Chapter 5 My teacher, my friend——Professor Cai Shaoqing

I have known Professor Cai Shaoqing for 23 years.The first acquaintance was in the autumn of 1979, when I just arrived at Nanjing University as a one-year visiting scholar.It was the first year of the resumption of academic exchanges between China and the United States after the reform and opening up, and happily, as a young assistant professor at the University of Washington, I had the opportunity to study the Taiping Rebellion and its relationship with secret societies. Conduct research work.Nanjing University thoughtfully arranged two knowledgeable and capable advisors for me: one was Professor Cai Shaoqing, who guided me to study secret societies; the other was Professor Mao Jiaqi, who guided me to study the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.

Soon after arriving in Nanjing, Professor Cai became my good teacher and helpful friend. He and his wife, Ms. Pan, invited me to their home many times and spent many wonderful evenings in the free chat. At that time in China, foreigners were rarely invited to private homes, so the foreign students and visiting scholars at Nanjing University were very envious of me having this opportunity to have an extraordinary conversation with Professor Cai and his family on these pleasant occasions. formal relationship. In our friendship, Professor Cai certainly did not neglect the academic aspect.He introduced me to a lot of useful information about the Chinese secret society and its relationship with the peasant movement.He shared with me the materials he copied by hand from the First Historical Archives.From the Second Historical Archives of China, he found a set of materials for me about the Bailang Uprising during the Republic of China, which had not yet been published at that time.He also explained to me some of the controversies among Chinese scholars regarding the origin and nature of the Tiandihui, Gelaohui, Bailianjiao, and other secret societies and sects during the late Qing and Republican periods.

During my one-year study visit at Nanjing University, I have left many strong and interesting memories, among which the most unforgettable one is probably the field trip I took with Professor Cai to Huaibei, Anhui Province in the spring of 1980. In 1978, I passed the defense of my doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan, focusing on the peasant uprising in Huaibei and its relationship with the communist revolution.But at the time of my doctoral dissertation, it was not yet possible for American students to visit mainland China, so my research was conducted in Taipei (using Ming and Qing archives, KMT archives, and Bureau of Survey and Statistics archives) and Tokyo (Toyo Bunko and Tokyo University) .For several years, I have dreamed of the opportunity to visit the northern Anhui region that my dissertation focuses on.This dream became a reality in 1980, because Professor Cai was very generous and agreed to accompany me to Huaibei for a field investigation.Among the places visited that time, Bengbu, Guoyang and Mengcheng have not yet officially opened to foreigners.In Bengbu, we interviewed officials of the Huaihe River Management Committee to learn about the changes that water conservancy has brought to rural areas in northern Anhui.In Mengcheng and Guoyang, we interviewed farmers and local historians to learn about the folklore traditions of the area from the Nian Army uprising in the mid-19th century to the peasant rebellion during the Republic of China.We also enjoyed local theater performances to gain a clearer feel for the region's popular culture.Since most of the local farmers had never seen a foreigner before, our visit aroused great interest among the locals.Several times, Professor Cai and I had to "escape" from the crowd of onlookers.

Throughout the trip, Professor Cai was an excellent research and travel partner.When I couldn't express myself to the locals, he took up the conversation and expressed my meaning more clearly.Sometimes, local interviewees are unwilling to answer my questions, and Professor Cai encourages them to make their attitudes more friendly.He tried to make me understand what was being discussed and pointed out many interesting points of interest along the way.I can't imagine any teacher who is more careful and thoughtful than him.A few years later, when Professor Cai accompanied me to northern Anhui again, this feeling was still the same—it was an unforgettable trip to Fengyang County, where I investigated the newly implemented agricultural household contract responsibility system.It was a rare opportunity for me to observe parts of the Chinese countryside that were not yet easily accessible to foreigners, and they left a deep impression on me.These regions are indeed very poor, but they are very proud of their past history - as the dawn of reform and opening up, and excited by the possibilities of their future.

The basis of my friendship with Professor Cai was not only our many discussions and travels in China, but also the year he spent at the University of Washington (where I was teaching at the time) under the auspices of the Lu Foundation. During the year, Professor Cai took several courses (including one I taught on peasant politics) in an effort to improve his English and used the library for research work.He also toured the United States, lecturing at various China studies centers and—perhaps most memorable of all—a taste of rural American life.Through this and subsequent visits to the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe, Professor Cai brought back a lot of information for his students at Nanjing University, enabling them to understand the latest research methods and paths in the international academic community.He combined the essence of Chinese and foreign academic traditions, built the social history discipline of Nanjing University into a famous postgraduate training base, published a series of outstanding achievements, and won a high reputation in the international academic circle.

Professor Cai's own research, due to the groundbreaking use of original archives and other archival material, has a broad perspective (spanning centuries, involving secret societies, folk religion, peasant rebellions, labor movements, bandits, and many other aspects of modern Chinese social history major issues) analysis proficient and innovative, naturally well-known at home and abroad.But unlike some scholars who work behind closed doors, he is very willing to share his knowledge with others.My own research (on the Chinese labor movement and peasant rebellions) has come a long way over the years without his patient and wise guidance of sources and interpretations.Professor Cai's encouragement has continuously ignited my enthusiasm for the study of Chinese social history.I am very lucky to have such a good teacher and old friend as Professor Cai.