In 1973, Premier Zhou Enlai cordially met with a returned overseas Chinese and talked for three hours, during which the premier confessed: "When I was studying at Nankai University, I wanted to come to Beijing to learn the language with you. ”
Hu Shi, who has 35 doctorates, once said to a friend: "Compared with him, I am a proper scum." ”
Who the hell is he? It can win the appreciation and confession of premier Zhou and Hu Shi, two national male gods.
He is the "father of modern Chinese linguistics" and the youngest of Tsinghua University's "Four Mentors", with composers, physics professors, doctors of philosophy and psychology supervisors printed on his business cards.
He speaks more than 50 languages, is fluent in 10 foreign languages, has been idle, and has written a 96-word strange article, which was recognized by the world as unsurpassed in 100 years after its release.
He is China's first ghost talent - Zhao Yuanren.
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An extraordinary person, there are often unusual groups of relatives and friends behind him. Zhao Yuanren's family members came to find out.
In 1892, Zhao Kuangyin's 31st grandson Zhao Yuanren landed in Tianjin. His sixth ancestor was Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty, the big man who wrote that "there are talented people in the Jiangshan Dynasty, and each has led the way for hundreds of years". Both my grandfather and father were Qing Dynasty people, and my mother was a talented lady.
With such a powerful genetic blessing, Zhao Yuanren showed great talent when he played a child. In particular, he learned languages, especially prominently, and he could learn one dialect a week without deliberately teaching.
Xiao Yuanren followed a female relative from all over the world, and at the age of three or five, he was proficient in several dialects. He learned Baoding and Beijing dialect from his grandmother, Changshu dialect from his great aunt, and Fuzhou dialect from his aunt.
At a banquet, he chatted with relatives and friends at the same table in 8 dialects, making everyone feel like meeting his fellow countrymen, which made him quite proud.
When Zhao Yuanren was 13 years old, his parents died within a year, and the children without their fathers and mothers did not collapse, he knew that life still had to rely on his own efforts.
In 1910, when Zhao Yuanren was 18 years old, he caught up with a fate-changing opportunity, Tsinghua recruited publicly-funded international students, and the admitted students could take gengzi indemnity to the United States for further study.
For this exam, he began to teach himself Latin from scratch, and in less than 2 months, he took 2 exams, while "scum" Hu Shi only took the 55th place.
After that, Hu Shi was very impressed with Zhao Yuanren's intelligence, when someone asked him if he was the smartest scholar of his generation. Hu Shi replied, "No, Mr. Zhao Yuanren can hang me." ”
They were classmates at Cornell University in the United States, so he had the privilege of seeing for himself how Zhao Yuanren refreshed Cornell University's best grade list.
Zhao Yuanren majored in mathematics and minored countless times. He is not a Guangtun class, and the results of each course are excellent.
Love to learn is not equivalent to nerds, Zhao Yuanren's interests are rich and extensive.
He loved music, and during college, he bought a second-hand piano for $220. Not just playing with the experience, he creates original works, once composed a flute tune, using the harmonic harmony of Western music.
He loved science, and he and his classmates formed the China Science Society, saved money from scholarships to run the monthly magazine "Science", and personally wrote and edited manuscripts.
This is not the average school student playing, its influence not only stimulated the enthusiasm of Chinese students for science, even Edison for the founding of science magazines, handwritten letters of congratulations.
Zhao Yuanren, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, studied philosophy in graduate school and finally received a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University. This span is really a bit big.
Learning from the East and the West, proficient in liberal arts and sciences, Zhao Yuanren absorbs the essence of various disciplines.
Perhaps it is the cross-border that has achieved Zhao Yuanren's linguistic achievements.
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Zhao Yuanren is proficient in English, French, German, Japanese and other foreign languages, and speaks 33 Chinese dialects. He is an internationally renowned linguist, and there is a comment in the field of American Chinese dialects: "Mr. Zhao can never be wrong!" ”。
Once, liu bannong wanted to write a Chinese "swear word album", and he published a recruitment advertisement in the newspaper. Zhao Yuan, looking at it, ran to Liu Bannong's dormitory, and couldn't help but say, pointing at his nose in the dialect of Xiang, Sichuan, Anhui and other places, which was a teaching method that no one could have imagined.
To say that the most impressive thing is a short article written by Zhao Yuanren, which amazes the world, and no one has been able to stand out so far.
The whole 96 words, introducing the story of a person surnamed Shi eating a lion, the whole article is homophone, read it, and call people to shoot the case.
Zhao Yuanren wrote this article not just for fun, he is to illustrate the unique historical phenomenon of the Chinese Chinese, and his study and use of language is simply fascinating.
The gods have never lacked god stories, and Zhao Yuanren is like the "moment" in the mahjong card, which can replace any card.
