In 1901, the overseas Chinese Dean Lung and his employer Carpentier donated money to establish the Department of Sinology at Columbia University, and not much of the story has been circulated for more than 50 years. In 1958, the unheard of "Ding Long" story was deliberately created, initiated by Chiang Kai-shek's "ambassador" to the United States, Dong Xianguang, historian Qian Mu then recreated and widely disseminated, and the most widely circulated scene of Carpentier's drunken beating in Chinese the world, which is currently the most widely circulated in the world, did not appear until 1975. The process of the "Ding Long" story from scratch, from simple to complex, proves that Gu Jiegang's "history created by layers" has a wide applicability.
Portrait of Dean Lung of Columbia East Asia Department (Photo by Bing Li)
Exploitation of Dean Lung's story during the War of Resistance
In June 1901, the business tycoon Carpentier "General" (a former California militia major general) donated $100,000 to his alma mater, Columbia University, and soon Dean Lung donated his savings of $12,000 to establish the Dean Lung Sinology Lecture in Columbia University, which was the starting point for the construction of the Department of Sinology. The widespread spread of the "Ding Long" story did not begin until 1958, but during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Columbia University alumni Shou Jingwei and Jiang Menglin, who were close to the Nationalist government, had already made use of the Dean Lung story.
After the outbreak of Pearl Harbor, the United States attached great importance to the value of the Chinese battlefield to the world anti-fascist war. In order to deepen the American people's understanding of Chinese culture and show the determination of the Chinese government and people to fight to the end, Shou Jingwei (Shou Yicheng), an alumnus of Columbia University and director general of the Sino-American Cultural Association, and the "Chinese Film Studio" under the Military Commission of the United Nations Civil Government organized a delegation to the United States to prepare for the shooting of an educational film to "promote deeper cultural exchanges between the two countries." On January 27, 1942, Shou Jingwei wrote to Charles A. Thomson, director of the Cultural Exchange Division of the U.S. Department of State, submitting a preliminary shooting plan, listing 24 items, the 15th of which was "Dean Lung, a model Chinese worker, and his American employer donated to columbia's Department of Sinology." Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of China, 1940-1944)
Shou Jingwei (1891-1959), a native of Zhuji, Zhejiang, received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1926, and after returning to China, he successively served as the general manager of the China Tea Company, the director of the Department of Commerce of the Ministry of Economy, and other positions, and was a general under Kong Xiangxi, all of whom were members of the "Chengzhi Association" of the Fraternity of Students Studying in the United States. In 1939, Kong Xiangxi founded the Sino-American Cultural Association and served as its president, and Shou Jingwei served as its director-general. Shou Jingwei hopes to use Dean Lung's donation to establish the Department of Columbia Chinese Studies, as an important symbol of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples, to be widely publicized and serve the War of Resistance. Whether the film was finally released or not, I have not found further records.
Shou Jingwei (Shou Yicheng)
In 1943, Peking University President Jiang Menglin published an English memoir, "Xi Chao", which contained a short passage about Dean Lung, which was translated as "Ding Liang" when it was published in 1959. Jiang Menglin reflected on the various shortcomings of traditional China, and when he talked about the Qing Dynasty officials' preference for accepting "bad rules" and the servants' love to "pick up oil", he used "Ding Liang" as a counterexample. Jiang Menglin said: "Naturally, Chinese is not like this. Columbia University's Ding Liang Chinese Literature Lecture Fund, which commemorates a Chinese laundry worker, is based on his life's worth of hard work in washing clothes. When Ding Liang was dying, he handed a bag of gold to his owner and entrusted him with something beneficial to China. The proprietor took the money, along with a donation of his own, and set up a lecture on Chinese literature at Columbia to honor the patriotic laundry worker. (Jiang Menglin: "West Tide", Hong Kong Mojiantang Publishing House, 1959, p. 172) Jiang Menglin stayed in the United States in his early years and had close contacts with overseas Chinese, and attached Dean Lung as the most common laundry worker in the overseas Chinese occupation at that time. He's just using the story to reason, and the story itself isn't the point.
