Chapter 25 25. After the Revolution: Cai Yuanpei's Embarrassment and Dilemma

Mr. Cai Yuanpei enthusiastically supported patriotic students during the "May 4th Movement", which is well known to most people, but the fact that he was beaten by students during the student unrest after the "September 18th Incident" is less known. Cai Yuanpei, courtesy name Heqing, nicknamed Laimin, was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, in the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868). His grandfather and father were businessmen for two generations, but when he was ten years old, his father died of illness, and his family fell into poverty. .Mr. Cai's mother has a strong personality. Relying on the little savings in the family, she has spent many years saving money and working hard to raise her children, which is not easy.Mr. Cai Yuanpei received traditional Chinese education since he was a child, and his scientific examinations were smooth sailing. He was selected as a scholar at the age of sixteen, a successful candidate at the age of twenty-two, and a Jinshi and Shujishi at the age of twenty-five. He was admitted to the Imperial Academy. After a year, he will take the post of editor and editor.

A young talent, a success in the examination, a Jinshi, a point in the Imperial Academy, and an editor, has a bright future and a bright future. There are not many lucky people throughout the ages.Fame is the most important thing for scholars in ancient times. If they are lucky enough to win, they will boast more, but Mr. Cai Yuanpei did not mention a word in his autobiography, so indifferent. Mr. Cai Yuanpei's success in the examination field benefited from his unique style of writing, which was called "strange stereotyped writing" at that time.It turned out that Cai Yuanpei often used ancient characters in his writing and was good at citing uncommon classics. His articles were meaningful and ancient, which was very different from the stereotyped style of writing popular at that time. As a result, he left a deep impression on the examiners. Later, many scholars also imitated his writing style, thinking that it was a shortcut , as everyone knows, this thing is worthless if there are too many, and there are not many people who sell it.

"Strange stereotypes" can only show that Cai Yuanpei was not a conservative person since he was a child, but what really made him abandon his old learning was China's disastrous defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. one year.The shame of the Jiawu period caused many literati to reflect and turn to Western learning, and Cai Yuanpei was one of them.Because of this, although Cai Yuanpei did not make friends with Kang Liang and others, he was regarded as a Kang party by conservatives.After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898 and the killing of the "Six Gentlemen", Cai Yuanpei was disheartened and returned to his hometown of Shaoxing.

A Chinese and Western school happened to be established in Shaoxing at that time. Mr. Cai was born in the Imperial Academy, so he was recommended by the elders in his hometown as the school supervisor (that is, the principal).Two years later, because of his wife's unfortunate death, the people who came to propose marriage to him almost broke through the threshold. Under such annoyance, Cai Yuanpei set out five requirements for marriage: first, women must not bind their feet; , must be literate; third, men are not allowed to take concubines; fourth, after the death of the husband, a woman can remarry; fifth, if the couple is not emotionally compatible, they can divorce.

These five conditions seem to be normal now, but at the time, they were shocking to the world, but Cai Yuanpei's attitude was very firm, if he agreed, he would come, if he disagreed, he would go, this also reduced a lot of unnecessary harassment.It wasn't until a year later that Cai Yuanpei found a good wife. On the day of his wedding, he also ingeniously changed the old wedding customs, and did not make a speech in the bridal chamber. The content was: equal rights for men and women, and equality between men and women. In the autumn of 1901, Cai Yuanpei came to Shanghai to take up the post of Chief Instructor of Special Subjects of Nanyang Public School.Nanyang Public School (the predecessor of Shanghai Jiaotong University) is a new school founded by Sheng Xuanhuai in Xujiahui, Shanghai in 1896. It mainly focuses on cultivating scientific and technological talents such as railways, and the special subject class is to prepare for the upcoming special economic examination of the Qing court. Later masters of the Republic of China such as Shao Lizi, Li Shutong, Huang Yanpei and others became Cai Yuanpei's students at this time.

During this period, there was a student riot at Nanyang Public School, namely the "ink bottle" incident.The original story of the incident was that a conservative teacher found an ink bottle on the teacher's seat before class. He thought it was a student deliberately playing tricks. As a result, the school expelled a possibly innocent student, which triggered protests from other students. These students were expelled together, which eventually caused most of the students in the school to drop out angrily.Cai Yuanpei, the head teacher of the special course class, and several other teachers supported the students' actions, and then resigned and organized a "Patriotic Society" to accept these students, and invited new figures such as Zhang Taiyan and Wu Zhihui as teachers.

