Chapter 16 Mei Yiqi: The essence of university lies in the master

Mei Yiqi (1889-1962), courtesy name Yuehan, was the eldest son of Mei Zengchen.Since 1914, he returned to China after studying at Wuster University in the United States, and then went to Tsinghua University to hold various positions such as teaching and provost. In 1931, Mei Yiqi became the president of Tsinghua University. Under his leadership, Tsinghua University was able to leap from a well-known school with no academic status to one of the top universities in China within ten years.He only accomplished one thing in his life, which was to serve as the president of Tsinghua University and establish the school structure of Tsinghua University.

From the end of the 1920s to the beginning of the 1930s, the president of Tsinghua University changed repeatedly, and the tenure was very short.This is largely due to the fact that these principals often come with political influence, which is contrary to Tsinghua's liberal tradition of academic independence from political trends. For example, principals such as Luo Jialun and Wu Nanxuan carried the "political mission" of the Kuomintang to reform For Tsinghua University, Qiao Wan's election as the principal was the result of Yan Xishan's influence in Tsinghua University.These principals were chased away one after another by teachers and students, and were even refused to enter.They are a little reluctant to deal with the "indigenous system" of Tsinghua's professors governing the school. After Luo Jialun resigned in 1930, Tsinghua experienced a period of 11 months without a principal. During this period, the school affairs were handled by the school council.In view of the fact that the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and the Dean of the Faculty of Science have left the school one after another, and the Provost and the Secretary-General have resigned successively due to the expulsion of the principal. Temporary powers of President, Acting Provost, and Acting Secretary.In this way, under this special condition, the actual power of the professor will suddenly expand, and he will become the highest authority of the whole school.All members of the school affairs meeting and the council are elected by the faculty association and are responsible for them. The school affairs council and the council have become the permanent institutions of the faculty association.The situation of professors running the school has been formed so far.

The president of Tsinghua University was "empty", and all parties put forward many candidates for a while.What Tsinghua people look forward to the most is probably someone who has a long-term relationship with the school, has a deep understanding of the school's ethos, and can carry it forward.In this way, after many rounds of searching, Mei Yiqi finally surfaced after being recommended by Minister of Education Li Shuhua. Mei Yiqi is elegant, modest and peaceful, and orderly.More importantly, he is consistent with the majority of Tsinghua teachers in terms of emotion and basic views on education.He has been teaching at the school for many years, and has shown strong academic and administrative ability as the provost, which has won him the recognition of Tsinghua teachers and students.Mei Yiqi respects Tsinghua's democratic tradition of "professors governing the school".He often calls himself "governing by doing nothing" and "I follow the crowd". This is not because he has no opinions, but because he fully respects the opinions of professors on school governance. He often makes compromises in the heated discussions to make everyone satisfied .This is one of the secrets of Mei Yiqi's outstanding achievements in school management.That's why he was able to serve as president for such a long time, which made Tsinghua's career develop day by day.

When Mei Yiqi became the principal, the situation in the country was precarious, and there were turmoil among the students, especially Peking University and Tsinghua University.Taking Tsinghua University as an example, campaigns to expel the president can be said to come and go, but no matter when, the slogan of the students at Tsinghua University is "oppose ×××, support President Mei".Mei Yiqi was a man who put a lot of emphasis on hard work, and was called a "gentleman of few words" at the time. There is a saying that can be used as proof. Mei Yiqi has served as the president of Tsinghua University since 1931. Before he became the president, it was common for Tsinghua teachers and students to catch up with the president and professors, and the president did not serve long.Someone asked Mei Yiqi what her secret was, and Mei said: "Everyone pours this, pours that, and no one wants to pour plums (unlucky)!"

