My brother Huang Renyu: From soldier to historian

Author: Huang Jingcun

It was a peaceful day in California, and we were planning weekend activities, when suddenly Brother Renyu's son, Pere, called and said that his father had suddenly died of a heart attack three hours ago when he went to a nearby movie theater. After a day or two, I learned that Ren-woo was driving by his wife Ge Xue to a cinema more than twenty miles away that day to see a literary film called "Snow Falling on the Carogi"...

My brother Huang Renyu and sister-in-law Ge Xue lived in New York State, USA, and in the 1999 Chinese New Year's Eve, I talked to Brother Ren Yu twice on the phone in the West Bank, and in the conversation, I encouraged each other and congratulated each other safely into the new century.

On January 8, 2000, just one week after the new century, when the temperature in California was calm, and we were still planning a weekend activity, suddenly Brother Renyu's son, Pei Le, called, it was around 11:30 a.m. California time, and Pere's voice was very stable, but the news was something we never imagined: he said that his father suddenly died of a heart attack three hours ago, when he went to a nearby movie theater, and it was in this short phone call that I and Brother Ren Yu said goodbye forever.

After a day or two, I learned that Renyu was driven by his wife Ge Xue to a cinema more than twenty miles ago to see a literary film called "Snow Falling on the Caroquo", they had just arrived at the cinema, Brother Renyu said that he was unwell, and when he entered the entrance hall, he fainted as soon as he sat down, and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital emergency department, and the doctor was helpless.

At that time, in addition to being sad, I was also a little surprised: Brother Renyu is usually serious and does not like to be flashy, so why do you have to go to the cinema during the day on weekends? In order to understand the truth, I looked for the background of this "Snowy Caroia" film on the Internet, and learned that this film was based on one of the best-selling novels from 1994, which has been translated into Chinese published, called "Love in the Ice and Snow", and the story takes place on a small island in the bay of Seattle City.

As the snow drifted, a local journalist visited the court to question a murder. These include the love between men and women of different races, the psychology of the people on the island, the jealousy and prejudice between private individuals, all reflected in the minds of reporters, according to my guess, Brother Ren Yu is interested in writing novels, he went to see this film, not purely for entertainment, but to compare literary and artistic works and films with each other, with a research nature.

When the couple left home to go to the movie theater that day, RenYu smiled and said to Ge Xue, "There are so many diseases in the elderly, it is best to abandon their shells and leave the world." Then Ge Xue drove along the bank of the Hexun River, and Ren Woo continued to take the aftermath as the topic and reviewed it with Ge Xue. This experience left an indestructible impression in the mind of Sister-in-law Ge Xue.

Brother Ren Yu and I grew up in Changsha, Hunan Province, until we graduated from middle school, our father Huang Zhenbai, alias Seed Su, was a member of the Early Chinese Revolutionary League, when we were young in Changsha, our father often went to work in other provinces, and what I remember more deeply is the handwriting of Sun Yat-sen, the father of the country, hung on the living room wall, with the inscription "Comrade Seed Su", in the middle is "Fraternity" two big characters, the next head is Sun Yat-sen's signature and seal. The poster hung at home, and by the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1939, when the family was scattered, the poster did not know where it had gone.

Huang Renyu began contributing to local newspapers around the age of fourteen or fifteen (1932), when the Hunan Daily Supplement published a series of biographies of world celebrities, each with his own hand-drawn portraits of people. Huang Renyu's enthusiasm for writing has never stopped since his middle school days. Later, he continued to add his own illustrations to the article books, including white drawings, maps, tables, and battle situation maps, all of which were carefully created by one hand, and his personal notes, on which there was a white depiction, describing the canal transportation situation in the past, which turned out to be an illustration in the economic history of the Ming Dynasty.

In 1938, Brother Ren Yu was admitted to Nankai University in Tianjin, studying electrical engineering, just one year later, the national War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, the more famous universities in China were moved to the interior, Huang Renyu gave up his studies, and participated in the Anti-Japanese War Daily in Changsha, as an editorial visit, at that time the president of the Anti-Japanese War Daily was Tian Han, and the editor-in-chief was Liao Mosha.

Huang Renyu flew from Chongqing to India in 1943, joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India, served as a staff officer under Sun Liren, often inspected the battlefield, still wrote articles, most of which were published in the Chongqing Ta Kung Pao, and in the Battle of Myitkyina in Northern Burma, he went to the front line to observe, was shot in the thigh by the Snipers hidden in the trees by the Japanese army, and transported to the rear for recuperation.

After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Brother Ren Yu flew with his army from Shanghai to the northeast, then was selected by the Ministry of National Defense to study at the Us General Staff University, and later went to Japan to participate in the Chinese delegation to Japan. During this period, we met only twenty-four hours in a hurry in Tokyo, Japan, until 1952, when he decided to disarm and study. We, brothers, have more opportunities to meet.

Since 1952, Huang Renyu studied and worked at the University of Michigan in the United States, when he was thirty-four years old, gave up all his career achievements in half a life, and lived with young students again, which is not something that everyone can do.

