Yang Shuda, known as "Professor among Professors", was both the first academician of the Academia Sinica and the first member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and was awarded the title of "Corresponding Academician" by the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Yang Shuda's knowledge in linguistics, grammar, rhetoric, exegesis, etymology, paleography, archaeology and ancient book collation is extremely profound, and the famous master of literature and history, Chen Yinke, praised Yang Shuda as "the first person in Chixian Shenzhou script, phonology, and exegesis", and praised him as "Han Sheng", not just a word of praise.
Poplar Da
Yang Shuda (1885-1956) was born on June 1, 1885 in Changsha County, Hunan Province, to a family of scholars, whose father Yang Xiaozhi was diligent in his studies and liked to read historical books when he was young, but he repeatedly failed to do so, and later set up a private school to teach.
Yang Shuda received traditional Chinese cultural enlightenment from his father at the age of 6, and when he was a little older, his father personally taught "Erya", "Guangya", "Shi Tong", "Zizhi Tongjian" and other classics, and Yang Shuda especially liked the "Book of Han", and could not bear to let go of each reading.
When Yang Shuda was 11 years old, Yang Shuda's father began to teach him composition, and often took historical propositions, and later Yang Shuda obeyed his father's order to worship Mr. Ye Dehui of Xiangtan as a teacher, studying classical documents such as "Explanation of Words" and "Four Libraries Summary" to prepare for the name of merit, Ye Dehui was the same as Zhang Yuanji and others in the eighteenth year of Guangxu, which can be described as an example for Yang's father and son to seek merit.
In 1898, Yang Shuda was admitted to Changsha to study at the "Shiwu Academy", which was the first new-style school founded in Hunan Province, led by Wang Xianqian, the chief of the "Yuelu Mountain Academy", and approved and sponsored by Chen Baozhen, then the governor of Hunan, Huang Zunxian, and Xuezheng Jiangbiao.
"Shiwu Xuetang" was founded in October 1897 in Changsha, with Xiong Xiling as the promoter (principal), Liang Qichao as the chief teacher of the Chinese, Li Weige as the chief teacher of Spanish, the first class of 40 students, this period of students including Fan Yuanlian, Cai Yi and others, and Yang Shuda was the youngest one, only 13 years old at the time.
In September 1898, after the failure of the 103-day "Peng shu reform law", Chen Baozhen, Huang Zunxian, Xiong Xiling and others were deposed, while Liang Qichao was exiled to Japan, and the "Shiwu School" was forced to stop.
Former site of the School of Current Affairs
In February 1899, the "Shiwu Academy" was restored and renamed "Qiushi Academy", and Yang Shuda continued to study in the "Qiushi Academy", in addition to mastering the foundation of ancient Chinese literature more solidly, he also began to contact and learn modern knowledge such as mathematics, geography, and English.
In 1902, the "Qiushi Academy" was renamed "Hunan Provincial City University Hall", and in 1903, the Hunan Provincial City University Hall was merged with the reformed Yuelu Academy, and the "Hunan Higher School" was established on the site of "Yuelu Academy".
In 1905, the "imperial examination" system was completely abolished, and the then Inspector of Hunan, Duanfang, announced that students with excellent character and learning would be selected through the examination and sent by the government to study in Japan.
Yang Shuda has also been very eager to study in Japan before, his classmate and friend Zhou Jiliang has gone to Japan to study a year ago, the two have been in contact with Hongyan, Zhou Jiliang urged Yang Shuda to study in Japan, but Yang Shuda can not make the trip due to family poverty, this time can finally be official student qualifications to study in Japan.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Chinese people were proud to study in Japan, whether it was official expenses or self-payment, studying in Japan has become an irreversible trend of the times.
In the autumn of 1905, Yang Shuda traveled east to Japan to study Japanese at the Ōtsuka Branch of Hirobun Gakuin, and then transferred to Kyoto No. 3 High School to study foreign Chinese dialects.