Afterwards, Cai Yuanpei's thinking turned radical for a time. He founded the China Education Association in Shanghai. Although his group did not directly rebel, it has already sprouted rebellion.During the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Mr. Cai even cut off his braids, took off his robe, and started military training with young students. For the "Alarm Bell Daily"), etc., with his participation, it also made a splash. In 1904, the Restoration Association was established, and Cai Yuanpei was one of the founders. After the establishment of the Tongmenghui in 1905, he also joined immediately and became a veteran of the double material revolution.

Mr. Cai once recalled: "Since I was 36 years old (1902), I have decided to participate in revolutionary work. I feel that revolution has two paths: one is riots and the other is assassination. It is a shame to try my best to help military training in the Patriotic Society. The seeds of riots.” Especially during the Russia Resist Movement, teachers and students from the China Education Association and the Patriotic Society gathered in Zhangyuan, and Cai Yuanpei was even more “publicly speaking that the revolution has no scruples”, and he was called the “Hanlin Revolution”. After the "Su Bao" case happened, Zhang Taiyan was imprisoned for three years, and Zou Rongyu was on death row. Cai Yuanpei also began to study in Europe in 1907 to avoid the others.During the four years in Germany, Cai Yuanpei compiled "History of Chinese Ethics", which made a further progress in academics. When the Wuchang Uprising broke out in 1911, Cai Yuanpei returned to China and was promoted to be the chief education officer of the Nanjing Provisional Government.After Yuan Shikai took office as the interim president of the Republic of China, Cai Yuanpei, Song Jiaoren and other cabinet members of the Kuomintang decided to withdraw from the cabinet. Yuan Shikai personally persuaded them to stay, saying, "On behalf of 400 million people, I will remain the president." Cai Yuanpei responded politely on behalf of the cabinet members of the Kuomintang. Said: "Yuan Pei also resigned for the representatives of 40 million people." Yuan Shikai reluctantly agreed when he saw that his intention to go was decided.

After resigning from the position of chief minister, Cai Yuanpei went abroad again, and did not return to China until he was invited to serve as the president of Peking University in 1917.Peking University originated from the Beijing Normal University Hall, which was originally the place where old bureaucrats were promoted. These people only want to get promoted and get rich, and their academic style is particularly bad.At that time, there was a saying of "two courtyards and one hall" in the Eight Great Hutongs of the capital. The so-called "one hall" refers to the Peking University Hall, which is famous because its teachers and students often visit this place of fireworks (later Chen Duxiu also practiced this). .

After Cai Yuanpei took office, he advocated that "university students should take academic research as their natural responsibility, and should not use universities as a ladder for promotion and fortune." He also said in a letter to Wang Jingwei: "From my observation, we should start from education , it may not be impossible to turn our country from danger to safety. And the education operated abroad seems to be less practical than that in China. The reason why my younger brother has not come to Beijing for a long time is not to be the president of the university, and he died after he was appointed. This is also the reason.” It can be seen that Cai Yuanpei began to advocate the concept of "saving the country through education" and hoped that students would focus on learning, but he still did not make a choice when it came to political campaigns.