According to Feng Youlan’s recollection, there was a central idea at that time, that is, the main job of a university is to teach and research academics. Only with masters can a university become a university, and without a master, a university cannot be a university.Mei Yiqi once said: "In a school, it is important to have teachers and students to attend classes. In order to attend classes, there must be some teaching aids, tables and chairs. Therefore, someone needs to take care of these things. The principal of a school He's the one who handles these things." In September 1940, the teachers and students of Tsinghua University in Kunming held a public congratulation meeting for the 25th anniversary of Mei Yiqi's service to his alma mater.In Mei Yiqi's reply, there was a very pertinent and very interesting sentence, which vividly explained his status as the principal: "Tsinghua's progress in the past few decades is not and cannot be due to someone. It is because Tsinghua has so many Old colleagues, work together to achieve today... Now let me tell you a metaphor, you probably also like to watch Beijing opera. There is a character in Beijing opera called "Wang Mao". Hundreds of civil and military officials, shouting at the front and hugging at the back, seem to be serious about it. In fact, they can watch operas, and never pay attention to the "king hat" sitting in the middle of the audience, because usually good plays are not sung by him, he is just because of luck. In a good team, when people applaud this play, he also feels that he is "honoured"..." As the principal, he believes that he is not an "official" with much power, but an academic leader. A person responsible for creating and improving conditions in teaching and research.For decades, his attitude has been consistent, that is, educational institutions should do more to promote education and academic development, and must not become a bureaucratic office.

In December 1931, Mei Yiqi officially came to the school to serve as an official.He delivered an inaugural speech at the school assembly, and put forward his most rational words for running a school: Whether a university is run well depends mainly on whether there are good professors. "The so-called university does not mean that there is a building, but that there is a master" has become a famous saying that has been widely circulated.He believes that good professors cannot be hired by spending money, and good professors are not just scholars with excellent knowledge.He said: "Our knowledge inherently depends on the guidance of professors, and our spiritual cultivation also depends entirely on the inspiration (inspiration) of professors. But such good professors cannot be acquired overnight. We only have Pay attention to solicitation anytime and anywhere. At the same time, we should respect the professors in the school, which is also a way of attracting." He also said: "The spirit of a school is not only in the increase of construction equipment, but also in the gains of professors. People. Our school has the opportunity to invite good professors, so we can hire more good professors to come to the school. This is a very fortunate thing for us. In the past, I changed two sentences in "Four Books": "The so-called university students do not mean those who have buildings. That is to say, there is a master.' Now I still think this way, because I think that the responsibility of professors is not limited to instructing students how to study and how to study knowledge. Any professor who can lead students to learn must be able to guide students how to behave, because Studying and being a man are related. Those who can sincerely work hard to learn will not be tricky, lazy, or fake, so their academic career will eventually achieve success.”

Mei Yiqi's ideal professor is one who has both ability and political integrity; Mei Yiqi's understanding of "education" is not simply instilling knowledge, but a whole-person education that includes all-round development of knowledge, emotion, will and other factors. After Mei Yiqi took office, she regarded recruiting first-class teachers as "the first thing to do hard".On the one hand, he fully respected the former professor team and gave full play to their role; on the other hand, he hired many parties.According to the statistics of Professor Huang Yanfu, from 1932 to 1937, there were more than 100 famous teachers at home and abroad (including some rookies who had already emerged at that time) successively hired to the school, including many foreign scholars. That group of professors gathered famous teachers in Tsinghua University in the 1930s, and it was very prosperous for a while.

Tsinghua's Colleges of Arts and Sciences have a long history and a solid foundation, while the College of Engineering is a rising star, which is closely related to Mei Yiqi's vigorous construction.Mei Yiqi added two departments of machinery and electrical machinery to the original Department of Civil Engineering to form Tsinghua Institute of Technology, and he is also the dean.Later, Gu Yuxiu served as the dean.Since 1934, Tsinghua University has cooperated with the Resources Committee to set up aviation lectures, conduct aviation experiments, and build the largest aviation experiment wind tunnel in Asia. This is the predecessor of Tsinghua's aviation department and the beginning of old Chinese aviation.During this period, a solid foundation was laid for the development of engineering after Tsinghua University.By 1936, the students of Tsinghua Institute of Technology accounted for 1/3 of the total number of the school.

