Chapter 45 45. Leighton Stuart You Don't Know

The article "Farewell, Leighton Stuart" in the middle school textbook made an American household name in China. This is the founder of Yenching University and former ambassador to China Leighton Stuart.It's a pity that Leighton Stuart didn't get a good reputation, because Mao Zedong satirized and ridiculed him extremely bitterly in this famous article, which made this well-known "foreign villain" feel deeply. remain in the minds of the Chinese people.An article can change a person's reputation. From this perspective, Leighton Stuart is a bit wronged, because most Chinese people don't know what he did before and what kind of person he is.

Leighton Stuart's ancestors came from the Stewart family in Ireland, and later came to the American continent due to religious persecution. His grandfather was Mrs. Lincoln's cousin, and his father, John Linton, came to China to preach after the American Civil War and soon lived in the United States. Hangzhou. After 1876, the American missionary gave birth to four sons in Hangzhou, the eldest son being Leighton Stuart.Leighton Stuart's full name is John Leighton Stewart. The Chinese replaced his surname "Stewart" with "Situ" and directly combined his names as "Leighton Stuart". This name itself is a combination of Chinese and Western cultures. product of.

Leighton Stuart's mother came to China in 1874. She was a woman who was enthusiastic about education. She once founded a girls' school in Hangzhou and served as the principal for many years.When they were young, the enlightenment education of the Stuart brothers was all undertaken by the mother. It was not until 1887 that the 11-year-old Stuart and his brothers returned to the United States with their parents, where they received middle school and university education. When he was a child, Leighton Stuart was very fond of Chinese food, candies and fruits. He was also deeply impressed by the beautiful Hangzhou and Chinese folk customs such as Chinese New Year, social opera and lantern viewing.Since their parents are foreign missionaries, although there are a few carefully selected Chinese children playing with them, the Stuart brothers spend most of their time in the courtyard of their home or the "Jesus Lane" where they live place of residence).

Judging from the description in Leighton Stuart’s memoirs, his childhood in China was happy, but when he was sent to his aunt’s house and went to school there, Leighton Stuart found himself the most ignorant of modern knowledge among the local schoolchildren. He had never seen anything that was commonplace in America.Being accustomed to talking to his parents and their colleagues for a long time, Leighton Stuart, who first returned to the United States, spoke as rigidly as adults, and was almost unbelievably ignorant of the language, habits, hobbies and interests of American children at that time.As a result, Leighton Stuart was often ridiculed by his classmates as "a native who can't speak English." Bar?"

For a long time, this experience brought great confusion to the young Leighton Stuart, so that he began to doubt the profession of his parents.However, his aunt believed that his parents spreading the gospel in a foreign country was a very sacred cause, so the requirements for Stuart were much stricter than their own children.Because his parents were missionaries, Stuart was even forbidden from attending balls and theaters, while their cousins ​​were able to enjoy the usual social activities. It was not until he was sixteen years old that Stuart was sent to the high school attached to the University of Virginia that he got rid of this unpleasant experience.Here, Leighton Stuart became a normal "American boy", and later received education in literature and theology, but his previous experience still gave him a lot of trouble: whether to engage in the ancestral pastor's profession, or go to the Do you love teaching or research?Leighton Stuart vaguely remembered that when he was a child, he accompanied his father to preach on the streets, but the Chinese seemed to have no interest in this and were even ridiculed by those people.Leighton Stuart's younger brother, Warren, did not have such troubles, because he had always followed his parents and studied in Chinese schools, so he had mastered quite a lot of Chinese spoken and written language, and he was almost a born missionary.

It was not until 1904 that the 28-year-old Leighton Stuart and his newlywed wife Irene returned to China after an absence of seventeen years. His first stop was still Hangzhou, his birthplace.At first, Leighton Stuart preached in his father's diocese, and soon he was invited to teach at Jinling Theological Seminary in Nanjing for ten years.Just as Stuart was concentrating on his favorite teaching and research work, a sudden invitation letter changed his fate. After the Republic of China, the American missionary group in China believed that there should be a "university commensurate with the cause of the church" in the north, so they decided to merge the seminaries belonging to the two sects (Huiwen University and Xiehe University). The contradictions and differences between them are too large, and the merger work has not been smooth.It was not until 1918 that the two sides decided to invite an outsider to be the principal of the new college, and this matter was considered a little bit.

