This title leaves a lot of suspense and doubts. Why did a cultural giant who is well-known at home and abroad die suddenly at the conference? Why did he leave 8 wills on his deathbed? What is the content of a will? How did he deal with what happened after his death? He waited seven months for him to rest in peace, and what was the reason for that? Everything seems to be shrouded in clouds and elusive. Let's explore them one by one and unravel the mysteries surrounding the death of this cultural master.
Life and deeds: Recalling Hu Shi's life
Hu Shi was born on February 17, 1891 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, into a scholarly family. Since childhood, he has read poetry and books, and he is really an elegant and polite scholar. When he was young, he studied the subset of scriptures and history in a private school in the countryside, and he learned about it. In the long run, Hu Shi delved into the ocean of knowledge with one mind, and since then it has been out of control.
In 1910, Hu Shi was admitted to Beijing Normal University with excellent results. During his studies at the highest university in China at that time, he was influenced by the New Culture Movement and became more and more enlightened. In 1915, with a thirst for knowledge, Hu Shi went to the United States to study under the famous scholar John Dewey. In a foreign country, Hu Shi was diligent, studious, well-read, and absorbed advanced Western ideological and cultural knowledge.
In 1917, Hu Shih received his doctorate degree with honors. After graduation, he returned to his homeland and taught at Peking University and Tsinghua University. In the academic field, Hu Shi is determined to innovate and bravely attack the disease. With his powerful writing, he set off a wave of new cultural movements. In 1919, Hu Shi published the "Discussion on Literary Reform" in the New Youth, which further promoted the development of the vernacular literary movement and injected a strong impetus into the transformation of China's old and new culture.
In the early 30s of the last century, Hu adapted to the employment of Peking University and served as the president of Peking University. Under his leadership, Peking University has made remarkable achievements in teaching and scientific research. At the same time, he vigorously advocated academic freedom and advocated the implementation of democratic education, which made Peking University an important center in the country in terms of ideological emancipation and knowledge innovation. It was not until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War that Hu Shi left the school he loved deeply.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Hu Shi continued to teach at Peking University and served as the president of the Academia Sinica. In this special historical period, he unswervingly defended academic independence and freedom of speech, and devoted his life to the revitalization of Chinese culture. It can be said that Hu Shi has been working diligently and hard for the emancipation of the mind and cultural progress all his life, and he has interpreted what perseverance and perseverance and innovation are with his actions.
The last days before death
February 24, 1962, the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, was the last Chinese New Year's Eve in Hu Shi's lifetime. On the same day, at the age of 72, he presided over an academician meeting held at the Cai Yuanpei Memorial Hall as usual. Due to the importance of this meeting, in addition to Hu Shi himself, there were also famous scientists Yuan Jialiu, Wu Jianxiong and his wife, and economist Liu Dazhong, who were invited back from overseas.
At the beginning of the meeting, Hu Shi's face was as usual, and his body was not the slightest abnormal. However, in the middle of the meeting, the scene gradually became tense during the speech session. At that time, some people expressed pessimism about the development of domestic scientific research, and then pointed out that Hu Shi's speech was criticized and criticized a lot. In the face of such accusations, Hu Shi, who has always been humble and polite, refuted excitedly, with an unusually tough attitude.
The people around him can see that this controversy really stimulated Hu Shi, who was too old. Soon, when he spoke again, suddenly the wine glass in his hand trembled, and then his head accidentally hit the corner of the table, and the whole person fell face down to the ground. The scene suddenly fell into a commotion, and everyone reached out to help him, but it was too late. At this moment, a doctor happened to be present and immediately rescued him.
During the rescue period, Hu Shi briefly recovered his vital signs. But soon, his breathing stopped again, and he finally died in Huangquan. According to the doctor's judgment, Hu suffered from a severe myocardial infarction at that time, coupled with the mental overstimulation during the violent argument, which led to the attack of angina, and eventually caused the tragedy of ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest.
