Editor's note: Anhan was born on June 15, 1896, and this year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Anhan's sages. An Han is the son of the "richest man in Southern Zheng" and one of the few outstanding people who have gone abroad after Zhang Qian in Hanzhong, and his patriotic feelings of loving his country and his hometown and the people at the bottom are admirable, and the tragic end of his murder is indignant! Here, we specially record the article "Anhan during the Study in France" by Mr. Zhao Chaoyue of Beijing to express our respect!
Anhan during his study in France
AnHan was an outstanding agronomist, educator and industrialist during the Republic of China period. In his early years, he studied as a farmer, and after returning to China, he became an active advocate of the large-scale development of the western region, and was entrusted by the government to conduct field investigations of the western region on many occasions, and published two books, "The Theory of Reclamation in the Northwest" and "Agricultural Investigation in the Northwest." Later, he served as acting director of the Huanglongshan Reclamation District Administration Bureau and director of the Liping Reclamation District Administration Bureau, and during his tenure at Liping, he offended Sun Zongfu of Nanzheng County and Zhu Shaozhou, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Border Region, who were arrested and executed at the age of 47 for refusing to offend Nanzheng County Governor for refusing to commit corruption.
Throughout Anhan's life, he studied until he was 30 years old. From Hanzhong to Xi'an, and from Xi'an to France. During his stay in France, he learned the most advanced agricultural knowledge and technology, met a number of people who will shine on the Chinese political stage in the future, and spent a wonderful and romantic study abroad time. With the discovery of relevant historical materials, Anhan's history in France gradually became clear.
On June 15, 1896, An Han was born in a fairly solid family in Liangshan Town, Nanzheng County, and his father An Fuguo was a famous gentry in Hanzhong who was active in local politics. Anhan received a strict private school education from a young age, he became interested in agriculture in his youth, he found that the life of the local farmers is very difficult, crops are often invaded by various diseases and insect pests, if there is a drought and flood disaster, the harvest of the farmers' hard work in a year can not even solve the problem of food and clothing, everywhere around can see poor and hungry peasants reduced to beggars or fleeing the wilderness, leaving a piece of farmland into a wasteland. Anhan looked in his eyes and was anxious in his heart. Since then, he has established the ideal of revitalizing agriculture and saving the country through industry.
Before going abroad, AnHan studied at the Shaanxi Provincial Grade A Agricultural School, which was the best agricultural college in Shaanxi Province at that time. For the smart and hard-working Anhan, he quickly completed his studies here with excellent grades. Apparently the school could no longer satisfy his intense thirst for agricultural knowledge, and he wanted to study at a better school. At that time, the military and political leaders of Shaanxi Province attached great importance to the development of agriculture, not only actively built water conservancy, but also established many agricultural schools, and the cultivation of agricultural talents was also put on the agenda. At the same time, the work-study movement in France initiated by Cai Yuanpei, Li Shizeng, Wu Zhihui and others with the slogan of "diligent work, thrifty study" was in full swing, and for a time France became a popular place for Chinese young people with lofty aspirations to study abroad. In this way, Anhan was elected as a commissioner of the Shaanxi Provincial Government and began his career studying in France.
Anhan departed from Shanghai on December 15, 1920, on a French "Chilean" (CHILI) cruise ship, to France. The Chronicle of Their Stay in France describes the cruise ship "Chile" that they were on.
"This is a 5,000-ton boat, but there are still volleyball courts, dance halls, restaurants on the ship, and the fourth class cabin of the students is on the second floor under the splint, about one inch high, and the floor is divided into three floors, each floor can make people sit straight, and every four cubic abbots have to live more than 20 people." Luggage has nowhere to go and can only be piled up in the aisle. The fourth class was originally a cargo hold, originally there was no lighting equipment, only the small round cabin window was illuminated by a little sunlight, and the students were installed with electric lights after boarding the ship. When students board the boat, each person is given a straw mat to make a mattress, but after the students spread the grass mat on the bed, they cannot sit up straight, so they have to abandon it. ”
French "Chile" (CHILI) cruise ship
It was in this environment that Anhan crossed the ocean, passing through Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Colombo, and Djibouti to Marseille, France's second largest city on the Mediterranean coast. There were 134 people who walked with Anhan, they were the twenty-first batch of work-study students, of which Sichuan was the largest, with a total of 96 people. There are 2 people in Shaanxi, in addition to An Han there is also a student from Nanzheng County and An Han who is the same age called Li Zuoren. With the company of his fellow countrymen, Anhan's journey to France should not be too lonely.
