He's a genius.
At the age of 5, he was proficient in Beijing, Baoding, Changshu and Fuzhou, and at the age of 15, he could talk to people in more than a dozen languages, and at the age of 18, he was admitted to Cornell University in the United States with the second grade in the country, and at the age of 26, he got a Doctorate from Harvard, and took three 100 and one 99 in the examination, maintaining the highest scores of these two universities for many years.
But he was also a rebellious teenager, smoking, drinking, gambling in everything, untrimmed, full of dirty words.
When he was a child, he was a bear child in the family, a small in the class when he was studying, and after getting married, he became a strict wife.
At the same time, he also had a higher heart than the sky, no patience, a moment wanted to be a motor engineer, a moment to study physics, majored in mathematics, ran to listen to psychology classes, but also planned to be a linguist, play music every day in school to skip class, after returning home, and then claimed to be a philosophy student...
In short, everything is learned, interests change every three days, learning is a floating cloud, skipping class is the right thing.
Reading this, do you think this is a story of hurting Zhongyong?
Of course not!
And look at his later achievements:
Together with Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei and Chen Yinke, he is known as the Four Great Mentors of Tsinghua;
He is the father of modern Chinese linguistics, proficient in 33 dialects and 10 foreign languages;
He has been hired as a professor by tsinghua, Yale, Harvard and other famous universities, and has the aura of a doctor of four universities on his head;
He is president of the American Oriental Society (AOS) and single-handedly founded the "Science Society";
He opened a new era of Chinese music, and the song "Tell Me How I Don't Want Her" has been sung to this day;
···
This cynical genius master is Zhao Yuanren.
01
In 1892, Zhao Yuanren was born in Tianjin under a scholarly mendi.
Both my grandfather and father were Qing Dynasty people, and the ancestor was the famous poet Zhao Yi, (that is, the one who wrote "There are talented people in the Jiangshan Dynasty, each leading the way for hundreds of years"); her mother Feng Laisun was a famous talented woman at that time, especially good at poetry and Kunqu.
Under the influence of such a culture, it is difficult for Zhao Yuanren to think of no culture.
Since childhood, he has shown amazing language talent, in addition to Tianjin dialect, he learned Beijing dialect and Baoding dialect with his mother, we foreigners listen to these three dialects almost the same, but Only 3-year-old Zhao Yuanren, but can distinguish the nuances of it, saying that the score is not bad.
When he was 5 years old, he followed his father to Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, and after a few days of kung fu, he learned Changzhou dialect with Mr. Private School, and later learned Changshu dialect from his aunt and Fuzhou dialect from his aunt.
At a young age, he was proficient in 6 local dialects.
It is said that his sense of hearing is particularly sensitive, and he will never forget the language he has heard.
Childhood Zhao Yuanren
However, don't look at him such a genius, when he was a child, Zhao Yuanren was a full-fledged bear child, obviously speaking thiefly, he preferred to pretend to be vague, saying "cats eat my noodles" as "hairy my noodles", adults can't understand, he is played by him, but he is very happy.
At the age of 15, Zhao Yuanren was admitted to the preparatory department of Nanjing Jiangnan Higher School, probably because he met someone unladylike, he learned to smoke and drink with his friends, but at a young age, he became a "demon king of the mixed world" and a street bully.
However, the rebellion of the young man came and went quickly, and the family ignored him, and he realized his mistake and silently quit bad habits.
In the following years, he opened the "study god" mode, and after three years of preparatory studies, he was admitted to Tsinghua's official-funded international students.
In order to go abroad, he chose a lamp to read for several nights, taught himself Latin, and won the quota of Gengzi's indemnity in the United States with the second place.
At the same time, there were also Hu Shi and Zhu Kezhen, Hu Shi took the 55th place, Zhu Kezhen took the 28th place, more than 100 points lower than Zhao Yuanren, which is probably the difference between xueba and xueshen.
Group photo of Gengjian international students, the fifth from the left in the front row is Zhao Yuanren
02
In August 1910, Zhao Yuan crossed the Pacific Ocean and came to Cornell University in the United States, majoring in mathematics.
Even abroad, genius is still the brightest one in the crowd.
Zhao Yuanren scored three 100 points and one 99 points in the final exam, setting the best results since Cornell was founded.
But he was not the kind of student who was obsessed with reading only the books of the sages, and his hobbies were quite extensive.
