Chapter 7 Commemoration of the Retirement of Mr. Cai Shaoqing's Mentor

In 1992, before South Korea and China established formal diplomatic relations, I had the honor to visit China. At that time, there was no direct flight between the two countries, so I went to China by detouring Hong Kong.I was studying for my postgraduate degree at the History Institute of Taiwan Normal University. Since my dissertation was selected as an excellent thesis on Chinese modern history, I received a large scholarship, which allowed me to travel to the United States and Japan. , mainland China and other places to freely engage in academic visits and research.I think it is extremely important to study modern Chinese history well, understand the research results of mainland China, and collect relevant original historical materials.At the same time, I also have another purpose, which is to inspect the research environment in mainland China.Nanjing University is the center of modern Chinese history research. Here I visited Mr. Cai Shaoqing, a world-recognized authoritative scholar in the study of Chinese modern social history. This meeting became an opportunity for me to study for a doctorate at Nanjing University.

In 1993, I was one of the first batch of official Chinese students with Korean nationality, and started my study and life at Nanjing University until I graduated in 1996.The reason why I can successfully complete the learning tasks is inseparable from the careful guidance and help of the instructor Mr. Cai Shaoqing.Because Mr. Cai Shaoqing overestimated my research ability and provided me with a free research opportunity, he recommended me to study in Northeast China and Japan successively during my Ph. Experts and scholars in various fields, understand academic trends, and brainstorm, thus improving the level of my dissertation.In addition, Mr. Cai also encouraged me to pay attention to other topics closely related to modern Chinese social history, and gave me a lot of help in my research on Korean comfort women in China.He believes that for the comfort women who survived the war, it is of great historical value to use words to reflect their pain and collect their testimonies.

During the season in China, for a person like me who is engaged in the research of modern East Asian history, there are many opportunities to touch historical unsolved cases from a realistic perspective. In the early winter of 1993, shortly after I arrived in China, by chance, I came into contact with a Korean comfort woman in China. Although my understanding of the actual situation in China was still limited at that time, everything was unfamiliar.This comfort woman was captured by the Japanese army as a comfort woman when she was a young girl at the age of 14 and lived in China for 56 years.Because of this investigation, I began to study the issue of Japanese military comfort women in China, South Korea, Japan and other places, and at the same time made efforts to improve their situation today.

In addition, I also interviewed a group of North Korean comfort women living in Wuhan.Through these activities, I was not only able to organize and collect a large amount of real-life interview materials, but also learned more about the harm caused to East Asia by the Japanese aggression. In addition, these activities also gave me a more thorough understanding of modern Chinese society. Through the above investigation and research, I wrote several monographs, which were published in China and South Korea respectively. In addition, the investigation on comfort women was also widely reported by various news media in China, South Korea, and Japan.For the Japanese, through the above-mentioned reports, they can understand the truth of history and the pain brought to the people of East Asia by the war of aggression launched by the Japanese imperialists, so that they can wake up as soon as possible to solve the problems left over from history as soon as possible.For the above-mentioned activities, Mr. Cai Shaoqing always tried his best to give positive support, and at the same time taught me to combine modern Chinese society and pay attention to the interaction between them.Without the support and guidance of Mr. Cai, it would be very difficult for me to complete the above work during the short period of studying abroad.

Mr. Cai has a deep friendship with many world-renowned scholars. These scholars often visit Mr. Cai and conduct academic exchanges with each other.At this time, my husband always introduced me as much as possible, allowing me to learn from these great scholars and exchange ideas with them.The exchanges with these world-renowned scholars who study modern Chinese history from the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and other places have inspired my thinking, broadened my horizons, prevented me from being complacent and arrogant, and also taught me how to be The principles of learning and the way of being a person.

Mr. Cai Shaoqing is not only an excellent scholar with rigorous scholarship, but also a kind father in daily life.The life of studying abroad is intense and busy. When I was bedridden with a cold and had no appetite, my husband cooked rice porridge for me and encouraged me to recover soon; when I felt tired and lonely, my husband always cared for me and guided me. He often cooks himself and cooks delicious Chinese food for me.Teacher's wife also often specially fried delicious fried peanuts, which I like very much, for me, as well as those seasonal fresh vegetables.In retrospect, all of this seems to be in front of me.After dining at Mr.'s house, we had discussions on various topics while tasting the famous Chinese teas brewed by Mr. himself - West Lake Longjing and Biluochun.Mr. has a very cute and smart little grandson who looks very much like Mr. himself. He follows Mr. around all day, and we often tease him. His innocent words and deeds add a lot of lively atmosphere. Everyone says he is our In short, without Mr.'s meticulous care and care, I really don't know how many setbacks I would suffer.

Sometimes, the husband also tells us about his past. From his humble speech, we know the life course of the husband.Soon after he graduated from Peking University, he was sent to work in a factory. Although the environment was extremely difficult, he did not give in to the difficulties. He stubbornly insisted on his beliefs, continued to engage in academic research, and eventually became a master of the generation.I have benefited a lot from my teacher's precepts and deeds. He made me understand the methods of learning and how to be a human being. In addition, I have a deeper understanding of modern Chinese society.

The 3-year study abroad career is coming to an end soon.When defending my doctoral dissertation, my husband not only hired many Chinese but also many world-renowned scholars to guide and revise my thesis.During the final defense, many authoritative scholars participated, and their pertinent suggestions enabled me to successfully complete the defense of my dissertation, and at the same time, they were of great benefit to my future academic career.When my dissertation was published in China, my husband personally wrote a preface for me and said a lot of words of encouragement and expectation.

In this way, under the care of my husband, I ended my three-year study abroad and returned to Korea in 1996.At that time, it was difficult to find a formal teaching position in a Korean university, but thanks to the care and cultivation of my teacher, I was lucky enough to obtain a formal teaching position in a famous Korean university soon after returning to China. job. After returning to China, in letters and phone calls, my husband cared about me as always.His kind words and warm smile added to my confidence to overcome all difficulties.As a disciple of an outstanding scholar, I must live up to the expectations of my husband and continue to cultivate along the path opened by my husband.No matter how many difficulties you encounter in the future, you must maintain the high morals of a scholar like your husband, work hard with one heart and one mind, and strive to achieve more results in order to repay the love of your teacher.

Today, looking back on my study abroad life, I am very moved and regretful at the same time.At that time, I should have spent more time with my husband and asked him for advice, but when I realized this problem, we were already thousands of miles away from each other... As I write this commemorative short article commemorating Mr. Retirement, I am glad to hear the good news that the international academic community has awarded Mr. Frederick Milton Tth Frederic MiltonThrasher Award (Tth Frederic MiltonThrasher Award) Here I would like to express my sincere congratulations to Mr.As a student of Mr. Wang, I am very proud. This is an international affirmation of Mr. Wang's research ability and research performance.

At the same time, I also felt great pressure, worrying that my lack of talent would damage the reputation of my school.For this reason, I must work harder and strive to live up to my teacher.