This was a famous "study case" that shocked the whole country in those years, and Yi Junzuo, the "talented son of Longyang", that is, the famous hundred pulpit Professor Yi and his relatives and predecessors, wrote a book similar to a travelogue sketch, called "Gossip Yangzhou", which poked the honeycomb and unbelievably quickly caused a sensation. Yi Junzuo is from a cultural family, a bachelor's degree from Peking University, a master's degree from Waseda University, and is an old-fashioned traditional knowledge specialist.
When the Songhu War of Resistance broke out, the Nationalist government in Nanjing prepared to move the capital. Chen Guofu, chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, simultaneously moved some institutions to Yangzhou, the capital of the province, on the other side of the Zhenjiang River. At that time, Yi Junzuo, director of the Editorial Office of the Provincial Department of Education, crossed the river with the pioneers and temporarily worked in Yangzhou Middle School. During his time in Yang, Director Yi was idle and wandering around, so he made this collection of essays, and what is more interesting is that "Yangzhou Gossip" is too famous and has become Yi Junzuo's representative work.
Zhu Ziqing, Yu Dafu and many other celebrities have written articles in Yangzhou, and Yi Junzuo, who is known as the "first person to write a travelogue in the Republic of China", has both praise and depreciation like them. It didn't seem to be a big problem, but the others were fine, and Yi Junzuo provoked public anger. There are many people who read books in Yangzhou, and there are many people who have seen the world, and they are very angry and naturally have a reason to be angry. Yi Junzuo naturally felt that he was very wronged and regretted, and the people of Yangzhou felt that they were even more wronged and innocent.
The public opinion crowd was agitated and criticized, and the "Yangzhou Bayi Brigade Shanghai Hometown Association" also set up an "investigation and investigation committee"... Later, the more ridiculous it became, and he sued the Jiangsu Provincial District Court and held two hearings. After Chen Guofu, chairman of the National Government of Jiangsu Province, and Zhou Fohai, director of the Provincial Department of Education (direct superior, classmates studying in Japan, and friends from the same village), asked to run away, the matter finally came to an end:
1. Yi Junzuo resigned from his position in the Department of Education of Jiangsu Province.
2. Yi Junzuo published a revelation in the New Jiangsu Daily, which is equivalent to apologizing to all aspects.
3. Zhonghua Bookstore apologized and donated books to compensate.
Later generations commented that this study case, people have many mouths, naturally there are all views, in short, for yangzhou people, for Yi Junzuo is not a glorious thing. Empathetic thinking, it is inevitable that it is true, many people say that yangzhou people have a small mind and other clouds.
I have read this book several times, compared with other writers who have both praise and criticism, in one sentence: more words will be lost. Other writers generally point to the end, understatement and pass by, and he writes so vividly and concretely, it must become a regional attack that overturns a boat of people, and no one can stand it.
Scale grasp is very important, sensitive content to say more is definitely wrong. For example, are some of the phenomena he sees true? It is likely to be, but not only is it unique to Yangzhou, but there were many places at that time, and different places have different other problems. Although Yi Junzuo did not have malicious intentions and only wanted to gossip, he specifically took it out and said in detail that it had caused great injustice and distress to the people of Yangzhou, especially the people of Yangzhou Bayi who made a living abroad.
As for the hearts and minds of the Yangzhou people, to be honest, in China at that time, no one's mind could contain such grievances, and everyone was the same. Today, not only Yangzhou people are very confident, Chinese are very confident, looking back on these past events, generous, calmly handling, let the misunderstanding drift with the wind, the cloud is light and the wind is light.