also become the best precursor of the later school motto of the National People's Congress "seeking truth from facts".
▲ Dr. Bethune gave a report to the students of Northern Shaanxi Public School. Photo courtesy of Apple
After the merger of the Northern Shaanxi Public School with three schools to form the North China United University, it went deep behind the enemy lines, and nearly 10,000 cadres devoted themselves to the cause of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, she united with Northern University to establish North China University, which was the main body of the later Chinese People's University.
▲ The student team of North China University. Photo courtesy of Apple
This university later became the predecessor of many universities: whether it is Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Agricultural University, Beijing University of Foreign Chinese and other local schools in Beijing, or the Central Academy of Drama, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Central Conservatory of Music and many other art schools, they are inextricably linked with her.
However, the Chinese Renmin University was almost "built outside China".
On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was hoped that the Soviet Union would "set up a specialized school for China's construction management personnel." At first, this "Chinese university" was planned to be located in Almada (present-day Almaty, Kazakhstan), but after several discussions, it was chosen to be located at No. 1 Tieshi Hutong in Beijing's Dongcheng District. On October 3, 1950, the opening ceremony of the Chinese People's University was held in this place that had once served as the army and navy of the Qing government and the government of Duan Qirui.
▲ The old campus of Renmin University. Photo by Yuan Yuan
Unlike Peking University and Tongji University, which have a "moral flavor" in their education system, and Tsinghua University and National Central University, which are modeled after American-style education, behind the establishment of Chinese Renmin University is a younger vein: Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, Northern Shaanxi Public School, and Lu Xun Art College, which together represent a touch of agitation red in the revolutionary era.
▲ In 1950, Renmin University students took a group photo at the East Gate. Photo courtesy of Chinese University Network News Agency
From 1950 to 1957, a total of 98 Soviet experts came to the People's Congress to teach. Since then, two distinct streams of Western higher education and Soviet-style higher education have converged and merged into the cradle of the new Chinese higher education model. For example, the term "teaching and research department", the basic organizational unit of various faculties and departments of today's universities, was translated from the Russian word Кафедра by Cheng Fangwu, the first vice president of the National People's Congress.
▲ Overlooking today's Renmin University. Photo by Yuan Yuan
Times Surf University
Undertaking the responsibilities of the builders of New China, the keynote of the founding of the National People's Congress at the beginning was "applying it to the world".
The first eight departments of the National People's Congress were all majors urgently needed by the new Chinese government to solve the problems of social construction, and more than 15 departments or majors, such as law, trade, industrial economics, archives, and party history, which were the first to be established in the new China. So much so that at that time, people ranked the four top universities in Beijing as "Renbei Qingshi".
▲ Looking at the Mingde Building Group from afar, the ace disciplines of economics, law, journalism and other ace disciplines of today's National People's Congress are all here. Photo by Yuan Yuan
China's humanities and social sciences encounter with Chinese National University, and the titles of "founder" and "pioneer" are indispensable. In the 80s of the last century, among the nearly 30 philosophy departments in colleges and universities across the country, 26 of them had department heads who were graduates of the philosophy department of the National People's Congress; as the first formal legal higher education institution in China after 1949, the Law Department of the National People's University became a "people's university school." For example, Professor Gao Mingxuan participated in the drafting and revision of China's Criminal Code throughout the whole process, and in the process of formulating many other laws, there were many jurists from the National People's Congress.
For example, Wu Cangping, who is 98 years old today, although he took a very avant-garde degree MBA at that time, but he could teach statistics, and he could also work with Fei Xiaotong's teacher Wu Jingchao, Li Jinghan, who did the "Dingxian Social Profile Survey" during the Republic of China, and other famous experts, pioneered the study of Chinese demography and sociology, and after foreseeing the problem of population aging, he pioneered gerontology research in 1982; and the article "Practice is the Only Criterion for Testing Truth" written by Hu Fuming, a philosophy student, , which opened a great discussion in a period of social transition.
▲ In October 1980, four freshmen of the Department of Finance took a group photo at the main entrance of Renmin University. Photo courtesy of Chinese University Network News Agency
Tolerance and creation are the reliance of "seeking truth from facts". In 1957, Gao Hongye, then a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado, resolutely returned to China, which was at the height of the "anti-rightist" movement, and only the National People's Congress could accept such a scholar to critically teach Western economics in the classroom. Later, his book "Western Economics" became a common textbook for tens of millions of Chinese college students.