At that time, the ethos was engineering first.The government has repeatedly ordered the development of science and engineering and the suppression of grammar. Students are also willing to squeeze into engineering colleges for a better future.Although Mei Yiqi spent a lot of effort in building Tsinghua's School of Engineering, he did not despise grammar. In 1933, he said at the opening ceremony in the autumn: "Science and engineering are practical subjects, which should be paid more attention to, but at the same time, grammar courses should not be too partial. As far as our school is concerned, in addition to the relatively good science subjects, grammar and mathematics subjects are also not. Not weak. Now that the School of Engineering of our school is newly established, the science and engineering aspects should be urgently developed, but the departments of grammar and law must also make appropriate progress. Outsiders can’t help but ignore this point.” In the autumn of the same year, Tsinghua University began to implement the first year of the School of Grammar and Law without separate schools. Department, the measure that the freshman branch of the College of Engineering does not divide into departments.This system aims to strengthen the foundation of students, broaden their horizons, and avoid the disadvantages of entering specialized research too early.Under this system, students can take more care of their personal interests, and it is not difficult to transfer departments.This is a major development of Tsinghua's tradition of generalist education.Facts have proved that it is reasonable. After Tsinghua University, famous scholars emerged in large numbers, which is closely related to this "solid foundation and strong stamina" system.During this period, Tsinghua also pioneered academic exchanges with foreign countries. In 1933, it first agreed with Germany to exchange graduate students, set up a system of scientific lectures, and successively invited first-class foreign scholars such as Hadama, Wiener, and Walden to come to the school to give long-term or short-term lectures.

In short, from 1931 to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, in less than 6 years, and under the turbulent situation in North China, Mei Yiqi made great achievements in school administration, teaching, academic research, style of study, talents, etc. With meticulous planning and outstanding achievements, Tsinghua created the first "golden age" in the history of Tsinghua University. Since the "July 7th Incident" in 1937, all universities in Pingjin have not been able to start classes.At that time, the principals of Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University were all in Nanjing, and decided to set up a temporary university in Changsha. The principals of the three schools and representatives from the Ministry of Education formed a committee to lead the school affairs, so that teachers and students of the three schools could attend classes first. In February 1938, the school moved to Kunming and was renamed Southwest Associated University.The presidents of the three schools serve as the standing committee members, and the standing committee members are jointly responsible for school affairs.The UNU has five colleges of science, arts, law, engineering, and teachers.The sub-divisions of departments generally still use the old three-school system, with a slight merger, such as the combination of geology, geography, and meteorology, and the integration of history and society.After the establishment of the United Nations University, the three schools no longer recruit students.The students of the three schools are all students of the Lian Lian University, and the students of the Lian Lian University are all alumni of the three schools.The professors of the three schools are self-employed by the three schools, and the United Nations University is notified of additional appointments, class scheduling, and salary payment.The UNGA system was maintained until 1946, the second year after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, a total of 8 years.

At the beginning of the establishment of the United Nations University, Zhang Boling, the president of Nankai University, said to Jiang Menglin, the president of Peking University: "You take my watch with you." This is the meaning of the Tianjin saying "You are my representative".Jiang Menglin said to President Mei Yiqi: "Mr. Yuehan should be more responsible for the school affairs of the United Nations University." Of the three principals, Mr. Mei Yiqi was younger, and he resolutely took on this important task, being fair and responsible. When there is a shortage of staff, he will temporarily take up the role by himself, be serious and responsible, and be respected.Jiang Menglin often said that at UNGA, I just take care of it.This is the truth, thus laying the foundation for the eight-year cooperation between the three universities in the UNU. The three schools are all places where famous experts and scholars gather.Each school has its glorious