"Liu Jie's Diary (1939-1977)", by Liu Jie, Elephant Publishing House, June 2009 edition, 98.00 yuan.
□ He Yueming
Mr. Ge Jianxiong's masterpiece "Interpretation of Tan Qijun's Diary of Foreign Affairs activities in the 1970s" (published in the Shanghai "Century" bimonthly magazine, No. 6, 2020) is a detailed compilation of the written records of the Fudan University history professor's foreign affairs activities involving reception, foreign visits and correspondence in the 1970s. Although it is a diary genre, it is simple and concise, but it is immersive and interesting to read. However, reading the article "May 13th" in 1972 cannot help but arouse the author's doubts and thoughts.
The day is recorded as follows: "At half past eight to the physical building, at nine o'clock italian foreign guests arrived." It is the Oriental Publishing House Maria, female, more than fifty years old, and her assistant Philip, more than thirty years old. He studied in the department of Chinese of Peking University for three years. The receptionists were Liu Jie, Xu Yulin, Liu Dajie, Fan Shuzhi, and two female students of the Department of International Politics, the Department of Foreign Languages, and the female students of the Department of Foreign Languages. Visit the electronics factory and the French class of the Department of Foreign Languages, and have a discussion after the class. Continue after the meal and end at 3:30. Mainly asked about enrollment methods, teaching plans, theory and practice, etc. Yu talked about the post-liberation struggle in the field of historiography, and the cultural prosperity of the Tang Dynasty Due to the peasant uprisings at the end of the Northern Dynasty and the end of the Sui Dynasty, the economy of the lords and the politics of the nobility declined, and replaced it with the landlord economy and bureaucratic politics, which were reflected in the results of culture and sino-foreign exchanges. At the end of the article, there is a commentary on the diary, explaining to the owner of the diary that the view of history described to foreign guests is "the prevailing view at that time", while the participants listed in the reception are not explained.
Among the participants, the first to be ranked was Liu Jie. Judging from the content of the academic exchanges described, it refers to Mr. Liu Jie, a professor of history at Sun Yat-sen University and a well-known expert in ancient history. He once showed the integrity of an intellectual. It can be said that participating in foreign affairs activities is a sign of the restoration of reputation and status, and it is also a kind of political treatment. If Mr. Liu Jie had gone to Shanghai to participate in the reception of foreign guests, it would have shown that his situation had improved at least since then.
However, according to the "Diary of Liu Jie (1939-1977)" in May 1972, "Thirteenth Saturday Tianqing" article: "Drying books." Evening Song Zeng and Sui Sun both returned home. (Elephant Press, June 2009 edition, p. 749). The simple ten words show the scholar's idle and lackluster loneliness at home. More importantly, this confirmed that others were in Guangzhou that day, and it was impossible for them to go to Shanghai to participate in foreign affairs activities.
Could it be that Mr. Tan Qijun misremembered in his diary? This possibility is almost non-existent. The two scholars are in the field of history and have been colleagues twice in the past: in 1932, Tan Qihua went to the National Peking Library, where Liu Jie was then the compilation committee member and director of the Jinshi Department; in 1936, Tan Qijun became a lecturer at Yenching University, and Liu Jie was an associate professor at the same university. They know each other, belong to each other, and honor each other with the words "Zizhi" and "Jilong", so naturally they will not misremember.
In 1972, Liu Jie could not have gone to Shanghai to participate in foreign affairs activities, and what happened later corroborated: on March 20, 1977, Tan Qijun traveled to Guangzhou on a business trip, and the next day wrote a letter to "Zi Zhi Zun Brother" with a note from the Guangdong State Guest House where he stayed, expressing his hope to meet with his old friend. At the beginning of the letter, he said: "I have not seen it for twenty years, what a thirst!" Then he said: "Yesterday, because of the incident, I came to Sui, Room 321, Building 3, State Guest House." Eager to meet, but do not know the address of the residence, when is it more appropriate to visit? How to get in the car? To know or notify by telephone, dial 32950, and then call Room 321. i.e. Ode to. Looking back from 1977, "it has been twenty years since they were gone", and they must not have met at any time or on any occasion in between. On the 23rd, Liu Jie's diary read: "Receiving Zeng Xin and Tan Jilong Letter. That is, compound. On the afternoon of the 27th, Tan Qijun came to Liu Jie's home on the first floor of No. 74, Southwest District, Sun Yat-sen University. On that day, Liu Jie's diary contained: "Tan Jilong came to interview in the afternoon. (Hong Guanghua: "A Letter from Tan Qijun to Liu Jie", published in Southern Metropolis Daily, Guangzhou, May 11, 2017)
In fact, for this meeting between Tan and Liu after a gap of twenty years, the biography of His predecessor Tan Qijun written by Mr. Ge Jianxiong also has a description: "On March 27, 1977, Tan Qijun went to Sun Yat-sen University to visit Liu Jie, who was terminally ill, when he could no longer speak due to the effects of throat cancer, and could only communicate with a pen. They 'talked' from three o'clock in the afternoon to four o'clock three o'clock, which was their first meeting after the disaster and the last meeting between them. ("Long Water: The Biography of Tan Qihua", Guangdong People's Publishing House, 2014 edition, p. 51) Indeed, shortly after the meeting, Liu Jie died of illness on July 21 of that year. The biography identifies this as "their first meeting after the disaster" because it was completed and published before the above-mentioned tan qijun letter to Liu Jie was discovered, and it is not known that a Tan qijun codex related to it has survived, and it is stated that it has been "missing for twenty years" with Liu Jie. Even so, the "first time after the disaster" and Tan Qijun's diary appeared in the name of Liu Jie on May 13, 1972, there is also a clear contradiction in time.
So, is there another person with the same name? In this regard, the author asked the elderly Mr. Zhu Yongjia for advice. He was an old man in the history department of Fudan University, and after recalling, he affirmed that there was no one named Liu Jie in the Shanghai Literary and Historical Academy and Fudan University, including the Industrial Propaganda Team and the Military Propaganda Team stationed at the university at that time. Moreover, Liu Jie was a famous scholar of ancient history, and if he had been in Shanghai, he would have known and had an impression.
Tan Qijun is a titan of historical geography, and his diary is of considerable literary and historical value, and should be systematically sorted out and completely completed. The introductory part of Mr. Ge Jianxiong's masterpiece states: "This article is copied from the original diary, and the content that is not related to the subject matter is deleted. However, "according to the original transcription of the diary" appears in the name of Liu Jie, which seems to be contrary to historical facts. How can this strange mystery be solved?