He graduated from the Department of Chinese Literature of Peking University 100 years ago, joined the Institute of History and Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences 90 years ago, and once worked with famous linguists Zhao Yuanren and Li Fanggui to call the "three giants" of the Chinese and Chinese dialects circles, he was the director of Chinese Literature at Peking University, and he was also the director of the Department of Chinese Literature during the Southwest United University, and he had Zhu Ziqing, Wen Yiduo, Liu Wendian, Yang Zhensheng, Tang Lan, Wang Li and other famous professors under his command He is also the editor-in-chief of the "Chinese Chinese Wen", and also participated in the formulation of the "Hanyu Pinyin Scheme", and he is the grandmaster of the Chinese Chinese dialects that has inherited the past and opened up the future - Luo Changpei.
Luo Changpei
Luo Changpei (1899-1958) character Xintian, Manchu Zhenghuangqi, Beijing native, born on August 9, 1899 in Beijing to a declining feudal family, from an early age to study diligently, in order to revitalize the family, once studied in the xicheng fourth district private second primary school.
Luo Changpei (fifth from right in the second row) poses for a group photo in the private Second Elementary School
When Luo Changpei was admitted to the second and second class primary schools of the Beijing Normal School in 1910, he had a classmate with Shu Qingchun (that is, Lao She), the two were very good friends, and thus formed a lifelong friendship, they often went to the small tea house after school to hear about books, because Shu Qingchun lost his father at an early age, all relying on his mother to wash and support the family, so almost all the money for listening to books was paid by Luo Changpei.
In 1913, Luo Changpei was admitted to the Beijing Normal Public No. 3 Middle School, and his friend Shu Qingchun was admitted in 1914, and the two became middle school classmates again, Luo Changpei had already dabbled in books such as "General Classics", "Historical Theory", "Records of The Words and Deeds of Famous Ministers" in middle school, and also learned the skill of "shorthand", which can shorthand 140 Chinese characters per minute.
Luo Changpei was admitted to peking university in 1916 in Chinese literature, and Shu Qingchun was admitted to the Beijing Normal School because of his poor family, because at that time to study teacher training could be exempted from tuition and meal fees, and provide uniforms, books and some daily necessities, Luo Changpei soon enrolled, Cai Yuanpei in the Beiyang government education director Fan Yuanlian invited, in December 1916 to become the president of Peking University, with "according to the principle of freedom of thought, take inclusive righteousness" carried out a series of reforms, successively hired Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Liu Bannong, Huang Jie, Wu Mei and others came to the school to teach, and the original professors Huang Kan, Gu Hongming, Liu Shipei, Qian Xuan and others constituted a strong teaching force of Chinese literature.
Luo Changpei lost his mother in middle school, lost his father during college, life became increasingly embarrassing, he insisted on going to the House of Representatives three times a week as a stenographer to subsidize the family, when Luo Changpei graduated from Peking University in 1919, the Chinese Literature Gate was changed to the Department of Chinese Literature, he went to the Department of Philosophy for two years, studied Western philosophy under Fu Tong and other professors, Fu Tong was a student of the famous British philosopher Russell, when Russell visited China in 1920, Fu Tong accompanied and acted as an interpreter. Luo Changpei systematically received the influence and training of Western academic ideas and methods of governance, and became classmates with Zhu Ziqing, Gu Jiegang, Pan Shu, Zhu Qianzhi, Yang Han and others during his studies in the Department of Philosophy.
Luo Changpei graduation photo
After graduating from the Department of Philosophy of Peking University in 1921, Luo Changpei was recruited to tianjin Nankai Middle School as a chinese language teacher, in 1922 he was hired as a chinese language teacher and general administrator by the Beijing Normal Public No. 1 Middle School (now Beijing No. 1 Middle School), and from 1923 to 1924 he also served as the acting principal, in May 1924, when Fu Tong became the president of Northwest University, Luo Changpei was invited to be a professor at Northwest University, and in July of that year, the school held a "summer school", Fu Tong invited Lu Xun, Wu Mi, Wang Tongling, Jiang Tingdi, Li Ji, Chen Dingmo and more than a dozen other university professors came to Northwest University to give lectures.
Changpei Luo at Northwestern University
Because Fu Tong's tenure at Northwest University was only one year, shortly after his resignation, Luo Changpei also left Northwest University and went to the private Xiamen University as a professor at the end of 1926 to open courses such as general theory of classics and the history of Chinese phonology, at that time Lu Xun, Lin Yutang, Gu Jiegang and others were also teaching at Xiamen University, during which Luo Changpei received a manuscript from Britain, which was the long novel "Lao Zhang's Philosophy" written by his old classmate Shu Qingchun in his spare time "Lao Zhang's Philosophy" was originally serialized in the "Novel Monthly", and the author signed it as Lao She, and the name of Lao She was famous at home and abroad.
Luo Changpei took a group photo with colleagues at Xiamen University
In the early spring of 1927, Luo Changpei was invited by Zhu Jiahua to teach in the Department of Chinese Chinese Literature of the newly established National Sun Yat-sen University, and became the head of the department in 1928, and Fu Sinian, who was the dean of the Faculty of Letters in the same year, was hired by Cai Yuanpei to prepare for the establishment of the Institute of History and Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences, Luo Changpei also participated in the preparatory work, in the spring of 1929, when the institute was moved from Guangzhou to Beiping Beihai Jingxin Zhai, Luo Changpei resigned from the teaching position of Sun Yat-sen University, and together with Zhao Yuanren and Li Fanggui, was hired as a full-time researcher of the language group of the Institute of History and Linguistics. He is also committed to the study of phonology and modern Chinese dialects, and has carried out the investigation of modern Chinese dialects, and his research results are quite fruitful, and he has completed 4 academic monographs and 14 academic papers, and has written works such as "Rhymes of the Six Dynasties of Han and Wei" and "Classical Interpretations".