In 1918, after graduating with a doctorate, zhao Yuanren, 26, returned to Cornell University as a professor of physics, teaching electromagnetism. After 2 years, Tsinghua University invited Zhao Yuanren to return to China to teach, initially arranging for him to teach algebra and English, later teaching Chinese history and philosophy, and finally deciding to let him teach psychology and physics.
However, he did not teach for long, and caught up with the great philosopher Russell to give an academic lecture in China, and Jiang Baili "borrowed" Zhao Yuanren from the president of Tsinghua University to accompany and translate for Russell.
When Zhao Yuanren translated for Russell, he showed his true nature as a linguistic genius. He translated in Hangzhou in the Hangzhou dialect, arrived in Changsha, translated into Hunan dialect, after the lecture, someone came forward to climb with him to fellow countrymen, surprisingly, at that time Zhao Yuanren learned Hunan dialect for less than a week, he was on the way to Changsha, with a staff member to learn.
Genius is not born omniscient and omnipotent, but learns while doing, opening up roads and building bridges in every mountain, passing customs and upgrading all the way.
How hard it is for a person to fight monsters through the customs, Zhao Yuanren needs a good teammate. While working as a translator for Russell, he met his life partner, the love of his life.
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Chen Guo said: "Only people with the same energy can recognize each other. Only people with the same energy can appreciate each other. ”
Don't look at Zhao Yuanren's diversified cross-border in the development of disciplines, but he is consistent in love.
While eating at a relative's house, Zhao Yuanren met Yang Buwei, who was three years older.
Her biological father's brother-in-law is the outgoing president Li Yuanhong, she received a new type of education, did not tie her feet from a young age, the earliest to enter a girls' school, graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, in her early 20s as the principal of a girls' school, or the earliest female doctor of medicine in Japan, and cooperated with others to open a hospital.
Zhao Yuanren often runs to the hospital, he is not to see a doctor, but to see his sweetheart.
Zhao Yuanren talked with her very speculatively, often listening to her, better than reading ten years of books. Once, they talked until they forgot the time, and suddenly remembered that Russell was still hanging on the stage, they hurried to the venue, Russell whispered to Zhao Yuanren: "Bad people, bad people!" ”
After that, Zhao Yuanren knew that he had a heart.
In early June 1921, the two decided to get married, and they were going to mail a marriage notice and a group photo in Central Park to relatives and friends.
As a result, his old friend Hu Shi advised them that no matter what, both of them belonged to a famous and prestigious family, and it was legal and reasonable to engage in a minimum ceremony, find two witnesses to sign, and paste the four-dime stamp.
One day, Mr. Hu Shi received a call from Zhao Yuanren, inviting him and Miss Zhu Hui to have dinner at home, Hu Shi had a premonition of what might happen, so he wrapped up a copy of "Dream of the Red Chamber" with his own annotations as a gift, but he was worried that everyone was embarrassed by guessing wrong, and wrapped a layer of ordinary paper outside.
That day was Yang Buwei's own four plates of four bowls of home-cooked small dishes, after the meal, Zhao Yuanren took out a document he had handwritten, asked Hu Shi and Dr. Zhu to sign and testify, and the 29-year-old groom and the 32-year-old bride were married.
Hu Shi relied on intuition and became the first person to give Zhao Yuanren and his wife a new wedding gift.
Weddings are an important moment in life, and relatives and friends will give gifts to congratulate the wedding. However, Zhao Yuanren and his wife made a break.
They write in the marriage notice letter, because they want to break the vanity and extravagance and waste in the old and new worlds, so they do not receive gifts when they get married, and they only receive two kinds of gifts, one is the original work of the immaterial gift giver, letters, poems or musical scores; the other is the donation to the Chinese Science Society in the name of the giver.
They did what they said, and even the flower basket sent by Zhao Yuanren's aunt's family refused to accept it, so angry that the other party ignored them for several years.
Early the next morning, the news of the marriage of Zhao Yuanren and his wife appeared in the Morning Post, with the headline "New-style Marriage of New Characters", and the bold font was very eye-catching. This minimalist style wedding has caused a fashion trend for a while, attracting young people to follow suit.
After his marriage, Zhao Yuanren went to Harvard University to study phonetics as a professor at Peking University, and at the same time taught in the Department of Philosophy. Yang Buwei closed the hospital, accompanied his husband and wife, accompanied Zhao Yuanren to the United States, and concentrated on being his "minister of internal affairs" and "foreign minister".
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Some scholars say that Zhao Yuanren is like Xuanzang who went to the West to learn the scriptures, and Yang Buwei was a bodhisattva who blessed him with peace.
