Daxue Road is named after West China Union University, and the specific time of its formation is not known, but as early as 1913, University Road appeared in the aerial view of West China Union University drawn by the famous British architectural designer Rong Duyi, and the 1917 map of West China already had University Road. Some experts have deduced that the university road should gradually form and evolve, and eventually become a municipal road outside the campus in west China.
It was University Road in late spring 1941.
On that day, the university road was full of students in a hurry. They want to go from the student dormitory in Guangyiba on the bank of the Jinjiang River to the gymnasium, and Daxue Road is a must-pass place.
The spring breeze raises the long hair of the schoolgirls, the sunlight sprinkles through the dappled leaves on the youthful faces, and the fragrance of gardenia flowers wafts not far away. When I arrived at the gymnasium, I found that there was already a crowd of people, and the students lined up from the aisle to the door, and even the windowsill was full of people.
On that day, students waited for the most famous American novelist of the 20th century, Hemingway.
Hemingway and his wife visited Sichuan accompanied by Xia Jinxiong. According to Jiang Lan's "Notes on Chengdu"
On the podium in the center of the gymnasium, this American writer is not at all as Sven as a Chinese literati, he is physically strong, and when he roars and speaks, his sweaty arms are constantly waving... Thunderous applause rang out from time to time in the venue.
Two years later, in May, Joseph Needham, a famous British biochemist and author of the History of Science and Technology in China, came to Huaxi Dam and gave 12 lectures in a period of more than 20 days, from natural science to Western thought, the breadth and depth of the involvement, setting off a "Li Whirlwind" in Huaxi Dam.
Needham was at West China Union University in 1943. Courtesy of Deng Changchun
It was a very glorious period of Huaxi Dam. The Japanese invaded China, the mountains and rivers were turbulent, and the West China Union University, which was in the rear, naturally shouldered the heavy responsibility of preserving and developing the country's educational undertakings:
In October 1937, the School of Medicine of Central University was accepted as a whole; in February 1938, Jinling University was admitted; in the autumn of 1938, the School of Medicine of Qilu University and the Department of Biology of Soochow University were admitted; in November 1938, Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences was admitted; in the spring of 1942, Peking Yenching University was admitted; and some teachers and students of Union Medical College and nurses college also came to jointly run the school.
This period is often referred to as the period of joint education of the five universities, but in fact, eight universities gathered on the dam, with nearly 4,000 students, which was the largest and largest university in China during the war.
During the period of joint education of the five universities in West China, the joint meeting of the presidents of the five universities, from left to right, was: Ma Jian, acting president of Yenching University, Wu Yifang, president of Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences, Chen Yuguang, president of Jinling University, Zhang Linggao, president of West China Union University, and Tang Jihe, president of Qilu University. Courtesy of Deng Changchun.
With the arrival of various schools, huaxiba masters gathered for a while: Wen You, Lü Shuxiang, Chen Yinke, Qian Mu, Feng Hanji, Yang Youzhi, Luo Zhongshu, Liu Chengzhao, Fang Wenpei, Qi Shounan, Dong Bingqi... They all preached and received employment here.
Huaxiba was also the window that connected China and the outside world, the most representative of which was the establishment of the "East-West Cultural Society", and even praised by Einstein, Dewey, russell, and gathered Kong Xiangxi, Zhang Qun, Qian Mu, Eggston, Needham and other well-known people.
At that time, Huaxi Dam was definitely a hot land for the pursuit of truth and knowledge. From morning to night, the lectures do not stop, students find a lawn, two square tables, you can start academic discussions; the students in the anatomy classroom meticulously attend the anatomy class; the sound of the piano in the piano room, the west side is the fine breeding cattle farm of the Department of Agronomy...
Among the many students in Huaxiba who pursue knowledge and progressive ideas, there is a female student from the Department of Philosophy and History from Jiajiang County, Leshan, Sichuan, named Mao Yingcai.
At that time, the teachers and students of Huaxiba were dressed in a very foreign dish, so Huaxiba has always led the fashion trend of old Chengdu. Many citizens like to go to the tailor shop next to University Road to make clothes.
On June 14, 1949, the day after attending the graduation ceremony, Mao Yingcai carried a handbag and crossed the university road to the tailor's shop, hoping to buy a new dress for her upcoming new life. It may be that the fabric is too good-looking, Mao Yingcai picked and chose, and when he left, he forgot the handbag he was holding when he came.
Graduation ceremony during the joint period of the five universities. Courtesy of Deng Changchun
The shop owner looked through the contents of his handbag and found the Communist Party propaganda material "Outline of China's Land Law"! When the package is about to be delivered to the police station.
