Intellectuals also talk about money!
Nowadays, the word "intellectual" has gradually weakened, degenerated, and disappeared, so that it has not been heard for a long time; and in the last century, the last century, the end of the history of Chinese literature, that is, the Republic of China period, the impression of "intellectuals" in the literary circles is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, a long shirt, a large frame of glasses, a hand in the hand, a hand behind the back, polite, gentle and elegant, the literary world is one and the same, all respected by the Chinese people, such a book business seems to be far from the "copper smell" and "money"!
The image of the intellectual represents Lu Xun
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the place where intellectuals gathered most freely was Peking University. Since Cai Yuanpei was the first president to put forward the concept of "freedom of thought, inclusiveness", coupled with Xu's high salary and the call for liang naxian, Peking University has successively established the most comprehensive discipline system in the country, of which Master Ji Xianlin, the founder of the Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures, is the most classic.
In October 1945, Master Ji Xianlin, who had studied in Germany for ten years, broke through many obstacles and crossed half of eurasia, and finally arrived in Shanghai in May 1946, which lasted for 8 months and finally returned to the embrace of the motherland. At this time, with the strong support of President Hu Shi of Peking University, Acting President Fu Sinian, and Dean of Literature Tang Yongtong, Master Ji Xianlin founded the Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures, and served as the head of the department, serving as a full professor. By 1996, Fang had retired from the post of head of the Department of Eastern Languages, and he had been doing this for fifty years!
Replace the new plaque of Peking University
So, what is the salary of Master Ji Xianlin, who has been the head of the department for half a century and is a full professor? Let's first explore the history of Peking University's wages.
The May Fourth Movement sounded the clarion call for intellectuals to gather in Beiping, and the literary circles gathered in Beijing, especially Peking University. The spirit of freedom and tolerance is the most important reason for attracting intellectuals to gather, but its high salary also brings protection to the freedom of intellectuals.
In 1920, the Drafting Committee of the Constitution for the Treatment of Faculty members of Peking University held that "the salaries of the educational circles are too thin, neither enough for food and clothing, nor enough for academic research, and too low compared with other occupations", and eventually increased the salary level of faculty members, of which the monthly salary of professors increased greatly, from the original 200 oceans to 300 oceans. During the period of the National Government in Nanjing, the Education Administrative Committee promulgated the Regulations on the Qualifications of University Faculty members in June 1927, which divided university faculty members into four types: professors, associate professors, lecturers, and teaching assistants, and their salary scales for teachers tended to be standardized.
Taking the monthly salary scale of faculty salaries shown in the figure between 1931 and 1934, the average monthly salary of Peking University professors is more than 400 oceans, associate professors are in 300 oceans, full-time lecturers are 160 to 260 oceans, and teaching assistants are in 80 to 90 oceans. During this period, most of the funds of Peking University came from the appropriations of the Ministry of Education, the funds were relatively sufficient, the salaries of the faculty members were relatively stable, and they were higher than those of other industries, and this period was the best period of salary income.
Monthly salary income table for instructors' salaries
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, although the Executive Yuan also promulgated the "Interim Regulations on the Appointment and Treatment of Faculty Members of Universities and Independent Colleges" as shown in the figure, which clearly stipulated the salaries and salaries of teachers, after all, at this time, the domestic and international situation was grim, and military expenditure had become the largest expenditure of the state, and the expenditure on education could naturally not be fully guaranteed. And at this time, inflation is serious, currency depreciation, prices are soaring, although the salary of Peking University professors has been increased to 600 oceans, and other teachers have also increased significantly, but the actual purchasing power of teachers has been greatly reduced, and seriously can not guarantee the minimum living. Professor Wang Li of Southwest United University wrote in "Receiving a Salary": "Under this circumstance, the family did not dare to think of making clothes, and the suggestion of the young lady to watch the movie "Zhongyong House" was wasted because everyone thought that the Hungry and Cold Family was not qualified. The eldest young master also vowed not to study hard again, because what is the use of reading ten thousand volumes like his father? The little young master only hated not being born in the street vendor's house. ”
Salary scale of the Interim Regulations on the Treatment of Faculty Members of Universities and Independent Colleges
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in the late autumn of 1946, Master Xianlin became an associate professor at Peking University, and became a full professor a week later. In 1946, the monthly salary of professors was 550 yuan, and by 1948 it reached about 600 yuan. At that time, the country's economy had completely collapsed, from silver dollars to legal tender, and then changed to silver yuan coupons, and then changed to gold yuan coupons, more and more chaotic, inflation has reached the banknotes with a daily plus 0, and can not keep up with the rapid rise in prices. Go to the grain store to buy a few pounds of grain, and the coupon you want to bring weighs more than the grain itself, and even use sacks. It is conceivable that at that time, the life of intellectuals was embarrassing!
