Chapter 20 Chapter Ten The Thirties

The professors of Peking University published several magazines, including "Modern Review", which was run by some people at the center of Hu Shizhi; , hosted by Yu Dafu et al.Hu Shizhi's faction included Xu Zhimo, Chen Yuan (Xiying), Jiang Tingfu, Zhou Susheng, Tao Menghe.Strange to say, I don't belong to Hu Shi's school, but Yusi school.We all think that Hu Shizhi's faction is the literati faction. They are people who can write political articles and are suitable for being officials.Our ideal is that everyone speaks their own words, not "what other people tell you to say." (We have a bit of sarcasm for them) It's fine for me.Although we are not necessarily liberals, we regard Yusi as a free playground for us to express our opinions, and the Zhou Brothers are often at the forefront of the magazine.

We meet once every two weeks, usually on Saturday afternoon, under the dense pine forest in Jinyuxuan in Central Park.Zhou Zuoren is always present.He, like his writing style, has a slow and unhurried voice, and he will not raise his voice when he is excited.His elder brother Zhou Shuren (Lu Xun) was different. Whenever he attacked the enemy with sharp and pleasant words, he would laugh out loud with pride.He was short, with a pointed beard, shriveled cheeks, always dressed in Chinese clothes, and looked like an opium smoker.No one would have guessed that he would write bitter satire with the power of a leader, but he could hit the nail on the head.He is very popular with readers.At the meeting of the Yusi faction, I don't remember seeing his Miss Xu, and he married that Miss Xu later.Among the Zhou brothers, everyone knows that because of Zhou Zuoren's Japanese wife, there is a deep misunderstanding between the brothers.This is a private matter, and I have never inquired about it.However, the two brothers are both well-versed in human relationships and sophisticated, and both have master Shaoxing's knives with swords and brushes. If they cleverly use the subtleties of a word, they can fall into a desperate situation and even kill them.That elder brother, Lu Xun, quietly received a salary from the Ministry of Education.They also have a younger brother, Zhou Jianren, who is a botanist and quietly engaged in his own academic work in the Commercial Press.

It was Yu Dafu who added a relaxed and happy atmosphere to the group in the "Yusi" assembly. At that time, he had already established his literary name because of his achievements in poetry and novels.As soon as Yu Dafu arrived, the audience immediately chatted and laughed happily.Yu Dafu was a good drinker and was a close friend of Lu Xun.We sat on low wicker chairs, and he always groped his crew-cut forehead with a detached, independent and self-satisfied spirit.His beautiful wife Wang Yingxia later had an affair with a certain rich man Xu Shaodi and abandoned him, making Yu Dafu's marriage a tragedy.Lonely and sad, he fled to Indonesia alone, under the occupation of the Japanese warlords, and kept his identity incognito.But his identity was finally found out by the Japanese military police. It is said that he was treated very politely at first.But before Japan was defeated and retreated, according to the policy of the Japanese military at that time, he was shot together with some other people.

Other writers of Yusi include Qian Xuantong and Liu Bannong.Qian Xuantong is one of the editors of "New Youth" magazine.Liu Fu (word Bannong) is also a thinker who advocates reform.His academic specialization is Linguistics.He devoted all his energy to promoting the pinyin of Chinese and the simplification of Chinese characters.In the sense that he opposes everything Confucianism and takes an extreme view of everything, I think he is a psychopath.I think a middle way should be adopted in advocating social reform; but when it comes to arguing about "throwing all bound books into the toilet", most people are really frightened when they hear it, so naturally they are quite powerful in propaganda.Qian Xuantong was short-sighted and often blushed. According to my memory, he had been living in Kongde School and separated from his wife.