history, each school has its own ethos, and each has its own different economic conditions.After the five-month test of going to the national disaster in Changsha Linda University and the arduous training of walking 3,500 miles into Yunnan, a new atmosphere of the Lianda University was established. Everyone cherished the idea of ​​sacrificing individuals and maintaining cooperation.Everyone in the General Assembly respects and cares for each other, and no one interferes with anyone else, and no one makes decisions about anyone else.Academically, ideologically, politically, economically, and school spirit, everything is like this.In the later period, although there was pressure from the outside world and rumors spread from time to time, the school was always united.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, I was still studying in Kunming for a year, which is also remarkable.During the eight years of suffering at the UNGA, President Mei has always shared the hardships with everyone, which is often mentioned by everyone. In April 1941, Tsinghua University held its 30th anniversary celebration at the Institute of Technology, Tuodong Road, Kunming. President Zhang Boling told Huang Zijian of the Nankai office from Chongqing that Tsinghua and Nankai were "good families", so Huang Zijian made a big statement at the meeting that "communication "Home", pointing out that Tsinghua's principal Mei is an outstanding student in the first class of Nankai.Then, Feng Youlan came to the stage and said that if you talk about the "good family relationship", the family relationship between Peking University and Tsinghua University is not far behind. , and many others.After the two spoke, the venue was extremely lively, and one after another cited situations where people from the three schools supported each other.But almost everyone feels that the unity of the three universities of the United Nations University far exceeds the relationship between the three schools. Before the establishment of the United Nations University, the three schools had collaborated.In addition to mutual part-time courses and academic collaboration, there is also administrative collaboration.At that time, universities recruited students separately, and candidates generally had to apply for several universities, which was extremely exhausting.In the summer vacation of 1937, Tsinghua University and Peking University jointly announced the joint recruitment of freshmen, jointly set questions, take joint exams, and admit them separately.The examination room was set up in the Forbidden City, and all the examination tables and chairs had been transported in. It was rumored in the society that it was a "Palace Examination", but it was later destroyed by the gunfire of the Lugou Bridge.This is the harbinger of intercollegiate collaboration. During the Anti-Japanese War, prices rose and supplies were in short supply, and the life of Lianda colleagues was extremely poor.President Mei suggested in the Standing Committee that we must ensure that the teachers and students in the school have a continuous supply of food. Each household needs a stone and six buckets of rice per month. Rent a car and send people to neighboring counties to buy and transport. This job is very difficult and dangerous.Fortunately, it was soon supported by the alumni of the three schools working in the administrative department, and it was maintained until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.This is another big collaboration. When life in Kunming was extremely difficult, Tsinghua University set up Tsinghua Service Agency with temporarily unused equipment from the School of Engineering, engaged in production, and used its surplus to subsidize the lives of Tsinghua colleagues.This matter has nothing to do with other schools.President Mei Gu Nian, who is in poverty at both Peking University and Nankai University, gave everyone a gift equivalent to one month's salary at the end of the year. Principal Mei has opinions on things at work and is polite to others.When encountering a problem, always ask others first: "How do you think it should be done?" When you get an answer, if you agree, you will say, let's do it this way!If you don't agree, you will talk about it and think about it.He has never been angry, so everyone is willing to discuss with him. In October 1939, Mr. Wu Wenzao and Xie Bingxin moved to Chenggong Hill to avoid air raids. They are both "friends first". Gong took a three-day short-term vacation. In May 1941, Mei Yiqi and Luo Changpei visited the branch of Xuyonglian University and Lizhuang Lizhuang Institute of Liberal Arts Research of Peking University, and visited Wuhan University and Sichuan University.On the way home, he was delayed for three months due to bombing, floods and unexpected troubles during the journey.On the way, Luo once lost his temper. Although it was not a big deal, if it is not handled well, it will easily cause estrangement between the two, which will not only affect the friendship, but also affect some aspects of the