Dong Xianguang version of the "Ding Long" story
Since Dong Xianguang translated Dean Lung as "Ding Long" in 1958, this translated name has unfortunately been "stereotyped", and people have almost forgotten that his real Chinese name is not recorded. The earliest "Ding Long" story with a vivid plot was created by Dong Xianguang, Chiang Kai-shek's foreign propaganda general and "ambassador" to the United States, and can be called "Dong Xianguang's version."
Dong Xianguang (1887-1971, Hollington K.Tong), a native of Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province, became a teacher of Chiang Kai-shek in 1906 when he taught English at Fenghua Longjin Middle School, then went to the United States to study, enrolled in the Missouri School of Journalism, The Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia University, and after returning to China, worked for the English "Republic Daily of China", "Beijing Daily", "Miller's Review", etc., served as the general manager and editor-in-chief of "Mainland Daily", and joined the Kuomintang in 1934 through Chiang Kai-shek's introduction. In 1937, he was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to establish the International Propaganda Office, and then supervised the work of the International Propaganda Office in his capacity as deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department. In 1937, Dong Xianguang wrote the English version of "China's Supreme Leader Chiang Kai-shek" with the purpose of publicizing the world.
In 1947, Dong Xianguang was appointed director of the Information Bureau of the Executive Yuan, and after the Chiang regime was withdrawn to Taiwan, he served as the general manager of the "China Broadcasting Corporation" and the chairman of the "JoongAng Daily", and became the "ambassador" to Japan in 1952 and the "ambassador" to the United States in 1956. Chiang Kai-shek's dispatch of Dong Xianguang to the United States was "because of the recent decision on an important propaganda plan, President Chiang Kai-shek decided that I am the most appropriate person to carry out this plan." ("The Autobiography of Dong Hsien-kwong", Taiwan Xinsheng Newspaper, 1973, p. 197)
Dong Xianguang's expertise lies in journalism, and he has given more than 120 speeches in 20 months during his tenure as "ambassador" to the United States. When he returned to Taiwan in April 1958 to report for duty, he gave a lecture to teachers and students of the Department of Journalism of Chengchi University, pointing out: "The most important point in doing propaganda work in the United States is to take the people as the object of propaganda. If our administration can manage to have twenty or thirty orators and constantly tour the country, it will not take a year or two for the American people to have a correct understanding of China and change public opinion in the United States. (Hong Kong Business Times, April 15, 1958)
Cover of "The Autobiography of Dong Xianguang"
On February 21 of that year, when he addressed the Overseas Chinese group in the United States, he told an unheard of "Ding Long" story. On June 6, 1960, the Kuomintang Central News Agency issued a long-form newsletter entitled "Ding Long Huize, Overseas Chinese In China Studying in the United States, Stays in The Long Stay of Columbia University to Commemorate Ding Long's Contribution to the United States." The newsletter quoted Dong Xianguang's speech as saying:
Once, for a very subtle matter, Carpentier fired Ding Long. The next morning, when Carpentier got up, he was preoccupied with the fact that his kitchen was empty, but to his surprise, Ding Long had already made a rich breakfast for him and was waiting for him to use it. Carpentier was very touched in his heart, and quickly withdrew his life, and felt that what he had said the day before was too quick to exit, and he was sorry, And Carpentier said to Ding Long: "When I found out that you were still here, I was very surprised, and I apologize to you, because what I said was unbearable. I need you, and I will take more care of you in the future. Ding Long replied, "You are quite right, your temper is very grumpy, but the most important thing is that you are a good person; moreover, the tradition of Confucius, do not want me to leave you, whether the temper is good or bad, a true friend is a friend in tribulation, this is our tradition." That's why we're still here. ”...... Many years later, General Carpentier said to Ding Long, "I owe you so much grace, how do you want me to repay you?" Tell me, what can I do for you? Ding Long's answer was: "The American people do not understand Chinese culture, nor do they understand the meaning of Chinese culture, and I hope you can do something to promote this understanding." This was Carpentier's donation to Columbia University to establish the Department of Secondary Chinese Literature and Law. (Overseas Chinese Daily, Hong Kong, June 6, 1960)
Dong Xianguang's purpose in creating the "Ding Long" story is to boost the morale of the pro-Chiang Kai-shek overseas Chinese group in the United States, and may also hope to influence THE US public opinion on Taiwan through the enthusiastic dissemination of overseas Chinese, which I think is an integral part of the above-mentioned "propaganda plan." This version of the "Ding Long" story is almost out of nothing, constituting the original version of the "Ding Long" story.
