Gentlemen like jade Spring wind and rain - remembering my mentor Professor Chang Wenchang Wen/Wang Bing

　　Suddenly, I received a text message from my sister Ma Yuhong, saying that Teacher Chang Wenchang had died. I was stunned to be there, and didn't look back for half a day.

　　Teacher Chang was only 75 years old, and when he met him two years ago, although he was as thin as before, he did not feel aging. It was when he was enjoying his old age that he could have gone in such a hurry. A wave of guilt welled up in my heart. After graduation, I neglected contact with Teacher Chang, on the one hand, I was busy with work and family; on the other hand, Teacher Chang often went abroad, and after retirement, I often went to my daughter's home in Shanghai. In 2019, I went to Ningbo to visit relatives and passed through Shanghai, and it happened that Teacher Chang was in Shanghai for a few days, so I finally met him at her daughter's house, which was exactly 15 years after I graduated. Since then, there have been several WeChat contacts, because he was busy taking care of his elderly and sick parents, and this year he could not even send messages and greetings to Teacher Chang during the holidays, especially in his dying period, he failed to give any help and comfort.

　　I was the first doctoral student of lanzhou university modern and contemporary literature major, when dr. Lanzhou University clicked down very late, did not declare a tutor before the exam, after the exam I was assigned to the name of Chang teacher, became his open door student. During my master's degree, I was engaged in the study of Lu Xun, while The research direction of Professor Chang is the study of modern and contemporary Chinese poetry, especially the study of Dungan poetry. In this way, my research direction with Teacher Chang is not enough. After entering the school, I tried to change the research direction in order to enter the teacher's track, but I had no choice but to lack interest and experience in poetry, so I told Teacher Chang about this trouble and distress, but unexpectedly, Teacher Chang said easily: "If you are interested in Lu Xun research, you will continue to develop in this area, which is very good, students do not necessarily have to be completely consistent with the research direction of the tutor." He also gave the example of having a mentor and his students whose fields of study are very different, but that doesn't affect the achievements of both of them. I was relieved to hear it, and I was glad to have such an open-minded teacher, because I knew that not all teachers can be so tolerant and selfless to respect the students' independent choices, and in Teacher Chang, this seems to be a natural thing.

　　During my school years, Mr. Chang often visited Kyrgyzstan, and since he himself was a free-range management of students, we were all very free. He never lectured us as a teacher, let alone blamed anyone. He was always smiling and listening carefully, not much to say, but kind and sincere in every word. Sometimes when it comes to other teachers and peers who teach us lessons, he is very respectful to call Mr. so-and-so, so-and-so teacher, with a humble attitude, which makes people feel respected. Due to the difference in research directions, I did not communicate much with Teacher Chang in thesis writing, but looking at his works, the text is like a person, the language is concise, not sculpted, plain and natural, rigorous and accurate. This style of writing inspires me a lot. I remember that at the scene of the defense of the graduation thesis, the staff once read out an introduction and evaluation of my thesis, at that time I was surprised that this text so concisely and accurately summarized the core content of my thesis, this text must have come from the hands of my supervisor, which shows that Teacher Chang read my thesis very carefully, and refined my thesis from a lofty height and outline. This is something I did not expect before the defense.

　　Once, Teacher Chang said to me very solemnly, "There is one thing I want to tell you. "It turned out that Teacher Chang only brought me and Tang Xin two doctoral students this year, and he wanted to cooperate with my brother Tang Xin to complete a topic selection, and then co-sign and publish the paper." Because if a doctoral student has a high-level thesis published, it is very beneficial to his graduation and future development. When Teacher Chang said this, the words were full of apologies, as if he couldn't stand me. In fact, Tang Xin was already a very famous new generation of poets before entering school, and he also published many poems and articles, regardless of strength or research direction, Tang Xin and Teacher Chang have more basis for cooperation, and it is reasonable for them to write articles together. Teacher Chang had no need to explain it to me, let alone apologize to me. However, when I saw him again in 2019, fifteen years after graduation, he once again said to me very solemnly: "There is one thing I have always wanted to tell you..." He once again spoke apologetically about it. In fact, everyone knows that not only students, but even university professors, it is even more difficult to publish papers in high-level journals, and Teacher Chang will be angry about not bringing a student to publish papers, and this student did not express his expectations in this regard.

　　Fortunately, I graduated very smoothly that year. I remember that after the graduation thesis defense, Teacher Chang said to me happily: "Tang Xin said that he thinks that you have the best performance in this graduation thesis defense." In fact, only my thesis defense in this session was sharply questioned by the judges, fortunately, my defense finally won everyone's understanding and recognition. It may be that Tang Xin viewed the controversy in this process from the exploratory perspective of academic research itself, so he gave a positive affirmation to my defense. Of course, this is likely to be the consensus reached by Teacher Chang and Tang Xin after the defense, but Teacher Chang did not directly praise me, but expressed his appreciation to me in the name of Tang Xin, which made me feel grateful to Tang Xin, the brother of the same disciple.

　　In the past two days, I talked about Teacher Chang on the phone with several students, and I regret that I could not contact Teacher Chang more and failed to fulfill my duty as a student. In retrospect, I didn't even invite Teacher Chang to dinner once, and the few times I went to his house when I went to school, I just brought some fruit with me. 2019 was the only time I saw him after graduation, I brought tea and health products to see him, he said he wanted to invite me and his daughter's family to eat at a restaurant outside the community, I was afraid to disturb him, so I said that there was something else to say in advance. When I got back to my apartment, he called and said why he had brought something so expensive, and his tone was full of apologies. As a student, don't say repay the teacher's kindness, that is, to keep in touch, often greeting me did not do it, especially when he became seriously ill later, I did not know, I owe him!

　　It is gratifying that Tao Li does not speak, and the next is his own. These days, the master's students and doctoral students under Teacher Chang have sent condolences and written eulogies to express gratitude and mourning. Dong Huafeng said: "Teacher Chang's back was very repercussive and the evaluation was very high. Everyone expressed sincere nostalgia. Ma Yuhong said: "Thinking about Teacher Chang's life is also very complete, his career is successful, his family is happy, and his daughter has inherited her father's business, in fact, there is no regret." "Yes, the value of life is not in length, but in thickness. The gentlemanly temperament of Teacher Chang is the oldest and most beautiful spiritual outlook of traditional Chinese culture. Humble gentleman, gentle as jade. Teacher Chang's gentleness and generosity, including his words and restraint, all reflect the character of gentleman's self-discipline and humility. Compared with another philosophy of life that rushes for quick success and quick profits, it is so rare and how difficult it is for Teacher Chang to adhere to this gentleman's ancient style all his life!

　　Tang Xin said: "How much can a teacher teach students?" Perhaps the teacher's mind, character and demeanor can give students a long-term impact. Yes, the oldest ideal of education in China is "transformation", which is inspiration and infection, not control and imprisonment. Teacher Chang is such a spring and rainy, silent educator, which I only deeply realized after his death.

　　As the saying goes: "The friendship of gentlemen is as light as water", and many students in Changmen have weak interactions with Teacher Chang, but the friendship of gentlemen is light fame and fortune, and what exists is true feelings. There is only true feeling in heaven, and Teacher Chang must have harvested many warm and pure true feelings.

　　May Teacher Chang rest in peace!