Chapter 31 Jiang Nanxiang: Between Two Traditions

Jiang Nanxiang (1913-1988) was born in Yixing, Jiangsu Province. He served as the president and secretary of the party committee of Tsinghua University for a long time. At the age of 22, he shouted out the famous saying that the young Chinese students were passionate about: "North China is so big that there is no place for a peaceful desk!" Jiang Nanxiang, a student at Tsinghua University, was appointed by the higher-level party organization to draft the "Tsinghua University Salvation of the National People's Letter". This declaration comes from this article. At the age of 44, he put forward the famous saying that Chinese young students catch up with: "Work healthy for the motherland for 50 years". In 1957, Jiang Nanxiang, President of Tsinghua University, proposed to students at the school sports activist meeting: "Every student should strive to work for the motherland for 50 years after graduation." Since then, this slogan has spread from Tsinghua University to all universities across the country.

However, looking back at the history of Tsinghua University, his position is somewhat awkward. An old professor who researched the history of Tsinghua University was originally a straightforward person, but when the reporter wanted to interview President Jiang Nanxiang, his tone became a little hesitant: "Other people are easy to talk about, but it is precisely President Jiang who is hard to talk about. " "Principal Jiang is an educator. I admit this. There have been many principals in the history of Tsinghua University, but not everyone can be called an 'educator', and some can only be called administrative staff at best. What is an educator? First of all, we must have an independent spirit and independent educational thinking. Of course Cai Yuanpei is, and so is Mei Yiqi. Jiang Nanxiang is a person from the old Tsinghua University. I think he has independent ideas. But... I don’t have a good evaluation .”

There used to be an "authoritative" formulation within Tsinghua University: "Tsinghua has two traditions, one is the comprador tradition represented by Mei Yiqi, and the other is the revolutionary tradition represented by Jiang Nanxiang." These two traditions used to be very different. As the old professor said, "Jiang Nanxiang was a sage in the past education circle, while Mei Yiqi was an enemy."However, with the changes in the evaluation of Mei Yiqi in domestic academic circles in recent years, the above-mentioned "authoritative" formulation has become outdated and replaced by "in the long history of Tsinghua University, the two principals, Mei Yiqi and Jiang Nanxiang, have had the greatest influence on Tsinghua". It is "Mei Yiqi has been the principal for 17 years (1931-1948), and Jiang Nanxiang has been the principal for 14 years (1952-1966). They are the two who have been in power for the longest time and have the most outstanding achievements."

People in the "Jiang Tradition" gradually accepted Mei Yiqi, but many people in the "Mei Tradition" did not intend to accept Jiang Nanxiang.The old professor once accompanied an old Tsinghua alumnus who came back from the United States to visit the school history exhibition. There were two portraits of the president in the exhibition, one was Mei Yiqi and the other was Jiang Nanxiang. The alumnus saw it and said excitedly: "This How can two people be put together? Principal Mei's tradition was destroyed by him!" Huang Yanfu, an expert on the history of Tsinghua University, made a more fair evaluation of which is right and which is wrong: without Zhou Yichun, there would be no Mei Yiqi; without Mei Yiqi, there would be no Jiang Nanxiang.At the same time, without Jiang Nanxiang (period), there would be no Chi Qun (period).As a school tradition, Zhou Yichun's period emphasized "cultivating whole personality", Mei Yiqi's period emphasized "general education", and Jiang Nanxiang's period emphasized "both popular and professional". Said: Cultivate high-quality talents.On the negative side, without the endless political campaigns and criticism meetings during Jiang Nanxiang's period (of course he could not be fully responsible), there would be no comprehensive campaign against intellectuals under the guidance of the "more knowledge, more reactionary" thinking during Chi Qun's period. punishment and persecution.

The paradox is that Jiang Nanxiang personally defeated the "Four Rightist Professors" in the school during the "Anti-Rightist" campaign, but on the other hand, as Tsinghua University professor Zeng Zhaofen wrote: "Jiang Nanxiang, who became the Minister of Higher Education and took charge of Tsinghua University, still From time to time, he showed a certain degree of 'independent spirit'. In 1957, he had a special talk with some 'rightist students', telling them that the school still 'hopes for their children to succeed' and 'hopes for 100% unity'. When the 'Cultural Revolution' was about to start, he openly Shouting to "steal the sailboat well". He also openly stated that it is unscientific to describe Mao Zedong Thought as the "peak" of Marxism-Leninism, and it should be a "peak" in development. Immediately labeled as a 'gangster' and received even more severe punishment..."

Perhaps, Jiang Nanxiang, who once raised his arms for the "desk", paid attention to the "desk" subjectively after all, so he said: "If there are any commendable achievements in our country after the Revolution of 1911, then in our country's university education The profound tradition of academic freedom should be one of them. This is the most precious spiritual heritage in the education of our country, and it deserves our respect even today."