Although I chose to major in mathematics, I want to engage in physics for a while, I want to learn mechanical and electrical, and I am interested in liberal arts such as linguistics, philosophy, logic, and psychology for a while.
Zhao Yuanren did not make a choice, he chose them all, repaired six or seven deputy subjects in one go, and got good results.
For a while, he suddenly didn't want to go to school and wanted to play music, but his math tutor pulled him in and told him that he had received a graduate scholarship in mathematics and philosophy.
For the sake of the scholarship, he gave up the idea of majoring in music, otherwise, what else is there about Elvis Presley in the United States?
In 1915, Zhao Yuanren was admitted to Harvard graduate school, continued to study philosophy and music, and three years later he took a doctorate and was hired as a lecturer in physics by his alma mater, Cornell University.
Generally speaking, once a person learns a miscellaneous subject, it is easy to be knowledgeable but not refined, but Zhao Yuanren is a talent like Guo Jingyang, who absorbs everyone, studies deeply, and becomes a master of his own.
Hu Shi once said: "Whenever I comment on people who stay in the United States, I often push Zhao Junyuan of Changzhou as the first. ”
Take the music that he loves to learn after class, everyone learns a guitar drum and plays a band on campus, but he produced China's first independent song of songwriting and composition, produced school songs for Xiamen University, Northeastern University, Yunna University and many other colleges and universities, wrote hundreds of popular works, and is known as the best Chinese composer of the 20th century.
Interestingly, as a number student, the calculus and linear algebra that we all have headaches about are actually played with by him and used to write musical scores!
(PS: If math were so fun if there was music, I wouldn't have hung up the subject back then!) ）
He would draw the radius of philosophical thought with a compass, measure the pitch of the guitar with mathematical formulas, and explain relativity with Chinese words...
Zhao Yuanren is such a maverick teenager, he dressed sloppily during his study abroad, often wore a crumpled suit with slippers and went out, his hair could be ignored for months, walking on the street in front of Harvard, even children had to shout to him: "That guy's hair should be cut!" ”
Of course, at Harvard, he still did a lot of serious things, such as founding the "Science Society".
Zhao Yuanren believes that the reason why China is weak is because science is not developed enough, and in order to promote science, he founded a "Science" magazine among chinese classmates and established the China Science Society.
This is not a group of students in the school to make a club to play, the science club set off a climax of learning advanced Science in the West among the Chinese, many of the students in the club, later became the earliest scientists in China.
In 1915, Edison also wrote a letter to celebrate the founding of the scientific journal.
Edison's letter to Zhao Yuanren
03
In 1920, Zhao Yuanren suddenly resigned and returned to China, not because he wanted to serve the motherland, but because he retired from marriage!
The thing is this: the Zhao family is a family of scholars, adhering to tradition, as early as when he was 14 years old, his parents arranged for a Miss Chen to be engaged, and now that he is older, the two parents urge marriage, and Zhao Yuanren, who has accepted the influence of foreign free thought, of course does not do it!
Therefore, he dismissed the marriage on the grounds that "Miss Chen is two years older than me".
But soon after, he pursued Ms. Yang Buwei, who was three years older than him, with 100% enthusiasm.
Speaking of Yang Buwei, her life is definitely more "punk" than Zhao Yuanren.
For example:
She came from a famous and prestigious family, but she dressed like a man from an early age, and she did not wrap her feet or learn embroidery, and her family called her "stirring up people", but outside she called her "Yang San Young Master".
When he first went to school, he dared to scold Confucius for wasting food, and at the age of 6, he dared to spank the ass of Li Yuanhong, the president of the Republic of China (who was not yet president at that time)!
When Yang Buwei was a child, she was also betrothed by her family, that is, her cousin, but when she grew up, she dared to write a letter of resignation to people in person, turning the family upside down.
At the age of 16, she actually wrote "Women, mothers of the nation" when taking the entrance examination, you know, it was the Qing Dynasty in 1905, this sentence is tantamount to a thunderclap in a patriarchal society!
The acquaintance of Yang Buwei and Zhao Yuanren is also very "punk".
At that time, Zhao Yuanren, who had returned from overseas, was a professor at Tsinghua University, and Yang Buwei, who studied medicine, opened China's first women's hospital, Senren Hospital, in Beijing.