Professor Liu Bannong is another type.He has done important research on Dunhuang antiquities in the Paris Library in France and the British Museum in England.His research achievements have earned him an international reputation.Chen Yuan was also in London at that time, and once introduced him to others, saying that he was "also regarded as" a professor at Peking University. He was very sensitive to this sentence at the time, and since then, he has always had a grudge against Chen Yuan. Beijing was full of talented people back then, but the colleagues of "Yusi" and "Modern Review" were busy with their own affairs.We are all good friends of Mr. Shizhi, and we are all liberals.In the eyes of outsiders, the seemingly exaggerated antagonism between these two magazines was, in fact, just the antagonism between Lu Xun and Chen Yuan.Regarding the massacre of students by Duan Qirui's Beiyang government on March 18, "Modern Review" adopted a pro-Beiyang government attitude. Attack.Later, someone among us shouted, "Don't beat the dog that is in the water." But Lu Xun said, "Dogs that are in the water must be beaten. Even Pekingese dogs that have learned to wag their tails at their masters must be beaten." His original text is unclear. To the effect.

I might as well mention by the way the great escape from Peking University in the 15th year of the Republic of China.After Fengjun Zhang Zongchang occupied Beijing, the military arrested the editors of two newspapers, Shao Piaoping and Lin Baishui, and shot them before twelve o'clock that night.We know that the Beiyang government is starting to kill.At that time, there were fifty-four names on the list of left-wing professors who were usually candid critics of the government in the hands of the warlords, including Li Dazhao, a member of the Communist Party.This person is very honest, and everyone praises him.Mao Zedong worked as a librarian at Peking University for a while, and he had left to organize the Communist Party at that time.They are all hiding in the French embassy in Dongjiaomin Lane.My home is in Chuanban Hutong, Dongcheng.At that time, I also made preparations in advance, jumping over the wall to escape if necessary.I made a rope ladder that I could pull into the attic in an emergency.Later, I thought it was not safe enough, so I hid at Dr. Lin Kesheng's house.At that time I had two children, the youngest was only three months old.After hiding in Dr. Lin's house for three weeks, I decided to go back to Xiamen.Thanks to friends, Lu Xun, Shen Jianshi, and several outstanding figures from Peking University signed an engagement contract with Xiamen University, and we went to teach.As soon as these professors from Peking University arrived, the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Xiamen University immediately became full of vigor.A research project was sent to the "East and West Tower", an ancient wooden building built in the eleventh century.This aroused the jealousy of Dr. Liu Shuqi from the Department of Science.Lu Xun was living alone in one place at that time, and his girlfriend, Ms. Xu, had already gone to Guangzhou alone.I live in a separate house by the sea, and I feel that as a Fujianese, I have not fulfilled the friendship of a landlord.Because of Liu Shuqi's power and viciousness, Lu Xun was forced to move three times.He was writing his "Old Newsnotes of Fiction" at that time.He started a business with his friend Sun Fuyuan from the newspaper office in his hometown.They ate Jinhua ham and drank Shaoxing wine.Under such circumstances, of course he couldn't stay in Xiamen any longer.He decided to resign and go to Guangzhou.After the news that he was going to leave, the students of the Department of Chinese Language and Culture started a trend and wanted to expel Liu Shuqi.I also left Xiamen University to work under Chen Youren, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the revolutionary government. I have always admired Chen.He had negotiated with Britain and took back the Hankou Concession.After six months of doing it, I'm tired of those revolutionaries too.From the sixteenth year of the Republic of China, I began to concentrate on writing.

In other articles, I mentioned Cai Yuanpei, who was the president of Peking University and turned Peking University into a reform center for the whole country.We all respectfully address him as "Mr. Cai".Among the veterans of the Kuomintang, he was the only one who really understood the West.He was a Jinshi, and he was also a member of the Hanlin Academy, which is the envy of others. He is also a member of the Kuomintang. When Xingzhonghui was established, he was very close to Mr. Zhongshan.When the royalist party of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao collapsed, he went to France and Germany to study.When he returned to China as the president of Peking University, he regarded academic freedom as the top priority. In Peking University, the old and new schools of professors are inclusive.He hired Liu Shipei, Huang Kan, the famous Confucian scholars of the old school, and the famous Gu Hongming.After everyone had shaved off their braids, Gu Hongming still kept them to show his loyalty to the Qing Dynasty.Lin Shu, a famous translator of British novels, still called vernacular Chinese "the words of the chariot seller".He once wrote a long essay defending classical Chinese.On the other hand, Cai Yuanpei also opened the door for Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Shen Jianshi and the "New Youth" faction.Cai Yuanpei is approachable and doesn't care about details.Mrs. Cai once said: "He will eat well-cooked rice, and he will eat burnt rice," but she is strict and serious about important issues and will never compromise.I remember Cai Yuanpei stood up and spoke softly when he opposed the cession of the Shandong Peninsula to Japan under the Treaty of Versailles. He said in a soft voice, "What's the use of protesting? I'm going to resign." The next day, he was unconscious , took the blue Beijing-Shanghai Express train and left Beijing.