Yang Shuda studied in Japan for 6 years, until after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising in October 1911, the domestic situation was turbulent, and the official fees of international students could not be supplied in time, and Yang Shuda could only choose to return to China.
Yang Shuda's classmate Chen Runlin at the "Qiushi Academy" was in charge of the Hunan Provincial Education Department at that time, and Yang Shuda received a letter of appointment from Chen Runlin, and was able to serve in the Hunan Provincial Education Department, and successively served as the editor of the Hunan Library and the English teacher of Chuyi Industrial School.
From 1913 onwards, Yang Shuda successively served as a teacher of Chinese grammar in the Fourth Normal School, the First Normal School and the First Girls' Normal School in Hunan Province, during which time he taught Mao Zedong in the Hunan First Division, so he had a teacher-student friendship with Mao Zedong.
In 1919, the warlord Zhang Jingyao was appointed by the Beiyang government as the governor of Hunan Province, and during his tenure in Xiang, Zhang Jingyao unscrupulously swallowed the wealth of the people of Hunan and practiced brutal rule, causing public indignation among the people of Hunan.
On December 2, 1920, Zhang Jingyao sent troops to suppress the students' anti-Japanese struggle, which led to the launch of the "Exorcism Movement" in Changsha, where more than 10,000 students and teachers in Changsha held a general strike and sent representatives to Beijing, Shanghai and other places to publicize the petition, Yang Shuda was elected as a representative of the academic circles, and Mao Zedong was elected as a citizen representative, and formed a delegation to Beijing to petition and demand that the Beiyang government depose Zhang Jingyao.
The Beiyang authorities ignored this, petitioning the delegation to be trapped in Beijing with no food, lodging, and yang Shuda had to introduce and publish the manuscript of his translation of "A Study on children's Personality", and received 100 silver yuan in manuscript fees, temporarily solving the problem of life in Beijing.
During his stay in Beijing, Yang Shuda learned that the professors who teach in various universities in Beijing only teach eight or nine hours a week, which is more than enough time for self-study.
Soon after returning to Changsha, Yang Shuda decided to return to Beijing to seek a teaching position, and under the recommendation of Fan Yuanlian, then the chief education director of the Beiyang government, he served as a dictionary editor and editor-in-chief examiner at the "Preparatory Committee for the Unification of Chinese" of the Beiyang Government's Ministry of Education, and successively served as a part-time professor at the Beijing Political Science and Law College and the Beijing Higher Normal School.
Poplar's wedding photo
Although Fan Yuanlian and Yang Shuda were once classmates of Changsha's "Shiwu Academy", Fan Yuanlian was 10 years older than Yang Shu, and did not have much intercourse with each other at that time, and coincidentally, Yang Shuda met Fan Yuanlian's younger brother Fan Xudong when he was in Kyoto No. 3 High School.
In the spring of 1925, Cao Yunxiang, then president of Tsinghua University, reorganized Tsinghua School into three parts: the University Department, the Preparatory Department for Studying in the United States, and the Institute of Chinese Studies, and in May of that year, the University Department was formally established, with 17 departments, and began to recruit the first batch of undergraduate students in the history of Tsinghua University.
In the autumn of 1925, Liang Qichao was hired as a tutor of the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, and under the recommendation and promotion of Liang Qichao, Yang Shuda was hired by Cao Yunxiang as a professor of the Chinese Literature Department of the University Department of Tsinghua University, mainly teaching courses such as outline of Chinese philology, essential chinese studies, and rhetoric, and Liang Qichao and Yang Shuda were able to work together in Tsinghua Garden.
