Chapter 45 fourth quarter

When school started in the autumn of 1943, Ye Qi and Sun Zhong held his beloved pointer again. He went back to the dormitory for faculty and staff of the United Nations University on Beimen Street, Kunming, a small room about ten square meters.Living next to him are Chen Daisun and Jin Yuelin.The famous "Three Grandchildren of Tsinghua University" gathered together again. Although it is said that they are under the same roof, this is not the triple eaves in Beijing, but a thatched hut in the mountains.This is the most difficult day for Southwest Associated University. During the Anti-Japanese War, when the country was in extreme difficulties, how could there be funds to support education?Even the professors have to put down their faces and start some small businesses because they can't support their families.Ms. Han Yonghua, the wife of President Mei Yiqi, wrote about Southwest Associated University during the Anti-Japanese War in her memoir "Twenty Years of Wealth and Wealth - Mei Yiqi as I Know It":

During the Anti-Japanese War, not only the life of the students was very difficult, but also the lives of the professors were not well-off.We together with Mr. Pan Guangdan and his family made meals in the office. We often ate white rice mixed with chili peppers, no vegetables, and sometimes we ate spinach and tofu soup. Everyone was very happy.The monthly salaries of the professors were enough to last three weeks in 1938 and 1939, but later they were only enough for half a month.In addition to the shortcomings, the wives had to figure out a way, some embroidered scarves, some made hats, and some made some food and sold them.I am older than others and have poor eyesight, so I can only help make scarf tassels.Afterwards, Mr. Zhao Shichang, the general manager, introduced me to make cakes to sell... Yuehan has always been busy with school affairs, how his family lives, and whether he is hungry or not, he has no idea.It wasn't until he saw me in such a mess and seeing the professor's wives struggling to make ends meet that he became anxious and applied for some subsidies for everyone from the Ministry of Education of the Chongqing Government.Another time, the Ministry of Education gave some subsidies to subsidize the students of the United Nations University. At that time, we had 4 children studying in the United Nations University, but Yuehan refused to receive the subsidy.I participated in the activities of the Kunming Young Women's Association, and everyone took turns preparing meals. When it was my turn to prepare meals, I really had no money, so I spread a piece of oilcloth next to Daximen and set up a street stall. Clothes, things woven from wool ends, and my own clothes were put up for sale. I sold them for 10 yuan in the morning, and I managed to prepare this meal... From September 1937, teachers’ salaries were based on 50 yuan. There is also a 30% discount, and some taxes are paid, but the actual payment is only about 50%. From January 1940, the salary was changed to be paid in full, but from this year prices began to skyrocket. Before the war, a professor who paid 350 yuan a month in real terms was only 13.6 yuan in real terms based on the living index at that time.By the second half of 1943, if the salary of professors at the United Nations University was calculated as 300 yuan per month before the war, it was only 8.3 yuan before the war.One month's salary is only enough to cover about half a month's expenses. Teachers can't get enough to eat, and some can only eat half a day. Most of them have to work part-time to make a living.Although the government also provides some living subsidies, such as "parity rice loans", academic research subsidies, bonuses for long-tenured teachers, teaching grants for teachers, etc., they are all a drop in the bucket, to no avail.

The lives of professors are still like this, but the material living conditions and learning environment of students are even more difficult. Kunming was repeatedly bombed and harassed by Japanese planes, and the class time of the United Nations University had to be changed from 7:00 am to 10:00 am and from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.The school also frequently interrupted classes and sometimes even cut experiments due to air-raid sirens.The school building is damaged, rainy days are everywhere, and students have to use umbrellas to read in the library. Yu Peicao, a student of Southwest Associated University, said in her article "Recalling Southwest Associated University in Kunming":

Thinking of the food of that year, the kitchen of the girls' cafeteria appeared in front of my eyes.Blackened dried squirrels hung high on the wall, which of course belonged to the master chef. The pots and spoons were clean without any trace of oil, and in the basket were potatoes the size of glass marbles. Once boiled in salt water, it becomes a "vegetable", and the staple food is "eight treasure rice" mixed with sand, barnyard grass, stones, rat droppings, glass balls...I still go to class when I am full.It is even more difficult for male students who eat a lot.They remembered that they once noticed a certain classmate, but they never saw him go to the cafeteria together. Later, they found out that he had no money to pay for the food.This tearful incident aroused everyone's sympathy and admiration for his spirit of persisting in learning under such difficult conditions.Life is so hard, but when donating blood for the anti-Japanese fighters, students from the United Nations University flocked and lined up in long lines.Quite a few people were eliminated due to failing hemoglobin. They didn’t care about their own physique, but they were full of frustration and regret for not being able to donate some blood to the anti-Japanese fighters...

