A generation of keqiang giant Qian Weichang
Introduction: The author first befriended Mr. Qian Weichang (1912-2010), a giant of science of the generation, during the writing of "The Legend of Tian Changlin". It was October 1986, and I saw a group photo of the second meeting of the "Wang Kuancheng Education Foundation Examination and Selection Committee" in the press, and Qian Lao stood in the first row, behind him was Tian Changlin. Then, because of the collection of "The Complete Biography of Hu Qiuyuan", it was learned that Qian Weichang and his fourth uncle Qian Mu had befriended Mr. Hu Qiuyuan, a famous patriotic scholar and an old Writer from Taiwan, and they also contributed to the opening of cross-strait Chinese character cultural exchanges. Therefore, the author germinated the idea of asking Elder Qian to write an inscription for "Hu Qiuyuan".
The picture above shows the inscription of the famous scientist Qian Weichang for his humble work "Hu Qiuyuan"
Although I had a close relationship with the famous scientist Academician Qian Weichang, a week after I sent a letter of request for help to Professor Xu Xu, the secretary of Shanghai University, I unexpectedly received an electronic version of Qian Xu's inscription from Professor Xu Xu: "Carry forward the traditional culture of the motherland and promote the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait." The original biography of Hu Qiu was published. Qian Weichang (India). "At this moment, I was ecstatic, and I could not imagine that a generation of scientific giants and national leaders would respond so much to a post-learner who had never known an ordinary life.
Qian Weichang (left) meets with Hu Qiuyuan in Beijing on September 15, 1988
One day at the end of 2003, I tried to send a letter of help (e-mail) to the office of Shanghai University asking Elder Qian for the inscription of "The Complete Biography of Hu Qiuyuan", and attached a preface by Jia Yibin, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, and Professor Zhu Bokang of Fudan University.
When I was writing the biography of Hu Qiuyuan, an old Taiwanese writer, I interviewed Mr. Hu by telephone, and he once told me personally: In the golden autumn of 1988, when this "first person to break the ice on both sides of the strait" first visited the mainland, Elder Qian personally received Hu Qiuyuan and his party in Beijing on September 15 of that year.
The picture above is the first edition of Pei Gaocai's "The Complete Biography of Hu Qiuyuan"
The reason why Elder Qian met with Hu Qiuyuan was that as far as cross-strait relations were concerned, Elder Qian was also the president of the Association for the Promotion of China's Peaceful Reunification, and academically, the two of them had at least two points of consensus: First of all, they both believed that "Chinese characters are the carrier of inheriting the lifeline of Chinese culture" and opposed the Latinization of Chinese characters. However, in view of the fact that simplified characters are already widely used, they put forward the idea of "recognizing the complexity and using simplicity".
In Hu Qiuyuan's view, Qian Lao is not only a giant in China's scientific circle and the "father of mechanics", but also the inheritor of Chinese culture, and gives high praise to Qian Lao's thesis that "symbolic characters are the most international, Chinese characters are symbolic characters, and Chinese characters have the hope of becoming international characters". He personally presided over the design of the "Qian's Chinese Character Computer Input Method", which has made great achievements in the application of Chinese character input methods in computers. "Qian Code" is encoded in the macroscopic glyph parts of Chinese characters, and 151 basic parts are classified according to similar shapes and similarities, and defined on 39 keys. For example, the parts such as "its, ear, and, eye, self, white, mortar, shell, see, page" are numbered into one code, which is convenient for association, less memory, and easy to learn and use.
Qian Lao was lecturing
Secondly, these two academic giants are also patriotic scholars who care about the national economy and the people's livelihood. In the face of the Three Gorges Reservoir Dam, Qian Weichang focused on the main targets of attack in modern military confrontation and cited scriptures to remind leaders to pay special attention to decision-making.
In early 1991, the United Nations Multinational Force, led by the United States, made full use of the advantages of advanced science and technology to strike Iraq. Elder Qian published an article in the press called "Revelations of the Gulf War." In the article, he talked about the relationship between the Gulf War and civil air defense security in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. It is pointed out that the Three Gorges Dam will be the target of external enemy threats. In the face of current missile technology, the defense of the Three Gorges Dam is impossible. It has aroused the great attention of party and state leaders.
Pei Gaocai, who wrote Qian Wei's long inscription, "Hu Qiuyuan: From the Giant Pen of the War of Resistance to the "Icebreaker" on Both Sides of the Strait"
In 1995, Professor Li Minsheng, a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and president of the Beijing International Chinese Character Research Association, planned the "Chinese Heart - Selected Essays on the Philosophy of Political Literature and Art of Hu Qiuyuan" in Beijing, and Qian Lao personally wrote an inscription to congratulate him.
I did not expect that a week after my letter of help was sent, I received an electronic version of Qian Lao's inscription from Professor Xu Xu, Qian Lao's secretary: "Carry forward the traditional culture of the motherland and promote the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait -- The title of Hu Qiuyuan's biography published Qian Weichang (in Print). "I was ecstatic, and I couldn't imagine that a generation of scientific giants would respond so much to a post-learner who had never known him. However, when the publishing house was making plates, it was found that due to the low pixels of the electronic version, Qian Lao's seal appeared blurry. I had no choice but to telegraph Secretary Xu again, and soon I received a supplementary paper inscription.
From right, Chen Dakang, Hu Bukai, Pei Gaocai, and other cross-strait experts discuss "Hu Qiuyuan"
In order to express his gratitude to Elder Qian, after the publication of the Complete Biography of Hu Qiuyuan, he sent a sample book to Mr. Qian, and sent a greeting card every Spring Festival to wish Master Kangtai.
It was another Dragon Boat Festival (Hu Qiu's original day), and when I attended the academic seminar on the centenary of Hu Qiuyuan's birth held by the Institute of Traditional Chinese Studies of Wuhan University, together with Professor Li Minsheng, a famous philosopher of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, I specifically asked about Qian Lao, who said that Qian Lao was approachable and often contacted when he was in Beijing, and wrote a preface and inscription for Li's works. It was only after he became president of Shanghai University that they had little contact.
The great master has passed away, and the light and wind still exist. In order to remember a generation of great masters in the world of science, the handwriting and seal of his inscription are specially replayed to express deep sorrow.
(Thanks to "People's Daily Overseas Edition", "China Reading News", "Book House")