Soon, Mao Ying found that the handbag was missing, and went to the tailor's shop three times to find it unsuccessfully. The next morning, the apprentice from the tailor's shop arrived at the school to inform her that the bag had been found and asked Miss Mao to pick it up. As soon as Mao Yingcai arrived at the tailor's shop, he was arrested by the police who had already ambushed him. He was first detained at the inspection office and then transferred to the provincial special committee detention center.
On the day of Mao Yingcai's arrest, his father, Mao Chunshan, came to Chengdu to pick up his daughter and return home. After learning the news, the school and Mao's father immediately came to the police station to ask for bail, but they were unsuccessful. During this period, Mao Yingcai was severely tortured in prison and refused to repent.
Mao Yingcai. According to the Qingyang Group Worker Micro
Three months later, the school informed Mao Chunshan to visit her daughter in prison, and she firmly stated: Never write a letter of repentance! I have nothing to regret! Later, the head of the secret service, Xu Zhongqi, asked Mao Chunshan to hand over 12 taels of gold to take his daughter away, and Mao Yingcai heard the indignant words of righteousness: Really despicable! He even treats people as business... Buy me out, and I won't be free, and I'll have a bad reputation.
On December 7, 1949, there were only 20 days left before the liberation of Chengdu. The deranged executioners dragged the revolutionaries out of their cells one by one, forcibly removed Mao Yingcai's red coat, knocked her unconscious, tied her up, and took her to the Execution Ground of the Twelve Bridges. In the midst of gunfire, Mao Yingcai and 31 other martyrs fell to the ground at the age of 24.
On the West China campus, there is a statue of the martyr Mao Yingcai. Courtesy of Deng Changchun
She is the youngest and only female martyr among the Twelve Bridges martyrs, and her statue is still placed in front of the girls' home on the West China Campus.
On Xiaotianzhu Street, which is next to Daxue Road, a sign is now erected telling people about the past of the tailor shop.
The long river of time continues to move forward, never the will of man shifts, and in the blink of an eye, it is the 1980s.
One afternoon, a distinguished guest from afar visited West China, breaking the tranquility of the campus. He stood in front of the BGI office, looked around, and felt a lot of emotions. The office, also known as Huaide Hall, is a very classic and special building in the Huaxi Dam architectural complex, and its designer is also the overall designer of huaxi dam, the famous British architectural designer Rong Duyi.
Rong Duyi
The guest of honor who visited West China on this day was former British Prime Minister Heath. It turned out that he was entrusted by Rong Duyi's grandson to come specifically for the old building of Huaxi Dam.
In the spring of 1913, the 53-year-old Rong Duyi arrived in Chengdu via Moscow, Beijing and Shanghai, and almost died in the Three Gorges. Along the way, he inspected a lot of ancient Chinese architecture, stayed in Chengdu for about three weeks, saw a lot of Western Sichuan houses, skillfully integrated Chinese elements into the craftsmanship of each building, and drew the overall design plan of the West China Dam. Since then, a number of architects have cooperated to implement Rong Duyi's design plan.
A bird's-eye view of West China Union University drawn by Rong Du Yi in 1913, at this time there was already University Road. Courtesy of Deng Changchun
Map of West China Union University in 1926. Courtesy of Deng Changchun
Unfortunately, after the completion of the architectural design in West China, Rong Duyi returned to China. Until his death in 1927, he was unable to see the huaxi dam. The subsequent use of the building has become his concern all along, and the grandson understands his grandfather's mood and learns that Heath has visited China, so he asked him to find out. Fortunately, after more than half a century of wind and rain, Huaide Hall still stands intact in Huaxi Dam.
Wilder Hall. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Sichuan University
You don't have to walk into the Huaxiba campus, standing on the crowded University Road, the style of Huaide Hall is clearly visible: green bricks and green tiles, with large red columns and big red sealed eaves, and the roof cornices are decorated with exquisite decorations such as ridge beasts, dragons and phoenixes. Inside, there are typical Western architectural elements, archways, halls, fireplaces, bay windows... The whole building is a perfect example of east and west.
Wilder Hall
At this time, Daxue Road has long become an east-west municipal road connecting Renmin South Road and Xinnanmen in Chengdu. Around the new construction of teachers' family buildings, Huaxi Dam so many teachers and students to eat, the rise of the market economy, University Road naturally gathered along the street a lot of vendors to buy vegetables, all the way to Shengli Village.
In the 1990s, the government built a wet market at the east end of University Road. The University Road Vegetable Market can be said to be the most cultured vegetable market in Chengdu, and passers-by who pass by casually may be old professors in West China.
University Road Market
Across the road, on the one hand, there are the top institutions of higher learning with the most humanistic atmosphere, and on the other hand, there is a noisy vegetable market full of people, and the two have been living together for many years without any sense of violation, reflecting the Chengdu-style romance of great poetry and fireworks.
In the late winter of 2019, the leaves of the French plane trees on University Road fell in pieces in the wind, and a small amount of dead yellow remained on the trees.