The first time the two met was at Zhao's cousin's house, and she asked him, "What major are you studying?" ”
"Philosophy."
"If it's not good to learn something, why not study philosophy?"
After the two became acquainted, Yang Buwei planned to introduce Zhao Yuanren to his girlfriend Li Guanzhong, who knew that the two did not look at each other, and Zhao Yuanren was interested in this matchmaker.
Yang Buwei is a real "big woman", grumpy, or a full-fledged feminist, the average man does not dare to get close, dragged to the age of 32 and has not married, to this suitor who is three years younger than himself, naturally scornful.
Love is sometimes so unreasonable, it comes late, but quickly and sweetly.
04
At the end of 1920, the famous British philosopher Russell came to China to give a lecture, and Zhao Yuanren served as his translator.
It is not an easy task to do Russell's translation, Russell is an old naughty boy, always love to use puns when speaking, at this time proficiency in English and Chinese context is quite important, and he went to all parts of the country to teach, at that time Mandarin was not popular, Zhao Yuanren also had to translate these English into dialects of various places, and the British passages were dealt with in the vernacular of the provinces.
Such a difficult job, except for Zhao Yuanren, basically no one can take on it.
But Zhao Yuanren is not a conscientious and good translator, he is still busy in love.
One night, he had a meeting with the goddess Yang Buwei, who was willing to leave? So the translation work was left behind.
By the time he remembered the serious matter and took Yang Buwei's small hand and rushed to the auditorium, Russell had been standing awkwardly on the podium for half a day- no one understood what he said!
Russell
Therefore, when Zhao Yuanren pulled a beautiful girl into the auditorium, the audience erupted into fierce applause.
Later, during the "National Tour", Russell fell ill, and Zhao Yuanren seized the time to sublimate his feelings, and by the way, he also translated the fairy tale classic "Alice in Wonderland", which became his translation masterpiece. Work love is a true part of the equation.
In June 1921, Zhao Yuanren finally embraced the beauty and married Yang Buwei.
The wedding of the two was quite fashionable: Hu Shi and Zhu Zheng were invited to a meal, the witnesses were counted, and then they went to the park to take a photo, made a notice and sent it to hundreds of relatives and friends, which read:
Dear guys,
By the time we received this news, we were married at three o'clock in the afternoon of June 1, 1921, at the standard of the 120-degree average sun.
Except for two exceptions, the gifts are absolutely not accepted, except for letters, poems, or music scores, and the exception is donated to the Chinese Science Society.
After Hu Shi finished eating at his house, he ran to the Morning Post to reveal the news, and immediately, the number of "China's first doctoral couple" spread all over the country.
Such a trendy and punk way of getting married, even Russell said: "It's really radical." ”
05
After the two people got married, the life was also quite interesting, Zhao Yuanren was a language everyone, Yang Buwei would also speak several dialects, so the two made a schedule, speaking Jiangxi dialect today and Hunan dialect tomorrow...
Zhao Yuanren can write songs, and once composed music for Liu Bannong's "How I Don't Want Her", and the music was very eloquent, like a love song written to his wife.
Liu Bannong used to publish an advertisement in the newspaper in order to compile a "Chinese Dialect Scolding Album", zhao Yuan looked at it, is this not his specialty?
He flew to Liu Bannong's house, scolded him with foul language from all over the country, and flew away.
Liu Bannong
Play language, he is professional.
In addition, Zhao Yuanren also made up a very interesting monophonic story - "Shi's Lion Eating History":
Shi Shi, a poet of the stone chamber, loves lions and swears to eat ten lions. The clan is always suitable for the city to see the lion. At ten o'clock, suitable for ten lions suitable for the city. It is time to adapt to the city of Shi Shi. Shi Shi regarded it as the Ten Lions, and the Ten Lions died. The clan is a corpse of ten lions, a suitable stone chamber. The stone chamber is wet, and the clan makes the stone chamber. Stone chamber swab, the first test of the clan is the corpse of ten lions. When eating, the first consciousness is the corpse of ten lions, and the corpse of ten stones of lions. Trial release is a thing.
There is also a song "Ji Ji Hit the Chicken" that he also wrote:
Ji Ji Is lonely, a chicken, a chicken that is a spiny chicken. Spiny Chicken Hungry, Ji Ji and Ji Ji Ji Chicken. Chicken Ji Ji, Ji Ji Ji, Ji Ji Ji, Ji Ji Ji, Ji Ji Ji, Ji, Ji Ji Ji, Ji, Ji
The whole text is a syllable, but it tells a super interesting story.