He always drinks Shaoxing wine with meals, just like the French drink with their meals. When Academia Sinica was established in Shanghai, he appointed me as the chief editor of English.I share a car with him every morning because we live not far from each other.I'm afraid I was a talkative young man back then, but he always said very politely, "Yes, you have a good point." At that time, there was a Yang Xingfo who was Mr. Cai's assistant. He was very talented. He could chat with people and write letters at the same time.He told me that Mr. Cai never ignores people's requests for instructions.If someone asked him to write a letter introducing a job, he wrote it immediately.The government wants people to know that he wrote it, but ignores it.

Mr. Cai, Soong Ching Ling, Yang Xingfo, Agnes Smedley, Lu Xun, and I formed a freedom protection alliance to guarantee personal freedom if it is threatened.Then the Noland case happened.He was a member of the Communist Party and was imprisoned after his arrest.Our committee rose to action.Soong Ching Ling and Smedley took the night train from Shanghai to Beijing together, and asked relevant parties for release.The Kuomintang and the Communist Party are fighting against each other in Shanghai.Yang Xingfo was murdered because he once said that he would announce the license plate number of the car that kidnapped the Communist female writer Ding Ling.After this incident, the freedom protection alliance presided over by Mr. Cai came to an end without a problem.

Bernard Shaw——On a sunny winter day in the 20th year of the Republic of China, the famous British writer George Bernard Shaw arrived in Shanghai.He was very healthy and vigorous, tall and handsome against the blue sky behind him.Someone expressed welcome and said, "Your Majesty is here in Shanghai, and the sun is coming out to welcome you. Mr. Shaw is indeed blessed." George Bernard Shaw replied, "It's not that I'm lucky to see the sun in Shanghai, but the sun is blessed to see me in Shanghai, George Bernard Shaw." ." In Soong Ching Ling's apartment in Shanghai, there was a small gathering.I had known Smedley for a long time then.There is a very different communist writer, Mrs. Frome, who is an eccentric and pious idealist, as recorded in Vincent Sheen's Personal Biography (Modern Library Edition).Before the Northern Expedition of the National Revolution in the 16th year of the Republic of China, when the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated, although I was never a member of the Kuomintang, she and I started a writing battle in English.Later, they met again in Hankou.She had a close relationship with Soong Ching Ling, and later accompanied Song and Chen Youren to Moscow.

Here I have to tell you about the meeting between Soong Ching Ling and Mrs. Pandit of India.Not long after the communists occupied mainland China.Mrs. Pandit was invited to visit mainland China.The language used is of course English, and both she and Soong Ching Ling expected to have a good talk when they reunited after parting.The Indian delegation had an appointment at ten o'clock, and Mrs. Pandit arranged to meet Soong Ching Ling at half past nine.Song was still wearing normal peasant clothes, but there was an interpreter standing beside her.After the two wives finished greeting each other as usual, Soong Ching Ling had nothing to say, because she knew that what she said was to be reported to her superiors. In fact, the two of them had been communicating and talking about the Indian Ocean issue for many years.Later, Mrs. Pandit also felt that she had nothing to say.Mrs. Pandit looked at the clock. It was already 9:45. After conveying the greetings from her brother Nehru, she said goodbye warmly and went back to the Indian delegation.Later, I met Mrs. Pandit in Ada-habad for three days, and she told me about the meeting herself.Nehru's stately mansion was opened for me, and I was treated to special French dishes.It was then that I was lucky enough to go out at night to look at the Ganges in the company of Mrs. Pandit, who was not yet the leader who ruled over hundreds of millions of Indians.Mrs. Pandit has three daughters whom we all know and who are now married.We saw each other often when she was President of the UN Security Council.Once, Nehru came to eat with us. After a long day of work, he fell asleep immediately after eating.