Luo Changpei at Sun Yat-sen University
At the beginning of 1931, When Lao She, who was teaching at Qilu University, returned to Beijing during the winter vacation, Luo Changpei and Lao She met for a drink, and introduced Hu Xiaoqing, who was still studying in the Chinese Literature Department of Beiping Normal University, to Lao She, who was engaged after several months of exchanges, and married in a hotel near Dengshikou on July 29, Luo Changpei was naturally a witness to the couple.
From 1931 onwards, Luo Changpei was invited by Jiang Menglin to concurrently serve as a professor at Peking University, and in April 1934, the Institute of History and Linguistics was moved from Beiping to Xiaowanliutang in Caojiadu, Shanghai, and soon moved to the North Pole Pavilion in Nanjing.
Luo Changpei at Changsha Temporary University
Before and after the "July 7 Incident", Luo Changpei moved south with Peking University to Changsha, Hunan Province, and served as a professor in the Department of Chinese Literature of the National Changsha Provisional University, and soon moved from Changsha to Kunming with the school, and served as a professor in the Department of Chinese Literature of the National Southwest United University, at this time the head of the department was Zhu Ziqing, and at the end of 1939, Zhu Ziqing resigned as the head of the department for health reasons Chinese and was succeeded by Luo Changpei. It can only show that his personality charm and academic prestige are outstanding.
From left: Zhu Ziqing, Luo Yong, Luo Changpei, Wen Yiduo, Wang Li
Luo Changpei handed over the post of head of the Chinese department of the United Nations General Assembly to Wen Yiduo, in 1944 through India to the United States, successively in The Park Mo na University and Yale University as a visiting professor, before Luo Changpei has never been abroad, which is definitely a short board for a university professor, and this trip to the United States, both for academic exchanges, but also contains gilded elements, in 1946 Lao She was invited by the US State Department to lecture in the United States for a year, Luo Changpei and Lao She often had the opportunity to meet and enjoy a rare short gathering.
Luo Changpei (center) and Lao She (right) take a photo in the United States
In the autumn of 1948, Luo Changpei returned to Beiping, continued to serve as a professor at Peking University and the director of the Institute of Liberal Arts, and was grumpy about not being rated as an academician of the National Academia Sinica, because Zhao Yuanren and Li Fanggui had been elected academicians, while Luo Changpei, one of the "big three", was left behind, and he felt quite humiliated, and the three of them were relatively independent in their research fields, and there were many academic achievements, the only explanation being that they had never obtained a foreign doctorate.
Luo Changpei (front row, fourth from left) poses with teachers and students of the Department of Chinese Literature
In the choice at the crossroads in 1949, Luo Changpei chose to stay on the mainland, while Zhao Yuanren and Li Fanggui all fled to the United States, and most of the important backbone of the Institute of History and Linguistics followed Fu Sinian to Taiwan, and Luo Changpei, who remained, was also reused by the new regime, responsible for preparing for the establishment of the Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and serving as the first director.
In August 1952, the Chinese Academy of Sciences evaluated the first batch of 8 special researchers and 12 first-level researchers, among the 20 people added up to the two, almost all of them were famous scholars in the field of natural sciences, only Luo Changpei himself was a scholar in the field of humanities, he was hired as a first-class researcher, which is a highly gold-worthy academic evaluation, and this year he also served as a member of the Chinese Character Reform Committee.
In September 1954, Luo Changpei was elected as a deputy to the First National People's Congress, which is a high political honor, and it was at this meeting that the Constitution of the People's Republic of China was born, and in 1955 Luo Changpei was elected as a member of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and died of illness in Beijing on December 13, 1958, at the age of 59.
Luo Changpei's academic contributions are in many fields, involving phonology, Chinese dialects, linguistics and other fields, and his main academic works mainly include: "Research on Chinese Phonology", "Introduction to Chinese Phonology", "First Fascicle of the Evolution of The Southern and Northern Dynasties of The Han Wei and Jin Dynasties", "Compilation of Ten Rhymes", etc.; in terms of Chinese dialects, there are "Xiamen Phonology", "Linchuan Phonology", "Northwest Dialect of the Tang Dynasty", "Basiba Character and Yuan Dynasty Chinese", "Preliminary Exploration of Lianshan Pendulum Yi Language", "Preliminary Exploration of Gongshan Slang Language", "Preliminary Exploration of Gongshan Slang Language", "Preliminary Exploration of Gongshan Dialect" in Chinese dialects. Overview of The Languages and Scripts of Ethnic Minorities in China"; in terms of linguistics, there are "Outline of General Phonetics", "History of the Evolution of the Chinese Alphabet", "Language and Culture", "100 Kinds of Rhymes of Beijing Folk Songs" and so on.
Luo Changpei's Collected Writings
Luo Changpei in primary and middle school, have been with Lao She classmates, can be said to be friends from childhood, and maintained a lifelong friendship, the two also have common ground in being people, in lao She's words: "We are ashamed to collude with people, we are always independent, responsible for doing things, like-minded, so we always say." After Luo Changpei's death, Lao She was an important member of the funeral committee, and wrote an article with great emotion "Tribute to Mr. Luo Changpei", which interested friends can find to read to understand the interaction and friendship between Lao She and Luo Changpei.