relationship.Mr. Mei waited for Luo to lose his temper, and said slowly: "I thought about going with you (getting angry), but that didn't help." The expression of words and sincere attitude made Luo's anger disappear. Mr. Mei Yiqi doesn't like to talk too much, but when he speaks occasionally, he is always concise, well-organized and funny.He talked about the conditions of the citizens when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Tianjin in 1900, the performing arts of Peking Opera actors, and the relationship between Manchu costumes and health.These are things that he doesn't often come into contact with outside his profession, reflecting his fine and keen social observation. In Kunming, Mr. Mei Yiqi lived in the upper left room of the Tsinghua Office in Xicangpo, sharing the same room with Mei Zuyan (Mei Yiqi's son).One night, a colleague picked him up for a meeting, but there was no electricity.Before leaving, Mr. Mei moved the kerosene lamp to the table in the outer room, twisted the wick to a very small size, and put the matchbox beside the lamp, fearing that Zu Yan would not find it when the lamp went out.From this little thing, it can be seen how much he cares about the next generation and how meticulous and organized he is. Principal Mei likes to drink Shaoxing wine, but he is very restrained.Occasionally, if I overdose, I propped my head on my right elbow, leaned against the edge of the table, closed my eyes and rested for a while, and then drank again, never getting drunk.His friends all praised his wine ethics, which is just the expression of his self-cultivation. At that time, Kunming was the only channel for communication with foreign countries, and many friends would always visit the United Nations University when they passed by.Principal Mei sometimes entertains the family with potlucks.I remember that whenever the dinner party was coming to an end, Mrs. Mei——Ms. Han Yonghua would always bring in a large plate of sweets with a smile on her face. There were four red letters surrounded by bright patterns on it—"Definitely Victory", and said attentively: "Please try again." Taste the cake of victory, and we will definitely win." At this time, everyone stood up to express their thanks, and said in unison, "We must win! We must win."This was the unanimous belief of the teachers and students of the United Nations University at that time, and it was also a symbol of the cause of the United Nations University. Tsinghua had a rule at that time that if a student failed some credits, he would have to drop out of school.One year, a fourth-grade student took 12 credits and failed 6 credits. According to regulations, he should be expelled from school.Of course the homeroom teacher couldn't be the master, so he went to the department in charge; the department in charge couldn't be the master either, so he went directly to the principal, Mei Yiqi.Mei Yiqi usually gave people the impression that he was very modest and easy to talk to. The student thought that as long as he had a good talk with Principal Mei, Principal Mei should be able to agree to keep him.When he entered the principal's office, Mei Yiqi was busy writing materials, so he stood there and first reviewed it, and then begged the principal to forgive him.Mei Yiqi didn't look up, and after he finished speaking, she said to him, "Divide 12 by 2 yourself, and see how many points you failed." , accepted the punishment of expulsion from school. Mei Yiqi not only insisted on principles with other students, but also treated her own relatives with no courtesy.His nephew Mei Zuwu once applied for Tsinghua University, but his grades were not enough. Mei Yiqi did not use his power to go through the back door for his nephew, so his nephew reluctantly went to Beiyang University; a few years later, his youngest daughter Mei Zufen also applied for Tsinghua University , the grades were also unqualified, Mei Yiqi still insisted on the principle, Mei Zufen went to Yenching University. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University moved to Changsha to form Changsha Temporary University, and moved south to Kunming the following year to form Southwest Associated University.At that time, the chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Government was Long Yun. As a high-ranking official in Xinjiang, Long Yun gave great support to Southwest Associated University in human, material and financial resources. Mei Yiqi, who was the principal, was very grateful.Long Yun's child applied for the high school attached to the United Nations University, but failed, so he wanted to find Mei Yiqi to go through the back door and ask Mei Yiqi to take care of him to make an exception for the admission.One day, he specially visited Mei Yiqi and asked Mei Yiqi to take care of the child.Mei Yiqi did not express her opinion right away, but stayed at Long Yun's house for dinner, and invited Pan Guangdan, Dean of the United Nations University, to accompany her.At the banquet, Mei Yiqi asked Pan Guangdan to send a teacher to help Chairman Long's children