The Teachings of the Tail of the Crane, the Spring Breeze of the Rain: Studying with Teacher Xu Zhuoyun
Text / Yang Hongyu Sun Yan
In the mid-1990s, after graduating from the Department of Archaeology at Peking University, we came to the University of Pittsburgh in 1994 and 1995 to pursue a Ph.D. under Professor Katheryn M. Linduff.
Professor Lin was then a graduate student in the Department of Art and Architectural History and the Department of Anthropology. One of us studied in the Department of Anthropology and the other in the Department of Art and Architectural History. At that time, we had just graduated from undergraduate school, full of ambition, full of expectations for future study in the United States. At the same time, we realized that we had limited expertise, little knowledge of art history and human archaeology with American characteristics, and confusion about how to choose topics, do research, and write articles. Teachers Lin Jialin and Xu Zhuoyun are the leaders who led us into the study of ancient China.
The first time I heard about Mr. Xu was from Mr. Qiao Xiaoqin, who was a visiting student at the University of Pittsburgh at that time. When we first arrived in the United States, Mr. Joe cared a lot about us in life. I remember chatting with Mr. Qiao, he told us that Mr. Xu of the Department of History has been engaged in the study of ancient Chinese history for many years, has written a lot of works, and has a high reputation in the Field of Chinese And Aesthetics, and after the beginning of the semester, Mr. Lin will definitely let us visit him, and Mr. Xu will also be one of the instructors of our doctorate in the future.
Later, we learned that Teacher Xu and Teacher Lin Jialin are not only colleagues, but also very good friends. Teacher Xu is the elder Teacher Lin, Teacher Lin respects Teacher Xu's learning and personality, and the friendship between them has lasted for decades, and they have cultivated a group of students together.
Before we came to the United States, we had never heard of Mr. Xu, let alone read Mr. Xu's works, and we were looking forward to seeing him. I remember meeting Mr. Xu for the first week after the fall semester, in the office of teacher Forbes Quadrangle (now called Posvar Hall). I (Yang Hongyu) am studying in the Department of Anthropology. The Department of Anthropology and the Department of History are neighbors, and the offices of the two departments are separated by only one door. Coming out of the Department of Anthropology, directly opposite the door of the Department of History. The first time I saw Mr. Xu, I was somewhat in awe, and I couldn't remember what I said specifically, mainly to introduce myself and talk about the direction of learning after a while. The teacher was very enthusiastic, remembering that we were communicating in Chinese at that time, and felt very kind.
Mr. Xu Zhuoyun
The first course we took together was a small seminar on pre-Qin history and society that Mr. Xu taught to several graduate students. The class consisted of several students who had started their graduate programs together, including students from the United States and students from the mainland and Taiwan like us who had come to study in the United States. The discussions in the class about the development of history are still fresh in our minds.
During the discussion, the teacher introduced us to the french school of almanacs, and we heard the word "longue duree" for the first time. After class, the teacher also gave us his collection of books by Fernand Braudel, a representative scholar of the Annals School, who read on History. The English version of the book was published in 1980 and contains several of Boldel's papers. These articles in the book not only give us an insight into the grand historical view of the annals school, but also make us aware of the close relationship between historiography and other social sciences.
Considering the direction of anthropology and art history in our major, the teacher deliberately selected this book for us, which in retrospect should be the teacher's enlightenment training for our historical theoretical framework.
When I (Sun Yan) was in the master's class in art history, another course I took with my teacher was selected reading of pre-Qin literature. I remember taking the class in my second year of graduate school, it was the Independent Study, which was a one-on-one class with the professor, and it was just me and another classmate. The literature that the teacher gave us to read was also closely related to our research topic. The research topic of my master's thesis was the Yan Kingdom of the Western Zhou Dynasty. At that time, the excavation materials of Liulihe, the capital of the Yan Kingdom, had just been published. What impressed me most was that when the teacher interpreted the "Funeral Rites" in the rites, he inspired us to examine the process of funeral sacrifices from the perspective of archaeology and material remains in combination with the literature.
While reading the Ritual Instruments of the Book of Rites, Teacher Xu inspired us to think about the use of ceremonial instruments and the roles of men and women in the zhou dynasty sacrifices. These interdisciplinary research angles, for me at that time, were only a half-understanding perceptual understanding, and in the research after my doctorate, I deeply felt the importance of interdisciplinary research, and I also paid attention to interpreting the material remains of archaeological excavations in the large historical background provided by the literature.
Questions about pre-Qin women, identity, and power have been touched upon in later studies. The teacher's point at that time can be said to have benefited me a lot. This kind of method and theoretical perspective that is not limited to one discipline is exactly a path for our understanding of ancient China, and it makes me deeply appreciate the truth that "the stone of his mountain can attack jade".