(How is it not ji or shi, Mr. Zhao what is this hobby?) ）
After the birth of his daughter, Zhao Yuanren had a new toy, and he paid great attention to the musical influence of his children, playing the piano every day at his daughter's cradle.
Once, the daughter followed the song, suddenly stopped humming, it turned out to be to pull the stool, but Zhao Yuanren ignored it, until the song was finished, and then got up, and the poor little doll's face was red, making the bed full of.
Yang Buwei blamed him, adding: "The musical foundation of children is very important, how can you interrupt the whole piece of music?" ”
Of course, in the end, it was he who begged for forgiveness and apologies, after all, Zhao Yuan was famous for his wife Guan Yan.
It is said that the Nationalist government invited him to be the president of Nanjing Central University, and he called back with five words: "I can't do it, thank you." ”
The reason for not doing it was that Yang Buwei did not agree.
Hu Shi once asked Yang Buwei: "Who in the family has the final say?" ”
Yang Buwei gave his husband a lot of face: "I decide on small things, and of course he has the final say on big things." But there are very few big things. ”
The last sentence is the point.
06
Life is very plain, but Zhao Yuanren is very fun, and even the most ordinary days have become colorful.
Unfortunately, the situation is chaotic, and blandness has become a distant dream.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the two came to the University of Hawaii in the United States to avoid war, and then went to Harvard and Yale, during which they became American citizens.
Zhao Yuanren has run around in Europe and the United States, serving as president of the American Chinese Society, academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, academician of the Chinese Academia Sinica, and president of the American Oriental Society.
He studied countless majors in his life, mastered the major disciplines of literature, history, mathematics, science and sound, and did not find his lifelong career until his later years: "It is better to be a linguist than any other." ”
He said he studied learning because it was fun.
He likes to pronounce the English backwards and then pour it back on the tape, and the audience hears the purest pronunciation.
He went to France for a conference, and in a pure Parisian accent he talked to the station porter, who thought he was a native Parisian and said to him: "You're back, now it's not as good as before, Paris is poor." ”
He has performed "ventriloquist" tours in China, from Beijing to the south along Jinghan Road, through Hebei to Shanxi and Shaanxi, out of Tongguan, from Henan into the two lakes, Sichuan, Yungui, and then from the two Guangzhou around Jiangxi, Fujian to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, from Shandong across the Bohai Bay into the three eastern provinces, and finally into shanhai customs back to Beijing.
Every time he went to a place, he spoke in the local dialect for an hour, and onlookers thought he was a local.
He said the happiest thing in his life was that people all over the world thought he was his countryman.
There is a saying in the american Chinese dialect circles: "Mr. Zhao can never be wrong." ”
Only in front of his wife and daughter can he have a side that ordinary people can't see.
If you make a mistake, you will be scolded by Yang Buwei, naughty to grab your daughter's snacks, and then continue to be scolded by your wife.
In 1974, when Zhou Enlai received the two couples, Zhao Yuanren introduced his lover to the premier: "She is both my minister of internal affairs and my foreign minister. ”
Both of them are people who refuse any restraint, never become officials in their lives, and do things in a way that is obedient.
At the age of 80, the old couple was still excited, ran to Europe to rent a car, came to a self-driving tour around Europe, wrote a food diary, and made a homestay Amway.
There are many strange women in the Republic of China, and only Yang Buwei has the most beautiful love.
There are also many talented masters in the Republic of China, but only Zhao Yuanren is extremely cute.
Two people colliding together, such as heavenly thunder hooking the earth fire, pagoda town He Demon, you see they are full of strange thoughts, even research and learning such a serious thing is "fun", to 80 years old to learn to fall in love with a young man, such a love, how can not be envied?
In March 1981, Yang Buwei passed away unexpectedly.
His lover left, and he was so sad that he followed him on February 24 of the following year, at the age of 90.
Today is the 36th anniversary of Zhao Yuanren's death.
Although there is remembrance, there is no need to grieve.
After all, there are many good-looking skin bags in this world, and there are very few interesting souls, and the interesting and sweet love of Zhao Yuanren and Yang Buwei is also unattainable!