with homework at night, so that the children can take the exam next year, and said that the teacher's tutoring fees will be paid by Long Yun.Long Yun saw that Mei Yiqi insisted on principles like this, and it was difficult to say anything, so he readily agreed. Among the successive presidents of Tsinghua University, Mei Yiqi is the most respected one.Tsinghua students often expelled the principal, but Mei Yiqi was never expelled, and students often chanted the slogan "Support Principal Mei" in rallies.The reason why he can build such a perfect personality platform is because he has a noble personality ethics, and his awareness of not favoring personal interests and adhering to principles is a manifestation of his personality ethics. Mei Yiqi is very clean and honest, and uses public funds very sparingly.Liu Yiqing's book "Peerless Romance" introduces: At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Mei Yiqi had just arrived in Kunming, so he gave up his driver and used his personal car for public use.He went out on official business, and he walked when he was near, and took Jiang Menglin or someone else's car when he was far away. In July 1941, Mei Yiqi, Zheng Tianting, and Luo Changpei were in Chengdu preparing to transfer to Chongqing and return to Kunming. Mei Yiqi contacted the plane ticket. At this time, there happened to be another opportunity to take a postal car. He thought that taking a postal car could save the public more than 200 yuan , Mei Yiqi refunded the plane ticket without hesitation. Mei Yiqi despises the act of turning public affairs into private interests, and would rather wrong herself than take advantage of the public affairs. In the early 1930s, as soon as Mei Yiqi became the president of Tsinghua University, she voluntarily gave up several "privileges" enjoyed by the previous president, such as exemption from paying telephone bills, free employment of family helpers, and free hauling of two tons of coal. After 1939, prices in Kunming skyrocketed, and it was extremely difficult to maintain the basic life of teachers and students. Mei Yiqi applied for some subsidies from the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government, some for teachers and some for students.Mei Yiqi's four children are all studying at the United Nations University, but he does not let his wife receive a subsidy.In fact, Mei Yiqi's family is also living a very poor life. His monthly salary can only support the family for half a month. His wife has to make some pastries to make ends meet. In 1942, Fei Zhengqing, special assistant to the US ambassador to China, came to Kunming to visit Jin Yuelin, Zhang Xiruo, Qian Duansheng and others at the United Nations General Assembly. Mei Yiqi invited them to dinner, which could have been reimbursed with public funds, but he held a family banquet for Fei Zhengqing , A meal cost no less than 1,000 yuan, while his monthly salary at that time was less than 600 yuan. In 1962, when Mei Yiqi passed away in Taiwan, the person next to him opened a box that he had been carrying with him during his illness, and it was full of Tsinghua Fund funds, one by one, without any discomfort. When she was studying in the Jingye School in her early years, Mei Yiqi's grades were very good, and she was very appreciated by Mr. Zhang. In 1909, with the excellent results of the sixth place, he was admitted to the first batch of overseas students under the Geng subsidy to go to the United States for further study, specializing in electrical machinery. In 1915, Mei Yiqi returned from his studies and was hired by Principal Zhou Jimei to teach in the Physics Department of Tsinghua University.Half a year later, he used his holiday to return to Tianjin to visit Zhang Boling, expressing that he was not interested in teaching and wanted to change jobs.After hearing this, Mr. Zhang was a little angry, and said in a lecturing tone: "You have only taught for half a year and you don't want to do it. How do you know that you are not interested? Young people should be patient and go back to teach!" Unexpectedly, these few short sentences These words not only determined the fate of Mei Yiqi's life, but also had a crucial impact on the future of Tsinghua University.At that time, Mei Yiqi was 26 years old and Zhang Boling was 49 years old. Afterwards, Mei Yiqi followed the teacher's instructions and returned to Tsinghua Garden to continue teaching. In 1925, Tsinghua University added the University Department, and Mei Yiqi served as the chief professor of the Department of Physics.In April of the following year, he was elected as the provost by all professors. After the establishment of the Nanjing National Government in 1928, Tsinghua University was officially changed to a national university, with Luo Jialun as the president. After the Central Plains War in 1930, due to the turbulent situation, the president of Tsinghua University changed successively.It was not until Mei Yiqi became the president in 1931 that this situation changed and the golden age of Tsinghua University began. Mei Yiqi's