Fan Wenlan (1893-1969), male, joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. Marxist historian. He was the director of the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the vice president of the Chinese Historical Society, the alternate member of the 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the member of the Ninth Central Committee.
Fan Wenlan in his youth
He was arrested as a person with "Communist suspicions" because of his simple life, and after his release from prison, he vowed to be "corrupt"; he refused to be a high-ranking official, willingly sat on the "cold bench", and regarded writing books and sayings as a life pursuit; he advocated being a "big husband" and practiced it himself. He is the historian Fan Wenlan who is not rich and noble.
Make a leather robe to wear
In August 1934, Fan Wenlan, a lecturer at Peking University, was arrested by Kuomintang agents. In November, he was escorted to Nanjing. In the Nanjing Detention Center, severe torture is naturally indispensable, but it is impossible to make this "old master" submit. Outside the prison, many well-known scholars, represented by Cai Yuanpei, were busy rescuing him. Xu Shuming, president of Peking University, also found Chen Lifu and said: Fan Wenlan's life is very simple, he usually does not even sit in a rickshaw, often walks to work, and donates part of his salary to the Women's College of Arts and Sciences to buy books. Chen Lifu said disapprovingly: "Doesn't this just prove that Fan Wenlan is a communist?" If it is not the Communist Party, where can there be such a "fool"? Xu Xuanming was speechless for a moment.
After his release from prison in January 1935, Fan Wenlan learned that the reason why he was called a "communist suspect" was that his life was simple, and he was very emotional. He is indeed too simple, as a teacher at Peking University, he has never worn a suit and leather shoes like a young colleague, but has worn a cloth long shirt all year round, and refuses to change it when he changes color over time. So he vowed to "corrupt." Colleague Qian Jiaju was puzzled and asked him how he planned to "corrupt". Fan Wenlan paused, as if determined, and said, "I want to wear a leather robe, and I also want to visit Zhongshan Park." Qian Jiaju shook his head and said that this was not "corruption." Fan Wenlan smiled bitterly, "I won't do anything else!" ”
After the founding of New China, Fan Wenlan belonged to the ministerial level cadres, equipped with special vehicles and guards. However, he usually walks or takes a bus, and even a dozen miles on his feet. In his opinion, our country is poor, walking not only saves gasoline, but also exercises, why not enjoy it? Since he easily did not take the car and felt safe, he did not let the guards follow. The guards complained that they were "all about to lose their jobs" and later offered to be transferred. When Fan Wenlan died, his son found two cents in his pocket, which he used to take the bus.
Sit on the "cold bench" for learning
In June 1938, Fan Wenlan went to Zhugou, known as "Little Yan'an", the seat of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, to join the New Fourth Army and became a guerrilla instructor. In November, Li Zongren, commander of the Kuomintang Fifth Theater, invited him to join the Theater's Anti-Enemy Work Committee and issued him a letter of appointment as a lieutenant general. However, Fan Wenlan was reluctant to go. With the consent of the provincial party committee, he went to the Tongbai and Xiangfan areas to carry out the work of the anti-Japanese national united front. After Xinyang was occupied by the Japanese army, the scholar fought a guerrilla war.
Fan Wenlan (third from left) and students from Henan University in Jigongshan
After the founding of New China, when preparing for the establishment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the leading organ decided that Guo Moruo would be the president and intended to ask Fan Wenlan to serve as the vice president. The vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is a "high-ranking official". However, Fan Wenlan believes that doing academic research requires no distraction, and when the administrative leader takes up too much time. He wants to continue on the road of historical research and cultivate academic talents. Therefore, he resolutely mistook the vice president and only served as the director of the Institute of Modern History. After becoming the director, he asked deputy director Liu Danian to preside over daily affairs and immerse himself in research.
Fan Wenlan has repeatedly warned young people who have just entered the institute that to do their studies, they must sit on a "cold bench", they must have the spirit of treating wealth and nobility as floating clouds, and if they want to become officials, they should not come to the Institute of Modern History. The spirit of governance he called for deeply influenced the young scholars of that era, and Zhang Haipeng, who later became the director, was one of them. In 2013, at the lecture on the construction of scientific ethics and study style in colleges and universities in the capital, Zhang Haipeng also used Fan Wenlan as an example to tell college students: "Down-to-earth, not loving false names, not admiring official positions, is an essential virtue for becoming a university inquirer." ”
The bench is going to sit cold for ten years, and the article does not write an empty sentence. Fan Wenlan was not a high-ranking official, believing that to do scholarship requires no distraction
Fan Wenlan's study when he was teaching at Peking University
Life copy for "okay"
After his release from prison in January 1935, Fan Wenlan returned to Beiping. At this time, the Japanese aggressors were pressing forward step by step, and the crisis in North China was becoming more and more serious. Feeling this, Fan Wenlan wrote and published a popular book "Big Husband". The book lists the deeds of more than 20 heroes in history and calls on the people to be "big husbands" and stand up for the anti-Japanese struggle to save the country. What is a "big husband"? He is morally and careerally outstanding, and emphasizes the role of morality. He said: "Because of the success or failure of a career, most of it is governed by the environment; and moral responsibility can be borne by anyone." In his works such as "Compendium of The General History of China" and "Modern Chinese History", there is also a sparkle of morality.
As a historian, Fan Wenlan paid special attention to Shi De. The Compendium of the General History of China, published during the Yan'an period, made him famous. He also takes a very serious attitude towards famous works. He believed that the book had a non-historicist point of view, a confused narrative, and revised it from 1951 onwards. One historical research task after another, coupled with one political movement after another, took up time for him to revise his own works. He was nearly blind in one eye while in Yan'an, by which time he was completely blind, and he was suffering from insomnia. Even so, by 1965, he had completed the first 4 volumes of 1.1 million words with astonishing perseverance.
In 1968, Mao Zedong wanted Fan Wenlan to continue to complete the general history of China. At this time, Fan Wenlan's health was already very poor, and he often had to be hospitalized. In July 1969, he was hospitalized again with cerebral thrombosis, and someone in the hospital also discussed and wrote it. He said to his assistant, "To do learning, you must have the spirit of 'not knowing that old age is coming', and if you continue to work hard, I will 'not know that death is coming.'" "When his condition improved slightly, he asked to be discharged. However, the day after he was discharged from the hospital, he died of a heart attack. Before his death, he left a will: all the books in the collection were donated to the library of the Institute of Modern History, all the manuscript fees were handed over as party fees, and the ashes were scattered into the Qiantang River by relatives.
Zhou Enlai talked with scholars such as Fan Wenlan (front row, second from right).
"A soldier cannot fail to carry out his duties, the task is heavy and the road is long", Fan Wenlan used his life to compose the style of "big husband"!
This article was edited and arranged: Song Chuanxin
Source: "Learning from Example", organized and compiled by the Organization Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and the Party History Research Office of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, and published by the Beijing Publishing Group Company beijing publishing house