Chapter 28 25．days of fear

Although Si Cheng is far away in the United States, the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University was established.As early as two months after the end of the war, he invited Wu Liangyong, his assistant in Chongqing, to teach in the department.He had previously selected for his department his three closest assistants in Lizhuang—Liu Zhiping, Mo Zongjiang, and Luo Zhewen.The four young men had to wait for a space on the Yangtze River launching ship to go to Shanghai and then go north to Beijing.Wu Liangyong was the first to arrive in Shanghai.At that time, Sicheng was waiting in Shanghai for a trans-Pacific voyage, and asked Wu Liangyong to rush to Tsinghua University to start classes as soon as possible. If he encountered difficulties, he could ask Huiyin for help.

Wu Liangyong arrived in Beijing at the end of 1946.The other three from Lizhuang arrived in Nanjing in early 1947 and stayed in the Nanjing Museum until a ship from the Kailuan Mining Bureau agreed to take them away.From there they took a train to Tianjin, then to Beijing, and finally to Tsinghua University.They all immediately taught architectural design with Wu Liangyong, Liu Zhiping also taught architectural structure, and Mo Zongjiang, a skilled artist, also taught watercolor painting.Liu Zhiping was one of Sicheng's first high-achieving students in Shenyang, and he worked with him all these years, was appointed as an associate professor, and was promoted to a professor a year later.

Although Huiyin was burdened with housework and spent most of his time in bed, he still played an important role in the establishment and operation of the Department of Architecture.She was personally involved in the inception of Northeastern University's Department of Architecture when she was in Shenyang, which makes her advice invaluable.She asked Wu Liangyong and others to come to her if they had any problems. When Sicheng returned to the United States on the Midsummer Show, although his family affairs were troublesome, his official affairs were in order.The joy of his return was tempered by Huiyin's low-grade fever, which delayed indefinitely the surgery doctors had recommended.They had previously discovered that one of her kidneys was severely infected.Meanwhile tuberculosis attacking her lungs made her breathing so difficult that the question of narcotics was raised.However, if kidney surgery does work, eliminating a source of infection may happen to improve her health somewhat.

Sicheng resumed his role as her nurse, confidant, and comforter, spending as much time as possible with her.He has of course been invited several times to give public lectures on his consulting work at the United Nations and other aspects of his trip to the United States.One of the particularly influential lectures was entitled "Technology and the Humanities", in which he emphasized the importance of social and cultural factors in architecture.As the new school year begins, administrative and teaching demands make public and private affairs even busier. Gifts he hastily bought for family and friends in the United States arrived some time after he arrived in Beijing.Huiyin expected to reward some warm-hearted friends with exquisite clothing, colorful textiles and pretty knick-knacks, but was surprised to find that most of what he bought were American electronic gadgets for comfort and comfort. Enriching life in her hospital bed.She described the scene at that time and said: "On a solemn occasion, Mr. Liang showed me in public the device that can be folded, assembled and disassembled freely. I sat on the bed and leaned on an adjustable cushion. The writing stand, the tape recorder is plugged into the transformer connected to the normal power supply in the house, a magnifying glass is held in one hand, and a loudspeaker is held in the other hand, to make a carefree modern-age girl, just like Charlie Chaplin used A neat machine gnaws corn on the cob."

Later she added a description of the tape recorder: "Yes, we listened to the greetings recorded on the disk. But I must say they are out of order. Sicheng's voice is like Mr. Mei Yiqi, comforting Mei Fairbank's voice is like Fairbank's, and Fairbank's guttural voice is close to that of Paul Robertson. Not surprisingly, the best and clearest speech of all is Arina's. I have a professional actor in my collection I am very proud of my 'broadcast speech'. Until now, this tape recorder has not been used for what it was originally intended to do, just to record children's laughter when they have parties. I feel like Emperor Qianlong when he accepted all kinds of foreign clocks That kind of situation. I dare say he must have let his concubines play for a while."