After the end of the First World War, the Ministry of Education specially ordered all schools in Beijing to have a holiday for celebration, which was later extended from half a day to several days. On the afternoon of November 14, 1918, the academic community in Beijing held a street parade, and the Director of Education specially arranged to build a high platform near Tiananmen Square for review and speeches.Because the "parade" was particularly good this time, President Cai Yuanpei was excited and asked the Ministry of Education to postpone the class for two days, and hoped to borrow the temporary high platform in Tiananmen Square for Peking University professors to give public lectures.During these two days, Mr. Cai gave a speech every day, and other professors of liberal arts and sciences also came to the stage one after another, and gave speeches to the public in the severe cold wind until his throat became hoarse. During this period, Mr. Cai Yuanpei was indeed very excited and enthusiastic. He publicly called on students to get out of the campus and actively participate in national and social activities, and punished students who did not participate in the lantern parade. The atmosphere of enthusiastic social activities undoubtedly played a role in fueling the flames. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. On May 2, 1919, after the news of the diplomatic failure in Paris, Cai Yuanpei, who had learned the inside story, invited Luo Jialun, Fu Sinian and other student representatives to his home to inform him of the matter.As a result, the parade that was originally held on the "May 7th" national humiliation day broke out on the 4th, which shocked the "May 4th Movement" both at home and abroad. After the students were arrested, Cai Yuanpei invited the principals of 13 colleges and universities in Beijing to a meeting at Peking University, and said on the spot that he was willing to "pay for the crime with one person" in order to get the students out of prison.Afterwards, he took the principal's delegation to the Police Department, the Ministry of Education and other departments to petition for the immediate release of the arrested students.After running around for two days, the arrested students were finally released, and Cai Yuanpei also issued a resignation statement under the pressure of various opposition forces, to the effect: first, I will never be the principal appointed by the government; Freedom is the general rule of the world's universities, and I will never be the president of a university that is not free. Third, Beijing is a bedbug nest, and I will never be the president of a school in Beijing. Before obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Education, Cai Yuanpei suddenly left Beijing and went south.Before leaving, he left a piece of notice to the teachers and students of Peking University: "I am tired! 'The one who kills the king and horse is on the other side of the road'. 'The people are too tired, so they can take a short rest'. I want to take a short rest. Peking University The post of principal has been officially resigned, and all other related schools and assemblies will be separated from each other since May 9th. I hereby declare that only those who know me will forgive me." "The one who kills the emperor and the horse is by the side of the road" is from "Baihu Tongyi". Under the state, exhausted and died”, some people said that this was Cai Yuanpei mocking himself; Xu Deheng said that this was Cai Yuanpei mocking the authorities; Luo Jialun did not draw a conclusion and still called it a mystery.The so-called "whoever loves is the one who harms" may have a double meaning for President Cai Yuanpei and patriotic students. It is a pity that instead of calming down because of Cai Yuanpei's resignation, the unrest in Beijing triggered a larger-scale "retaining Principal Cai" movement, so that the newly appointed principal of the Ministry of Education could not come to the school.Under such circumstances, Cai Yuanpei returned to Peking University to resume his post in July of that year. On the way to the south, Cai Yuanpei wrote a letter to Peking University students. He first affirmed the actions of the students and believed that the action was "purely out of patriotic enthusiasm", but after returning to school, Cai Yuanpei advised the students to "save the country with academics" Don't always sacrifice yourself for the national salvation movement.He pointed out: "The population of our country is 400 million. In this era of incompetence in education and incompetence in science, how many percent can receive general education, and how many percent can receive pure scientific education. You should consider the environment suitable and There is an opportunity to receive education and to receive pure science, so the foundation of our country's new culture is established; and those who participate in the world's academic forest will all depend on you. The responsibility of you is so great, and now it is Are you absolutely sacrificing for the sake of participating in most of the national political movements?" "The mission of the lords to wake up the people is complete, exhausted, and cannot be added!" This passage may reflect Cai Yuanpei's ambivalence at the time.Before the "May 4th Movement", Cai Yuanpei supported the student movement, because he believed that the government at that time could not do anything or could not be trusted in the face of national crisis, so it was necessary for the students to rise up and make a difference. As he said afterwards, "The May 4th Movement is a social The politics are too corrupt, the society is too dirty, and the students have not lost their conscience, so