Chapter 15 anecdote

Gu Hongming is of mixed race. Zheng Yimei recorded: "Gu Hongming's hair is golden yellow, just like a Westerner." When studying abroad, Gu Hongming met a British girl by chance. The girl often picked up Gu's braids to enjoy, saying that Chinese hair is really cute.On a whim, Gu said to her: "If you are willing to accept it, I will cut off the braid and give it to you." The girl smiled and agreed.So, Gu Hongming left his father's instruction behind him, picked up the scissors, cut off the braid, and really gave it to the girl. Gu Hongming was an old friend of Ling Shuhua's father, Ling Fupeng. He often went to Ling's house to chat and eat with Ling's father, Liang Songsheng and others, and they didn't leave until late at night.They have a wide range of topics, from ancient to modern times, from all over the world.Liang Songsheng had been stationed overseas for many years, and his eloquence was not as good as that of Gu Hongming, but when everyone was arguing, as long as Liang said a word coldly, Gu would stop and stop.

Once, Jin Liang and Gu Hongming went to the park to play together. Gu met a prostitute whom he knew on weekdays, so he called them over to have a banquet together.Jin wanted to go first, but Gu firmly refused to let him go. He smiled and said to Jin, "You have to be the host today." Jin settled the bill with a smile. Willingly hold the whip for his coronation. Zhen Ying recalled that when Gu Hongming was teaching at Peking University, he often said "Dou Na Ma" (a Cantonese swear word) to Guangdong students, and said that only Cantonese retained the true nature of the Chinese nation - integrity, stamina... other provinces are Not enough!

When Qing Xuantong abdicated, Gu Hongming, who was wearing a suit and short hair, put on fake braids, put on a long gown and mandarin jacket, and let rickshaw drivers pull him around Beijing, but was called to the police station for questioning. Gu Hongming's "Spring and Autumn Days" is the speech script of the speech given by Gu Hongming, who was invited by the German Minister to China during the First World War. It was named "Spring and Autumn Days" by his friend Liang Dunyan.At that time, this book was available in various languages, but there was no Chinese version.A certain Japanese magazine chose to translate most of its publications from the German version, and the Commercial Press's "Oriental Magazine" translated the Japanese version into Chinese, and translated the author as "Chinese Mr. Gu".

Once, when Gu Hongming returned from Europe, a young French man on the same boat saw Gu reading a copy of his own work, and asked, "Do you also like Mr. Gu's works?" Gu replied yes.The young man asked again: "Mr. is Chinese, do you know Mr. Gu?" Gu responded slowly: "Oh!" The young man asked, "Can you introduce me to Mr. Gu?"The young man said happily: "When I was in college, I admired Mr. Gu's article very much, and I was eager to see it." Gu said, "I am willing to work for you, and I will help you when the ship arrives in Shanghai." Gu sent people to entertain the French youth, sent him to the hotel, and ordered the youth to be sent to his home at night.In the evening, when the young man came, Gu went out to greet him and said, "I am Gu Hongming." The young man laughed and said, "Mr. Gu is really nice!"

When Gu Hongming was in Shanghai, he wore a long robe and mandarin jacket, dragged his pigtails, and drank coffee in the ballroom with a cigar in his mouth.Seeing this strange man, a college student laughed at him in English, thinking that Gu did not understand English.Gu immediately went to the young man's seat to chat with him. His English was not only proficient and fluent, but also his speech was very knowledgeable.The youth was shocked.Then, Gu blamed him for abandoning his studies and going to such a place where money wasted and ambition was lost.The young man blushed, bowed deeply and left.