Leighton Stuart was the most suitable candidate selected at that time because he was young and vigorous, familiar with education, and had experience in China that was unmatched by others; most importantly, Leighton Stuart did not belong to any faction, so he could be accepted by all parties.However, there were still many difficulties in the subsequent merger. First of all, on the new school name, the two sides had a fierce dispute. They both declared that they must use their original school name, otherwise they would not recognize it.Leighton Stuart said in his memoirs: "The graduate delegation of Huiwen University told me that no matter what English name the United University chooses, if its Chinese name does not continue to be Huiwen, they will not recognize it as their alma mater. The other side I am afraid that the delegation of the Chinese government will have the same problem. They will agree to any name except 'Huiwen', but if they decide to use the name of 'Huiwen', they will dramatically pile up their graduation diplomas on the The campus in Tongzhou was set on fire to symbolize the destruction of his alma mater."

After three days of heated arguments, the men continued to argue after lunch until midnight, and finally both sides were caught in a dilemma.As a middleman, Leighton Stuart had no choice but to put forward in the end: Either give up the alliance, or both sides give up their respective demands.At this time, the 75-year-old missionary Liu Hailan (also one of the founders of Huiwen University) stood up tremblingly. He said with tears that he had had enough and that it was unthinkable to give up the idea of ​​unity.At Liu Hailan's insistence, the two sides gave up their idea of ​​continuing to use their original school names, and entrusted Leighton Stuart to consider a new name.Later, at the suggestion of Dr. Cheng Jingyi (who later served as the president of the Chinese Church of Christ), the new university was named "Yanjing University". This poetic and charming new name unexpectedly made the merger extremely difficult. smoothly.

Although the school was merged, the foundation of the two original schools was very poor. Ms. Bao Guisi (Bing Xin’s teacher), who was a teacher of Yanda University at the time, recalled in "A Brief Biography of Leighton Stuart": "At that time, Yanda University was useless. We It is very cramped to live in the city, there are teachers but no equipment...there are less than 100 students, and only two Chinese teachers (Dr. The small scale is not a big problem, what's more terrible is that the funds for running the school are often not available.Although the evangelistic mission provided $200,000 for the new school, it was obviously a drop in the bucket for a new school that urgently needed to be relocated and expanded.Before taking office, Leighton Stuart had agreed with the management committee that he would not be responsible for funding issues, but this was not realistic.Fortunately, his old friend Lu Siyi came to help him and appointed him as the vice president and fundraising ambassador of Yenching University.Lu Siyi was eight years older than Leighton Stuart. He had been preaching in Shandong since 1897, and it was through his efforts that Qilu University was established.

Asking others for money is always a very difficult thing.Lu Siyi didn't like this job, and Stuart didn't like it even more. He once said to people: "Every time I see a beggar, I feel that I belong to their category." Scalp to do it, and overcome all difficulties, embarrassments, and supercilious looks with the spirit of Christ. Finally, they raised a fund and planned to buy a piece of land outside the city to build a new campus.Leighton Stuart recorded in detail his search for a new school site in his memoirs: "We traveled all over the suburbs of Beijing on foot, on donkeys, or by bicycle, but we couldn't find a suitable real estate. One day, I was invited by some friends to Tsinghua University University Hall, one of the friends asked: "Why don't you buy the piece of land opposite us?" I looked, and the piece of land is located on the main road leading to the Summer Palace, five kilometers away from the city, because the road there Easy to walk, and actually closer to the city than any other place we looked at, so very attractive. It's near the West Hill, famous for its cluster of some of the most beautiful temples and halls of old China here and there on the hillside. "

