Chapter 110 scholarship

When Chen Yinke first arrived at Harvard, he advocated buying books in bulk, in multiples, and in total. On August 18, 1919, "Wu Mi's Diary" stated: "The Chinese students of Harvard, who read the most, should recommend Chen Junyinke and his cousin Yu Jundawei. The two monarchs read a lot and bought a lot of books. It is less than half a year ago. , and the newly purchased books have filled the cupboard with hundreds of volumes. Mr. Chen and Mr. Mei (according to the south: that is, Mei Guangdi) have repeatedly persuaded Mi to buy books." Chen Fengxiong recalled that Chen Yinke returned to China twice during his study tour in Europe, but "most of the time he spent at home miscellaneously reading classics and ancient books, and he was very interested in historiography. He not only recited the "Thirteen Classics", but also asked for every word. This also laid the foundation for his life-long research method of careful examination and deliberation.”

Chen Yinke often said that "reading must first be literate".Chen Yinke worked hard on "Shuowen" and the exegesis of Gaoyou Wang's father and son since he was a child.Chen Yinke not only recited most of the "Thirteen Classics" fluently, but also sought correct explanations for each word.Therefore, "Huang Qing Jing Jie" and "Xu Huang Qing Jing Jie" became the books he often recited.According to Jiang Tianshu, a disciple of the Chen family, when Chen Yinke was abroad, he carried two small lithographs of the "Jing Jie", one of which was "Xu Jing Jie" which survived in Chen's relics after his death.According to Yu Dawei, Chen Yinke read history books very hard, paying special attention to the chronicles in various histories, such as "Tianguan Shu", "Huozhi Biography" in "Historical Records", "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi", "Jinshu· Astronomy", etc., even the original German version of astronomy is one of the history books he often reads.

Chen Yinke believes that "literacy is the first to read". To study history, especially Orientalism, one must understand oriental characters, including those that existed in history but are now dead. Only in this way can the origin and authenticity of history be revealed.Therefore, during his study in Germany, he put a lot of effort into various ancient texts and textual research. Chen Yinke later talked about his experience in learning multiple foreign languages, only emphasizing the word "sincerity".When he came to teach at Tsinghua University, although he was famous all over the world, he was not satisfied.Even after he became a tutor at Tsinghua University, he still insisted on learning Xixia and Mongolian from others. He went to the city two days a week to learn Sanskrit from Gang and Tai.

Chen Yinke advocated in the 1920s that one should have an "independent spirit and free thinking" in one's studies. During the period of the Republic of China, there was a famous event in the history of Chinese academics, which was the discovery of 8,000 sacks and 150,000 catties of archives in the Qing palace cabinet. In 1912, the national government established the "National History Museum Preparatory Office" in the Confucian Temple. All the archives and test papers collected by the former Qing Dynasty Academy were included in the History Museum Preparatory Office and temporarily stored in Jingyi Pavilion. The total number was about 8,000 sacks (according to Wang Guowei) is 9000 sacks).

In 1921, a Bannerman director of the museum's preparatory office and several people sold 8,000 sacks of Ming and Qing archives with a total weight of "150,000 catties" as waste paper to Beijing Tongmaozeng Paper Shop in exchange for 4000 silver dollars.Fortunately, Luo Zhenyu accidentally discovered some archival materials that had entered the market, and found Tongmaozeng Paper Shop.At that time, Tong Maozeng Paper Shop had resold about 1,000 sacks of the archives as waste paper, and the rest was sent by the boss to the paper mills in Dingxing and Tangshan, where they were going to be turned into pulp to make "resurrection money".In the end, Luo Zhenyu bought back all the remaining files at a high price of 13,000 yuan at a high price of 13,000 yuan, and hid them in Beijing and Tianjin.Afterwards, because Luo Zhenyu had exhausted all his financial resources to purchase the archives, and was no longer able to undertake the heavy task of sorting out, he transferred 7,000 sacks of archives to a big collector at a price of 16,000 yuan, sold another small part to the Institute of Chinese Studies of Peking University, and another small part It was purchased by the Puppet Manchukuo and handed over to the Fengtian Library in 1936.Later, Li Shengduo was also ready to make a move due to lack of financial resources.After Chen Yinke learned about it, he hoped that Fu Sinian, who was then director of the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica, would buy these files, and Hu Shi also supported Chen's suggestion.Through the efforts of Chen and Hu, Fu Sinian applied for funding from Cai Yuanpei, the president of Academia Sinica. After that, Chen Yinke and Li Zongtong negotiated with Li Shengduo several times, and finally bought this batch of precious documents. In August 1929, with the active efforts of Chen Yinke and others, these precious archives were shipped to Beihai Jingxinzhai, Beiping, totaling about 60,000 kilograms, of which 25,000 kilograms were in dilapidated condition.