Once, when Gu Hongming was taking a tram in Shanghai, two foreign youths laughed at Gu who was dressed in rustic clothes in English, and Gu immediately "returned" in fluent English.Unwilling to be reconciled, the two teenagers continued to laugh at him in French, and Gu fought back fiercely in French.In the end, the two teenagers felt ashamed, and when the car reached the next stop, they fled in defeat. When he lived in Beijing in his later years, Gu Hongming liked to eat Western food at the Continental Restaurant. Every time he went, he always had long braids trailing behind his back, disheveled clothes, staggering steps, and looked impoverished and old-fashioned.Once, when he went to the Continental Hotel for dinner, the two young students sitting next to him scoffed at Gu's filthy and desolate state.Gu didn't take it seriously, he drank and ate freely.Immediately, one person said in English: "This old man is so filthy, does he still deserve to eat Western food?" The other person replied: "When country people come to Beijing, they always have to pay homage at the gate of the city before they dare to enter the city, and this old man is the same. "The two sang together and ridiculed.Gu couldn't bear it anymore, went to the seat for the two of them, and said in extremely fluent English: "When I ate Western food, you two were not born yet!" Has walked away.The two hurriedly asked the people in the restaurant: "Who is this old man?" The people in the restaurant told them: "Mr. Gu Hongming too." When they heard the words, they looked ashamed and sighed: "Today we can be said to be a gangster. "

Kang Youwei has a leisure badge, which is engraved with "traveling around thirty-six countries".Gu Hongming was quite disdainful of this. He once said to his good friend Ling Fupeng that he wanted to engrave a seal and compete with Kang. , official in Beiyang". After the Sino-French War, Zhang Zhidong started to build a gun factory, and hired British ordnance expert Wurz as a consultant, hoping to build it into a German Krupp.After Gu Hongming approached Wurtz, he resolutely dismissed him.Zhang was furious, and Gu explained: "That man is a liar who wants to make a fortune." It turned out that Wurz graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a business degree and could not make guns at all.Then, Gu recommended to Zhang his classmate in Germany, William Fox, the supervisor of the Krupp Arsenal in Germany.

At a banquet, Fox made a slip of the tongue after drinking and inadvertently revealed the secrets of Krupp in Germany.The incident was reported by the British "Times".When Fox told Gu that he was worried about the safety of his family members, Gu reassured him, saying that after seeing the report, he immediately reported to Zhang Zhidong, and had asked someone to go through the formalities for his family to come to China, and had prepared a villa for their family to use.Fox was deeply moved and worked hard ever since. In order to train the new army, Zhang Zhidong invited several German instructors to assist him.Zhang stipulated that German instructors must wear Qing official uniforms and perform kneeling or half-kneeling salutes like Qing military officers.Several German instructors had no objection to the dress, but they refused to kneel anyway, saying that there is no kneeling in the West.Zhang Zhidong was in trouble for a while, and Gu Hongming took the initiative to ask Ying to persuade the Germans.

Gu said to the German instructors in pure and fluent German: "Gentlemen, every Sunday, you all go to church, kneel before Jesus, and repent piously. Don't you also kneel before the respected Kaiser? Women often kneel when they propose marriage. Therefore, kneeling is by no means unique to us in the East. In Europe, the history of kneeling is probably shorter than that in China.” The German instructor argued: “Mr. Gu, your Governor Zhang is of course worthy of respect, but how can he compare with Jesus and the Germanic emperor?" Gu immediately retorted: "In China, kneeling and half-kneeling are just a kind of etiquette, just to show respect and respect. To the Chinese For me, bowing or half-kneeling to someone I respect, there is a kind of humility and politeness of a gentleman. This is also a virtue of being a human being."

The German instructor had no choice but to agree to kneel down to Zhang Zhidong in the official robes of the Qing Dynasty on the day of his inauguration.This incident caused a sensation at the time. In 1913, when Yuan Shikai raised the "big aftermath loan", the German representative of the six-country banking consortium, Kosta, wanted to find a Chinese who was good at both English and German because he did not understand Chinese. Finally, the best candidate was Gu Hongming.Gu Zi relied on his social status, and he needed a monthly salary of six thousand silver dollars to open his mouth.The bank syndicate had no choice but to agree.