On 20 January 1921, the cruise ship arrived in Marseille and the 36-day sea journey came to an end. The Huafa Education Association sent three commissioners to the port to pick up the students, who handed over their luggage to the transfer company and then boarded the train to Paris that night. At this time, Anhan and the students did not know that France after World War I was facing a severe economic crisis, factory production stopped, unemployment soared, the tide of work in various places rose, work-study students were in a difficult situation, thrifty learning is not easy, soon after the work-study movement also announced the end, Anhan they became the last batch of work-study students to go to France.
After coming to Paris, Anhan entered the Pyllum Wick College, which is equivalent to a French high school or university preparatory class. After more than 2 years of study, Anhan was admitted in 1923 to the Institut agricole et colonial de Nancy in the city of Nancy in northeastern France, abbreviated as the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Nancy. It is an institution of higher learning specializing in agronomists working in East Asia and Africa, and is known for its emphasis on scientific education of students in plants, animals, soils, climate, customs, etc.
France is a country rich in scientists, many of whom have made outstanding contributions to agriculture. In the 19th century, the famous microbiologist Pasteur invented the "pasteurization method" and the method of sericulture prevention and control, saving the French winemaking industry and the sericulture industry, and it is said that the benefits of these two achievements alone have exceeded the reparations paid by France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Anhan admired and admired scientists like Pasteur, but he did not delve into the ivory tower to study scholarship, preferring to learn various practical agricultural techniques in the fields of the school's experimental farm. Anhan knew that the foundation of Chinese agriculture was quite weak, and he firmly believed that China needed doers who mastered scientific knowledge, could bear hardships and stand hard work, and had the courage to dedicate, so he had to study very hard.
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nancy
While studying hard at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Nancy, Anhan also served as the treasurer of the Chinese Students' Federation of Nancy, responsible for the financial work of the federation, which is an important position second only to the president. The president of the student federation is Han Yanmen, a classmate of Anhan's. Han Yanmen's father was Han Yan, the elder of the League, who had already died at that time, and he was favored by the government as a martyr's orphan and studied in France at official expenses. Later, Han Yanmen returned to China after graduation and served as a professor at Jinling University, the dean of the Agricultural College of Jiangnan University, and the president of Huaiyin Agricultural School, and published works such as "How to Prevent wheat diseases". Han Yanmen and An Han are in the same grade, and the two of them have a good relationship, often discussing agronomy and social topics together. After the outbreak of the "May Thirtieth Massacre" in 1925, they sent a special telegram to the Shanghai Students' Union in the name of the Nancy Students' Federation to support the protests in the shanghai engineering and academic circles.
In the early 1920s, on the political stage of the Chinese studying in France, various ideas and theories violently collided, and the doctrines of the Three People's Principles, Communism, Anarchism and Nationalism were all vying for the support of students. These political groups run newspapers, magazines, and speeches in France, vigorously propagating their ideas. At this time, AnHan was undoubtedly strongly impacted by his thinking, and he gradually understood that simply engaging in agriculture and running industry could not save China, and he began to think about joining the political party. As a student sent by the shaanxi provincial officials, An Han was deeply trusted and cultivated by the senior leaders of the Shaanxi government at that time, and they hoped that An Han could contribute to the revitalization of Shaanxi's agricultural economy after returning to China, and An Han was also full of gratitude and hope for the National Government at that time. After some deliberation, Anhan joined the Kuomintang in France in 1924. At that time, it was the first period of Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and many Communists also joined the Kuomintang in their personal capacity, and there were many exchanges between the two parties. During the French period, AnHan established a deep friendship with the Communist Party members Liu Bojian, Li Fuchun, Wang Ruofei and others. He also participated in some political events organized in France by Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and others.
Row 2 left: An Han, row 4 left: Zhou Enlai, back row third from right: Deng Xiaoping
In October 1925, Anhan received the "Certificate of Higher Agronomic Education" at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Nancy, ending his 2-year study here. According to the analysis of the French sinologist Professor Basti, Anhan should have left Nancy in the period from late 1925 to early 1926. Anhan may have returned to Belgium after a short expedition.
After returning to China, Anhan always remembered his study abroad career in France, and he personally planted the Barcelona daisies he brought back from France in his hometown. Now Liping National Forest Park can be seen everywhere in this kind of small and exquisite, high and elegant small flowers, every year before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, the mountains are full of Barcelona daisies, its flower language is lovesickness, happiness and parting. I think when Anhan admired it, he must have often missed the past of studying abroad in France.
June 5, 2016 in Beijing
Liping Barcelona Daisies
The author of this article is Zhao Chaoyue, and the ownership belongs to the original author.
Source: Home in Hanzhong