After learning that the owner of this land was Chen Shufan, the governor of Shaanxi, Stuart decided to go to Xi'an himself.In the end, the warlord Chen Shufan was moved by his sincerity, and he generously transferred the land at a price of 60,000 oceans, and donated one-third of it as the educational expenses of Yenching University. Under the design of American architect Henry Murphy, the new Yenching University was finally completed after five years of construction.The appearance of this unique campus basically adopts the antique style of Chinese classical architecture, but the interior adopts the most advanced equipment at that time, such as heating, hot water, flush toilets and so on.The entire campus is completely built according to the design of Chinese gardens, with pavilions, small bridges, flowing water, mountains and towers, lakes and pavilions. It is no exaggeration to say that Yenching University was one of the most beautiful universities in China at that time. . On the American side, Lu Siyi won the support of the executor of the estate of the big capitalist Hall. Hall is the founder of the Alcoa Company. After his death, Hall donated one-third of his estate to Americans in Asia or the Balkans. At that time, there were a lot of people who wanted to fight for the support of the schools held in the area, but with the efforts of Ruthie, Arthur Davis, the executor of the Hall estate, agreed to meet with Leighton Stuart and have lunch.According to Leighton Stuart’s recollection, “This was a terrible experience. I was very nervous and worried about my career, and I didn’t even bother to look at the food. After speaking, I broke out in a cold sweat. Finally, Mr. Davis said : 'I'm leaving for Paris this afternoon. But I'll agree with my colleague (another executor, Johnson, has promised Ruthie $500,000 if Leighton Stuart can convince Davis.)' But don't Let your surrogate bother us. You go back and run a university worth supporting and we will do our part when the time comes. Goodbye." A year later, Stuart met Johnson, and he said: "We decided to give you 1 million... Yes, we have been watching you, and we plan to double the number." Later, Stuart persuaded them to increase to 150 Ten thousand.By 1937, the amount of donations received by Yenching University had reached 2.5 million US dollars, which was not a small sum at the time. The establishment of the Harvard-Yenching Institute may be an important milestone for Yenching University to become a world-class university.At that time, Harvard University was also fighting for the funding of Hall's legacy. Later, they decided to apply jointly with Yenching University and succeeded. Leighton Stuart described in his memoirs: "Thanks to the Harvard authorities for their willingness to give the name of their wonderful university It is really grateful to be associated with a small missionary school in China. This is the origin of the Harvard-Yenching Institute." The Harvard-Yenching Institute (headquartered in Harvard University, Yenching University in Peking Office) was established Afterwards, it soon became an important channel for cultural exchanges between China and the West at that time, and there are too many well-known scholars who came out of it, such as Zhao Yuanren, Yang Liansheng, Fairbank, Needham, Du Weiming, Yu Yingshi, etc. It is undeniable that Yenching University is a church school, but Leighton Stuart also hopes to build it into "a university that can truly stand the test, allowing the freedom to teach the truth, but the belief or the way of expressing belief is purely personal. matter", he tried to prove three points to people: "First, formal university standards are not incompatible with openly religious purposes; a communal atmosphere of good deeds; and thirdly, that such a university would also prove that Christianity is beneficial to all forms of organized human life." Although Yenching University has a strong Christian atmosphere, the academic atmosphere of Yenching University at that time was extremely liberal and enlightened.Huang Hua, a graduate of Yanda University and later became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, said in his memoir "Experience and Knowledge": "In the library, you can see English translations of some works by Marx, Eng, Len, and Situ. Leighton Stuart is a Christian He is a believer, but he advocates the separation of religion and university education, secularization of schools, and does not require students to believe in religion and worship." The well-known left-leaning professor Huang Zhuo taught a "socialism" class in the Department of Economics of Yanda University. Once he asked students: " Who has read "Das Kapital?" No one.Huang Zhuo shook his head and sighed: "I haven't even read "Das Kapital", and I'm still majoring in economics!" As a result, the students rushed to find "Das Kapital". Leighton Stuart once said: "My task is to let the teachers do their work as freely as possible." With his