Qian Mu version of the "Ding Long" story
Shortly after the Central News Agency released a lengthy newsletter, in the summer of 1960, Qian Mu, a historian who traveled between Hong Kong and Taiwan and was deeply appreciated by Chiang Kai-shek, came to Columbia University to give a lecture. According to himself, he heard the "Ding Long" story from Columbia University economics professor He Lian.
After returning to Hong Kong and Taiwan in 1961, Qian Mu told this story on different occasions, making up more new details on the basis of the "Dong Xianguang Edition".
On March 27, 1961, Qian Mu gave a lecture on "Lectures on Ding Long" at New Asia College in Hong Kong, which was included in the book "New Asian Relics". Qian Mu preached:
As far back as the American Civil War, there was a general who retired and lived near New York, and the general was single and unmarried, and his temperament was quite strange, and the servants in the family were beaten and scolded by him. Ding Long, a native of Shandong, went to the United States to work as a Chinese worker, and he threw himself into the general's house. Within a few days, the general lost his temper again and wanted to fight and scold, but Ding Long couldn't stand it and ran away. A few days later, the general's house was on fire, and the chaos was in disarray, and the general was alone, but The Ding Long returned. The general was surprised, so Ding Long said, "I heard that your house was on fire, and no one helped, so I came back." The general said, "A few days ago I was going to beat and scold, and I ran away from you." Today I am helpless, why are you willing to help me? Ding Long said, "This is because we have a Confucius in China who speaks the way of loyalty and forgiveness." Although you usually take me badly, but you are not completely bad, I think I always have some fate with you. You need help at this moment, and if I don't come, it seems that I will not conform to the path of loyalty and forgiveness that Confucius taught. ”...... It turned out that their Ding family was only the cultivated land of the times, but generation after generation, the ancestor godfather, the father and the son, all spoke some of confucius's truth. When the general heard this, he was greatly moved, and asked him to stay, and from then on the master and servant were like friends, and neither of them was married, but they were dependent on each other. Later, Ding Longxian fell ill, and he said to the general: "I have been working here for decades, and everything I eat, wear, and live in is provided by you, and there is still a salary you gave, and now I have ten thousand gold in my savings." These are all your money, when I die, I will return this ten thousand gold to you, count me to thank you for your kindness! When the general heard this, he was very touched and thought to himself: It is no accident that an illiterate laborer in China still has such a moral integrity. Therefore, he was full of respect for China and was determined to ask people to study Chinese culture, so he sent all his property in his later years totaling more than 200,000 yuan, plus Ding Long's 10,000 yuan, to Columbia University, and designated that a lecture should be set up to study Chinese culture. This lecture was named "Ding Long Lecture". The lecture has not been interrupted to this day. (The Complete Works of Mr. Qian Binsi, Vol. 50, pp. 347-348)
Cover of "The New Apostle"
Compared with Dong Xianguang's version, Qian Mu made up "Ding Long is our Shandong people", "Ding Long" came back to help after a fire in the general's home, "Ding Long" three generations were illiterate, and returned money to the general at the time of death, deleting the details of making breakfast the next day. Qian Mu fabricated the Shandong people's claims in order to narrow the geographical distance between Dean Lung and Confucius in order to promote the indoctrinating role of Confucianism. In the Dong Xianguang version and the Qian Mu version, except for the interpretation of the motive for donations— the establishment of the Department of Sinology to enhance Americans' understanding of Chinese culture , the other plots lack documentary basis, and can be roughly said to be fictional to the wall.