Students look for opportunities to work part-time.After school, he worked as a teacher, as an accountant for a store, and even fired a cannon at noon.The Kunming Radio Station is not far from the school. The editors, announcers and even the maintenance there are almost all taken care of by the students of the Lianda University.At that time, it was forbidden to listen to short-wave broadcasts in the enemy-occupied areas. Kunming Radio Station used long-wave broadcasts to broadcast "recorded news" at a very slow speed every day at 2 o'clock in the morning. I once received a letter from Shanghai students, saying that they woke up in the middle of the night to transcribe, and the next day they quietly proofread and circulated to each other. .Those who work in the radio station often pay their meals on the radio station. I remember that once when I was paid, there were red letters on the note. It turned out that I owed the radio station several dollars.

Not only is it difficult financially, but the police often have to run.It is also common to have classes and discussions between the tombs.When seeing Mr. Wu Han hiding in the cemetery in the suburbs with his sick wife on his back or in his arms, he would silently look at him with admiration... In these difficult times, to produce good students is like hoping for a good harvest in a barren land.But Ye Qisun and his colleagues did it.The dire situation of the motherland inspired the teachers and students of the United Nations with a high degree of patriotism. They were not intimidated by the difficulties in front of them, but worked hard in the difficulties, and raced against the Japanese aircraft and cannons in the difficulties.They used crude instruments to record the Chinese people's diligence and self-esteem over and over again, and climbed the insurmountable peaks in the history of science time and time again with rough hands.Without instruments, students make them by themselves; without teaching materials, professors make them up by themselves. The whole UNU seems to be a speeding scientific train. All the teachers and students believe that as long as everyone works together, the motherland will have a bright future. If we work together, science will come to China.Science, and only science, is the light of hope in that time of suffering.

Perhaps the Chinese are born with the tenacity to get stronger from setbacks.The teachers and students of the United Nations University did not succumb to the bombing of the Japanese planes. On the contrary, they cherished the hard-won learning opportunities, sought truth in the cracks, and established faith in difficulties. Yang Zhenning, Deng Jiaxian and their classmates who studied at Southwest Associated University in the 1940s grew up under such circumstances.At that time, the school conditions were poor, and Japanese planes harassed from time to time. After dinner, many students would go to the teahouses on the streets of Kunming, where they would drink tea and discuss. Many scientific sparks flashed out in such an environment. .Once, Yang Zhenning and his classmates discussed the meaning of measurement based on Copenhagen's interpretation of quantum mechanics. They started from drinking tea and continued to discuss until the teahouse closed. In order to solve the problem, several people had to get up from the bed and read the relevant books by candlelight, and the discussion came to an end.

When Li Zhengdao recalled his study and life in the United Nations University, he once said: "It is not easy to achieve great success in science. Not everyone can do it. In addition to great efforts, In addition to hard work, one must have strong determination and confidence. Material conditions are secondary... When I was studying in China, the country was in a period of turmoil. At that time, the conditions of Southwest Associated University were very poor, and more than a dozen people lived in one We have to catch bedbugs every two weeks, otherwise we will not be able to sleep. The experimental equipment in the school is even worse. However, we did not lose confidence and relax in our studies. On the contrary, everyone paid close attention to their studies. Tight. Many famous scholars like Huang Kun, Zhu Guangya, Yang Zhenning and I were all from Southwest Associated University. Later, when they came to the United States to study, they were not inferior to others because of the poor conditions in China. It was just that some instruments and equipment had never been seen in China. If you have never seen it before, you will know it once you see it, and you will master it after using it twice, which is nothing special."