efforts, some departments of Yenching University quickly stood out. Needless to say, the Divinity School, Harvard-Yenching School Needless to say, the society’s promotion of Chinese studies, Yanda’s Law School (including the Department of Politics, Economics, and Sociology) is mainly funded by the alumni association of Princeton University, and the two schools have formed a very close relationship; The college almost became a "branch of Union Medical College"; North China Union Women's University, which later became the girls' department of Yenching University.After the University of California conducted a survey on the academic level of Asian universities in 1928, it believed that Yanda graduates were fully qualified to directly enter the graduate schools of American universities. "Sinicization" is one of Stuart's directions for running a school. He once said: "We don't want to become the most famous school in the world, nor the most famous school in history, but to become the most useful school in 'now China'. School.” After the Ministry of Education of the Chinese government announced the regulations on the registration of church schools in 1925, Yenching University was the first to respond and register with the Ministry of Education.According to this regulation, a Chinese must be hired for the post of principal, so Leighton Stuart retired from the principal to be the head of the school, and Wu Leichuan was the principal.In the first ten years, Yenching University began to "sinicize". At that time, 36 of the 56 professors were Chinese. The president of the adjacent Tsinghua University, Mr. Mei Yiqi, once said: "The so-called university does not mean that there are buildings, but that there are masters." A first-class university must have first-class teachers. Stuart did not leave anything behind. Famous aphorisms, but what he said to Mr. Mei was practical.When Yan University was founded, he invited two famous teachers, Liu Tingfang and Hong Ye, through the relationship of the church, and with their assistance and influence, he attracted a large number of academic masters from home and abroad to enter Yan University. Leighton Stuart has three principles for hiring teachers. One is that the school’s right to hire teachers cannot be interfered with; the other is that teachers do not have to believe in religion;According to regulations, the monthly salary of professors at Yenching University is 360 silver dollars, and the monthly salary of the president is 500 silver dollars.However, in order to respect teachers and emphasize teaching, Leighton Stuart only took the professor's monthly salary. National universities at that time often had wage arrears, but Yenching University never had such a thing. In the 1920s and 1930s, it was a glorious age for masters to shine. The famous teachers who taught at Yenching University were also brilliant, such as Lu Zhiwei, Rong Geng, Zhao Zichen, Deng Wenru, Gu Jiegang, Chen Yinke, Qian Mu, Zhang Dongsun, Hong Qian, Feng Youlan, Xiao Gongquan, Qian Xuantong, Yu Pingbo, Zhou Zuoren, Zheng Zhenduo, Zhu Ziqing, Gu Sui, Xie Bingxin, Wu Wenzao, Lei Jieqiong, Fei Xiaotong, Zhang Youyu, as well as psychologist Xia Rende from abroad, journalist Snow and others, They all taught at Yenching University at that time, and people like Bing Xin and Fei Xiaotong all returned to teach at their alma mater after graduating from Yenching University after obtaining a degree in a foreign country. During the Second World War, nine of the ten Chinese news correspondents stationed around the world were graduates of the Journalism Department of Yanda University; after 1949, 56 of the professors and students of Yanda University were successively elected as Academy of Sciences Faculty members, you should know that Yenching University has no more than 10,000 registered students in its history of only 33 years (excluding the 8 years of interference caused by the Japanese invasion). Quite dramatically, Leighton Stuart encountered embarrassment on his first day as the president of Yenching University.It was June 1919, at the height of the May 4th Movement. According to the previous plan, Leighton Stuart was supposed to meet the students formally on June 8, but unfortunately, the Beiyang government released the arrested student on that day. Students, Yanda students all ran to welcome those "heroes" who were imprisoned, but Principal Situ could only leave in disappointment. For those young students, Leighton Stuart showed rare rationality and tolerance, especially after Japan launched aggression, he took a clear stand on the side of patriotic students. After the "September 18th" Incident, Leighton Stuart personally led hundreds of Yan masters and students to march on the streets, and took the lead in shouting "Down with Japanese imperialism".When Peking students went south to petition and demonstrate, Yan University students also participated in it. The person who picked me up: Can Yenching students come to Nanjing