But everyone admired the small Crosley that Sicheng bought.After the endless process of going through Chinese customs and getting license plates, it was a godsend for the whole family, especially Hui Yin, who could be driven to visit or bring friends to see her with an ease never imagined before. After the cool autumn, Huiyin's physical condition improved.Doctors decided to take preliminary steps to see if she could withstand kidney surgery.She wrote to us from her hospital ward in Beijing on October 4th: "I'll tell you why I'm here again. Take it easy. I'm here for a major overhaul. Just patching parts here and there , in the jargon of our construction industry, it is to plug a few leaks or install a few screens. Last evening, a large group of interns, young residents, came to review my medical records with me, like reviewing Like the history of the two wars. We drew up plans (as Fairbank used to do) and set up groups about my eyes, my teeth, my lungs, my kidneys, my recipes, entertainment, or philosophy, Everything was covered, so as many conclusions were drawn as all the major meetings about the current world situation. At the same time, a lot of work has been done to check what and what parts are wrong, using all modern technical means .If tuberculosis is not cooperating now, sooner or later it should. This is the original logic of things.”

She shifted from criticism of her own body to discussion of the Xisi Pailou Central Hospital house where she was bedridden. "This is an outstanding creation of early Republic of China architecture. A four-story building that combines the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, foreign contractors, and German Baroque styles! The two tall and narrow formal windows in my room face south and look down The front yard, from which people can imagine the old-fashioned cars and carriages in 1901 and the Chinese dignitaries in the early years of the Republic of China dotted with concrete Baroque steps and paths."

In a fit of emotion, she toured the Summer Palace with Bao Bao and her young friends. "In the Summer Palace, I spent 70,000 yuan to hire a sedan chair for a full tour and went straight to the top of the mountain behind the garden. That is my favorite place. I accompanied the Steins and his wife once. We had a great time; it rained overnight Afterwards the weather was beautiful. I could see for miles around. I couldn't have been happier with the kids hiking with me. It was beautiful to get so much care from them. Lao Jin and Si Cheng were so nice, we Going out for a day and they watch the house... You see, that's how I got out of the misery and these so-called 'unnecessary activities', without which I'd be dead, like a lamp out of oil - dark, Dark, flash, flash, jump, jump, off!"

Surgery was finally performed, but not until December 1947.During the two months of fear, there was a brief fever, further tests, and complications from blood transfusions, and finally had to wait for the hospital to turn on the heating.Before the operation, Huiyin wrote me a farewell letter just in case: "Goodbye, my dearest Weimei. If you come down suddenly, send me a bouquet of flowers, and bring a lot of nonsense and laughter. How nice." A telegram from Sicheng reported that the operation was a success.Soon after the operation, both Sicheng and Lao Jin wrote to us asking us to get some special drug streptomycin.It is not easy to get this medicine, but we still managed to entrust our American friends who are on a business trip to Beijing to take two copies with them.In the end, we got the news that Huiyin had been discharged from the hospital and returned to her warm and comfortable bedroom at her Tsinghuayuan home, which she jokingly called "soundproof and separated from friends".

By February, Huiyin had gotten rid of the postoperative fever, and her physical strength was gradually recovering.Sicheng said, "Her mental activity and physical strength have also recovered. As a nurse, I don't welcome this. She suddenly became popular with poetry. Recently, she dug out a few old poems from the pile of old manuscripts and sent them to Magazine and newspaper supplements. Sixteen in a few days! As always, the poems are very good." In the postscript he asked us to send a box of 500 sheets of light typing paper as a New Year's present. "One piece here costs 10,000 yuan, and one box is half a month's salary." Such a severe inflation is really unimaginable.Lao Jin also wrote to say that Huiyin was much better, but added, "The problem is and has always been that she lacks the ability to endure loneliness. She doesn't need to be pleased, but she must always be busy." She revised, Organize and strive to publish her old poems.Lao Jin encouraged her to do so, "put them in their proper historical context, so that whatever the standard of criticism in the future, it will not apply to them."

In March 1948, Sicheng was elected as an academician in art history of the Department of Humanities, Academia Sinica. In August, he flew to Nanjing to attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the institute and the first academician meeting held at the headquarters of the institute.This was the last meeting with many old friends.Civil war was on the verge of imminent danger, and Generalissimo Chiang would step down and relocate to Taiwan in a short time.The Academia Sinica is a government-supported institution and will be relocated accordingly.Sicheng didn't want to move.