Among the many books and works about the four sisters of the Zhang family, there are slight differences in the accounts of Zhang Chong and the year of birth. Some people even feel quite puzzled as to why Zhang Chonghe, as the fourth sister, entered the university later than the eldest brother Zhang Zonghe.
In fact, people who know a little about the Zhang family know that Zhang Zonghe's path of study is to follow the steps, from primary school to middle school to university, in 1931 at the age of 17 into Soochow University, the following year at the age of 18 to transfer, admitted to Tsinghua University. Zhang Chonghe, on the other hand, inherited his uncle and grandmother while swaddling, and lived in Hefei until he was 16 years old before returning to Suzhou. She did not enter the new school like other siblings in Suzhou, but received education at home in Hefei, and her uncle and grandmother invited the best Chinese studies teachers to the house to teach Zhang Chonghe alone.
Zhang Chonghe returned to his home in Suzhou at the age of 16, and only then did he study at the Leyi Girls' High School founded by his father, and in addition to Chinese, many subjects need to be tutored. After the "1.28" incident in 1932, she moved with her family to Shanghai to live temporarily, and was admitted to Wuben Girls' School in the early spring and transferred to Guanghua Experimental Middle School in the autumn. During the summer vacation of 1933 (August 15), she and her eldest brother Zhang Zonghe took a train from Suzhou to Beijing to attend the wedding of her third sister Zhang Zhaohe and Shen Congwen, and then attended Peking University, and was admitted to the Department of Literature of Peking University in 1934 at the age of 21. At that time, the eldest brother Zhang Zonghe was already in the third year of the History Department of Tsinghua University, which was the reason why Zhang Chong and the late eldest brother entered the university in three years.
Peking University's archives show that Zhang Chonghe's student status is named Zhang Xuan, alias Chonghe, his place of origin is Ningxia Zhongwei, and his school age is 19 years old. It turned out that the eldest brother Zhang Zong and his friends had obtained a graduation certificate for Zhang Chonghe of Gansu Provincial No. 1 Middle School, and Zhang Chonghe was able to apply for Peking University with the qualification of graduating from middle school, so Zhang Chonghe's place of origin and age should be based on that graduation certificate.
Zhang Zonghe entrusted who got this Gansu diploma for the fourth sister? Zhang Zonghe's diary and correspondence with the fourth sister often mention an "old Su" Su Jingquan, who is a lifelong friend of the sisters and brothers. As Zhang Chonghe said in his letter to Zhang Zonghe on February 15, 1961: "Lao Su is still loyal to the Zhang siblings... Old Sue is still Old Sue... Just like thirty years ago, nostalgia for the past, hanging on to the present, sighing, pity, righteousness. ("A Song of Micro-Ignorance: ChongHe Zonghe Talks about Art", Guangxi Normal University Press, 2016, p. 132). Su Jingquan is a native of Ningxia Zhongwei, who studied at Gansu Provincial High School and graduated from the Department of Chinese of Tsinghua University in 1935. He lived with Zhang Zonghe in TsinghuaYuan Yizhai in 1932 and became a good friend in the same dormitory, No. 423, Wuyuan in 1933. Lao Su's background is obviously related to Zhang Chong and the information of the Gansu graduation certificate, is Zhang Zonghe the graduation certificate that he entrusted this old Su to do for the fourth sister? There is no direct evidence for this, only inferences made by individuals combing through the literature. Zhang Chonghe applied for Peking University in 1934, and coincidentally, Zhang Zonghe's diary for that whole year was lost. One day, if the key diary is lost and regained, it may be possible to solve the mystery smoothly.
In addition, what year was Zhang Chonghe born? Wikipedia, like Baidu Encyclopedia, set Zhang Chonghe's birth year as 1914, which is obviously incorrect. In fact, Zhang Chonghe's date of birth is very conclusive, that is, as written in the "Zhang Chonghe Hand-copied Kunqu Notation" compiled by Chen Anna: "Born in 1913 on the twelfth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar (May 17 of the solar calendar) in the Shanghai Tiema Road Tunanli", which belongs to cattle. However, due to the fact that it coincided with the alternation of the old and new eras at that time, the intersection of the solar and lunar calendars and the Republic of China, coupled with the unique virtual age and real age algorithm of the Chinese people, sometimes it is inevitable that some confusion will be caused, which is also reasonable.
Zhang Chonghe and Zhang Zonghe in his early years
Zhejiang University Press's 2018 "Zhang Zonghe Diary (Volume I) 1930-1936" 193 pages, May 17, 1932 Zhang Zonghe wrote: "Today is the fourth sister's twentieth birthday, there is nothing at home, only I wrote a film yesterday and sent a doll to the fourth sister." "May 17, 1932 coincided with the twelfth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, folk say that the birthday of the nineteenth year, the solar and lunar calendars are exactly the same as the date of birth, Zhang Chonghe, who was born in 1913, was nineteen years old and twenty years old.
On August 8, 1977, Zhang Chonghe wrote to Zhang Zonghe and his daughter: "Your father is one year and twelve days younger than me. Zhang Zonghe's birthday was april 24, 1914, which was exactly "one year and twelve days" from Zhang Chonghe's 1913 lunar month of April.
In 2013, Guangxi Normal University Press published Su Wei's "Tianya Evening Flute", and the relevant paragraphs of Su Wei's interview with Zhang Chonghe on page 57 of the excerpt are as follows:
"What year were you born?" I asked in passing.
"1913. It is the second year of the Republic of China. The lunar calendar is April 12 and the Gregorian calendar is May 17. Now many books mention that I was born in 1912, which is a mistake. Probably the person who registered the marriage certificate when he was married, according to the Chinese age algorithm, counted as one more year old, so it was falsely rumored. ”
If we are still uncertain about Zhang Chonghe's date of birth, we should be able to clarify the truth by turning a few more books and comparing them.
Author: Chen Bei
Editor: Wu Dongkun