In the spring of 1971, Taiwan's "Ministry of National Defense" concentrated officers of the navy, army and air force to set up a "Juguang Class," which was trained in turn, and Qian Mu taught a lesson on "Chinese Cultural Spirit." He repeated the story of "Ding Long" told at New Asia College, emphasizing the "way of being a man" formed by "Ding Long" under the influence of traditional culture. (The Complete Works of Mr. Qian Binsi, Vol. 38, Chinese Cultural Spirit, pp. 31-32) Qian Mu hoped that the officers of the "Nationalist Army" would learn from the way of being a "Ding Long", but unfortunately, almost all of the Ding Long stories he interpreted were unsubstantiated.
"Fulut Edition"
There is also a "Furut version" of this story, which is generally well-founded.
Born in China in 1894, Luther Carrington Goodrich entered Columbia University in 1925 to study Chinese history, received his ph.D. in 1934, and served as Dean Lung Chair Professor for many years from 1947. In 1931, he published an essay entitled "Chinese Studies in the United States", which introduced the simple origins of Dean Lung's lectures: Carpentier went to California during the Western "Gold Rush" of 1849, and while working on the West Coast, he took in a Chinese who Chinese had been loyal to him for many years, and General Carpentier, deeply impressed by this humble immigrant from Guangdong, China, and the Chinese civilization that had cultivated his noble personality, established the Department of Sinology at Columbia University and took the name of his servant Dean Lung named. (Chinese Journal of Social and Political Science, April 1931)
Fulut (jiang yi painting)
In 1966, physicist Li Shuhua published an article entitled "Memories of Five Times Before and After Attending the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Congress", recalling his visit to Columbia university in 1947 and the visit to the East Asian Library led by Fulut. The story of "Ding Long" he told can be judged to come from Fulut:
Professor Fulut's lecture at the time was Chinese called Dean Lung professor of Chinese. The lecture was given in 1902 by a donation from General Horace W. Carpentier. Originally the son of a shoemaker in New York, Kasch graduated from Columbia College in 1848. He moved to California, the west coast of the United States, and soon became the owner of a large number of real estate. At that time, the United States hired a large number of Chinese workers to build the Western Railway. Ding Long (Dean Lung Shandong) is one of the Chinese workers. Kabend employed a number of Chinese working servants, and Ding Long became a servant of Ka's side. In 1888, Ding Long returned to New York with Kashi. Ding Long was extremely loyal to his master, and Ka Shi wanted to repay him, but in 1902, when Ding Long was still alive, he adopted Ding Long's suggestion to communicate Chinese culture, and immediately donated US$100,000 to Columbia University as a fund to set up Chinese lectures to commemorate Ding Long. In 1905, he donated $100,000 to the Columbia Lecture Fund. Ding Long died earlier than Kashi. Ding Long also donated the 12,000 US dollars he had saved over the years to Columbia University. He died in 1918 at the age of more than ninety. (Biographical Literature, Vol. IX, No. 4, October 1966)
Fulut believes that Dean Lung died before Carpentier, a statement that is valuable. Mia Ander argues that Carpentier's will did not give Dean Lung any bequest, but to The Chinese chef Mah Jim, and the normal explanation is that Dean Lung died first. Li Shuhua's small mistake was to be superstitious about Qian Mu and mistake Dean Lung for a Shandong native.
In 1953, the Chinese painter Jiang Yi went to Columbia University to teach, learned the story from Fulut, and read a small number of letters from Carpentier to the president of Columbia University, written in the English edition of The Silent Traveller in san Francisco in 1964, with richer content than Li Shuhua described, but this version seems to have little impact on the Chinese world.
