Chapter 39 scholarship

Fu Sinian studied in the UK, first entered the University of London to study experimental psychology with Professor Spearman, and later studied physiology, mathematics, chemistry, and statistics. From England to Germany in 1923, he entered the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Berlin to study comparative linguistics and historiography with Ranke, the father of modern German historiography and a master of the school of linguistic research.Luo Jialun believes that Fu Sinian went to study in Germany: "On the one hand, he was influenced by the two academic atmospheres at the University of Berlin, and on the other hand, he was influenced by his friends Chen Yinke and Yu Dawei at the University of Berlin."

Luo Jialun recalled Fu Sinian when he was studying abroad: "Fu Sinian studied experimental psychology, mathematics, and physical chemistry. He heard that modern physics and comparative textual research at the University of Berlin were prominent for a while, and he came here to listen to relativity and comparative linguistics. A thick book on geology." Fu Sinian's life was extremely difficult when he was studying abroad, but he still bought books. He wrote in a letter to Luo Jialun: "Now there are stove fees and tuition fees, so it is really very economical. The daily food is between two marks and three marks. I have never seen a play. I bought a grammar, a Sanskrit grammar, and Karlgren's linguistics. The first one is for class, and the next one is for writing a book."

Zhao Yuanren's wife Yang Buwei described Fu Sinian's life in Berlin.Yang Buwei said that on the first day she and Zhao Yuanren arrived in Berlin, "some Chinese students studying in Germany came to visit us, including many celebrities. Most of us are well-known and have never met. These people used to be British and American government officials. For foreign students, because the Deutsche Mark was low after the World War, these nerds went to Germany and bought all kinds of German books. Some of them didn’t even eat well all day long and just wanted to buy books. Fu Sinian was probably one of them.”

Fu Sinian finally turned to the study of positivist historiography, and showed amazing talent. Yu Dawei once said to people: "If there is a fat man among those who engage in literature and history, we will never have a bright future." From 1928 to 1937, Fu Sinian led the Institute of Historical and Linguistics to overcome resistance and conducted 15 large-scale archaeological excavations on the Yin Ruins centered on Anyang. Base.Shi Zhangru recalled: "At that time, it was the 13th excavation of the Yin Ruins, and more than 300 people were used. It was the largest excavation since the excavation of the Yin Ruins. It was also the most prestigious period for Chinese archaeological work in the world. Around May In the middle of the month, the weather was already quite hot. He and Mr. Pelliot, a French oriental scholar, arrived in Anyang...Mr. Pelliot faced such a great mausoleum, such neatly arranged small tombs, such a large number of exquisite and splendid utensils, In front of Director Meng Zhen, I am constantly amazed and admired!"

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Institute of History and Philology finally decided to move to the south, along with the 210,000 volumes of books that Fu Sinian regarded as treasures.Fu Sinian chose the route himself, and appointed the librarian Na Lianjun as the escort. The National Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei both house large collections of Ming and Qing archives.After the Revolution of 1911, these archives were bought by a Japanese company and planned to be shipped back to Japan.Famous scholars such as Luo Zhenyu and Ma Heng made great efforts to protect this priceless treasure. Fu Sinian, on the suggestion of Chen Yinke and Hu Shi, applied to Cai Yuanpei, the president of the Academia Sinica, to buy these files, and finally freed these precious cabinet files. It was a catastrophe, and until today, the study of Chinese history is still greatly benefited from it.

Fu Sinian said: "Where a kind of knowledge can expand the materials it studies, it will progress, and if it can't, it will regress." Said: "Historical science is historical data science." Fu Sinian's famous saying that is often quoted is: "Go up to the poor and fall to the underworld, and use your hands to find things." Fu Sinian was strict with self-discipline. Nanjing was hot in summer, and he was fat and addicted to cigarettes. When reading precious materials such as "Historical Records" and "Dunhuang Papers" published in the Northern Song Dynasty, he insisted on not turning on the electric fan, not smoking, and taking good care of himself.

Fu Sinian firmly opposes distorting history for ethical or political reasons.He said: "Youth should not be deceived, and historical studies should never lie." Definitely not our comrades!" Fu Sinian studied psychology when he was studying abroad. At the beginning of 1940, Fu Sinian gave an academic lecture at the Southwest Associated University. The title was "Wang Thieves and Japanese Pirates - A Psychological Decomposition". This article uses Freud's psychological analysis method to analyze how Wang Jingwei stepped up The road to treason.Fu Sinian first used Wang Jingwei's background and growth environment to analyze the formation of Wang Jingwei's character, and then said that Chen Bijun's brutality and arrogance were also contributing factors.This requirement of "not measuring one's morality and capacity" formed his extremely distorted mental state, as well as his personality and psychological abnormalities throughout his life, which manifested in his engaging in various extreme politically capricious speculations and gambling.In Fu Sinian's view, Japanese pirates and Wang thieves have a lot in common, and Japanese little ghosts are the most rich in "humble bumps".The final conclusion in Fu Sinian's article is: "The Wang thief has no one but himself, and when he sends out evil fire, he wants to kill the same species; But one is a solitary beast and the other is a pack of wolves, that's all the difference."

When Fu Sinian presided over the Institute of History and Philology, he went to Peking University to teach. His additional task was to select top talents and enrich the research team of the Institute of History and Philology. Mr. Deng Guangming, who was studying at Peking University at the time, recalled: "Mr. Lectured at Peking University, hoping to find and select talents. Later, many graduates of Peking University went to the Institute of History and Language Studies, and among my classmates were Hu Houxuan, Zhang Zhenghong, Fu Lehuan, Wang Chongwu and others.”