Thatched houses, tattered clothes, "eight treasure rice", air-raid shelters, beacon smoke... Such conditions for running a school are rare in the world.But it is such simple conditions that have created amazing and brilliant results.During the 8 years of the Anti-Japanese War, in addition to sending 7 undergraduate graduates to the country, the United Nations University also sent 2 batches of public-funded students studying in the United States (a total of 4 batches were sent before the Anti-Japanese War). From these shining names, can we see How about the mountain-like figure of the teachers of the United Nations University who are dedicated to the cause of science and education in China and who are selfless and selfless?

they are: The fifth session: Wang Dexi (chemical industry), Chen Gengtao (agrochemical), Hu Ning (metal), Li Runsheng (mining), Huang Peiyun (metallurgy), Chen Liangsheng (soil mechanics), Zhu Baofu (irrigation), Ye Xuan (automobile), Tu Shoue (aviation), Lu Baowei (radio), Liang Zhiming (fortress engineering), Meng Qingji (chariot manufacturing), Huang Jiasi (medicine), Jiang Mingqian (pharmaceuticals), Zhang Peigang (business administration), Wu Baoan (economic history), Chen Xinmin (steelmaking) ). The sixth session: He Bingdi (Western History), Li Zhiwei (Afforestation), Li Lusheng (Accounting), Fan Xingnan (Teacher Education), Huang Gao (Medicine), Wang Jitao (Pharmacy), Wu Zhonglun (Afforestation), Wu Zhonghua (Furniture Manufacturing), Zhong Kai Lai (mathematics), Yang Zhenning (physics), Ling Ning (zoology), Fang Zhongda (plant pathology), Zhang Bingxi (mineralology), Guo Xiaogang (meteorology), Qian Zhongyi (road engineering), Zhang Xie ( Shipbuilding Engineering), Bai Jiazhi (Mechanical Manufacturing), Huang Maoguang (Prime Power Engineering), Cao Jianyou (Electrical Engineering), Hong Chaosheng (Radio), Shen Shenfu (Aeronautical Engineering), Zhang Jianhou (Chemical Engineering), etc.

