Chapter 39 academic self-report

back to the motherland 1946 - 1949 In the autumn of 1945, after staying for 10 years, I went to Switzerland from Göttingen, waiting for the opportunity to return to China; I lived in Friborg, Switzerland for several months, and at the turn of spring and summer of 1946, I went through Marseille, France and Saigon, Vietnam, and then After Hong Kong, return to the motherland.First lived in Shanghai and Nanjing for one summer and half autumn.At that time, the War of Liberation was raging, and the Jinpu Railway was interrupted, so I couldn't return home.At that time, I had already been introduced by my mentor, Mr. Chen Yinke, and Mr. Hu Shizhi, the president of Peking University, Mr. Fu Sinian, the acting president, and Mr. Tang Xiyu (Yong Tong), the dean of the Faculty of Arts, accepted me to teach at Peking University.When living in Shanghai and Nanjing.I sold an automatic Omega gold watch brought back from Switzerland in Shanghai.This was a very precious and rare treasure in China at that time.But because I was cheated a little, I only sold it for ten taels of gold.I exchanged part of the money into French currency and sent it back to my home in Jinan.The family's economy has long been bankrupt, and they barely make ends meet by setting up small stalls selling fried peanuts, cigarettes, and the cheapest candies.For this matter, I have been guilty for a long time.It's just blocked by the flames of war and trapped in a foreign land.The family is looking forward to my return, like looking forward to the clouds in a severe drought.Now that I have finally come back after going through all kinds of hardships, how can I not think of family first! The parents in the family—uncle and aunt, wife and son are waiting to be fed.The remaining gold was used for my meals in Nanjing and Shanghai.For accommodation, in Shanghai, I slept on tatami mats in Ke’s house; in Nanjing, I slept on a desk in Nagazhi National Compilation Hall, and wandered around Taicheng, Xuanwu Lake and other places during the day.I can't afford the hotel bill, I haven't been hired yet, and I don't get paid at all.

Under such circumstances, I have no books to read, nowhere to read.How I longed to have a desk, even if it was extremely simple! Except for writing a few short articles, I did nothing in one summer.A person's life is limited.The ancients said: "An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, and an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time." I often say that wasting time is tantamount to suicide.However, what can I do in such an environment? I have really become Yang Silang in the "sit in the palace". In the late autumn of 1946, I took a boat from Shanghai to the north, first arrived at Qinhuangdao, then took a train, and arrived in Beijing, the old capital of 11 years.The railway from Shanhaiguan to Beijing is guarded by armed forces of the U.S. military and is still open to traffic.Professor Yin Faro and other old friends went to meet us at the station.The car passed by Chang'an Avenue, and it was already dusk, the street lights were pale yellow, and the ground was full of fallen leaves, making it desolate.I thought of the Tang poem "Chang'an is full of fallen leaves". The "Chang'an" here refers to "Chang'an City", today's Xi'an.My "Chang'an" is Chang'an Avenue from east to west in Beijing.When the wanderer returns, the ancient city remains the same, but as time goes by, youth is hard to come back.There are many thoughts in my heart, mixed with sorrow and joy.For a moment, it feels as if I left here just yesterday.Lament the impermanence of life, lament the bleakness of fate.The overseas experience of the past 11 years emerged in my mind layer by layer.We finally arrived at the Red Building of Peking University.I have been arranged to live here temporarily.

According to the regulations of Peking University at that time, returning international students from abroad, no matter what degree they got, could only be designated as an associate professor at the highest.Tsinghua University does not have the title of associate professor, which is equivalent to a full-time lecturer.You have to wait at least a few years to see your teaching performance and academic level. If you are qualified, you will be promoted to full professor.It is a great honor for me to be admitted to Peking University. How dare I have any unreasonable thoughts! The next day, I paid a visit to Mr. Tang Yongtong as an associate professor.Mr. Tang is a master of Buddhism.His great work "History of Buddhism in the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", which integrates theories, poems, and textual research, is famous all over the world. It is still a model of this way, and there is no one who can match it.I have admired his name for a long time.In my imagination, he should be an old man with a pale face and a slender body; but in fact it is quite the opposite.He was wearing a gray cloth gown and round cloth shoes. He had a peaceful face, strict but not majestic, which left a very deep impression on me.It is a kind of happiness to secretly think that working under his leadership.After at least a week, he told me that the school had decided to appoint me as a full professor and head of the Department of Oriental Languages ​​and Literatures of the Faculty of Arts.This is really beyond my expectation.To say I wasn't happy would be an overstatement; to say I felt truly qualified was hard to say.I am ashamed and feel that it is an encouragement to me.In any case, the short period of associate professor can always be regarded as a record.