▲ The old library and the new library, this building has witnessed the changes of the National People's Congress over the past decades. On Photo by Wu Lingyan. Photography by Yuan Yuan
It is a very rich thing to be able to immerse yourself in learning at the National People's Congress, and the classes here are completely open, and there may be surprises in finding a classroom in the public teaching building during class time. It is as big as the "Eight Crises" behind agriculture and rural areas, as rare as the giant panda's party history major, and looking forward to the future as the physics knowledge after interstellar travel...... Even the most boring contemplative courses, at the National People's Congress, you can enjoy the treatment of the textbook writer himself, and if you have enough time, you can become an anthropologist and accountant jointly trained by the five academies of humanities.
▲ The Chinese Studies Hall of Chinese University, the Chinese Academy is one of the new colleges of the National People's University that keeps pace with the times. Photo by Yuan Yuan
However, Renmin University is not only in the humanities and social sciences, not to mention the School of Information, which pioneered China's earliest database teaching and research, the emerging condensed matter physics major of Renmin University, and the newly launched Hillhouse School of Artificial Intelligence in 2019, which has become a highland for interdisciplinary research and "based on the future".
Just as the most popular elective course of the National People's Congress is called "The Rise and Fall of a Great Power", as a university student, it is difficult not to contain a sense of family and country.
University of Chinese People's Life
A people's university has never lacked masters, but for a long time, it was crowded with masters.
Freshmen will always lament the hidden corner of the school's history that the teachers talked about, either the old principal gave up the golden area of Shichahai and the east gate today, or in 1979, the glorious legend that the teachers and students recovered a small half of the campus through the reasonable appeal of "seeking truth from facts".
▲ The landmark of the National People's Congress, the stone of seeking truth from facts. Photo by Yuan Yuan
In 1970, the National People's Congress was forced to withdraw from the university, and at the request of Guo Yingqiu, then vice president, the formation system was dispersed to various colleges and universities in Beijing to preserve its strength. In the 22 years since the resumption of the school in 1978, the public financial investment received by the National People's Congress has averaged less than 100 million yuan per year, far less than the corners of some sister schools. Among the universities directly under the Ministry of Education, the National People's Congress has a number of "honorary titles": the campus area is the first, and the per capita teaching facility area is also the smallest.
Therefore, in the life of the National People's Congress, it can only be used as a dojo in a snail shell, and the largest body of water of the National People's Congress, "a spoonful of pool", is only a few dozen steps in radius, and is also nicknamed "the sea of people". Couples stroll through the school, their eyes are confused, there is no place to stand, and even the entrance of the air-raid shelter under the lawn of Jiao Er in the early years can also become a tryst scene. At the 75th anniversary celebration, the old alumni of 20 years ago visited the old dormitory building "Dongfeng Po" and said excitedly, "These students live exactly like us, and even turn over." It's no wonder that alumnus Wang Xiaobo complained that the National People's Congress is too unsuitable for life.
▲ A spoonful of the pool and a corner. Photo by Yuan Yuan
It was not until the beginning of the new century that the construction of the campus of the National People's University has been soaring, the Mingde building group at the West Gate has laid the classic color scheme of "Renmin University Red", the former open-air swimming pool has become a square Century Pavilion, the library has been retired into a museum, the library has been renovated, and the newly renovated new library is known as the largest in Asia (the school office has specially refurbished for this series of renovations, and a document has been issued to define what is the "old library"), and the landmark of the East Gate "Qiushi Original Chicken" has also been successfully slimmed down......
▲ From the old library to the new library. Photography above/Mei Ke, photo below/Yuan Yuan
Although it is said that overlooking the National People's Congress, it is still like an institutional compound, but the old campus of the graduation photo check-in point has been new for a long time, and there is also a "Renmin University Suzhou Zoo" in the distant south of the Yangtze River, and the new comprehensive building has been erected next to the east gate, and the new campus in Tongzhou, which has been thinking about for three years and three years, seems to be "just around the corner". To this day, the campus appearance of the "Chinese People's Construction University" is still changing rapidly.
Ximen Big Tree Collection, Qiushi Building Brush Overnight, Coffee Shops Everywhere Card, Teach the Second Lawn to Watch Guitar Improvisation, and Talk about Summer and Wine on the Steps of the Ming Law...... Although the campus is small, the life of the university is very large.
▲ In June 2018, the Philharmonic Club performed on the square in front of the Century Pavilion. Photo by Wan Jin
But for a free-spirited person, anywhere can be "Zhongguancun No. 59". It is far more than just a Renmin University subway station named after the school, Line 4 and Line 10 are staggered in the northeast direction of the National People's Congress, plus a bus station named after two schools, and Zhongguancun is separated by one stop.
