Chapter 10 homecoming

In October 1945, we arrived in Switzerland.Been here for a few months. In the spring of 1946, he left Switzerland, passed through Marseille, France, and arrived in Saigon, Vietnam on the British giant ship that transported French troops.I stayed here until the summer, and then returned to Shanghai by boat via Hong Kong. After leaving my motherland for nearly eleven years, I finally came back. At this time, I have come to work at Peking University through the introduction of Mr. Chen Yinke and the consent of Mr. Hu Shizhi, Mr. Fu Sinian and Mr. Tang Yongtong.I wrote to Professor Sharon, an old friend of Göttingen who was teaching at the University of Cambridge in England, and I declined the offer from Cambridge and decided not to return to Europe.The same family also got in touch and sent some money home.I am grateful to my uncle and aunt, as well as my wife Peng Dehua. They have worked hard and worked hard for eleven years, so that our family can stay intact and healthy.

At that time, the Second Revolutionary War was raging and the traffic was interrupted. I couldn't go back to my hometown in Jinan immediately to visit relatives.I lived in Shanghai and Nanjing for one summer.I met Mr. Chen Yinke in Nanjing, and met Mr. Fu Sinian at the Academia Sinica. In the late autumn of 1946, I took a boat from Shanghai to Qinhuangdao, then took a train, and arrived in Peiping, where I had been separated for eleven years.Late autumn is lonely and cold, and the streets are full of fallen leaves. My heart is full of ups and downs, ups and downs, and I can't tell what it feels like.Mr. Yin Faru picked us up at the station and temporarily placed me in the Red Building of Peking University.On the second day, I met Mr. Tang Yongtong, dean of literature.Mr. Tang told me that according to the regulations of Peking University and other universities, scholars who have obtained a degree and returned to China can only be awarded the title of associate professor. Mr. Fu Sinian also told me the same thing when he was in Nanjing.I was already satisfied with being able to come to Peking University, so how dare I ask for it? But not long after, about a week or so, Mr. Tang told me that I had been designated as a full professor and the head of the Department of Oriental Languages ​​and Literature. I was thirty-five years old at the time. .I am afraid I have set a new record for the short time I have been an associate professor.This is totally beyond my expectations.I secretly made up my mind: work hard, write actively, and live up to the painstaking efforts of my teachers and seniors in cultivating me!

The current situation is extremely bad.The Kuomintang, headed by Chiang Kai-shek, stripped off all its painted skins, became corrupt, bribed public companies, engaged in "five sons enrolling in the imperial examination", accepted high-ranking officials everywhere, "legal currency" depreciated every day, and created a set of silver dollar certificates, gold dollar certificates, etc. Fancy, useless.People live in dire straits, and university professors are no exception.The wages received in the hands will depreciate after an hour.Everyone exchanged for silver dollars, for US dollars, and then for French currency when they used it.Whenever I hold a few big heads in my hands, I feel warm in my heart, as if I have gained a sense of security.

Among the students, the struggle between old and new forces was extremely fierce.The Kuomintang was dying, and progressive students attacked violently.At that time, there was a saying that there were two liberated areas in Beiping, one was the Democracy Square of Peking University, and the other was Tsinghua Garden.I lived in the Red Building, and on several occasions I was threatened by gangsters from Tianqiao gathered by the Kuomintang’s Beiping City Party Headquarters to break in and make trouble.We blocked the entrance of the building with tables and chairs at night, waiting in full force, causing panic, which we found both hateful and ridiculous.

However, corrupt things will eventually perish. This is a law of evolution in human beings and nature. In the spring of 1949, Beijing was finally liberated. During these three years, what I saw in the mirror of my heart was the darkness before dawn.