In fact, Hu Shi's heart disease has already emerged. According to historical records, since the end of February 1961, he has had three consecutive heart attacks, but each time he is fine. This time, it is a pity that he could not escape the clutches of death. A few hours before his death, Hu Shi was still drinking with friends at a drinking party, perhaps it was this drinking disorder that exacerbated the deterioration of his condition.
Hu Shi, who was 72 years old at the time, fell to the ground and died in a meeting, and the last days of his life were so dramatic, which really made people feel emotional. The most unfortunate thing is that at the moment of his death, his wife Jiang Dongxiu and eldest son Hu Zuwang were not by his side, and they did not make the last moment for him. Many years later, Jiang Dongxiu will be full of emotion when he recalls this scene.
The contents of the will and the reaction of the family
Hu Shi left 8 wills before his death, which was undoubtedly a shocking thing at the time. As a generation of cultural giants, he seems to have a plan for his death.
Article 1 of the will is about funeral arrangements, and Hu Shi clearly stated that he requested cremation and the ashes to be properly disposed of by the executor. The second reveals his firm desire for the restoration of academic freedom at Peking University, and his hope that the 102 boxes of books and documents he had left there when he left Peking University in 1948 would be returned to his alma mater on the day the university regained freedom of expression.
The fifth clause of the will is undoubtedly the one that has attracted the most attention. In this article, Hu Shi made detailed arrangements for his estate. He bequeathed all his movable and immovable property, no matter where they existed, to his wife Jiang Dongxiu. If Mrs. Jiang had died before him, the estate would have been divided equally between the two sons, Hu Zuwang and Hu Sidu. If any of them goes away before him, his share of the son is inherited by his son.
It is worth mentioning that when Hu Shi wrote this article, he did not seem to know the bad news that his second son Hu Sidu had committed suicide in the mainland. And his willingness to share the inheritance with his youngest son also reflects that he has no guilt against his son's previous criticism of himself.
In addition to the official will, Hu Shi also left an informal suicide note, the content of which is extremely intimate. In the letter, he comforted his family, saying that he had already experienced the deterioration of his health, so his death was not unexpected. He also hopes to be able to finish quickly when he collapses like his colleague Fu Sinian, so as to avoid the torture of later illness. For this wish, his wife Jiang Dongxiu also deeply agrees.
As soon as the news of Hu Shi's death came out, it immediately caused an uproar. The dispute before his death gave people a really bad impression. In order to preserve his reputation, the family did not hold the people who opposed him that day accountable. They understood that the root of Hu Shi's illness was in his body, and the dispute was just the fuse.
After Hu Shi passed away, his wife Jiang Dongxiu couldn't accept the bad news for a while, and had to inject a large dose of sedative. It was only at this time that she discovered the 8 wills left by Hu Shi before his death. After reading these wills, Mrs. Jiang must have mixed feelings in her heart. The good thing is that the husband has taken care of them in advance, and the pain is that it is difficult for them to meet again in their lifetimes.
However, fortunately, the issue of the division of the estate mentioned in the will did not cause family disputes. It is rumored that after Hu Shi's eldest son, Hu Zuwang, learned of his father's death, he immediately rushed back from the United States to mourn. At that time, he will work with his mother to carry out his father's last request. During the funeral, Mrs. Jiang buried the photos of Hu Shi and his first girlfriend Wei Liansi together, sending them a pair of confidants' condolences.
Preparations before burial
After Hu Shi's death, the whole country mourned the death of this cultural giant. People from all walks of life have expressed their condolences, and many dignitaries have also made a special trip to offer condolences. As a leader in the literary world, Hu Shi's posthumous affairs are naturally taken very seriously.
The first is the storage of human remains. Based on the climate and environment on the island of Taiwan at that time, it was quickly decided to cremate Hu Shih's body first, and the ashes were temporarily placed in the Taipei Cultural Park. After family discussion, Hu Shi's burial location was finally determined to be in Jingmei District, Taipei City.
Jingmei District is a place where Hu Shi often visited and wrote during his lifetime, and he was interested in this place for ten minutes. After deciding on the burial location, the organizer will move on to other preparations. Hu Shi was the president of the Academia Sinica before his death, so the Academia Sinica was solely responsible for the aftermath. First of all, according to traditional customs, they found a feng shui treasure in Jingmei and started to build a tomb.