University of Pittsburgh, USA
In 1998, the faculty retired from the History Department of the University of Pittsburgh, but the guidance for those of us who are currently in school is the same. During our six years at the University of Pittsburgh, we went to teachers and asked for advice at our Home on Forbes Avenue. Sometimes the two of us, sometimes with classmates. During the New Year's Festival, Master Xu (Sun Manli) would often stay with us to celebrate dinner together. The teacher and mother took good care of the students. In addition to caring about our lives, it also supports us to go home and ask the teacher for homework. Sometimes the teacher and mother will also join us in the discussion, adding a lot of relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
The teacher was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot in our conversations with him. He always spoke to us in concise and concise terms about complex theories. He opposed the boundaries of disciplines that were firmly drawn, and guided and encouraged us to do scholarship without sticking to a way of thinking, a method of research. We have been in the United States for more than two decades from the mid-1990s to the present, and we have been in correspondence with teachers by email and telephone. After the teacher retired in 1998, he was a visiting scholar at Duke University, Nanjing University and hong Kong Chinese University, no matter where the teacher and the teacher's mother were, we sent an email to ask questions, and the teacher would give us timely solutions.
What touched us the most was that during the epidemic in 2020, I called my teacher to tell me that the English monograph of "Western Zhou and Northern Xinjiang" was about to be published, and he happily talked to me for nearly an hour on the phone and exchanged views with me on the archaeological culture of ancient northern China. You should know that the teacher was 90 years old at the time, and his dedication and enthusiasm for scholarship set an example for us who are younger generations of scholars.
Over the years, the teacher and we have discussed a wide range of topics, far beyond the three generations of archaeology we majored in, which can be said to be ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, all-encompassing. There are comparisons of the Two Rivers Valley, Greece, Rome, and ancient China; discussions about The Future of China and China; there are discussions about the rise of globalization and the upheaval and change of American society today; from Confucianism, Taoism, to Christianity and Islam.
We asked the teacher about the Election of the United States, about the rise of China, about the future of the world. The teacher's views and analysis of these issues are bit by bit, converging into a stream; fragments of words, embellished into chapters. The teacher has published a number of monographs, with the keen insight and broad mind of a historian, telling the "ancient rivers" of ancient and present-day China and the world.
The teacher sometimes told us about the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that he experienced in the mainland as a child, and the teacher-student friendship with Li Jizhi, Shen Gangbo, Dong Zuobin, Li Zongdong, Ling Chunsheng and many other gentlemen at National Taiwan University when he was young. I remember that after a tea and dinner, when we were chatting, the teacher and a few of our classmates talked about the experience of fleeing during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and when he mentioned that he had witnessed the soldiers of the War of Resistance driving to the front line and there was no return, he burst into tears. Every student present at that time was impressed, and they also deeply felt that it is not easy for China to prosper today.
The teacher is active in his thinking and quick in thinking, and it is a spiritual enjoyment to talk to him about learning or chatting. Years of "small talk" with teachers have enriched our knowledge and improved our ability to think.
Mr. Xu Is at his home in Pittsburgh
Teachers can be said to be "miscellaneous" in the field of historiography. He once joked that his academic colleagues said that he was "not doing the right thing." Traditional historians focus on a period, a region, or a historical issue. Readers who are familiar with the teacher's writings will see that these works cover a series of issues from a historical perspective, including national culture, political economy, organizational management, and the temporal and spatial pattern of culture. The teacher's writings can not only micro-Han Dynasty agriculture and Western Zhou history, but also macroscopic China, China, I and others, Western civilization and the United States today.
The reason why the teacher can become a miscellaneous family is because he has learned both Chinese and Western and is knowledgeable. He emphasized the integration of disciplines, emphasized the ancient and modern, emphasized looking at the world from China, and also looked at China from the world. He puts a rigorous and profound academic point of view, which can be explained lightly and can be described in depth and in a simple way. The teacher is a scholar outside the "ivory tower". His audience and readers are spread across academic circles and beyond. His book is addressed to everyone who is willing to listen and think, not just professional researchers like us. He can talk about the cultural process for the scholars of the Department of History of NTU, and he can also talk about management and management for the students of the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University. While he taught our students at the University of Pittsburgh, he was also willing to participate in local Chinese community activities and talk about history and the present.
Careful readers will surely find that the teacher's books and texts are very easy to read and attractive. One of the purposes of writing, including monographs such as the History of the Western Zhou Dynasty, is to "provide a slightly general reading for the general reader." The teacher does this because he realizes that the life of knowledge lies not only in writing, but also in dissemination. He spoke tirelessly, tirelessly, and modestly, with the aim of summarizing the past and leading the way for future generations. The teacher's years of unremitting efforts are a reflection of this will.
