Chapter 13 Liu Wendian: Insane, Mad, and Gentleman

Liu Wendian (1889-1958), courtesy name Shuya, formerly known as Wen Cong, pen name Liu Tianmin.A native of Hefei, Anhui.His ancestral home is Huaining County.He has successively served as a professor of Peking University, president of Anhui University, and director of the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University. He went to Kunming in 1938, taught in Southwest Associated University and Yunnan University, and was a member of Jiusan Society.He has been engaged in the collation of ancient books and the research and teaching of ancient literature all his life.The courses he taught cover everything from pre-Qin to Han, from Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing to modern times, from Greece, India, Germany to Japan, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, and he is truly a learned man.

In 1928, Liu Wendian became the president of Anhui University (the school is located in Anqing, the provincial capital).On November 23 of that year, a large-scale student movement broke out in Anhui academic circles.When Chiang Kai-shek, the "tiger crowned", arrived in Anqing, he was very angry when he saw this situation. He believed that the unhealthy academic style and arrogance of the student movement in Anhui were a reflection of the rampant activities of the Communist Party, and he was determined to punish him severely. On the afternoon of the 29th, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Liu Wendian.Previously, Liu Wendian had threatened: "I, Liu Shuya, am not a pawn of a trafficker. Even a high-ranking official should not come and leave me. I learned from Zhang Taiyan, Liu Shipei, and Chen Duxiu. I joined the League in my early years. I used to be Sun Yat-sen's secretary. If you surpass Yuan Shikai, you have made meritorious service in the revolution. Chiang Kai-shek is a warrior, but what can I do!"

Liu Wendian thought highly of himself, and Chiang Kai-shek was even more domineering because of his achievements in the Northern Expedition.As soon as the two met, they started to fight each other.Because of resentment in his heart, when he saw Chiang Kai-shek, Liu Wendian wore a top hat and a long gown, swaggered, followed his attendants to Chiang Kai-shek's office.Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's angry face, neither getting up nor giving up his seat, he blurted out: "Are you Liu Wendian?" This was like adding fuel to the fire for Liu Wendian, who also blurted out: "The word is Shuya, Wendian is just the parents and elders. It wasn’t anyone who called me.” This enraged Chiang Kai-shek even more, and Chiang slapped the table and roared, “Shameless literati! You incited Communists to make trouble, what should you do?” Liu Wendian also refuted what Chiang Kai-shek said was Untrue words, and shouted loudly: "I would rather die with righteousness! Don't be lucky!" I bowed to touch Jiang, but was blocked by the guards.Chiang Kai-shek yelled again: "Crazy! Crazy! Push it down!"

When meeting, Liu Wendian called Chiang Kai-shek "Sir" instead of "Chairman", which aroused Chiang's dissatisfaction.Jiang asked Liu to hand over the list of Communist Party members who made trouble in the student unrest and punish the students who went on strike.Liu pushed back and said, "I don't know who the Communist Party is. You are the commander-in-chief, so you should lead your soldiers well. I am the president of the university, and I will take care of the school's affairs." When it came to the heated point, the two patted each other The table yelled, one scolded "You are a school boss", and the other scolded "You are a new warlord".Chiang Kai-shek became furious, slapped Liu Wendian twice on the spot, charged him with "lax academics", and sent him to prison.Chiang Kai-shek also threatened to "disband Anda".

After the news came out, teachers and students in An immediately formed a "school protection delegation", together with more than 400 students from many middle schools in Anqing, gathered in front of the provincial government to petition, demanding the release of Liu Wendian, and withdrawing the order to detain and expel the students.At the same time, representatives of the teaching staff of the University of Ontario and talents from all walks of life in Anhui Province jointly called the Minister of Education Jiang Menglin and the principal of the Chinese public school Hu Shi.Mrs. Liu Wendian Zhang Qiuhua went to Nanjing to meet Cai Yuanpei again.Fortunately, Cai, Jiang, and Hu called Chiang Kai-shek respectively, enumerating Liu Wendian's achievements in publicizing the revolution when he was a scholar and the editor-in-chief of "Minli Daily", and advised Jiang to forgive his abrupt language and "do everything possible to ensure that he has nothing else."Under the pressure of powerful public opinion, Chiang Kai-shek finally let him go, but with a premise-to force Liu Wendian to "leave Anhui immediately."

At that time, a famous saying of Liu Wendian was widely circulated in the academic circle: "University is not a government office." It was Liu Wendian's indignation at the authorities' persecution of progressive youth.Liu Zaian University once protected some progressive young students in a special way.Wang, a preparatory student, is from Ruijin, Jiangxi.One day, the Anhui Provincial Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang notified Liu Wendian that Wang was a member of the Communist Party and asked him to strictly monitor him.Because of the "conclusive evidence", Liu Wendian ordered the school policeman Ding to search Wang's dormitory, and found "secret documents".Liu Wendian immediately asked the messenger Wang Yuxiang to send Wang away from school.It was day and night, plainclothes spies came to the school to search and arrest, but they were all in vain.The school blamed the authorities, but nothing happened in the end.