During the Anti-Japanese War, in the busy teaching, Chen Yinke was still committed to academic research. He published two works, "On the Origin of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" and "On the Political History of the Tang Dynasty". Later generations have opened up a new way to study the history of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In October 1946, Mrs. Chen Yinke and his little girl Meiyan returned to Tsinghua University after nine years of absence. At this time, Chen Yinke was blind, but he was determined to calm down and study hard, and named his study "Unseen For a clean room."

In 1953, Guo Moruo, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, invited Chen Yinke to be the second director of the Institute of History of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences.In his "Reply to the Academy of Sciences" on December 1, 1953, he put forward two conditions for becoming the director.Article 1: "Allow the Institute of Middle Ancient History not to adhere to Marxism-Leninism, and not to study politics." Article 2: "Please Mao Gong or Liu Gong to give a certificate of permission as a shield." And said: "The meaning Yes, Mao Gong is the highest political authority, and Liu Gong is the highest person in charge of the party. I think the highest authority should also have the same opinion as me, and should follow my words. Otherwise, there will be no academic research.” Therefore, he could not take office. .Still teaching at Sun Yat-sen University.

Zheng Tianting said: "Chen Yinke is a professor of professors, and most of his lectures are attended by scholars and professors. When Chen talks about Yuanbai poems, the first lesson is whether Yang Yuhuan entered the palace as a virgin. There was a famous drama director He Mengfu living in Chengdu. I have heard about Chen Daming for a long time and wanted to go to the class, but I heard that the first class was about virgins, and I thought it was boring, so I decided to give up the class, but I didn't know that Chen Yici brought out the wedding system of the Tang Dynasty, which is really an extremely important thing."

Chen Yinke once taught a course on the history of Yuanbai poems to prove the history.A student named Liu Longkai from Sun Yat-Sen University also listened to Chen Yinke's "Yuanbai Poetry Evidence History". History" research method.For example, Chen Yinke once verified the age of the "pipa girl" in Bai Juyi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, in "Pipa Xing".It is written in the poem: "My younger brother went to join the army and my aunt died, and I went to the court in the evening, so I was in color. There were few cars and horses in front of the door, and the eldest married a businessman." Marrying at ten is the last age for men and women to marry. After this limit, one is the eldest. Like Cui Yingying, who was only 17 years old in the 16th year of Zhenyuan, and will marry before the age of 20; Webster, in She was twenty years old when she got married in the eighteenth year of Zhenyuan. Department. Qu Ba often teaches good attire, and every time she makes up, she is jealous of Qiu Niang." Chen Yinke said: "It seems that women in the Tang Dynasty socialized with others at the age of thirteen. Du Mu's "Farewell": Tingting curled up for more than thirteen , cardamom shoots at the beginning of February. The spring breeze is ten miles on Yangzhou Road, and it is not as good as rolling up the bead curtain.——Qiu Niang, the most famous advocate in Chang'an when the Bai family was a Jinshi in the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan. The Bai family fell to Jiangzhou, grateful for the past It is taken from the poem. Some people think it is Du Qiuniang in Du Mu's poem, which is extremely absurd. Assuming that the pipa privet is thirteen years old in the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, then by the eleventh year of Yuanhe, she should be at the head of the Xunyang River. Thirty years old. She won’t be married to a businessman for too long—the businessman pays more attention to profits than leaves. The month before last, he went to Fuliang to buy tea—the tea merchant received a monopoly coupon in Chang’an, married a pipa girl at the same time, and then went to the place of production to buy tea. During the honeymoon Then she left the bride. It can be said that in the tenth year of Yuanhe, when Pipa was 29 years old, her younger brother left to join the army, and soon her aunt died again; after another year, she did not marry until she was 30 years old. ——” Chen Yinke also used this to verify that the pipa girl who married at the age of 30 was a Xihu species, lived with a businessman, and was not a formal husband and wife, etc.