Huang Renyu studied at the University of Michigan for three years, transferring from journalism to history and earning a bachelor's degree, during which time he was equally interested in extracurricular activities for young college students in addition to studying and working. The University of Michigan is a member of the Midwestern Football League, autumn is the football season, the schools take turns to play, each game has tens of thousands of spectators, Huang Renyu put on the yellow and blue color with the school emblem on the hat, enthusiastically participated.

Huang Renyu then continued to study in the graduate school until 1964, obtained a doctorate, the U.S. government, the university liberal arts do not attach much importance to the university, the government research subsidies are rarely spent in this department, because of this reason, liberal arts graduate students have to find their own jobs to maintain.

Huang Renyu worked to make a living, but still concentrated on reading, and I watched him transform from an amateur author to a scholar with a chest full of thousands of volumes, and his future achievements were laid down during this period. Brother Ren Yu studied the history of the Ming Dynasty, studied the one hundred and thirty-three volumes of the Ming Shilu from beginning to end, wrote articles later, and drew conclusions, all citing the documentary, not inventing out of thin air, that is, where he learned from people. After Huang Renyu's death, my sister-in-law Ge Xue sent me a box of documents containing Huang Renyu's last ten years of reading and working records.

I opened a copy and saw his diary for December 1992, and for a week, he re-read the "Great History" in five days. I don't know what kind of book the "Great History Long Story" is, but I asked an expert on national history, who said that it was probably the "Sequel to the Chronicle of Major Events" (seventy-seven volumes) written by Wang Yi of the Ming Dynasty and the "Memorabilia" by Zhu Guozhen.

Brother Ren's famous book, Fifteen Years of the Wanli Calendar, was first written in English and was published by Yale-in-China University Press in 1981, and the book is listed as one of the five best works in American history books. The following year, the Chinese edition of the Fifteenth Year of the Wanli Calendar was printed in Beijing, and the inscription of Liao Mosha, which was first liquidated during the Cultural Revolution, was printed on the cover.

There is also a small story about this inscription, in September 1980, I participated in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics to visit the Chinese aviation industry, passing through Beijing, at this time Huang Renyu had planned to print the "Fifteen Years of the Wanli Calendar" in China, and asked my sister and I to meet his old friend Liao Mosha and ask him to write an inscription. Liao had already taken up his post at that time, and immediately did so, and I still have a short note written by Renyu in hand, thanking our younger sister for obtaining Liao Mosha's inscription for him, and saying: Publishing books, like other projects, must have many aspects of assistance and support, and thank you for your liaison work in Beijing.

The book "Fifteen Years of Wanli" was published in Beijing and transmitted to Mr. Tao Xisheng in Taiwan, who admired this work very much, especially recommended it in Taiwan, and agreed to write a postscript, and the Taiwan version was printed by the Food Publishing House under the leadership of Mr. Tao.

Huang Renyu has a strong personality, whether it is academic or daily interaction, he is full of heart and does not easily change his original intention. But to be humble, not to exaggerate. "Fifteen Years of Wanli" was a best-seller in the mainland and Taiwan, and he didn't say a word about me until our cousin Lee Cheng-lu wrote from Taiwan reporting the situation, and I called Brother Ren Yu and said, "I heard that you are famous in the eyes of Taiwan's publishing circles and readers." Brother Ren Yu was not arrogant, but only asked, "That person told you?"

Huang Renyu's second important work is "The Great History of China", this book was published in the United States in November 1988, but as early as the 1970s, I went to New York State to see the couple, Brother Ren Yu told me: he has a new way of studying Chinese history, and the views of Chinese history experts at American universities are completely different, I did not know the research of this discipline at that time, I only felt that I was alone, and a group of academic authorities were at odds, not intellectual, so I frankly stated this idea, And Huang Renyu did not agree at all. The conversation ended.

Huang Renyu is bold, ancient and hot-hearted, sincere to people, people or organic, he turns a blind eye, his residence is simple and simple, and the hall he writes faces New York's famous catskill mountain tour area, you can see the sunrise and sunset, the wind and clouds change. In Huang Renyu's mind, he is better than any high-rise building, and at the same time, he pays attention to savings, and his family has surplus funds and invests carefully.

Mr. and Mrs. Huang Renyu love to travel, when working at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, they traveled all over Western Europe, traveled to the east and west coasts of the United States, and finally came to California in the spring of 1998 to visit, and in addition to their family reunions, the couple drove to the neighborhood to visit.

Brother Ren's last trip was in October 1999 at the invitation of the Portuguese government to Lisbon to attend the Commemoration of the Return of Macao to China, where Huang Renyu published a paper.

Huang Renyu rejoiced in the guests, there are several restaurants nearby, his family's hospitality, two of which are on the hexun River, the scenery is beautiful, this place is also the source of the name of his "Hexun River on the River on the Chinese History". Another Chinese restaurant, called "Little Bear Hotel", is very elegant and elegant.

Brother Ren Yu often said, "In my lifetime, I have experienced life at all levels in China and abroad, whether it is ruling the world in chaos, hearing everything and seeing everything. Now I have done all the things I personally want to do, but I will die without regrets." This view was the same as what he had said on his last day with His sister-in-law.