Chapter 125 disillusioned

Taiwanese scholar Lin Jiping's "My Journey of Scholarly Mind" records that when the Kuomintang retreated from the mainland, Xiong Shili secretly came to Guangzhou by train and was about to transfer to Hong Kong or Taiwan. After Mao Zedong learned of the news, he immediately telegraphed Commander Lin Biao of Siye to intercept it in Guangzhou.Lin Biao and Xiong Shili are fellow villagers in Huanggang, Hubei, and they respectfully call him Teacher Xiong.Xiong Shili had no choice but to return to Wuhan with Lin Biao.Lin Biao also held a welcome meeting to welcome the old man from Hubei back to his hometown.After the meeting, Xiong was escorted back to Beijing.

In the early 1950s, Xiong Shili lived a stable but lonely life in Beijing for more than four years.Although he was treated with courtesy, his heart was full of melancholy.His ideas about revitalizing Chinese culture and revitalizing ancient Confucianism have been ignored; while his own philosophy has been paid even less attention; gatherings of former friends and disciples have become increasingly rare.In Beijing, some students first came to talk, but after that, no one came to the door, and some did not even send a letter.Some people used to write disciple letters to him, but when some kind of movement came, they said, I don't know what knowledge Xiong has.

In the 1950s, when Chen Yi went to visit Xiong Shili, he wept bitterly.Chen Yi asked: "Why are you always so sad?" He replied: "No one has passed on my knowledge!" When Xiong Shili lived in Shanghai in his later years, he became more and more unbearably lonely. He was deeply shocked, and later when he gave a report to the teachers of Shanghai universities, he suggested that everyone should ask Xiong Shili for advice, "You should go to pay homage to the wise teacher who is right in front of you. If someone criticizes you, just say that Chen Yi asked you to go." Buddhism is an integral part of world philosophy and must be learned. The Communist Party talks about dialectics, and one must understand the pros and cons of everything. If you don’t understand idealism, how can you be proficient in materialism?”

Feng Youlan wrote in the article "Remembering Mr. Xiong Shili": "When Mr. Xiong was alive, his philosophical thoughts were not well understood by the world, and his life in his later years was particularly unhappy. But in the 1950s, he could still publish a few manuscripts. Before he sent me The title page of one of his books reads: "If you don't want it, please submit it to a reliable library." Thinking about it now, how sad it is to say it!" In his later years, Xiong Shili was "led" by the United Front Work Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Therefore, he often had to "report" his current situation to the leaders of the United Front Work Department. When there was a "movement", he would inevitably express his position.For example, in June 1957, he wrote to the United Front Work Department. In the letter, "It was reported in the newspaper today that Zhang Bojun admitted that he was spreading rumors and anti-Party. It is really shameful and hateful." It’s more about the rapid progress.” But more are the requirements of life, such as housing problems, food problems and so on. In November 1960, he sent a letter to the United Front Work Department, requesting to eat rough bread, "Last month, I offered biscuits twice, which are the best things, and I never feel full when I eat them, so I would like to eat rough bread." 1960 In December, Xiong suddenly had blood in his stool, so he wrote to the United Front Work Department, "Please give me a fat female duck that has been slaughtered to see if it can save this disease?" Disturbance.” On December 5th, the United Front Work Department asked its superiors for instructions: “I plan to agree to send a female duck, please check.” The leader said “agreed”, so, on December 9th, Xiong Shili got his own fat female duck .

In the last few years of his life, Xiong Shili lamented: "I am seventy years old, and I am old alone. The small building faces the wall, and I suddenly meet ten sacrifices. There are absolutely no young people who want to learn, and there are few guests. The pain of old age is greater than Lonely. In the past five years, I have been accumulating righteousness to enrich myself, accumulating health to strengthen myself, so I don’t need to feel lonely. Since I was seriously ill, I have been getting worse and worse with each passing day, and I am exhausted.” In 1963, when Xiong Shili was seventy-nine years old, he began to draft "Cunzhai Essays" on New Year's Day.

In December 1964, Xiong Shili went to Beijing to attend the first meeting of the fourth CPPCC and the first meeting of the third National People's Congress.During the period, Chen Yi once came to see him, and told the descendants of the Xiong family present, your father is a nerd, let him write, and write out all his academic thoughts.Guo Moruo also came to visit Mr. Xiong and talked about the difficulties in the printing of "Cunzhai Essays".Guo Moruo also has difficulties, and it is not easy to say.Xiong Shili knew that the publication of this book was hopeless, and said that if several copies were printed, it would not work, so please reject the manuscript. At the beginning of 1965, after Xiong Shili received the rejected manuscript, he asked Feng Yongzhuo (Xiong's document) to keep another copy.