Due to the defeat of the German Nazis on the European battlefield, the Allied forces captured Berlin, the Nazi's lair, with overwhelming momentum.The invincible Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the basement, and Japanese militarism came to an end. In 1945, the United States eagerly dropped the two atomic bombs it had just developed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, which hastened the end of the war.The Soviet army also sent troops to the Northeast whenever possible, eventually forcing the Japanese imperialists to surrender unconditionally.When the news came, the whole country erupted in joy.Although Chen Yinke was blind at this time, he couldn't restrain the excitement in his heart, so he happily ordered the pen to write -- "Wake up on the morning of August 11th in Yiyou to hear the Japanese begging for blessings", the poem said: You won't know until you wake up at night when the book falls, how lucky you are to see this time in this life. Hearing the news, Du Ling burst into tears with joy, and returned home to congratulate the supervisor on his deathbed. The national enmity has been moved to the south, and the family sacrifice is unforgettable to North Ding. Thoughts and worries come to infinite senses, and happy inscriptions turn into sadness. Southwest Associated University held a grand celebration parade. Students took to the streets one after another, holding high the colorful flags of victory and waving flowers in their hands. Everyone's face was like a flower blooming in the sun.Ye Qisun was also surrounded by his classmates and walked in the forefront of the parade.Seeing the singing and dancing crowd, the sea of ​​joy, and countless young faces, Ye Qisun unconsciously thought of Xiong Dazhen, the young man who could have celebrated victory like them. Ye Qisun was in love with the scene, and his mood was just like what Chen Shi said, "Happy inscriptions turn into sadness". The Anti-Japanese War has been won, and it is imperative to disband the United University.Some professors either asked for leave to go home to visit relatives, or to deal with the problems left over after the war, and they took leave one after another.Only Ye Qisun was at school all the time, and took the initiative to take on the lessons left behind by the teachers who went home to visit their relatives. In November 1945, Mei Yiqi and Fu Sinian, members of the Standing Committee of the Southwest Associated University, left the school and returned to Beiping to deal with the relocation of the university. They entrusted Ye Qisun as the acting president to take charge of the administrative work of the Southwest Associated University, and Ye Qisun took on the important task again. The smoke of the Anti-Japanese War will not disperse, and the troubled Chinese have no time to breathe a breath of peaceful air, and the haze of war hangs over the riddled land of China.In order to snatch the fruits of victory and strategic locations, the Kuomintang launched a large-scale attack on the liberated areas.The Chinese people, longing for peace, democracy, stability and unity, were once again pushed into the abyss of civil war. On November 25th, more than 6,000 teachers and students from Southwest Associated University, Yunnan University and other universities jointly held a current affairs evening party. The youths of the Union University, rich in patriotic traditions, bravely called for peace, opposed civil war, demanded democracy, and opposed autocracy. Encountered reactionary suppression. On December 1, 1945, the Kuomintang authorities sent reactionary military police and spies into the school and threw grenades at the unarmed teachers and students. Four students including Yu Zai, Pan Yan, Li Lulian, and Zhang Huachang died on the spot, and more than ten people were seriously injured.This is the 1.2.1 tragedy that shocked the whole country.Facing the opposition's butcher's knife, the patriotic students of the United Nations University did not retreat, but united with more than 30 universities and middle schools in the city to strike collectively.More than 100,000 people in Kunming went to the campus to mourn the martyrs. People from Yan'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai and other places also gathered to support them. Schools in Chuxiong, Yuxi, Mojiang, Xuanwei, Zhaotong and other places in the province responded one after another, which greatly shocked Kuomintang reactionary authorities.In order to extinguish the patriotic flames of the students, the Kuomintang agents carried out white terrors such as assassination and kidnapping of teachers and students of Southwest Union. "Recently, I have learned the tortoise method, and when I have to shrink my head, I shrink my head." Facing the four bloody corpses, some people died down.But Ye Qisun stood up and immediately held a professors' meeting to investigate the tragedy.He said sadly at the professor's meeting that blood cannot be shed in vain, the dead have gone, but the living must not be too harsh.Under his chairmanship, the meeting passed a decision to form a legal committee to investigate the killing of students.But some committee members were afraid of retaliation, afraid that the KMT would point their guns at them, so they dared not come forward.Ye Qi and Sun Dayi were so awe-inspiring that they were even ready to be shot dead by the Kuomintang.He once said angrily to Dai Zhenduo: Isn't the KMT going to kill people?Let them kill it. After the establishment of the legal committee, Ye Qisun was in charge of appealing the tragedy, finding witnesses to understand the situation, collecting evidence, and personally negotiating with Li Zonghuang and Guan Linzheng, demanding that the murderer be severely punished.He seems to be conducting an experiment.He believed that as long as the evidence was solid, the murderer would not be able to deny it anyway.But he ignored an important experimental condition, that is the murderer's background.As a loyal believer in natural science, he often tends to regard complex political struggles as a physical experiment, and the results can be imagined. There is such a story in the book: a barracuda full of crimes was brought to court, and the judge announced in public that the heinous barracuda should be thrown into the water and drowned. Whether it is resentment, pain, or irony, this is the exact feeling of the UN General Assembly at that time.But what can be done?It is said that human beings are insignificant in front of nature, but people in old China are also so insignificant in front of the law!Human beings can move mountains to fill seas and reclaim land from lakes, but what about human power?Nothing to do!I can only bear it silently! But things have to find a way. The students of the United Nations University decided to "carry the coffin in a parade". This is another helplessness under helplessness. As the person in charge of the General Assembly, Ye Qisun once again took on the important task of protecting students from harm at this historical juncture.He tried his best to negotiate with the authorities, asking the authorities to give permission and not to suppress.Due to Ye Qisun's reputation, the Southwest Associated University's "coffin-carrying parade" and the burial ceremony of the four martyrs went smoothly.Ye Qisun, as the officiant, was with the students from the beginning to the end. The January 2.1 tragedy was another blow to Ye Qisun after the Xiong Dazhen tragedy.But he didn't expect that there was another heavy punch waiting for him. In 1946, Southwest Associated University disintegrated.After the last batch of Southwest Associated University students left Kunming, on July 11, Kuomintang agents shot and killed patriotic democrat Li Gongpu. On July 15, at the memorial service for Li Gongpu held at Yunnan University, Kuomintang agents assassinated Mr. Wen Yiduo again. After hearing the news of the poet's death, Ye Qisun regretted it.He said to the students around him that the era we live in is a sad one.