At the same time, the Academia Sinica also organized a grand funeral committee. Kuomintang Vice President Chen Cheng, Chiang Kai-shek's wife Soong Meiling and other heavyweights were selected, which shows the organizers' respect for Hu Shih. As a representative of the family, Hu Shi's eldest son, Hu Zuwang, also joined the committee and participated in the design of the sacrificial process.
Subsequently, the funeral committee successively finalized a series of details. For example, how to settle the ashes after the cremation of the body? What are the rituals required for burial? How is the cemetery designed? How should the inscription be written? Questions such as these are on the agenda.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Hu Shi hoped that his ashes could be scattered into the wind and turn into birds to fly freely. In order to honor his last wishes, the funeral committee decided to scatter some of his ashes into the sea as a token of his yearning for freedom. As for the remaining ashes, they will be interred in the tomb.
The preparations were all in place in just a few months. During this period, there were some hiccups and twists and turns, but they were quickly and smoothly resolved. Generally speaking, the whole process is in accordance with Hu Shih's will, without losing the traditional Chinese funeral customs. Such an arrangement is undoubtedly the best tribute to Hu Shi, and it also reflects everyone's good intentions.
Once everything was ready, the funeral committee began to prepare for the solemn burial ceremony. At that time, many VIPs will appear in Jingmei Cemetery to draw the last stroke of Hu Shi's life.
隆重下funeral 仪式
Seven months after Hu Shi's death, a grand burial ceremony was ushered in on September 24, 1962. On this day, Taipei's Jingmei District gathered countless students and celebrities, and the crowd was turbulent and the scene was extremely solemn and solemn.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, the funeral began at the Academia Sinica near Hu Shi's former residence. When Hu Shi's ashes were carried out, mourning music and chanting sounded at the scene. Subsequently, the ashes were divided into two parts, one part was placed in the ashes, and the other part was scattered to the sea and the sky in accordance with his last wishes.
After the ashes are scattered, the funeral sacrifice is about to officially enter the solemn burial ceremony. At this time, a large memorial procession composed of relatives and colleagues from the Academia Sinica slowly marched towards the Jingmei cemetery with the ashes in tow. Along the way, countless people spontaneously joined the funeral procession. Students from all walks of life are going forward one after another, and people continue to join them, forming a mighty funeral army.
It was noon when the team arrived at Jingmei, and the temperature was as high as more than 30 degrees. But even with the heat, people's morale is still extremely high. When the ashes arrived at the cemetery, a guard of honor composed of colleagues from the Academia Sinica had been waiting there for a long time.
In a solemn atmosphere, the ashes were slowly placed in the prepared tomb. Immediately afterwards, a senior academician of the Academia Sinica recited a eulogy, led by Hu Shi's eldest son Hu Zuwang, and the audience bowed three times to the cemetery as a final salute. At this moment, a sudden burst of cannon fire resounded in the sky, drawing a gorgeous end to the end of Hu Shi's last journey.
After the burial ceremony, the guests returned to Academia Sinica to attend a memorial service. At the meeting, Hu Shi's old friends and students talked eloquently and reviewed his immortal contributions to the development of Chinese culture. Among them, Hong Yanqiu and others were even more emotional, and couldn't help but burst into tears.
Interestingly, at the end of this memorial service, an ironic thing happened. When the moderator announced the dismissal of the meeting, someone suddenly got up and proposed to erect a favorite statue of Hu Shi in front of his tomb - that is, the famous "naked mermaid" statue. The proposal immediately sparked a burst of laughter in the room, easing the solemn atmosphere of the scene.
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In general, this grand funeral undoubtedly reflects the respect of people from all walks of life for Hu Shi. From preparation to execution, it is meticulous and foolproof, which can be called perfect. The comedic scene also reflects Hu Shi's witty and humorous character traits, which reminds people of the various styles of this cultural master. In this way, Hu Shi was rested in this land he loved and began a permanent journey of peace.