During the Cultural Revolution, a group of students from the History Department of Sun Yat-Sen University who had attended Chen Yinke's Yuanbai Poetry and History Course began to write articles to attack the former tutor.One of the articles also mentioned the textual research on the age of the "Pipa Girl". The article said: "Chen himself never studied Marxism-Leninism, nor did he believe in Marxism-Leninism. He has made some tedious research in ancient books. He is particularly interested in some trivial matters and the dignitaries, concubines and prostitutes of the old society, such as whether Yang Guifei is fat or thin, how much she weighs, whether she was a virgin before entering the palace, etc. He also specifically researched whether there was any relationship between Concubine Yang Gui and An Lushan, and the dragon robe worn by the emperor was a dragon with five claws pierced, and the python robe worn by ministers was a dragon with four claws pierced, etc. He also talked about some clichés and made some boring textual research. For example, when talking about Yingying's "how to change light makeup and short eyebrows into heavy makeup and thin eyebrows"; when talking about Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing". The merchant woman who was still holding a pipa in the bow of the boat and half-hidden her face was found out, where was her ancestral home, what race, what year, and what age did she enter the brothel? What kind of prostitute was she in Chang'an? When to marry and what kind of businessman you are doing business with, whether you belong to the second house or the third house, whether you are a woman or a concubine, etc." From this article, we can see Mr. Chen Yinke's erudition and attitude towards learning.

Chen Yinke originally studied comparative linguistics and was proficient in many kinds of literature, which provided great convenience for him to collect historical materials from other than Chinese to study history. He inherited the scientific spirit of emphasizing evidence and facts in the study of history by Qianjia scholars in Qing Dynasty. It also absorbs the Western "historical evolution method" (that is, examines history from the evolution and connection of things, and explores historical materials), and uses this method of textual research and comparison combining Chinese and Western methods to trace the source of some materials and verify them accurately.And on this basis, pay attention to the comprehensive analysis of historical facts, and find out the key points from the connection of many things, so as to solve a series of problems and obtain the truth of history.His precise textual research method surpassed the achievements of scholars in the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, and developed the historical textual research of our country. Chen Yinke never makes judgments lightly on the study of Tibetology and Tectonics. He always makes judgments with a rigorous scientific attitude and does not contradict the facts.He is a model of the unity of historical knowledge and morality.He rigorously deals with the relationship between "praise" and "seeking truth", and evaluates history in a realistic way, which still has far-reaching educational significance. After Chen Yinke lost his eyesight, he was still able to persevere. After ten years of poverty, he wrote such great works as "On the Fate of Rebirth" and "A Biography of Liu Rushi".His perseverance and spirit are legendary.The origin of writing "Biography" also originated from a red bean from Baimao Qianzhai in Changshu in Kunming during the Anti-Japanese War. Huang Xuan, Chen Yinke's assistant, once said with emotion: "In the old age of blindness, Master Yin worked hard and worked tirelessly to complete this manuscript (namely "Liu Rushi's Biography"). His perseverance spirit is really shocking and crying. Spirit of ghosts and gods". In his later years, Chen Yinke was "weak, sick, blind, and knee-footed". With the strengthening of political pressure, he lost his freedom of publication and publication, and was constantly persecuted by the Red Guards.Under such circumstances, it is hard for us to imagine that he compiled the old articles other than "On the Origin of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", "On the Political History of the Tang Dynasty" and "Yuanbai Poems and Notes" into "Hanliutang Collection" ", "Jinming Pavilion Collection", and wrote the 850,000-word masterpiece "Liu Rushi's Biography", and finally wrote "Han Liu Tang Ji Meng".