After Liu Wendian left Anda, he visited his teacher Zhang Taiyan (Bing Lin) at the beginning of the next year and told the whole story of the Anda incident.After hearing this, Zhang Taiyan admired Liu Wendian's integrity very much, so he wrote a couplet as a gift when he was sick: "Health is not envied by Ji Zhongsan, and illness and evil really push you to be peaceful." The gift couplet cleverly borrowed the allusion of Ni Heng, a madman at the end of the Han Dynasty, beating drums and cursing Cao, exposing Jiang's dictatorship and praising Liu's integrity of not being afraid of violence and hating evil like hatred.Three years later, Mr. Lu Xun wrote "Knowing Difficulties and Doing Difficulties" (the first issue of "Cross Street" on December 11, 1931) under the pseudonym of Pei Wei. But after being locked up for many days, it was very difficult to release him on bail." While commenting on Liu Wendian, Lu Xun also silenced Hu Shi: "Of course the old fellow, the old colleague, the doctor knows, so 'I call him Chairman'!"

Gao Boyu from Hong Kong put it even more brilliantly: "Why do I always think of Mr. Liu Wendian? I just admire his madness. When Chiang Kai-shek was invincible around 1929, Mr. Liu treated Yuan Shikai as his teacher Zhang Taiyan despised Yuan Shikai. Dare to 'hum' him in front of Jiang, he is a real celebrity, beyond the reach of Hu Shizhi, Zhu Jiahua and others." During the teaching period, Liu Wendian taught a lot of courses, as many as 10 at Peking University, mainly including "Selected Works", "Collation Studies", "Studies of Pre-Qin Philosophers" and "Studies of Zhuangzi".He has his own characteristics in teaching. He not only pays attention to the examination and revision of difficult words and sentences, but is not limited to tedious exegesis, and is good at quoting from many sources.He doesn't like to follow the scriptures, and often combines his own research experience to guide students.When students use reference books indiscriminately, he would jokingly say: "When you go to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha, the candles are flickering and the smoke is curling up. The real faces of gods and Buddhas are often blurred and indistinct. "You Guoen, Wang Li, Zhang Zhongxing, Ren Jiyu and others have all bathed in his teachings.Zhang Zhongxing said with relish in "Liu Shuya": "One time I talked about Mu Xuanxu's "Hai Fu", and I mostly played it from the nature and function of sound. The different moods of the rhyme, the mood of the five micro-rhymes is melancholy. For example, close your eyes and chant, "The wind presses lightly, the clouds stick to the water and fly, and the swallows fight for mud in the clear pool. Shen Lang is haggard and overwhelmed." After reading, stop For a while, it seems that he is still reminiscing... the classmates respect his opinions."

When Liu Wendian was at the Southwest Associated University, the school staff made a pot of tea before class, and took a two-foot-long bamboo dry pipe with him.When he talked about his favorite point, he smoked dry cigarettes while explaining the essence of the article, and ignored the bell after class.Once he was an afternoon class.After finishing one lecture, the students all thought that he was going to start a new lecture.But at this time, he suddenly announced that the get out of class would be dismissed early, and the new class would be resumed at 7:30 after dinner next Wednesday.It turned out that next Wednesday was the fifteenth day of the fifth lunar month, and he was going to give a lecture on "Moon Fu" under the bright moon.

"When he explained "Ode to the Sea", he not only described the stormy waves of the sea, which are as turbulent as mountains, but also called us to pay special attention to the words in the handouts. After a closer look, it turns out that most of the words in the whole text are words beside the water, Shu Ya said. Regardless of whether the article is good or bad, just reading the many words next to the water in this article can make people feel that the waves are surging and the sea is boundless, just like being in the sea." When teaching poetry, Liu Wendian often shook his head and sang softly, and whenever he got excited, he would sing a generous elegy. He not only recited it himself, but also asked his students to imitate it.Some students did not follow orders. Although he was displeased, he was not harsh. He just made an analogy: "If you don't sing poetry, how do you know its taste? If you just watch and listen to Mr. Mei's play, you can't understand it." How can you feel the charm of singing?"