As early as the 1930s, when the War of Resistance broke out in Nanjing, and the wind and rain were about to destroy the city, Yang Buwei took the lead and on the eve of the fall of Nanjing, he transferred the sick Zhao Yuanren out, and shortly after she and her children escaped from the city, the Nanjing massacre of the Japanese Kou began.
With Yang Buwei's lucky star shining, Zhao Yuanren felt at ease and warm, and the road ahead became brighter.
When the couple first arrived in the United States, people were in place, but the salaries and allowances did not follow. However, the family still had to eat, which made Zhao Yuanren feel worried.
Yang Buwei has a big belly, learns to make clothes to make money to subsidize the family, once a medical doctor and dean, hands-on work is not at all inferior to ordinary people, she can make a dress in two hours. Food, clothing, shelter and transportation, Yang Buwei arranged everything for Zhao Yuanren,
Zhao Yuanren and Yang Buwei are affectionate and support each other. Such a fairy couple, their children are also clever and clever, and they have achieved success.
Hu Shi said that the family "the father is a genius, the mother is a capable person, and the daughters are extremely smart brothers." "The daughter and son-in-law are all dedicated in the field of education, are professors and scientists at famous Universities in the United States, and the eldest daughter, Zhao Rulan, is the first female professor of Chinese descent." Eighteen of the family's three generations have won the Golden Key Award, the highest academic award for U.S. college students.
Zhao Yuanren's marriage was happy and happy, and his children were all dragons and phoenixes among people, envious of others. This has a lot to do with his sober cognition and life choices.
Chinese pay attention to learning and excellence, which is the lifelong ideal and pursuit of countless literati and doctors, but Zhao Yuanren does not care about the name of merit, he said that he is loose by nature, only likes learning, and is most afraid of being an official, and will not be an official.
In the summer of 1946, the Minister of Education of the Republic of China invited Zhao Yuanren to serve as the president of Nanjing Central University, and Zhao Yuanren, who cherished words like gold, replied with only five words: "Can't do it, thank you." ”
As early as zhao Yuanren studied in the United States, he invented the "Chinese Roman characters", which can be regarded as the prototype of The Latinization of Hanyu Pinyin.
In 1916, when Zhao Yuanren stayed in the United States, he proposed a plan to simplify Chinese characters, and he designed the "Chinese Roman characters", which can be regarded as a pioneer in the Latinization of Hanyu Pinyin.
10 years later, the members of the Chinese promotion committee of the Republic of China favored his invention, remembering the name "Zhao Yuanren style Chinese Roman characters".
If he agrees, Zhao Yuanren can be named once and famous for several generations.
Such a good thing, others can't ask for it, but Zhao Yuanren refused, saying that such a name does not conform to the laws of linguistics. The Chinese language reform is a national movement, and everyone has the right to participate in cooperation, not the credit of him alone.
Zhao Yuanren was ignorant of fame and fortune, he did not care about the external false name, only cared about the true happiness, he found.
On the occasion of the golden wedding celebration of the 50th anniversary, Yang Buwei wrote a small poem: "After fifty years of quarrel and contention, everyone says that marriage is good." Yuan Ren owes me this life karma, inverting yin and yang and reuniting. ”
Strong woman Yang Buwei herself did not expect that the two could love each other until they were old, and in this life she gave up her career for him, changed genders in the next life, and still be a husband and wife.
Zhao Yuanren sang with his wife and husband, and Ying and his wife also wrote a poem: "Yin and yang are upside down and reunited, just like the honey and sweetness of that year; in the new century of equal rights for men and women, the same side benefits the world."
Meaning: In the next life, if the wife changes genders, Zhao Yuanren is willing to be a woman, reunite with her lover, live a sweet and sweet life, and work together to benefit the world.
In March 1981, at the age of 92, Yang Buwei Bodhisattva Xian died, Zhao Yuanren was devastated, and within a few months, he also followed the bodhisattva to Elysium at the age of 90.
According to the will of the second elder, the children did not hold a funeral, but sprinkled their ashes into the Pacific Ocean and let the surging sea take them home.
There are many stories of talented people and beautiful people in ancient China, but the happy life of Zhao Yuanren and his wife is like a morning star.
Wang Guowei, who was also one of the four great teachers of Tsinghua, ended up with a tragic ending, and he threw himself into the lake and died, leaving endless lamentations for future generations.
Zhao Yuanren, on the other hand, enjoyed a peaceful and smooth life. He is literate in all arts and sciences, high in talent, indifferent to fame and fortune, quiet and far-reaching. Be with your lover and be in love. His children are all outstanding, all of them are dragons and phoenixes among men.
Zhao Yuanren, a prodigy in the world, is a real winner in life.
. END .
【Text| Joy】
Edit | Little Dragon】
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