Chapter 25 position

Feng Youlan longed for revolution when he was young, participated in the Kuomintang during the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and went to Guangzhou, the birthplace of the revolution.Feng Youlan said: "I wanted to visit Guangzhou to see this revolutionary base. At that time, people's hearts were inclined to Guangzhou, just like Yan'an during the Anti-Japanese War." In 1925, Feng Youlan wanted to teach at Guangdong University because she yearned for Guangzhou and was invited by friends.Before leaving Kaifeng, Feng met Yu Youren.Feng asked Yu: "How is the situation in Guangzhou? Is it possible to go?" Yu replied: "Revolutionaries can go, but non-revolutionaries are not allowed." Feng then decided to go.

Once, Tsinghua University received a list of students from the authorities and asked the school to hand over these students.The authorities sent troops to surround Tsinghua University to arrest these students.Just after dinner, Mei Yiqi called Feng Youlan to go to his house for a meeting.Feng Gang was about to go out, and two students were about to come in. He said, "Okay, please come in." After arriving at Mei's house, he realized that most of the students had gathered in the gymnasium, and the military and police were preparing to attack the gymnasium.Mei Yiqi said: "Looking at the situation, major incidents may happen at any time. People in the school affairs meeting should not leave, and wait to deal with them at any time." Then Mei Yiqi called the city to ask for help.Later, the mayor at the time, Qin Dechun, was found. He used to be Song Zheyuan's aide. After Qin found Song Zheyuan, the military and police withdrew from Tsinghua University.When Feng Youlan returned home, the two students also left.

Feng Youlan later recalled: "Ren Zaikun told me that the two students were sitting in the living room and fell asleep on the sofa, snoring loudly. She heard people coming and going outside the door, so she called them out for fear of danger. I got up and hid in the kitchen in the backyard. I don’t know who those two students are.” A student of that year later recalled: “We came out from Principal Mei’s house, and it was already dark, so everyone tried to hide according to the principal’s instructions. I I was hiding at the home of Professor Ye Gongchao, just like Yao Yilin was hiding at the home of Professor Feng Youlan... Judging from this incident, President Mei, as the president of the national university specially appointed by the Kuomintang government at that time, was able to take certain risks to protect students in this way. It’s very rare to say that.”

When Feng Youlan's mother passed away in 1945, Feng Youlan went home to attend the funeral. When the county magistrate came to visit, Feng Youlan did not see her off, but her old relatives and friends came and sent them to the gate.It was a good talk in the village for a while. At the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang in May 1945, Feng Youlan was elected as the chairman of the congress. Chiang Kai-shek invited him to dinner and promised that he would be appointed as a member of the Central Committee. People have spoken", politely declined. After the "December 1st" tragedy happened, Fu Sinian put pressure on the professors of the United Nations University. The authorities asked the students to resume classes as soon as possible.At the professor's meeting, Feng Youlan joked to Fu Sinian: "You used to be the leader of the students, and you specially quarreled with the school authorities. Now the awkwardness has come to you. It's really 'look at the shaved head, and people shave their heads'." Because Fu Sinian He was the most famous student leader in the "May 4th" Movement. Although he sympathized with the students who died this time, he fully defended the interests of the Kuomintang.Back then, Wen Yiduo was very opposed to student strikes and riots. This time, he fully supports the students' strikes.This transformation is obviously in line with the logic of history.When the two sides were at a stalemate, Feng Youlan and the Dean of Students Cha Liangzhao jointly proposed a plan: students resume classes first, and the professor will guarantee that Guan Linzheng will be resigned within 15 days after class resumption.Compromises were made on both sides.

In 1947, the war situation became increasingly clear, and the Nanjing regime was on the verge of collapse.Feng Youlan happened to be in the United States, so some friends advised him to live in the United States for a long time.He said: "After the Russian Revolution, some Russians went to live in China and called them 'White Russia'. I will never be a 'Baihua'. The more victorious the People's Liberation Army is, the more I have to go back as soon as possible. I am afraid that the whole of China will be liberated. Communication between China and the United States is cut off."

Some people believe that the main reasons why Feng Youlan was able to hold an important position in Tsinghua University, where there were frequent student disturbances and repeated presidents, for twenty years are: 1. A calm mind, balanced analysis, discernment of right from wrong, and thoughtful consideration.2. Deeply versed in the world, peaceful and moderate in life, with progressive viewpoints and a high sense of academic security.3. The foundation of Chinese studies is solid, and the expression ability of classical Chinese is very strong. At the beginning, he has the courage to draft, and after that, he is popular with everyone, and is often pushed to write.The defense against Chen Lifu was written by Feng Youlan.

On the eve of the collapse of the Kuomintang government, Feng Youlan refused to take the opportunity to go south to Taiwan, and as the dean of the Faculty of Arts of Tsinghua University, she wholeheartedly welcomed the Communist Party. On the eve of liberation, Feng Youlan had two other choices, one was to go to the United States or stay in the United States, and the other was to go to Taiwan.In December 1948, Nanjing sent a plane to Beijing, and those who were willing to leave could board the plane.After discussing with his wife, Feng Youlan decided not to go anywhere but to wait for the PLA to arrive in Beijing: “At that time, my attitude was that no matter what party was in power, as long as it could govern China well, I would support it. I already knew this in Kunming. I said it. At that time, among intellectuals, there was a lot of discussion about whether to leave or not. After I made up my mind, I felt very calm and waited for the development of the situation. Once Jing Lan (his brother) asked me : "Will you go?" I said, "Why go? The Communist Party is in power, and it also wants to build China. Intellectuals are still useful. If you are engaged in natural science, then there is no problem." At that time, I thought What I think of is still the socialist idea of ​​"respecting the virtuous."

In 1973, when the movement to criticize Lin Biao and Confucius began, Feng Youlan became nervous again, so he wrote two critical articles.Soon, both articles were published in the "Journal of Peking University".Soon "Guangming Daily" added "Editor's Note" to reprint it, and "Beijing Daily" also reprinted it.This confused Feng You, and it was not until January 1974 that he heard Xie Jingyi say: "At one meeting, Peking University reported on the campaign to criticize Lin and Confucianism. Chairman Mao heard Feng Youlan's two articles and wanted to read them immediately. .I immediately found these two articles and handed them to Chairman Mao on the spot. Chairman Mao read them on the spot, and took a pen to change a few words and punctuation marks. It was published later..."