Every time it snows for the first time, or when the weather is good, there are always teachers who will advise, "Don't go to the library today, find a good place to see the snow", or "The weather is so good, let's go to the second lawn class." ”
▲ On April 4, 2018, spring snow in front of Baijialang. I don't know if it's snow or cherry blossoms. Photo by Wan Jin
The spring break at the end of April at the "Chinese Holiday University" is said to be designed for students to travel long distances. In well-known scenic spots all over the country, shouting "national example" may pop up from the crowd with the code of "pillar of society"; a summer practice of "thousands of people and 100 villages" is a more in-depth visit to the land of China; and the "international semester" taught by teachers from more than 30 countries is the most convenient window for people to see the world.
▲ Looking at the new building of the National People's Congress from Zhongguancun Street. Photography / Sweet Potato
The inclusiveness and sincerity of the National People's Congress also attract young people from all over Beijing. The weekend cultural square at the entrance of the student activity center used to be a sea of knowledge, and the English corner of the National People's University every Friday is a popular social center in Beijing. Although the first choice for club dinners outside the East Gate 2.2 (the name is said to be derived from the grade point of the shopkeeper who graduated from the National People's Congress) is long gone with the renovation of the "Women's Market", the area around the contemporary shopping mall, which almost became the campus of the National People's Congress, still witnesses the rise and fall of the times in Zhongguancun.
Person College Child
Hidden in the most imaginary university emblem
Since 2003, when the National People's Congress launched the new school emblem with the symbol of "people, people-oriented, and humanities", it has become the most talked about thing: printing the school emblem on all kinds of souvenirs and making emojis...... Taking photos in the shape of the school emblem has also become one of the essential links of student activities.
▲ The official anti-epidemic emoji. Photo/Weibo@Chinese National University
▲ Build a snowman and don't forget the school emblem. Photo by Song Xinran
Whether it is a seasonal moon cake or a variety of pastries, the three demonic villains printed on it are reminiscent of other legends of "the people can't afford to eat at the university": the East Gate landmark Shiting Shijing is ridiculed as "seeking truth from the original chicken"; the three-storey central canteen is equipped with a transparent sightseeing elevator; the most delicious dish in the west canteen - two taels of rice; the master of the north canteen is thrilling to create a stir-fried orange with green vegetables, and one bite is full of the taste of youth.
▲The masterpiece of the canteen of the Great North District, which was once popular on the Internet, is fried oranges with green vegetables. Figure/Network
But in fact, the canteen restaurant is not a "food desert", on the second floor of the canteen in the central district, you can eat typical noodles from all over the country; Zhixing building area used to be full of food stalls, known as Zhixing "CBD"; but the most popular food among college students is Huixian dumplings that temporarily bid farewell to the campus. At the entrance of the dumpling shop, there is always a long queue, and dumplings with different fillings can be ordered. A bite of chicken, shallots, fungus, a bite of pork, carrots, corn, and a bite of pork lotus root...... You only need to order 8 dumplings, and it is a full meal.
▲ The Mid-Autumn Festival reunion cake of the National People's Congress. Picture / Warm People's Congress
In addition to the demonic nature, this school emblem still reflects the background color of the people. The so-called three people are in a crowd, and most people are adults, always trying to pursue a sense of belonging.
Let the 12.9 competition in the teaching building in the autumn and winter "go out of tune" to start the process of joining the party for the most difficult students in Chinese universities, follow the drama club to perform a graduation drama in Mingde Hall, and in the early morning of the National People's Congress, which witnessed the most debate team, everyone has more or less their own collective memory.
▲ The 2019 National People's Congress Drama Theatre graduation drama "Bright Days". Photo by 1sway
Student Union Department, Art Troupe, Debate Team, Club, Daiso Group...... There is always an organization that dazzles you, they carry the restlessness and soaring of youth, and let the students of the National People's University always float on the tide of the times.
▲ National People's Congress "12.9" Choral Music Competition. Photo by Wang Haocheng
Rather than looking up at the starry sky, Renmin University students prefer to be "down-to-earth". A typical adult may not necessarily do in-depth studies, but may always be on the road to student work, internships, GPA, and scratch grades. According to a long-standing saying, when you face the landmark of the east gate of the National People's Congress, whether you want to meet it, walk around it, or follow it, there is always a place for you in this small but complete school.
They are the most "WTO" students, and after stepping out of the school, they will meet a group of the most enthusiastic brothers and sisters. The alumni of the National People's University are always full of affection for her, either donating a building or donating a college, and even have the legend that "if you enter the school, you owe your alma mater 300 million".
▲ Welcome home! Photography / Yuan Yuan
Although she does not have a magnificent and majestic scenery, just like the name of the anthology of Wang Xiaobo, a well-known non-mainstream alumnus writer, she deserves to be the most far-reaching spiritual home for everyone.