An old friend Wei Zhuomin visits Xiong Shili in Shanghai, and when he sees Xiong, he calls Tao and cries loudly, which makes Wei feel uneasy. In the summer of 1965, when his disciple Xi Fuyu went to visit his teacher Xiong Shili, he found that Mr. Xiong was obviously aging, his eyes were no longer as bright as before, his conversation was no longer as eloquent as before, and his emotions were no longer as passionate as before. .He was sitting alone in the house, wearing a brown gown with no buttons, and only a hemp rope as a belt, looking like an old monk.On the wall inside the house, there are three monarch-teacher posts written in big characters, from the wall to the ceiling, with Confucius in the middle, and two Mr. Wang on the left and right: Wang Chuanshan and Wang Yangming.

Wang Yuanhua recalled in "Two or Three Things about Xiong Shili": "I once asked him about Buddhism. At this time, he had passed from Buddhism to Confucianism. In his living room, there were three posters written in large characters. One was in the middle, and it was pasted from the top of the wall to the On the ceiling, there is a letter to Confucius. One is on the right, and it is pasted from the top of the wall, and it is written to Mr. Yangming. The other is on the left, and it is also pasted from the top of the wall, and it is written to Mr. Chuanshan. After hearing that I want to learn Buddhism, he said: "You learn What does Buddhism do? No one studies it now.'”

At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Xiong Shili was very disgusted with the Red Guards who took to the streets to "destroy the four olds", randomly broke into other people's homes to search their homes, smashed gods and statues in temples and churches, and burned scriptures. He once wrote to Mao Zedong to express his opposition.He wrote a letter to the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, but the letter went like a stone and fell into the sea, and there was no reply. During the Cultural Revolution, Xiong Shili's house was ransacked, and the rebels rushed into every room, tearing up or burning the ancient books, scriptures, calligraphy and paintings, manuscripts, etc. that Xiong Shili had collected for many years.Xiong Shili regarded books as his life, and tried to snatch some ancient books from the fire, but was pushed to the ground.

The Red Guards from Beijing No. 101 Middle School tracked down Qingyun Road in Shanghai, interrogated Xiong Shili, and asked him if he knew about Liu Shaoqi's reactionary activities when he was in Lushan Bailu Academy, and so on.Xiong Shili always answered "I don't know", because he was regarded as stubborn and criticized. During the Cultural Revolution, Xiong Shili was extremely disgusted with "Left" ideas, but he had no choice.In his later years, he set "three precepts" for himself: don't go out, don't have customers, don't write letters, seek tranquility when he is old, and talk when he is dead.In the midst of all kinds of misery, he once wrote a couplet to send to his friends: "Things in old age are like snow, and Jiang Zhai has been a fellow participant for thousands of years."

Later, due to family raids, criticism, etc., Xiong Shili was a little mentally disturbed. He kept writing letters to the central leadership, and often wrote a lot of notes on his pants, coat, doors, windows, and pantyhose. Cultural Revolution" protests.For this reason, he is often besieged in the street, but he still goes his own way. In the summer of 1966, when Xiong Shili read the article "Sweeping All Ghosts and Snakes" in "People's Daily", he was extremely sad.He kept writing letters to the leaders of the central government, forced his family to send them out, and often wrote a lot of small notes, even writing protests against the "Cultural Revolution" on his pants and socks.He often wears a faded gown with no buttons and a hemp rope around his waist. He goes to the street or in the park alone, stumbles and tears, and mumbles "Chinese culture is dead." ! Chinese culture is dead!" Only when I couldn't walk anymore did I sit on the ground to rest.At this time, the younger son-in-law (Xiong Zaiguang's husband Peng Liangsheng) who followed quietly behind him dared to show up (Xiong Shili would not let his family follow him out), supported him, and walked slowly home. In 1968, Xiong Shili tried to starve for death at home, but later reduced his diet in order to die quickly.But at this time he is still writing books, writing and destroying, destroying and writing again.At the turn of spring and summer, Xiong Shili suffered from pneumonia again, refused to take medicine after illness, and had a high fever before being sent to the hospital.After being treated in Hongkou Hospital, he basically recovered, but he was used to opening the window early in the morning and caught a cold again.Due to his debilitating illness and heart failure, rescue was not enough, and he passed away at 9:00 am on May 23 at the age of eighty-four. In the year Mr. Xiong Shili passed away, Mou Zongsan, who lived on Taiwan Island, seemed to have a feeling. In March of this year, he wrote an article in memory of his teacher. In the article, he said affectionately: "I often look at the northern sky and murmur "Master is safe?" He lives in Shanghai, can he live and work in peace and contentment? He is over 80 years old now, can he still give lectures and think freely like he did back then? We don't even know..."