Chapter 70 Governance

After the outbreak of the May 4th Movement, Cai Yuanpei announced his resignation. At that time, all sectors of society launched a movement to win Cai. Cai finally stayed on, but because of stomach problems, he asked his former student and fellow countryman Jiang Menglin to be his personal representative to preside over school affairs at Peking University.Jiang Menglin was able to become Cai Yuanpei's agent, in addition to Tang Erhe's strong recommendation, there are also the following reasons: 1. Cai and Jiang have a close personal relationship, and Jiang is Cai's student and fellow villager; "New Education" is a monthly magazine, and the policy of "New Education" was proposed by Cai Yuanpei when he was the chief education officer of the Nanjing Provisional Government; 3. The Kuomintang Prime Minister Sun Yat-sen admired Jiang Menglin.

After Jiang Menglin arrived at Peking University, he acted very low-key. He first explained to the Ministry of Education and Peking University professors that he was only Cai Yuanpei's personal representative, and he was acting as Cai Yuanpei's seal.Jiang's low profile made all forces in Peking University quite satisfied.Shao Peizi, dean of Hosei University, praised Jiang Menglin for "not only winning the hearts of the people outside, but also eliminating many opposing sides internally. His performance is sincere enough to make people respect." Twenty days after arriving at Peking University, Jiang Menglin said in a letter to Zhang Dongsun: "Since I arrived in Beijing on the 21st, I have suffered a lot. It seems that I was thrown into a spider's web by myself, and spiders came from the corner of the room every time I moved. Jump out and bite you. Alas! If you don’t have the determination to die, you will be scared away. Everyone says that there are tigers in the city, but I say that I just let the tiger swallow me. Before the tiger swallows me, I might as well do what a human being should do I remember Wang Shouren's saying: "The old man in the east family guards against the tiger, and the tiger enters the house at night to hold its head; the children in the west family don't know the tiger, so they drive the tiger like an ox."... I followed this spirit and moved forward. Struggle, after half a month, everything has taken shape... If you take a look, you will think that the university has not gone through any turmoil this time..."

Jiang Menglin believed that the school should be in the natural environment of mountains, grass, birds, and insects. He once asked Minister of Education Fu Zengxiang to find some land for Peking University in Xishan, Beijing, in order to prepare for moving Peking University to Xishan in the future.He also discussed with Qing Shi, hoping that Qing Shi could give the Old Summer Palace to Peking University.He said to Zhang Dongsun: "This garden is four miles wide and six miles long, with mountains and springs. It is the best place." After Cai Yuanpei returned to school, with the assistance of Jiang Menglin, he carried out system reforms for Peking University.At Jiang's suggestion, Peking University set up two offices for academic affairs and general affairs.The General Affairs Office is the administrative center of Peking University, which handles the school's administrative affairs, and Jiang himself is the head of the general affairs department;The highest legislative body in the school is the Senate, which formulates various regulations, confers degrees, and maintains student discipline.Since then, Peking University has embarked on the road of professors running the school.

In addition to Peking University’s chief of affairs, Jiang Menglin also served as secretary, director of the accounting department, member of the budget committee, member of the appointment committee, and member of the student self-government committee.The General Affairs Committee has actually become the highest administrative organ of Peking University, responsible for managing the affairs of the whole school, such as registration, compilation, documents, consultation, introduction, books, instruments, publishing, school buildings, fasting, miscellaneous affairs, accounting, health, etc. Must be responsible for managing things.

In 1922, Cai Yuanpei visited European and American countries, and Jiang Menglin acted as the president of Peking University again.Jiang received a letter from Sun Yat-sen, praising the various movements of Peking University, and finally encouraged Jiang to "lead three thousand children to participate in the revolution." In 1923, Cai Yuanpei resigned and left school again due to the Luo Wengan case, and then went to Europe for inspection.Jiang Menglin cited the provision that Peking University professors can enjoy vacation abroad for five consecutive years, so that the Beijing government retained the post of President Cai, and Jiang acted as President of Peking University for the third time.Afterwards, Peking University Council sent a letter to Cai Yuanpei, fully affirming Jiang Menglin's work in charge of Peking University in the past three years: "In all fairness, the level of students in this school, the love and discipline of students in this school, and the equipment of books and equipment in this school have actually been solidified in the past three years. Significant progress has been made.”

In 1930, Jiang Menglin officially became the president of Peking University until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, becoming the president with the longest time in the history of Peking University.Jiang Menglin said: "In the seven years from the 19th year of the Republic of China to the 26th year of the Republic of China, I have been holding the rudder of Peking University... Peking University, which was once a whirlpool of revolutionary activities and student movements, has gradually become an academic center." At the beginning of his tenure, Jiang Menglin said to the deans of the three colleges of literature, law, and science: "I will fire the old people, and you will do it; recruit new people, you will do it." During this period, a group of old professors left Peking University. The famous historian Zhu Xizu resigned in 1932; in 1934, professors Lin Shun and Xu Zhiheng of the Department of Chinese Literature were dismissed.

