Chapter 157 hanging crown

On July 3, 1917, Cai Yuanpei submitted his resignation to President Li Yuanhong before he gave an impassioned inaugural speech at Peking University. The words were euphemistic, but the motivation was gloomy. It was to protest the restoration of Zhang Xun. In the summer of 1918, students from various schools in Beijing marched in groups to petition the Presidential Palace on the issue of the "Sino-Japanese Military Agreement on Enemy Defense".When Peking University students set off, Cai Yuanpei tried his best to stop them, but failed.Cai Yuanpei took the blame and resigned because of this, but stayed after being comforted.

On May 8, 1919, after the outbreak of the May 4th Movement, Cai Yuanpei submitted his resignation on May 8 in protest against the arrest of students by the government.And quietly left Beijing for Tianjin on the 9th, and then went south to Shanghai and Hangzhou.Before leaving Beijing, he left a "Revelation", which was published in the "Peking University Journal" on the 10th. He wrote: "I'm tired! 'The way to kill the king and horse', 'The people are also exhausted , I can take a short rest', I want to take a short rest. The post of president of Peking University has been officially resigned, and all other schools and assemblies related to the school will be separated from May 9th. I hereby declare that I only know Forgive me." This resignation triggered a large-scale action to win Cai Yuanpei among teachers and students, and in view of the fact that the government had no indication of staying with Cai Yuanpei, on May 13, the principals of all colleges and universities in Beijing submitted their resignations to the government in support of Cai Yuanpei.

Because Peking University advocates "new culture" and "inclusiveness", it often leads to the interference of "State Council", "Senate" and other yamen.Cai Yuanpei was very angry: "Freedom of thought is the general rule of the world's universities. ... How can there be such an unfree university in the world? Do you want me to be the president of this kind of university?" On June 15, 1919, Cai Yuanpei published " Declaration of Refusing to Be the President of Peking University again, proclaiming three basic principles of modern Chinese universities: first, universities should be independent and autonomous; second, universities should have freedom of thought and academic freedom; third, university academic and ideological Freedom requires a correspondingly free social and political environment. "I can never be a university president who is not free anymore."

On January 17, 1923, Cai Yuanpei resigned in anger again. The next day, he published a statement on his resignation as the president of Peking University in the "Morning News". To renew relations with the educational authorities who advocate interference in judicial independence and abuse of human rights, we have petitioned the President to resign as president of National Peking University, and from today onwards, we will no longer attend school affairs, hereby declare.” Cai Yuanpei resigned in anger this time because of the "Luo Wen case".Luo Wenqian studied in the UK at the end of the Qing Dynasty and obtained a master's degree in law from Oxford University. After returning to China, he worked in the judiciary for a long time.At that time, the Zhili warlords and some bureaucrats and politicians single-handedly created the "Luo Wengan case", accused Luo Wengan of corruption and bribery, and threatened Li Yuanhong to order Luo Wengan to be arrested; At the cabinet meeting, he proposed to "do it again", but Luo Wengan was arrested and imprisoned again.So Cai Yuanpei became angry. He especially hated the despicable personality of Peng Yunyi, the "boss" and the chief education officer, so he resolutely submitted his resignation to show his shame, and mercilessly criticized the actions of the warlords and politicians, saying, " Over the past few months, the newspapers have recorded, heard, and seen all the most despicable crimes and shameless acts in the political world, all of which have appeared in China." And overthrow it", "Yuanpei witnessed the difficult times, was distressed by the hopelessness of political clarity, and couldn't bear to be in peace with the same people, especially couldn't bear to support the endgame of education under such an education authority, so as to attract the condemnation of the people of the country and the conscience", the words were fierce. It is the most painful resignation ever.In his resignation letter and subsequent statement, the key word is very clear, that is "violation of human rights".

On January 21, Cai Yuanpei drafted the "Declaration on Non-Cooperation" and published it in the "Declaration" on January 25, in which he said: "Stop seeing them degenerate day by day: Members' votes depend on the availability of subsidies; The positions of cabinet members are based on the will of the warlords; the law is a tool for prose; elections are the finals of money; regardless of right and wrong, only interests and interests; no personality, only power. This foul air is getting thicker day by day. I really can’t Accept it again." "State officials hastily filed a request for reconsideration, and immediately deprived those who have not been proved guilty of their freedom and re-arrested. The person who made the request was not a judicial authority, but for the education that is relevant to my position every day. As for the authorities, I don’t care how smooth their official language is, I always feel that the personality of the author is something I can no longer associate with.”

Cai Yuanpei's "non-cooperation" once aroused Hu Shi's emotion, thinking that "in this turbid, dark and shameless country, in this cowardly nation that does not love freedom, Mr. Cai's non-cooperation will not succeed."