"Tang Degang Edition"
In 1981, Tang Degang published "Hu Shi's Oral Autobiography", which also told a "Ding Long" story. Tang Degang taught at Columbia University, and the book has been sold for many years, so the "Tang Degang Edition" has a wide influence. He wrote:
The first lecture set up in the United States for Sinology was the "Ding Long" lecture of Columbia University. Behind the establishment of this commemorative lecture is a very touching story: Ding Long was originally a Chinese worker, and his surname Ding or Long is no longer available. He was employed as a servant for General Horace W. Carpentier (1825-1918) for many years. Perhaps because of his diligence and honesty, he won the trust of his master, so when he retired, General Ka gave him a large sum of money, said to be twenty thousand dollars, as a retirement fee. After Ding Long's humble resignation, he actually transferred the full amount to Columbia University for the purpose of "studying Chinese culture". General Ka was so touched by Ding Long's righteous deeds that he donated 100,000 yuan to create a "Dean Lung Professor" for Columbia University to commemorate this remarkable Chinese worker. The ancients said, "If goodness is known, it is not true goodness." "We don't know who Ding Long's surname is, but to have this righteous deed can really be said to be "true and good"; and General Ka does not hesitate to pay for the beauty of adults, which is also precious. (Tang Degang: Oral Autobiography of Hu Shi, Biographical Literature Publishing House, 1981, p. 105)
Compared with Dong Xianguang and Qian Mu's version, the "Tang Degang version" is relatively brief, the "retirement fee" statement is inaccurate, in 1901 Dean Lung was only 44 years old, and the amount of donations was also written less.
Carpentier's drunken beating is the most impressive plot in the Story of Ding Long, and it should be the most widely circulated at present, but it only began to appear in 1975. According to Liu Boji's book "History of Overseas Chinese in the United States", the earliest Chinese to write about the "general" drunkenly beating people should be Wang Hongyi of the Chinese Department of Columbia University Library, and Wang Hongyi's article "Ding Long Who Adds Glory to Chinese Culture" was published in The Second Issue of the Eighth Volume of Taiwan's "Chinese Culture Revival Monthly" in February 1975. I searched the Library of Congress for English newspapers and found no reports of "generals" hitting people drunk.
The drunken beating quoted in "History of Overseas Chinese in the United States"
In 2000, Wang Hailong, a teacher in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University, published "Columbia and Modern China", which contained a long article entitled "Holding Up the Chinese Dream: A Legend of the Chinese Butler Ding Long and The Great Han Studies of the Late Qing Dynasty", which was subsequently rewritten several times, published in different journals and reprinted on the Internet. In the past 20 years, the story of "Ding Long" has been widely known in the Chinese Simplified world, and Wang Hailong's dissemination has contributed to it. Wang Hailong consulted the archives of Columbia University, clarified Carpentier's resume, and roughly restored the donation process, but the narrative of "Ding Long"'s deeds was too literary, and some inherited the fictional components of Dong Xianguang's version and Qian Mu's version, which detracted from the academic value.
Cover of Columbia and Modern China
Since 2003, Mia Anderer, the Wife of Japanese Descent of Paul Anderer, a professor in the Department of East Asian Studies at Columbia University, has visited various relevant institutions to systematically search archives and interview the descendants of relevant parties, achieving fruitful results, providing fragmentary but very reliable information for continuing to study Ding Long.
The story of "Ding Long" has been circulating for only 61 years, but it has gone through many versions, becoming more and more strange, including excessive imagination and play, and trying to achieve some kind of non-academic communication goals. In 1923, the famous historian Mr. Gu Jiegang put forward the thesis that "the ancient history of China caused by layers of accumulation" is also an important historical methodology, and the author feels that it is also applicable to modern history. The story of "Ding Long" is "a history created by layers", and the makers, re-creators, and disseminators take what they need and serve their political and cultural needs. Many communicators do not care about the real Dean Lung, but about the use value of the "Ding Long" story.
(This article was originally titled "The Manufacture, Re-creation and Dissemination of the "Ding Long" Story")