The great celebrity Wu Mi also respected Liu Wendian, and often asked him to retouch his poems, and liked to listen to his lectures.Liu Wendian doesn't mind either. He likes to close his eyes during lectures. When he talks about what he thinks is unique, he will suddenly look up at Wu Mi who is sitting in the back row, and then ask: "Brother Wu Seng (Wu Mi) thinks?" Every time at this time, Wu Mi got up as usual, nodded respectfully and said: "It's a good idea, a good idea." It made the students snicker. In fact, the relationship between Wu Mi and Liu Wendian is quite subtle. Wu Mi gave a lecture at the Southwest Associated University. Liu Wendian, who considers himself a red scholar, disagreed with Wu's views, so he sang "opposing drama".Due to too many audiences, the lecture was moved from the small classroom to the small outdoor square, and Liu Bingzhu gave the lecture.Liu Wendian came on stage in a long gown, and a girl poured tea for him.He suddenly recited the opening remark in an orderly manner: "Just-eat-one-bite of fairy-peach, don't-eat-rotten-apricot-full-basket! Just one bite of fairy-peach is enough. ...I talk about the Dream of Red Mansions, I don’t talk about what others have said, and I don’t talk about what I say, no one else has said it! It’s enough to tell you four words today!” Then he wrote on the small blackboard next to him, “Polygonum Ting Huashu" four big characters, and then express their views. Liu Wendian is not only unique in his classes, but also has a wealth of writings. In addition to collation of ancient books, he also has a large number of translations.When he first came to Peking University as a professor, he was only 27 years old.The Liberal Arts Office at that time was called "Maozihao".There are two old "rabbits" - Chen Duxiu and Zhu Xizu born in the year of Jimao, and three little "rabbits" - Hu Shi, Liu Bannong and Liu Wendian born in the year of Xinmao.Peking University is full of talents, Liu Wendian deeply felt that his knowledge was shallow, and he thought to himself that if he wanted to gain a foothold in Peking University, he would not be able to do so without the support of his writings.With the collation of ancient books as his goal, he focused on the scholars of Qin and Han Dynasties.In 1923, the Commercial Press published his "Huinan Honglie Jijie".In his preface, Hu Shi praised and said: "Shu Ya governs this book with the most precise and rigorous methods." At that time, Hu Shi had already advocated vernacular Chinese, and in order to show respect for this book, he made an exception and used classical Chinese.After the publication of the book, it was well received by the academic circles, and Liu Wendian's academic status has also been greatly improved. "One word is as small as ten thousand volumes" is Liu Wendian's academic motto.Collation of ancient books not only pays attention to the origin of every word, but even the proofreading never leaves the hands of others.In the letter to Hu Shi, Liu Wendian lamented the bitter experience of proofreading: "My younger brother witnessed Liu Ji, Zhuang Kui and Ji's generation being scolded too bitterly by Wang Nian's father and son. If there is one extra word, later generations will say that I added it indiscriminately; False names are all due to today’s proofreading.” The materials he quoted especially emphasized “verifying the original text” so as not to spread falsehoods and misfortune.One of his old students, Li Yan, borrowed a book about Tang Sanzang's pilgrimage from him in the 1940s, and found that the top and bottom of the book and the blank space on both sides were covered with his annotations.Notes in addition to Chinese, there are Japanese, Sanskrit, Persian and English. "His profound knowledge and rigorous scholarship are amazing." (Fu Laisu's "Reminiscences of Mr. Liu Wendian's Teaching") Those who are proud of their talents have existed in ancient and modern times.Among modern celebrities, Liu Wendian is definitely one.His characteristic is that he is three points more strange than Liu Shipei, who is famous for being "weird", so people at the time judged him as "talented" and "arrogant".Among Peking University professors, Liu Wendian is as famous as Gu Hongming for his "arrogance".For this point, Liu Wendian does not deny.He once reflected on himself: "Academic arrogance and arrogance is my biggest problem." However, he also said, "But I am not arrogant in front of anyone." Chen Yinke , Hu appropriate not in this list.However, he criticized his professional teacher Liu Shipei, thinking that "the materials quoted in his writings are sometimes only based on memory", so mistakes are inevitable. Let's first read a few sections of his self-report, and his comments on others when talking with his disciples. "Predecessors' corrections are books, and they are mostly based on assumptions, trying to be novel, or what they get is ignorant and unfounded." (postscript of Zhang Deguang's "Zhuangzi Buzheng") Especially Wu Meicun's poems, to be honest, are not much higher than mine." (Wang Yanming's "Mr. Liu Wendian's Lesson") "What I have discovered recently, speaking a crazy word in front of the big brother is really better than a stone gill , Bo Shenxian and Qiao Zi’s things can’t be broken much, but compared with Quyuan, they can be said to be ‘better’!” (Volume 1 of The Complete Works of Liu Wendian, p. 807) I understand the chapters that I don’t