Liang Qichao had recommended Yang Shuda to Tsinghua School before becoming a tutor of Tsinghua Guoguo College, and after Liang Qichao taught at Tsinghua University, he recommended Yang Shuda to the school many times, so that the two teachers and students had the opportunity to work together in Tsinghua, Liang Qichao greatly appreciated Yang Shuda, won a salary higher than that of Tsinghua Chinese language teachers for Yang Shuda, and arranged courses such as "reading ancient books and philology" for him, liang Qichao's promotion and care for Yang Shuda can be seen.
Liang Qichao also used his position in the academic circles to make Yang Shuda stand famous and extend his reputation, and when he taught the three-hundred-year history of Qing Dynasty scholarship at Tsinghua Guoguo College, he recommended Yang Shuda's "Self-Introduction to the Annotations on the Salt and Iron Theory" to the students present, and praised the book as an unprecedented work, which was undoubtedly of great help to enhance Yang Shuda's prestige in the academic community and enhance his self-confidence.
Yang Shuda also misrespected Liang Qichao's "Lecture Notes on the Three Hundred Years of Academic History in the Qing Dynasty", and Yang Shuda recalled his past at Tsinghua many years later, saying that between him and Liang Qichao, just like Boya and Zi period, it can be described as a mountain flowing water, treating each other with each other.
In August 1928, Luo Jialun was ordered by the Nationalist Government in Nanjing to take over and take charge of tsinghua school from the Beiyang government, and Luo Jialun drastically reorganized tsinghua school into national Tsinghua university and served as the first president.
At the beginning of Luo Jialun's tenure, he widely recruited dozens of well-known scholars and professors to teach in Tsinghua Garden, including Feng Youlan, Jiang Tingdian, Xiong Qinglai and others, Feng Youlan as the head of the Department of Philosophy, Jiang Tingdian as the head of the Department of History, and Xiong Qinglai as the head of the Department of Arithmetic.
After the dissolution of the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, Chen Yinke was hired as a professor of the Department of Chinese and the Department of History of Tsinghua University, chen Yinke suggested that Yang Shuda could also be hired as a professor by the Department of History, but was obstructed by Professor Jiang Tingdian, the head of the department at the time, and Jiang Tingdi, who stayed in the United States, and Yang Shuda who stayed in Japan had a mutual disagreement, and Yang Shuda soon resigned from his teaching position at Tsinghua University and went to teach at the College of Letters of Wuhan University.
Yang Shuda (back row, first from right) poses with his family
National Wuhan University was founded in 1928 on the basis of National Wuchang University, with Wang Shiming as the first president and Professor Wen Yiduo from Tsinghua as the first dean of literature, when the College of Literature brought together Liu Boping, Liu Yongji, Shen Congwen, Ye Shengtao, Su Xuelin, Feng Yuanjun, You Guoen and other well-known professors, which temporarily made the reputation of Wuhan University College of Literature leap to the forefront of the country.
In 1937, the "Lugou Bridge Incident" broke out, and coincidentally, the Executive Yuan of the National Government also issued Order No. 1497 on July 7, officially approving the renaming of the provincial Hunan University to National Hunan University, becoming the 15th national university in the country at that time, with Professor Pi Zongshi as the first president of National Hunan University.
Pi Zongshi is also a native of Changsha, Hunan Province, and before Hui Xiang took office, he served as the dean of the Law School of Wuhan University, Pi Zongshi warmly invited Yang Shuda to return to Changsha to serve Sangzi, and Yang Shuda hui xiang became the head of the Chinese Department of Hunan University and the dean of the College of Letters.
In his teaching, Yang Shuda closely combines teaching, research, and writing, and when he teaches a course, he personally writes a lecture notes, tells himself in the classroom about his research for many years, and finally forms a work, the content of which is very unique and essential.
Grammar of the Higher State
On April 10, 1938, Japanese aircraft bombed national Hunan University, when the largest library of Hunan University in central and southern China was destroyed, and the collection of books was gone.
In October of that year, Hunan University moved to Chenxi, Xiangxi to continue running the school, during the Battle of Changsha, the Site of Chenxi of Hunan University was bombed 22 times by Japanese aircraft, and Huda University can be described as a difficult school in the artillery fire.