One morning, under the dim street lights, a tall figure appeared in front of the Golden Apple Longjiang Road Primary School (South District) across the street from the University Road Vegetable Market. Excitedly, he held up his mobile phone, kept taking pictures and videos of the school, and said excitedly:
"Mom, see?" This is the school where my grandfather used to work! ”
The man who was busy taking pictures was named Komakai. His mother, Professor Isabé Kruk, recipient of the "Medal of Friendship" of the Republic, is the highest honor awarded to international friends in our country, and there are only eight recipients so far.
Isabelle in his youth. According to the "Forever West China" public account
Ke Makai came to Rong this time to participate in the renaming activity of Chengdu Diwei Primary School. Diwei Primary School was founded in 1915 and was run in 1919 by Isabe's mother, Rao Zhenfang. After 1951, it was renamed several times, and finally called "Hongzhuan West Road Primary School". On December 27, 2019, the original school name "Diwei Primary School" was restored.
Ke Makai and his mother Isabe visited Chengdu Diwei Primary School in June 2019. According to the official micro of Chengdu Diwei Primary School
On the way to the university, what excited Ke Makai was that the school where his grandfather once worked was originally called "Gao Qi Middle School". Founded in 1918 with the donation of Dr. Gao Qi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of West China Union University, it became an affiliated middle school of the Department of Education of West China Union University in 1931. Ke Makai's maternal grandfather, Rao Hemei, a Canadian, was the head of the Department of Education at West China Union University and worked for nearly 30 years in China's education industry.
Isabelle (left) with her mother Rao Zhenfang and father Rao Hemei. According to the "Forever West China" public account
Today, the Golden Apple Longnan Primary School on University Road was once Gao Qi Middle School.
Born in Chengdu in 1915, Isabe spent half of her childhood and teenage years in Huaxiba, and was truly a "daughter of Huaxiba". Isabelle was a brilliant anthropologist and co-founded the first foreign affairs school under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, today's Beijing Foreign Chinese University.
Isabelle, now 106, lives in Beijing, but Huaxi Dam, thousands of kilometers away, has always been a long concern in her heart.
Time has passed, and the university road that left the imprint of Isabelle's childhood and youth is no longer what she remembers. Recently, the Huaxiba Historical and Cultural Block Transformation Project in Wuhou District was presented, and we saw a new look of Daxue Road.
Renovated University Road.
It can be seen that the transformation of University Road has taken care, and many Elements of West China have been extracted and presented on the street, and strive to integrate with the West China campus and the surrounding residential areas into a similar temperament. And the introduction of new commercial formats, so that this ancient street, not only has the traditional cultural accumulation, but also does not lose the youth and modern vitality.
University Road was renovated, and a group of old Chengdu style paintings were hung on the wall. The author of this group of paintings is Yu Zidan, a chengdu folk artist a hundred years ago, who taught Xu Weili, a professor in the Department of Chemistry of West China Union University and an Englishman, to learn Chinese, and often has gifts of calligraphy and painting. In 1984, after Xu Weili died in The United Kingdom, his family published these paintings in a book called "Dragon Bones", which tells the life of ordinary people in Chengdu in the 1920s.
Chengdu's famous snack egg baked cake originated from the Huaxiba campus. At present, the Heji egg baked cake on University Road has been on the stall here for 18 years and has developed more than 30 flavors.
The new scenery on university road and the introduction of new commercial formats make this traditional road full of youthful vitality.
Deng Changchun, a lover of Huaxiba history and culture, told us that he felt that the transformation of Daxue Road moved the history of Huaxiba from the campus to the street, and people walking on the street can touch and understand the history of Huaxiba, which is the biggest significance of the transformation of Daxue Road.
postscript
University Road is short, only 416 meters, and it can be walked in 5 minutes. The road to the university is very long, and the thick past accumulated in the long historical years is fascinating.
To interpret the past and present lives of Daxue Road is to touch the culture of Huaxiba. This piece of land, which once lived outside the southern city wall of Chengdu and now lives in the south of Chengdu and within the first ring road, is too precious for Chengdu! This article tries to list the relationship between the glorious historical precipitation, humanistic style, red past, architectural characteristics, and urban temperament of West China to the reader, but we also know that the cultural value and spiritual core of West China cannot be excavated and displayed.
I only hope that every Chengdu person who benefits from West China today can remember the past events of West China that are floating in the wind at a certain moment.
Special thanks to this article: Mr. Deng Changchun
bibliography:
Jin Kaitai "Huaxiba Culture"
Tan Kai's "Maple Fall Huaxi Dam"
Sichuan University Archives "Mao Yingcai Martyr in Prison"
——Man Chengdu. Cities -
The text | ten miles
The photo | Yifei, partly provided by Deng Changchun
Edit | Ten miles
Executive Producer 丨 Wang Hong