As early as 1920, Jiang Menglin planned to build a dormitory for Peking University students.In 1934, thanks to the efforts of Jiang Menglin, Peking University finally built a student dormitory in the north of the east courtyard of Songgong Mansion. Each room is 8 square meters, and the attached room is 2 square meters. Each room can accommodate one person.Zhu Wenchang, a Peking University student, recalled: "Principal Jiang Menglin spent a lot of effort on the new dormitory. After this building was completed, the Peking University dormitory overwhelmed Yanda Tsinghua University. This is a four-story three-dimensional steel and concrete building. The northernmost end of the empty field looks like a barracks from a distance, and the layout inside is also very special. There are seven or eight rooms with different styles and different charms on each floor, which is very suitable for the appetite of individual development of Peking University. Even better It is one person, one room, fulfilling the long-cherished wish of Peking University students for decades of isolation. Each room has a small dark room for putting boxes and hanging clothes. Heat sinks, spring locks, coordinated and harmonious special furniture, modern and comfortable, make you I completely forgot that this is the old Peking University.”

Jiang Menglin pays attention to strengthening the teaching and construction of science.He carried out a comprehensive reorganization and enrichment of the team of science teachers, and hired a group of first-class scientists in the country to teach at the school, such as leather expert Liu Shuqi, geologists Ding Wenjiang and Li Siguang, optics scientist Rao Yutai, botanist Zhang Jingyue, paleontologist Sun Yuanzhu, organic chemist Zeng Zhaolun, topologist Jiang Zehan, etc.At that time, Peking University employed the largest number of research professors in the Faculty of Science, about twice that of the Faculty of Arts and four times that of the Faculty of Law.Jiang Menglin also worked hard to enrich the instruments and equipment of various science departments.After several years of hard work, the conditions for running schools such as the Geology Department, Physics Department, Chemistry Department, Biology Department, and Psychology Department of Peking University have been greatly improved.According to statistics, by 1935, the value of Peking University's experimental equipment had reached more than 500,000 yuan, including more than 6,200 instruments, more than 167,000 specimens, and 3,100 medicines and practice appliances, ranking first among all universities in the country.

When Jiang Menglin assisted in running the school, he also implemented the reform of the "selection system", which allows students to choose freely within the prescribed range, and they can graduate after earning enough credits, regardless of the number of years.By the time of Southwest Associated University, the "subject selection system" had been perfected. He Zhaowu, who was admitted to the Southwest Associated University in 1939, recalled that he had studied in four departments in seven years at the University. He studied engineering in the first year. Later, he felt that it was not his interest, so he transferred to the Department of History, and then the Department of Philosophy. A graduate student re-examined after taking a leave of absence due to illness and delayed her homework. She felt that it was not suitable for her to study philosophy, so she changed her career to study foreign languages. "It's easy to change a department. You just need to write an application and get the approval of the department head." It is very common for Southwest United students to transfer to a department. Nobel Prize winner and physicist Yang Zhenning entered the UNU University in the Department of Chemistry, and later changed to Physics.

Under Jiang Menglin's rule, Peking University presents a free situation of "five openness": first, the classroom is open, regardless of whether they have a student status or not, they can attend the lectures casually.Second, the library is open to the public and can be entered and exited at will.The third is that the bathroom is public, and the shower head is on all day long, so anyone can wash it.Fourth, the playground is open, and sometimes there are more students from other schools than our own.Fifth, the cafeteria is open. Jiang Menglin believes: "The lack of respect for teachers is not enough to emphasize academics; the salary is not good enough to speak for ambition; therefore, respecting the seat of professors and generous salary is the second thing." Therefore, when Jiang was in charge of Peking University, Peking University professors were treated with courtesy by the school. extremely high.Qian Mu recalled: "Teaching at Peking University has a unique point from Yenching. Each department has a lounge, where the head of the department works. There is a teaching assistant's permanent room. All teachers in the department have to rest here before and after class. When I first arrived, there was a school attendant holding a hot towel to wipe my face and making a cup of hot tea. When I was in class, someone brought a chalk box to the classroom. After leaving the class, the hot towel and hot tea were still there, making people feel like a traditional Chinese teacher. .”

In his later years, Jiang Menglin recalled affectionately in the book "New Tide": "The author spent most of his time at Peking University. During his working years, he knew to abide by President Cai's wishes and maintain the atmosphere of academic freedom." In June 1945, Jiang Menglin, who was studying education in the United States, was invited by Song Ziwen, who had just served as the executive dean, to serve as the secretary-general of the Executive Yuan. At the end of June, Peking University professors will discuss this matter. At the meeting, Zheng Tianting and other professors advocated that according to the "University Organization Law" that university presidents are not allowed to hold concurrent posts, they believed that Jiang Menglin could not concurrently serve as university president since he was in politics, and should resign. On August 7, Jiang Menglin returned to Kunming and called a tea party for teachers. He said frankly that he wanted to serve as the president of Peking University, but he violated the university’s organizational law. resigned as principal.According to the recollection of those who attended the meeting: "His speech was very good, and everyone sympathized with him." In September, the Ministry of Education decided that Hu Shi would be the president of Peking University.Since then, Jiang Menglin left Peking University. In 1950, at the 52nd anniversary commemorative meeting of Peking University held in Taiwan, Fu Sinian said in his speech: “Mr. Mr. Zhizhi, but his work is better than Mr. Hu's. The work of these two gentlemen is really unflattering." After hearing this, Jiang Menglin said with a smile: "Meng Zhen, what you said is absolutely right, so the two of them are the heroes of Peking University. The two of us are just meritorious dogs of Peking University."