Gu Hongming's braids are a sight of Peking University. Peking University students once joked that whoever wants to become famous overnight, just wait for Mr. Gu to cut off his braids when he goes up the stairs, and the next day's Chinese and foreign newspapers will compete to publish them. Zhao Fengchang recalled that Gu Hongming was very sympathetic to the working people who were at the bottom of society at that time.Once, he and Gu went out and saw a rickshaw driver smoking cigarettes. Zhao said that the driver did not know how to save money.Gu said that he worked hard all day long, and when he saw the people in his car with a hand, how could he not be envious, so it was only natural for him to follow suit. Liang Shiqiu also recorded that Gu Hongming couldn't hear the sound of begging, and when he heard it, he went out to give alms or two of small silver coins, so he was often shy in his pocket. Gao Baishi recalled that when he was teaching at Peking University, Gu Hongming "although he was old and not a dragon, he spoke with a lot of humor and eloquence, and talked with the younger generation for an hour or two. After the conversation is over, you have to say goodbye wisely, otherwise the old gentleman will slap his face and give the order to evict the guest when he stands up." Gu Hongming is not disgusted with lottery tickets. He said: "There are so many poor and boring people in the world today. Sometimes they buy a lottery ticket. It doesn't matter who wins it. Even if they don't, it can still be used as hope for the day and night, and they can talk about the joy of life." .” When Zhang Xun was restored, Gu Hongming did his best for Zhang in terms of diplomacy, and Liang Dunyan recommended him to be the minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.It is said that Zhang Xunqi thought it was impossible because "Gu Hongming is too new". In August 1919, Hu Shi published an article in "Weekly Review", saying that Gu Hongming's braids were "highly innovative", so he "did not return after a long vacation".After the article was published, Gu was extremely annoyed and asked Hu Shi to apologize formally in the newspaper, otherwise he would sue in court.Half a year later, when Hu Shi met Gu, he joked, "Mr. Gu, did you go in with the case you sued me?" Gu said, "Mr. Hu, I always think highly of you, but your article is really not good! " Hu Shi recalled that in October 1921, Wang Yanzu hosted a banquet at home for the French sinologist Dai Miwei, and Gu Hongming, Hu Shi, Xu Chi and others were also invited.After entering the table, Gu Hongming was on Dai Miwei's left and Xu Chi was on the right.Everyone was drinking and eating, when suddenly Gu Hongming patted Dai Miwei's back with his hand and said, "Sir, you have to be careful!" Between Epilepsy and Xu Dianzi!" Everyone roared with laughter. Gu Hongming once said that if Westerners want to study the real Chinese culture, they might as well visit the Eight Great Hutongs.Because from the singers there, one can see the dignity, shyness and grace of Chinese women.In this regard, Lin Yutang said: "Gu Hongming is not wrong, because those singers, like Japanese geisha, can blush, but modern college girls can't." Although Gu Hongming is well versed in both Chinese and Western languages, his handwriting is ugly.Chen Changhua said in "Mr. Gu Hongming I Know": "I saw with my own eyes the word 'seeking for myself' written by him. At first glance, I didn't believe it was written by him. The characters are about two or three minutes apart. Who would believe that this was written by the famous Mr. Gu Hongming?" Gu Zhenfu recalled Gu Hongming and said: "Mr. Hongming's knowledge of the past and the present may be due to his education in the West. His brushwork is quite unique. Take the upper half of the word '十' as an example. Then write with a vertical line; on the other hand, he writes a vertical line first, and then adds a horizontal line. As for the word "口" in the lower part, ordinary people usually use the left side of the pen first, then the upper side with a horizontal line, and then the right side with a line. Vertically, and finally the bottom side is completed horizontally; Mr. Hong Ming is going vertically from the top side to the right, and the left side is vertically horizontally to the right." In his later years, Gu Hongming was often short of money and didn't even have money to buy cigarettes, but he had no complaints and often said to people calmly: "My wife is good at managing money." Zhou Junliang recorded: "Wuchang Wenshen Academy once invited a Mr. Gu from Fujian to give an academic lecture. This gentleman carried a scalpel in one hand and a dead dog in the other. He dissected the students in class and told the physiological organization of dogs in an orderly manner. He is very good as the teacher of the school He was admired by his students. It is said that this is the grandson of Gu Hongming, he is rough and has the style of his ancestors. It is a pity that his name is not known."