In 1941, Yang Shuda, a professor at National Hunan University, was hired by the Ministry of Education of the Chongqing National Government as a "ministerial professor", the first batch of "ministry professors" only 30 people, all of whom were the leaders in the Group of Professors of Chinese universities at that time, in 1943, the second batch of "ministry professors" was selected, the number was reduced to only 15, these "ministry professors" were called "professors among professors" at that time, and in 1942, Yang Shuda also won the second-class academic award of the Ministry of Education of the National Government.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, Yang Shuda participated in the organization and initiated the establishment of the "Jiusan Society", which was named after the commemoration of the victory of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression on September 3, 1945, and was mainly composed of high- and intermediate intellectuals in the field of science and technology, whose main purpose was democracy and science.
In 1947, Yang Shuda won the second prize for paleography research of the Ministry of Education of the National Government of Nanjing, and in 1948, Yang Shuda was selected as the first academician of the National Academy of Sciences, and there were 81 academicians in the first class, all of whom were the leaders of various disciplines in China at that time.
Yang Shuda poses with his family
In 1949, Yang Shuda, Wu Yuzhang, Ma Sulun and others organized the "Chinese Character Reform Association", participated in the work of character reform and served as the vice chairman of the council.
On December 2, 1949, Li Da, one of the founders of the Communist Party of China, was appointed president of Hunan University, and the dean of the College of Letters of Hunan University was Professor Yang Rongguo, head of the Department of History.
Yang Shuda even suggested to Li Da that Yang Rongguo could be arranged to serve as the librarian or general affairs director, but Li Da did not comment on this, Yang Shuda waited for a long time, did not see the reply of the school leaders, and then wrote a letter to Ma Xulun, then minister of education, and even wrote a letter directly to Mao Zedong to reflect on this matter.
In 1952, Hunan University assessed the salary level of teachers, and at that time rated 10 professors, the highest level was 6, but Yang Shuda learned that Yang Rongguo and Tan Pimo were also level 6, and their hearts were extremely unbalanced, and it was simply an insult to them to be juxtaposed with them.
Judging from this matter, we can see not only Yang Shuda's pedantry, but also his arrogant and arrogant personality, so that the comments of teachers and students of Hunan University on him are: arrogant, contemptuous of others, experts and scholars have extremely heavy ideological baggage, emphasize business learning, love flattery, etc. 6 articles, Yang Shuda once recorded these opinions in his diary, and specially noted a sentence: "All cut to the remaining diseases."
In the early 1950s, when the national higher education departments were adjusted, Hunan University was abolished and changed to an engineering college, and the Zhongnan Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture was established on the original site, and Yang Shuda was transferred to Hunan Normal College as a professor.
On January 21, 1953, the Hunan Provincial Research Museum of Literature and History was established, and the Provincial People's Government hired Yang Shuda as the first director, and the librarians hired at that time were some learned and prestigious literati in Xiang Province.
Poplar Da family portrait
In November 1954, on his way back to Beijing from Guangzhou, Chairman Mao Zedong made a short stop in Changsha and met with Cheng Qian and Professor Yang Shuda, then governors of Hunan Province.
In 1955, Yang Shuda was elected a member of the Faculty of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and was awarded the title of "Corresponding Academician" by the USSR Academy of Sciences, which was an affirmation of Yang Shuda's profound historical knowledge and linguistics.
On February 14, 1956, Yang Shuda died of hypertension in Changsha Xiangya Hospital at the age of 71, and before he died, he was still complaining to his family that he still had many things to do.
Chairman Mao Zedong sent a telegram of condolences, Premier Zhou Enlai sent a wreath in the name of the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and more than 400 party and government leaders and people from all walks of life in Hunan Province attended the memorial service and escorted Yang Shuda's coffin to Yuelu Mountain for burial.