understand. No matter what questions you ask, I will answer them." (Guo Xinquan, "Meeting Mr. Liu Wendian for the First Time") It is said that in the late 1930s, when he was in class at Southwest Associated University, when he happened to mention studying "Shuowen" with Zhang Taiyan, he added "Lu Xun also participated in the study" by the way, and at the same time stretched out his little finger.After liberation, it was exposed that he opposed Lu Xun. Liu argued that "it was a sign of respect for him".Whether stretching out the little finger is a compliment or a derogation has no way to verify.Only Liu Wendian knows what the original intention is. Liu Wendian's "Zhuangzi Supplement" has 10 volumes and was published in 1939.Chen Yinke, who is unwilling to praise others easily, also wrote a preface and praised: "Mr.'s work can be the prudence of the world." "The publication of this book is to show the current style of study and show others the principles. Is it only for the rulers?" Is it just a must-read?" Liu Wendian won the reputation of "Zhuangzi expert" for this.Every class, the first sentence at the beginning would always be conceited: "Well, I don't understand, and no one understands!" The implication is that if he doesn't understand, others will understand even less.Someone once asked him the gains and losses of those who ruled Zhuangzi in ancient and modern times, and he said wildly: "There are only two people who really understand in China. One is Zhuang Zhou, and the other is Liu Wendian." Another version circulated in the academic circle is "There are two Half a person understands."In addition to Zhuang Zhou and Liu Wendian, there are also "half". The "half" refers to a certain Japanese scholar, and Feng Youlan or Ma Xulun, because both of them have taught Lao Zhuang from a philosophical point of view. Liu Wendian claimed to be "120,000 points" and admired Chen Yinke, and the two had worked together in Southwest Associated University.When he was in Kunming, one day the air raid sirens sounded, and teachers and students rushed to run around. Liu suddenly remembered that Chen, whom he admired "120,000 points", was weak, had poor eyesight, and was even more inconvenient to move.He hurriedly led several students to Chen's residence, and helped Chen escape outside the city together.The classmate wanted to help Liu, but Liu refused to let him go. He shouted: "It's important to preserve the quintessence of the country! It's important to preserve the quintessence of the country!" Ask the students to help Chen go first.And Shen Congwen happened to pass by Liu Wendian.Liu's face showed displeasure, so he said to his fellow students: "Chen Yinke ran to the police to preserve the quintessence of the country, I, Liu, ran for Zhuangzi, you ran for the future, who did Shen Congwen run for?" Liu Wendian looked down on literary creation. He believed that "the ability to create literature cannot replace true knowledge".Once someone asked him if he knew the famous Ba Jin, he muttered to himself: "I have never heard of him, I have never heard of him." The professor puts it in his eyes.Liu Wendian once said: "Chen Yinke is the real professor. He should get 400 yuan, I should get 40 yuan, and Zhu Ziqing should get 4 yuan." Tao Guang, a young teacher of Southwest Associated University, is Liu Wendian's favorite student.Tao Jiu didn't go to see the teacher because of his busy academic affairs.One day, Tao took the time to pay a special visit.As soon as they met, Liu Wendian scolded him head and face, calling him a "slacker", "worthless" and "ignoring what the teacher said".Tao Guang was scolded inexplicably, and when he couldn't bear it anymore and was about to fight back, Liu Wendian slapped the table and said even louder: "I rely on you to become famous and start a family, as a source of bragging, you don't understand my painstaking efforts, do you have the heart to make me despair? "The tone changed from hard to soft.Tao Guang was very moved when he heard that the teacher wanted to use himself as a "capital for bragging", and almost burst into laughter.The friendship between teachers and students has deepened since then.Later, Liu Wendian specially asked Tao Guang to inscribe his works. When Liu Wendian was at the Southwest Associated University, Li Yan, a student of Liu Wendian, found a mouse drawn by the teacher with a brush in the pages of a "Biography of Master Tang Sanzang" that he borrowed from him, and asked the teacher to explain.Liu Wendian laughed a lot after hearing this, saying that when he lit a sesame oil lamp while reading in the country, the oil on the wick would drip on the lamp panel.One night when he was reading under the lamp, he saw a mouse crawling onto the lamp panel and blatantly eating the oil on the plate.He wanted to kill it at first, but then he thought about it, the mouse is just begging for a living, and I am also studying for a living, so why bother killing each other?So I drew a picture of a mouse with a brush and put it in the book.Li Xuan said with emotion: "Sir, you really have the virtue of loving life!" Liu Wendian often makes surprising remarks in class.Once, a student asked him how to write a good article.He said casually: "Just pay attention to Guanshiyin Bodhisattva."The students don't understand.He said: "'Guan' means to observe more; 'Shi' means to understand the world; 'Yin' means to pay attention to the rhyme;