contribution to Tsinghua University has long been well-known, but little is known about Zhang Boling's lessons from him.So it was not until 1982, 20 years after Mrs May's death, that Mrs May made the matter public. One day in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Mei Yiqi, the president of Tsinghua University, and his entourage came to Bing Xin's house.During the chat, Bing Xin composed a pagoda poem on the spot.This is the only humorous poem written by a woman poet in her life.The poem says: horse Cloves feather yarn everything is bad idiot home what a joke Education was originally in Tsinghua Principal Mei didn't know what to say after reading it.Bing Xin explained.It turned out that this was a collection of jokes of Bing Xin's husband, Mr. Wu Wenzao. "Horse" means that children abbreviate dim sum saqima as "horse". Once, Bing Xin asked Wu Wenzao to go to the street to buy saqima. "Xiang Ding" means that one day Bing Xin was watching lilac flowers under the tree. Wu Wenzao came to the lilac tree from his study and asked his wife socially: "What kind of flower is this?" Bing Xin replied: "Lilac flowers." Wu Wenzao nodded and said: "Oh, it's lilac." Everyone laughed. "Feather yarn" refers to a time when Bing Xin asked Wu Wenzao to buy a Shuangsige jacket for his father-in-law. Wu Wenzao went to the cloth shop and said he wanted to buy more feather yarn.The clerk couldn't understand, so he called Bing Xin's house, only to find out that Wu Wenzao had made another big joke. "Silly uncle" got its name from this.The last sentence was a joke between Bing Xin and Principal Mei—Wu Wenzao, a nerd, was trained by Tsinghua University. When Principal Mei heard this, he was also rocked with laughter.In the end, Mr. Principal continued his poem on the spot with advance as retreat.Principal Mei's poem is as follows: horse Cloves feather yarn everything is bad idiot home what a joke Education was originally in Tsinghua Ms. Bing Xin has poor eyesight How a nerd deserves a courtesan In 1942, the headmaster Mei Yiqi's family sometimes couldn't even afford vegetable soup, so they could only eat it with chili bibimbap.On this day, Gu Yingqiu, the wife of Long Yun, chairman of Yunnan Province, had a whim and proposed to Mei Yiqi's wife Han Yonghua to come to her house to taste Mrs. Mei's specialty dishes.At this time, Mei Yiqi was already empty. To prepare for the meal, Han Yonghua dug out the clothes the children wore when they were young, as well as the toys and handicrafts given to them by relatives and friends, and set up a small stall in Daximen. Sell ​​it there yourself.These old things were sold out in a week, and the couple got their wish and invited the wife of the provincial chairman to visit the humble house and had a simple meal in Gu Yingqiu's opinion. Han Yonghua wanted to find a job, but Mei Yiqi, who was the first principal in China at the time, refused to use his power to benefit his wife.The wife of Dean Pan Guangdan gave her an idea: "Yonghua, the rice cakes you make are loved by both adults and children in our family. I think you might as well go to Daximen to sell rice cakes." Professor Yuan Fuli's wife also nodded agree.Han Yonghua was silent for a while and said: "If it wasn't for the war of resistance, why would we suffer this crime. This cake is called Dingsheng cake, which is an auspicious name. Let's write something on the cake." Mrs. Mei's Dingsheng cake is the same as An old lady from Shanghai learned it.This kind of pastry is 70% rice, 30% glutinous rice, plus sugar and bean paste. Use a silver ingot-shaped wooden mold to put the prepared rice flour in and steam for a few minutes. The three really started a business of selling rice cakes.Mrs. Yuan Fuli always had a way to get the cheap broken rice that was in short supply at that time. Mrs. Pan Guangdan ground the broken rice into rice noodles, made red beans into bean paste, and then Mrs. Mei Yiqi cooked it by herself, and wrote "sure victory" in brown syrup. "Four words.At first, the rice cakes they made were introduced by a general surnamed Zhao from the General Affairs Office of the Southwest Associated University, and they were sent to Guansheng Garden in the south of the city for consignment.Later, in order to earn more money, the wives carried their own baskets and went to the street to sell them.Dingsheng Cake sells well on the streets of Kunming.At the beginning, Han Yonghua did not want others to know that she was the wife of the president of Southwest Associated University. Every time she went to the street, she took off her glasses and cheongsam, and changed into a blue cloth dress bought from farmers.But the fair skin, the sunken glasses on both sides of the bridge of the nose, and the obvious Kunming dialect with a northern accent can't be hidden from anyone.Over time, not only the people on the campus of the United Nations University, but also the citizens in the Kunming market all knew that the woman selling rice cakes in the streets was the wife of the university president.And the name of Dingsheng cake spread.