they don’t agree to this kind of corrupt politics and dirty society. It has been stored for a long time, and it took off for a while, so there is the May 4th Movement.” As the head of a school, Mr. Cai Yuanpei personally experienced several student unrest from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China. He also knew the harm and warned the students: "I still remember that when the revolutionary propaganda was at its peak 20 years ago, the students They all had revolutionary ideas and were eager to try it out, so they experimented in the school. It is said that the students are the masters of the school, such as the citizens of a country; the teaching staff are the public servants of the students, such as the government of the country; At that time, there were many schools experimenting with revolution in the Yangtze River area. The fuse was very simple, and most of them were minor problems such as unfair scoring or poor food. They opposed a teacher or a common servant, and later moved to All the faculty and staff, the school is dismissed." In fact, almost all university presidents will encounter such problems after the "May 4th Movement". Leighton Stuart, the president of Yenching University, once said in his memoirs: "During my life in China, I have seen the image of the students in their lives. The unhealthy phenomenon known as 'student riots'. Those are organized actions that gain strength through patriotic demonstrations and skillfully make the most effective use of them. All over the country, militant students have found this kind of organization After gaining strength, they began to use strike as a means to solve their real or perceived dissatisfaction. Everything from the principal’s personality to the taste of the food could be an excuse for them to strike. Once they listen to speeches and are incited by others, Or cleverly exploited, even the most disciplined and friendly students will recklessly engage in mob sports and, if not handled properly, can easily go haywire and out of hand. Fortunately, our Yan There has never been an uncontrollable student riot in Beijing, but it is almost to the point of explosion. This makes me have a feeling of fear of the masses, especially when the disturbance affects those Chinese students who have their own weaknesses and scruples about society , I'm even more afraid." However, Yanjing University during the Republic of China was not as peaceful as President Leighton Stuart said. For example, when he took office, it was the climax of the "May 4th Movement". ), the students in his school welcomed the release of the students, which made his inauguration speech shut down.Moreover, in the "December 9th Movement" in 1935, the students of Yenching University were undoubtedly the main force. Perhaps because of changes in age, status, and experience, Mr. Cai Yuanpei clearly disapproved of the student movement after the "May 4th Movement". In the winter of 1920, he pointed out in a speech in Changsha, Hunan: "After the May 4th Movement, the society attached great importance to students, but now, there are many abuses. Students think that they are omnipotent, and often want to interfere in social and political affairs. There is a great danger in meddling in affairs outside the school without studying.” Jiang Menglin also mentioned in his later memories: “As for Peking University, he thought it would be difficult to maintain discipline in the future, because the students were likely to be intoxicated by victory. Now that they have had a taste of power, their desires may not be satisfied in the future." Unfortunately for me. In October 1922, a "lecture fee wave" occurred in Peking University. Students petitioned the school to abolish the lecture fee, which caused a big commotion.Cai Yuanpei was extremely disgusted by this, and he even rushed to the crowd and said angrily: "I will fight with you!" As the turmoil continued, Cai Yuanpei resigned angrily, saying: "The matter of abolishing lecture fees is very small. However, the fact that the discipline of the school is violated is so great that the trickle of water will become a river, and the whole country will suffer from the same disaster. It is really sad to think about this. Ashamed. If things go on like this, Yuanpei’s guilt will increase.” Although the matter ended with the school’s concession, Cai Yuanpei resigned as principal the following year (due to the interference of the acting Minister of Education, Peng Yunyi, with judicial independence), and thus left Peiping. go back. After the "Second Revolution", Mr. Cai Yuanpei's thinking has shifted from revolution to improvement. For example, he did not take Sun Yat-sen's move to establish a new southern regime under the banner of "protecting the law", which once aroused criticism from the Kuomintang. After the "May 4th Movement", Cai Yuanpei was very worried about the current situation of students from all over the country competing for patriotic movements. He repeatedly reiterated that "the way to save the country is not limited to one end, but the basic idea is still academic." Worse, his words obviously did not reach the ears of the students, and even almost turned against them. After 1928, Cai Yuanpei became the full-time president of the Academia Sinica. He originally had no direct relationship with the education sector. However, after the "September 18th" Incident in 1931, the Central Political Conference of the Kuomintang decided to establish a "Special Education Committee" and he served as the chairman. This made the 60-year-old Mr. Cai once again pushed to the forefront of the student movement. On December 14, Cai Yuanpei said in a report at the government that during the national