to petition? They answered me that most of the Yenching students have come! I was relieved after hearing this! If Yenching students did not come to petition, it means I will Education has been a complete failure for decades." In the first few years, Leighton Stuart knew almost every student at Yanda University, but as the enrollment scale continued to expand, it was obviously unrealistic to know every one of them.Bing Xin once recalled so emotionally: "There are always tens of thousands of people in this group, up and down, front and back, and the four major events of life, marriage, illness and death of these tens of thousands of people are all He's the one who baptizes babies, he's the one who witnesses marriages, he's the one who presides over funerals. You have a baby, you get sick, you celebrate a birthday, you die a loved one, and he's the first letter He sent the first pot of flowers, the first welcome smile, and the first sincere condolences, all from him." Leighton Stuart once presided over many weddings in his own home according to Christian etiquette (such as Bing Xin and Wu Wenzao, both of whom were teaching at Yenching University at the time), he also said proudly: "So far I have never heard of which one is unlucky!" Not far from Weiming Lake, there is a courtyard named "Linhuxuan", which was donated by Leighton Stuart's best friends, Mr. and Mrs. Currie.At that time, Leighton Stuart's wife had passed away. He wanted to live in a teaching building or a student dormitory, but the Currys insisted on "either build a principal's residence, or donate nothing." Leighton Stuart later thought of a solution, which was to put the It was taken out as the school's office space, and he kept only a small suite.Soon, "Linhuxuan" became the symbol of Yenching University. Every year on June 24, students from Yenching University would come here to congratulate President Situ on his birthday. Dr. Fu Chenguang, a teacher at Yan University (whose father is a Boyata donor), wrote in the article "Yenjing Celebrates Leighton Stuart's Jiazi Birthday": "In China, the 60th anniversary has a special meaning...On June 24, most People began to go to the headmaster's house to celebrate his birthday. His beautiful Chinese-style courtyard house was beautifully decorated, with a big "Shou" character pasted on it... The really meaningful thing that afternoon was the gift from the office staff in the school. A plaque was given to Principal Situ. People carried the plaque around the campus for a week, and the band opened the way to set off the atmosphere, making the whole scene vivid and vivid. On the plaque were written four big characters 'There is no distinction between education'... Birthday celebration day It ended with a grand theatrical performance held in the Beigong Building. The program was rich and colorful... The headmaster personally stepped onto the stage, and the student group presented him with an exquisite embroidered image symbolizing "extreme ambition". The students walked through the aisle with their hands held, and after that, the audience, which was full of seats, stood up and respectfully bowed three times to the headmaster..." The performance that night started at 7:30 and did not end until after midnight. Although Leighton Stuart was tired all day, he still watched the whole program with unabated interest.After 11:30, Fu Chenguang walked out of Beigong Building and saw a girl who came out to get some fresh air. She said with admiring tone, "Principal Situ is still sitting in the front row!" The school motto of Yenching University was set by Leighton Stuart himself, "Freedom through Truth for Service" (because of the truth, to be free, to serve), which is a fusion of two sentences in the Bible, one is "You will know the truth , the truth will set you free", and the other sentence is "Man is not meant to be served by others but to serve others".This school motto is deeply rooted and has had a long-lasting impact on several generations of Yanjing students. Leighton Stuart is a successful educator. He should have been living on the beautiful campus of Yanda University, but perhaps because of the concept of "Service", he unfortunately became a failed politician.In the first paragraph of the memoir, Leighton Stuart said sadly: "In 1946, under unexpected circumstances, I was promoted to be the US ambassador to Nanjing. However, in 1949, as an ambassador, I finally left very unhappy. that country." When he was about to leave Peiping, Stuart suddenly met Hu Shi, his old friend for many years. At that time, he said with a sigh: "He (Hu Shi) was lucky to resign from his mission abroad and returned to Peking to be the president of the university, but I To leave this loveliest city and that satisfying career for a dubious mission which Dr Hu shunned." Leighton Stuart, who was good at running schools, was obviously not as good at diplomatic operations as he was in education. After the civil war broke out in China, Leighton