Therefore, in the first fifty years of the last century, at the end of the history of Chinese literature, intellectuals in the literary circles were all generous and poor.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Master Ji Xianlin was the first batch of 56 "old-level" professors identified in the 1950s, and his salary was the highest among peking university teachers. According to Master Ji Xianlin's "Talking about Consumption", in Beijing, where there are six types of wages, the monthly salary is 345 yuan, and the monthly allowance of members of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (equivalent to today's academicians) is 100 yuan, a total of 450 yuan. This income is already quite high. After the reform and opening up, in 1997, as an example, as the oldest "old first-level" professor, the master's salary was seven or eight yuan, plus various allowances of four or five hundred yuan, and there were actually twelve or three hundred yuan per month.
Lin Geng and Ji Xianlin
Of course, the above only counts the salaries and allowances of intellectuals and other fixed income, do not forget that intellectuals have a second profession, that is, writers, then of course there will be contribution fees, copyright fees and so on.
Taking the 1930s as an example, 3 yuan for 1,000 words was the standard of the common fee, while the 1,000 words of famous artists could reach more than 6 yuan. For example, Zhang Hexhui signed a contract with the World Bookstore, 8 yuan per thousand words. Generally speaking, if you easily publish 30,000 or 50,000 words of works every month in the literary world, you can easily get 200 or 300 pieces of ocean. In addition, there are 10% to 25% of the copyright fee, which is equivalent to about two or three hundred oceans per month. As a result, the monthly salary and writing income of peking university professors in the literary circles at the end of the history of Chinese literature have a monthly income of six or seven hundred oceans. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Master Ji Xianlin got up at four o'clock every day to write, and the famous "History of Sugar" was more than 730,000 words in its entirety. After the reform and opening up, taking 1996 as an example, Master Ji Xianlin's "Miscellaneous Memories of the Cowshed" was first published in 80,000 copies, and its manuscript fee was 200,000 yuan. After the 21st new century, Master Ji Xianlin's royalties will not be less than 10%, and the preliminary conservative estimate is that the annual remuneration is about three or five hundred thousand.
"Cowshed Miscellaneous Memories"
In addition, intellectuals in the literary world also love to collect, and most of the collections are of amazing value. In the case of Master Ji Xianlin's teacher Chen Yinke, for example, in 1947, when prices soared, intellectuals could not afford coal! And Hu Shi "Xi Da Ru" gave Mr. Chen a considerable amount of two thousand US dollars, and Mr. Chen asked the student Master Ji Xianlin to give Hu Shiyi a car extremely precious books, one of which was the market value of "St. Petersburg Van Der Dale Dictionary" was far more than two thousand US dollars, and it is conceivable that the value of a car of precious books is immeasurable. This batch of books was actually donated to Peking University. Taking Master Ji Xianlin as an example, the sixty years of collection experience since the beginning of the work have made Master Ji Xianlin's collection impossible to calculate and the value cannot be calculated. There are many books in the collection, and Peking University ranks first; calligraphy and painting can almost print a fine catalogue of the history of Chinese Ming and Qing dynasty calligraphy and painting; the literary room is elegant and playable, and the quantity and value are very considerable; manuscripts, letters, etc. can be regarded as "Ganges Sand Number". According to online information, "Peking University has kept a total of 577 cultural relics on its behalf, of which 207 are ancient paintings." In 2016, according to the actual investigation of his son Ji Cheng and relevant personnel of Peking University, a total of 649 cases were filed.
Ji Xianlin Collection Tian Huang Seal (black and white photo)
Although this article is a few words, it cannot fully describe the changes in the income of peking university professors, the representative of intellectuals in the literary field, but it also tries its best to provide some enlightenment for the people of the world (including the word "retired intellectuals) who are now "bustling for profit, and all are for the benefit of the past". There is a road to wealth. The benevolent make their fortunes, and the unkind make their fortunes. Today, as long as we use our hearts to teach and educate people, to write and write, to flow from goodness, to take morality as the foundation, we will certainly be rich.
Illustration