Mei Yiqi was born in a family of poets and calligraphers in the late Qing Dynasty. Since childhood, he has been familiar with the history of the Bible and is good at memorizing. In 1904, he entered the Nankai School, and was appreciated by Zhang Boling because of his excellent character and learning, and was sent to Baoding Higher School in 1908. In the second year, he was admitted to the first batch of Tsinghua University's public scholarship students to study electrical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic College in the United States.
In 1914, Mei Yiqi graduated and returned to China, and in 1929, he was invited to return to his alma mater to teach. When he came to Tsinghua University to teach, the school was not in a good situation, and there were not too many applicants, for example, 150 students were admitted, but only about 400 people registered. He has served in various positions such as Provost.
In 1931, Mei Yiqi officially became the president of Tsinghua University, which can be said to be in a time of crisis. At that time, the domestic situation was turbulent and the student tide was turbulent, and it was common for teachers and students of Tsinghua University to catch up with the president and professors, and the president was not in office for a long time, but President Mei was deeply loved by the students. At all times, the slogan of Tsinghua students is "oppose ×××, support President Mei". Someone asked Mei Yiqi what his secret was, and he said humorously: "If everyone pours this and that, no one will want to pour Mei (mold)!" ”
Less than a decade later, Tsinghua University became famous.
The experience of studying in Europe and the United States influenced Mei Yiqi, who embraced the spirit of the Greeks who admired sports. Luo Jialun became the president of Tsinghua University and looked down on sports. He once cut the hours of physical education and the teachers in charge of physical education in half, and demoted the prestigious Professor John Ma to the "chief trainer". After Mei Yiqi arrived, he was given the same title and treatment as other department teachers. Soon Tsinghua University won the reputation of "sports colonel".
During Mei Yiqi's tenure at the school, the school adopted a hierarchical responsibility system, stressing democracy and strict law. While advocating academic independence and free education, he judged the situation and vigorously promoted generalist education. He believes that in the special context of the Anti-Japanese War, the focus of the university "should be on general rather than specialized", and the purpose is to meet the needs of society and the country.
At the same time, courtesy of teachers is also an important factor in Tsinghua's prosperity. Mei Yiqi personally went to the train station to pick up Mr. Zhao Yuanren. He and the four major tutors of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Chen Yinke, and Zhao Yuanren, "have always maintained a sincere friendship".
The most influential example is Hua Luogeng's "three exceptions": Hua Luogeng only has a junior high school education, first as a primary school teacher, and then as a clerk, and was admitted to Tsinghua University by Mei Yiqi; He was also promoted from a department clerk to a teaching assistant, was allowed to take university courses, and was sent to Cambridge University for further study. In the end, he was hired as a professor without being a lecturer or associate professor.
Mei Yiqi is a hard-working person, usually does not smile, rarely speaks in meetings, and is known as the "widowed gentleman", and some students wrote a dozen oil poems to ridicule his humility and subtlety:
Probably, maybe, maybe,
But we don't dare to say,
But the school always thinks that
I'm afraid it doesn't seem like so.
It was rumored to be a joke for a while. In fact, if he had to report or discuss, his words were always coherent and to the point, and he was often able to resolve the dispute with a single word when many people were arguing. Friends who know him well know that although he speaks little, he has a great sense of humor and human touch, and sometimes he occasionally makes a remark that will be timeless and intriguing. Chen Yinke once sighed with emotion: "If a government's decrees can be as strict and as few as Mr. Mei's, this government is the most ideal." ”
Mei Yiqi has two sentences that are often quoted. One sentence is "The school is like water, the teachers and students are like fish, their actions are like swimming, the big fish leads, the small fish follows, and they swim." The other sentence is "The so-called university is not only a building, but also a master." It is the concept contained in this metaphor of "fish and water" and the ratio of "building master" that has made Tsinghua University brilliant.
In 1937, when the national crisis was at hand, when Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Nankai University were ordered to move to Kunming to establish the Southwest Associated University, the silent Mei Yiqi said such a "high-profile" sentence:
In this stormy autumn, Tsinghua is like a boat, drifting in the stormy waves, and someone is catching up with the responsibility of driving it. This man must not retreat, he must not flinch, but muster courage and persevere. Although it makes people feel like a long night at this time, we believe that it will soon be dawn and the wind will be settled. At that time, we will drive the boat back to Tsinghua Park, and then he will dare to say "not guilty" to Tsinghua University's fanalouns.
In the early days of the establishment of the university, the three of them (Zhang Boling from Nankai and Jiang Menglin from Peking University) jointly presided over the school affairs, and Mei Yiqi was in charge of the main school affairs of the Southwest Associated University for the next eight years. During this time, he was democratic, impartial, and as poor as many professors.
Once, when a guest came to the house, his wife Han Yonghua had to go to the street to set up a stall and sell the clothes that her children wore when they were young, and get 10 yuan to entertain guests. There is also an interesting story among the people: the Southwest Associated University has set up a high quality teaching high school, and the citizens of Kunming want to send their children to this school to study, and the daughter of Yunnan Provincial Chairman Long Yun and the youngest daughter of Mei Yiqi have applied for this school. Long Yun's daughter was not admitted. Long Yun, who had given a lot of support to the UN General Assembly, thought that Mei Yiqi was too faceless, so he sent his secretary general to dredge up. But the secretary general did not move, and said: "I have inquired, and President Mei's daughter has not been admitted." Long Yun suddenly lost his anger.
In the environment of frequent wars, heavy school affairs and difficult life, Mei Yiqi worked hard and managed in an orderly manner. strings and songs". It is widely praised for its high wind and bright festival and is known as the "captain" of the Southwest Associated University.
In September 1946, Mei Yiqi bid farewell to Chuncheng and returned to Beijing, where he continued to serve as the president of Tsinghua University.
At the end of 1948, General Fu Zuoyi retired from his army, and Communist military and political personnel began to settle in Beiping. Mei Yiqi, like many great intellectuals at the time, was faced with the choice of leaving or staying. Both Zhou Enlai and Wu Han expressed their hope that he would stay, but Mei Yiqi still chose to "go", saying to Professor Wu Zelin, who also teaches at Tsinghua University: "I will definitely go, my departure is to protect Tsinghua's fund." If I don't leave, I won't be able to protect this fund. Later, when the Kuomintang government repeatedly invited Mei Yiqi to join the cabinet, he maintained his consistent middle stance, telling reporters: "If you don't come out, you won't be happy with your friends in the south, and if you come, you will be an official, and you can't explain to your friends in the north." In the end, he politely declined.
In 1955, Mei Yiqi began to use the interest of the Tsinghua Foundation to organize the "Tsinghua Institute of Atomic Science", which is the predecessor of Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, where Nobel laureate Li Yuanzhe studied. Mei Yiqi is known as the "president of Tsinghua on both sides of the strait" because he single-handedly laid the foundation of Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
On May 19, 1962, Mei Yiqi died of illness in National Taiwan University Hospital. Two weeks after his death, people opened the handbag he had carried with him before his death, and it was not gold, silver and jewelry, but the accounts of the Tsinghua Foundation, which was very clear.
Mei Yiqi was buried on the campus of Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, named "Plum Garden", and the flowers and trees planted by alumni in China were called "Meilin". The Mei Yiqi Memorial Medal is regarded as the highest honor by graduates of Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
"Born Si Changsi, I love my house", Mei Yiqi summed up his indissoluble bond with Tsinghua University in these eight words. From birth to death, Mei Yiqi only did this one thing in her life:
laid the school character of Tsinghua University,
It has enhanced the prestige of Tsinghua.