Stuart wrote sadly: "I have failed the Chinese people's trust in me. I have failed to persuade any party to serve Reach an agreement and make concessions." In just over a year, the Kuomintang army collapsed, and the People's Liberation Army quickly captured Nanjing.When the embassies of the Soviet Union had been moved to Guangzhou with the Kuomintang government, Leighton Stuart still stayed in Nanjing to observe the changes.However, this abnormal attitude was bitterly satirized by Mao Zedong: "Ambassador Leighton Stuart sat still and watched with his eyes open, hoping to open a new store and make some money." In an extraordinary period, Huang Hua, a former graduate of Yenching University, came to see him. This talented student who later became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New China was ordered to come to Nanjing to deal with the former principal.Leighton Stuart said in his memoirs, "He was friendly to me, but he was completely 'red'. All diplomats were treated as foreign civilians." China's final outcome made all parties abandon him. When Stuart was about to return to China, the US State Department published a nearly thousand-page "White Paper on China" to clear up his responsibility; By the way, Leighton Stuart also intentionally pointed out why the white paper was published at the embarrassing period and mystery when Leighton Stuart left China for the United States, and it even foreshadowed his bleak political future.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Mao Zedong saw Leighton Stuart for the first time in Chongqing. He once said to him with a smile on his face: "... Long time to see! Long time to see! You Yanda students are working very well with us..." At the same time, in the same city, Leighton Stuart met Gu Weijun, the then Chinese ambassador to the United States. While the two were celebrating the victory of the War of Resistance, Gu Weijun said: "I have lived in the United States for twenty years, and the United States is my second hometown." Leighton Stuart laughed He said: "I was born in Hangzhou, a paradise in China, and have lived in China for forty-five years. China is my second hometown." After returning to the United States, Leighton Stuart was in a lonely and sad situation in his later years. Soon he had a stroke and was bedridden. Cerebral thrombosis caused hemiplegia and aphasia, which eventually made him completely lose his ability to take care of himself.Leighton Stuart has only one son (also born in China, and later returned to the United States to receive education and become a pastor there), but his son's income is very low, and he is not able to take care of him.Fortunately, his student and private secretary, Fu Jingbo, followed him unswervingly and became Stuart's only comfort and hope in his later years.After Leighton Stuart was discharged from the hospital, Fu Jingbo bought a small building with his little savings, let him live with himself and his family, and accompanied him through the last twelve years. "Teacher for one day, father for life", Leighton Stuart gave Fu Jingbo selfless care and training in his early years, and Fu Jingbo's repayment fully demonstrated the preciousness of the tradition of the Chinese nation in a foreign country. What made Leighton Stuart sad is that in 1952, Chinese colleges and universities followed the Soviet model to carry out a major adjustment of faculties and departments. Yenching University was abolished, and Peking University moved to Yanyuan (the original site of Yenching University).As a result, Leighton Stuart's life's hard work and career, Yenching University, which was once glorious, disappeared in the dust of history. On June 5, 1962, Leighton Stuart's wife, Irene, passed away in Peiping, and her cemetery became the first tomb on the YSU campus. On September 19, 1962, Leighton Stuart died of a heart attack at the age of 86.Before his death, Leighton Stuart wrote a will, presented all his documents to Fu Jingbo, and asked Fu Jingbo to fulfill two wishes for him: one is to give him a Ming Dynasty colored painting that Zhou Enlai gave him when he was in Chongqing in 1946. The vase was returned to China; the second is to send his ashes back to China after his death and bury him beside his wife by the Weiming Lake on the Yanda campus. The Ming Dynasty painted vase has long been returned to its original owner, but Stuart's second wish has not been realized for a long time.Fortunately, Hangzhou, as Leighton Stuart's "second hometown", did something for him. In 1985, the former residence of Leighton Stuart, located in Jesus Lane, Tianshui Bridge, was listed as a cultural relic protection site in Hangzhou; since 2002, the former residence of Leighton Stuart was officially opened to the public; on November 17, 2008, the ashes of Leighton Stuart were buried in Anxian, Mid-Levels, Hangzhou There is only a simple line on the tombstone: "Leighton Stuart, 1876-1962, the first president of Yenching University."