Chapter 28 postscript

Twenty-three years ago, American scholar Professor Ai Kai visited his late father Liang Shuming, and had more than ten long talks in a row. There are audio tapes, and now all of them have been converted into text and published in books.It can be said that this is something that was not expected at first, but now it has become a reality; it can also be said that this is hard-won. The person who made this possible is the 98-year-old Mr. Tian Muzhou.It was Mr. Tian who proposed and obtained these audio tapes from Professor Ai Kai in the United States. It happened two or three years after his father passed away. Then Mr. Tian personally invited 8 young friends (their names They are: Sun Minglei, Gao Lin, Zhou Wei, Zhou Yi, Chen Bo, Su Yi, Sun Yi, Tian Lei), and they also participated in it and voluntarily converted the recording into text.Therefore, it was possible to include a detailed excerpt of this precious interview, about 40,000 words, in the last volume (Volume 8) of "The Complete Works of Liang Shuming".This is the first time the content of this interview has been seen with readers; the time is 1993.

More than ten years have passed, and now Pang Fei, Xu Jun, Cai Lu, Zhang Laizhou, Zhang Jia and other comrades from the "Yidan Academy" are again converting the recordings word by word without any deletion, modification or embellishment. ( Except for those with poor recording quality or blurred due to long-term storage), there are more than 100,000 words in total.Because of the emphasis on "word by word", words or sentences that often appear in spoken language are repeated, or even the content of the entire paragraph is exactly the same, and only words that are similar and different but repeated are all recorded correctly.In this way, readers are provided with something close to the original flavor, so that readers have the feeling of listening to it in person.This book is now based on that.

When the publication of this book became clear, I contacted Professor Ai Kai and asked him to write a preface for this book.He readily agreed, and shortly thereafter he sent the preface along with a photo.Professor Ai Kai's Chinese is really excellent; whether it is written or spoken, the level is very high.Because the same Chinese character often has four tones, it is difficult for foreigners to control, and it often gives people a sense of strange tones when speaking, but Professor Ai Kai is not one of them.His proficiency in writing can also be seen from the preface he wrote.This is written by him directly in Chinese, which is not only smooth, but also has some classical Chinese color.This is very difficult for a foreigner.

I had the pleasure of meeting my late father when he first met him in 1980.After his late father passed away, he had the opportunity to come to Beijing almost every three to five years. After he came, he often kept in touch with our family members and chatted about family affairs. I also invited him to my house as a guest.The house is small in size and has no furnishings at all, so it is more appropriate to call it a "shabby house".If there is food and drink, it is very simple, and Professor Ai Kai is an approachable and very easy-going person, so he doesn't mind it at all.Now he has written a preface for this, which has added a lot of color to this book.But his contribution to this book goes far beyond this.The interview has both questions and answers, both of which are indispensable; and he is a scholar who has done special research on the interviewee and has written a monograph on the biography of the interviewee. , are non-general, which also makes the content of the conversation matter-of-fact.Therefore, it can be said that this interview was rich in content and achieved success, which is attributable to Professor Ai Kai.It can also be said that both he and Mr. Tian have made great contributions to the completion of this book; of course, their endeavors are different.

The content of the interview involves all aspects, and readers will know it after reading it, so there is no need to repeat it.But here I would like to point out the kind of mentality and expression that my late father showed in his speech, which is worth mentioning. At the time of this long talk, my late father was already 87 years old, which can be regarded as his twilight years. However, he not only had a clear mind and quick thinking, but also showed a peaceful and optimistic attitude from time to time in his words, which is not easy to see in the elderly. The sentimental, depressed shadow.For example, when talking about the inheritance of Chinese culture and how much Confucianism is still preserved in people's minds, he admitted that many old customs have been destroyed, but he said, "But we can't say that everything is wiped out!" "Chinese people are still Chinese people." , he still has a Chinese smell!" Therefore, he is "not pessimistic" about the future of Chinese culture in China.As for the future of the world and the future of mankind, he said: "I am relatively optimistic." Then why so optimistic?This is naturally related to his own unshakable philosophy, which he put forward after careful consideration.He believes that there are three major problems faced by human beings: the problem of people to things; the problem of people to people; and the problem of people to themselves.The three have successively become the main problems of life, and once they are basically solved, the main problems of human life will inevitably change from the former to the next.It is also based on this understanding that since the middle of the 1920s, he has put forward the idea that "the future of the world is the revival of Chinese culture", which has remained unwavering until now. Then, why does he think that "I seem to be an optimist" is not It's hard to understand.

Not only that, when Professor Ai Kai asked him about his various experiences, such as the impact of the "Cultural Revolution" and the siege during the campaign to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius, he admitted that he was "a little unhappy" at the time, but "I have It's over", and he laughed, which can be said to be talking and laughing freely.And when talking about the hardships that my late father had encountered, similar to the "thousands of disasters" experienced by Mr. Wang Yangming, such as when he entered and exited the enemy-occupied area in 1939, he said that it was "much worse".But when asked when he was the happiest, he said that they were all "almost"; if there was any difference, it was "sometimes busy and sometimes more leisurely".Even when talking about life and death, he admitted that people are "unwilling to die, in fact, there is no need to be afraid, no need to hope for longevity, just let it be".As for the success or failure of his life, such as the failure of the rural construction movement, the setbacks and mistakes in the KMT-Communist peace talks, etc., in my late father's heart, he had the thought of doing his best, and success or failure seemed to be irrelevant.Finally, it should be pointed out that the content of this interview is of certain value for the study and understanding of the late father Liang Shuming, and Mr. Tian Muzhou is the one who cares most about the preservation of this material; It can comfort Mr. Tian.Finally, I wish Mr. Tian a long and healthy life!

Liang Peikuan November 20, 2005 in Beijing Mr. Tian Muzhou (1908— ) named Hao, was born in Kaifeng, Henan. In 1932, he graduated from the Law Department of Yenching University.After a short-term study at Shandong Zouping Rural Construction Research Institute in the following year, he stayed in the hospital to work.He successively served as editor, training department and rural teacher. In 1935, he served as the Chief of the Civil Affairs Section of Zouping Experimental County.After the Japanese invasion, he went to Nanchong, Sichuan Province as a teacher in charge of the folk education center with some fellow villagers. After 1940, he served in the Sichuan Provincial Government and the Executive Yuan.Mr. Lai Tian assisted in the transcription and publication of Liang Shuming's works in his later years. "Liang Shuming's Letters Collection" contains as many as 52 letters from Mr. Liang Lao Jitian, from which we can see the friendship between the two people and the relationship between teachers and friends.