crisis, the patriotic movement of students must not neglect their studies.But on the second day, 500 or 600 protesting students from various schools in the north and local students from Nanjing came to the central party department to demonstrate and petition.Soon, Cai Yuanpei and Chen Mingshu were appointed to meet the students, but a shocking and unbelievable thing happened. Before Mr. Cai Yuanpei could say a word, he was dragged down and beaten by the students, and Chen Mingshu was also hit on the head with a wooden stick by the students , fainted on the spot. The unexpected incident that day was recorded in the newspaper as follows: "Cai is old, his right arm was forced by a student, and he was pushed for half a mile, and his head was also severely hit." He was rescued and sent to the hospital. The demonstrators described in the "Report to the People": "The solemn and magnificent Foreign Ministry was destroyed by the masses, the signboard of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was smashed, and the flag of the Kuomintang was also torn down!" (And to the Central Committee Party Headquarters) "Cai Yuanpei and Chen Mingshu came out to meet him. Cai answered questions, and we were the first to ask: why the Beiping City Party Headquarters suppressed the anti-Japanese movement. Cai promised to investigate the Beiping City Committee. We answered him: The Beiping City Party Committee is under the leadership of the Central Party Headquarters. The Central Party Headquarters should be held accountable for his mistakes.... We believe that the entire Kuomintang is now an imperialist lackey party that deceives the masses, massacres them, and betrays them. !” We “shattered the windows of the Central Party Headquarters, and beat the two running dogs of Cai and Chen to death”. Party-state leader Shao Yuanchong said in his diary: At that time, a temporary regular meeting of the Central Committee was being held inside, and Chiang Kai-shek proposed to resign, which was approved.The students "scrambled into the door, beat everyone they met, destroyed everything they encountered, and robbed the guards of guns. They wanted to shoot more, but the central staff couldn't bear it, and they were injured a lot. Cai Zhimin and Chen Zhenru were often recommended to go there. The reply was that the mob beat Cai, dragged Cai away, was released halfway, and Chen Yi was injured and fell to the ground...At that time, the central staff could not bear it anymore in self-defense, so they arrested 11 mobs...Siyou Ren and Zhihui didn't go into details, but gave them a little training and sent them back."Chiang Kai-shek said angrily in his diary: "Students are so rampant, but the scholars of the predecessors, the Lord is lenient and indulgent, will make the country's order unstable and fall into anarchy!" This has begun to show murderous intent.After all, it is really unreasonable for a respected veteran of the education field and a national general to be treated by such violent actions by students. Afterwards, Cai Yuanpei made a statement to the press, saying that he understood the students' worries about the national crisis, but he was deeply worried about the status quo of the "revolution of the style of study". On December 17, the situation did not calm down, but further expanded. Thousands of students from Nanjing, Peiping, Shanghai and other places held a joint demonstration on the same day, once again surrounded the Kuomintang Central Party Headquarters and hung the party emblem and guard box at the gate Bulletin boards were smashed, and seven police officers and party staff were kidnapped outside the gate. In the afternoon, the "Central Daily" newspaper office was destroyed and set on fire.As a result, the Nationalist government dispatched a large number of police and gendarmes to suppress, and killed and injured more than 30 students near the Pearl Bridge, and arrested nearly a hundred people. This is known as the "Pearl Bridge Tragedy" in history. Mr. Cai Yuanpei is not the first central government official to be beaten by students.As early as September 28, when more than 2,000 students from Nanjing and Shanghai went to the Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang to petition, because it was pouring rain and the negotiations failed, they were transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and broke into the office of Minister Wang Zhengting.When Minister Wang failed to answer in time, he had already slapped the students twice angrily.On the third day after the incident, Wang Zhengting resigned as foreign minister.Many years later, Wang Zhengting recalled: "In my diplomatic career, there was one of the most proud things and one of the most unlucky things. The most proud thing was refusing to sign at the Paris Peace Conference, which was highly praised by the people of the whole country. I feel elated. The most unfortunate thing is that the descendants of the September 18th incident have suffered, and were slapped twice by petitioning students." At the same time, Ambassador Shi Zhaoji also received the same treatment in Paris. After being insulted, he resigned angrily. At the same time, Acting Foreign Minister Gu Weijun also resigned. Liang Shuming once commented, "The achievements of Mr. Cai's life are not in academics or meritorious deeds, but only in creating a kind of atmosphere, causing a big trend, affecting the whole country, and reaping the fruits for later generations."However, the term "ethos" certainly implies "a spirit of freedom and an independent personality", but if "freedom" is too much, and there are revolutions or movements at every turn, I am afraid that it is not "patriotic" but "wrong things and the country".