Our training and research is Chinese archaeology, and the topic of research also focuses on the interpretation of material culture. In the years of learning and exchange with the teacher, we have been deeply touched by the teacher's attention and support for archaeology.
He often talked to us about Mr. Su Bingqi's concept of fauna type. He admired Mr. Su Lao's views and was also fond of Mr. Tong Enzheng's view of the "half-moon zone". Under the arrangement of him and Teacher Lin Jialin, Mr. Tong Enzheng came to the University of Pittsburgh for a visit and exchange. During our six or seven years at the university (1994-2000), two teachers invited a number of Chinese archaeologists to visit the University of Pittsburgh, and we were most impressed by Mr. Lin Hu and Guo Dashun.
Mr. Lin is rigorous and wise, and Mr. Guo is funny and humorous. The teacher and Chinese archaeologist Mr. Zhang Zhongpei have a deep friendship. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. Zhang and his wife visited the University of Pittsburgh. After returning to China, Mr. Zhang and his teacher jointly held three archaeological seminars in Hong Kong in 1997, Xiling in 1999, and Taipei in 2003, each with different topics. These three conferences span six years and bring together many scholars in archaeology, history and art history of the three generations of the three regions on both sides of the strait. We had the honor to attend the 1997 Conference in Hong Kong and Taipei in 2003, and we deeply felt the strong academic atmosphere and the free exchange with scholars.
After each meeting, the teacher and Mr. Zhang published the papers and introduced the latest research results of the scholars to the academic community. After the 1997 Hong Kong Conference, the teacher also promoted the Sino-US joint Chifeng Field Archaeology Project led by Professor Lin Jialin and Mr. Zhang Zhongpei to explore the origins of early civilization and culture in ancient northern China. This 10-year collaborative project has cultivated a number of archaeologists for Pittsburgh and Jilin Universities, and has also greatly promoted the exchange of archaeological research methods between China and the United States. The rich material of archaeological surveys has also inspired comparative studies of the formation patterns of complex societies in China and the rest of the world.
Teachers recognize the academic value of archaeological materials early on. In his research, the archaeological material is not the green leaves that set off the red flower of the literature, but the evidence that is very important. This is evident in the book "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty".
Xu Qiuyun: History of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore, 2018
The book "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty" is different from the tradition of traditional historians writing history based on documents, and even more different from the archaeologists' material culture research with archaeological discoveries as the main body. The teacher's book takes historical issues as the framework and the three materials of literature, archaeology and jinwen as evidence, and the natural integration of historical research and archaeological data is indeed intriguing.
Since its first edition in 1984, the book has not only been reprinted, but also updated many times, with parallel simplified and traditional versions. It is not difficult to find that the newly discovered archaeological data is the focus of each addition by the teacher. The teacher had high hopes for the archaeological material. He believes that the rich archaeological data poses a challenge to researchers. We must summarize phenomena from archaeological materials and seek explanations; we must not only study Chinese culture, but also break through limitations and explore the similarities and differences of human culture; not only study cultural civilization, but also reveal the relationship between human beings and the environment, culture and ecology. Such emphasis and reuse of archaeological data by teachers is not common among historians.
My (Sun Yan's) research direction is the northern part of the Central Plains Dynasty during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In my years of guidance, my teacher often reminded me to pay attention to the local culture along the Great Wall, which made me realize that the frontier of the Central Plains and the northern contact zone was the key to our understanding of the formation of the Central Plains Dynasty in the Bronze Age.
The teacher emphasizes the diversity of cultures, the diversity of identity, and the interaction between culture and ecological environment. These ideas have greatly influenced my own research on the archaeological materials of the Western Zhou Dynasty over the years. The teacher's historian's big framework and big vision of thinking can be described as lofty and inspiring to my research. In the study of Western Zhou and Northern Xinjiang, it allowed me to extract from the analysis of delicate artifacts and material remains, and to grasp the great historical development trends and cultural processes of each region at a higher level.
Over the past many years, every time we returned to Pittsburgh, we would visit teachers and teachers and mothers to relive the feeling of discussing knowledge with teachers at school. Time flies, our feelings for the teacher and the teacher are still pure, and the teacher and the teacher's mother are still warm to us and other students. Outside of academia, what we see and feel is still an elder who is concerned about the world, thinking boundlessly and thinking endlessly.
October 12, 2021
Urbana, Maryland
Responsible editor| Zhao Xin
Headlines were compiled | Josie Ho