Chapter 102 First Arrival at Tsinghua University

First Arrival at Tsinghua University When I was studying in Peiping, I always stayed in the city circle.Although I have swam back to Xishan three or five times in the past four years, I have never been to Tsinghua University. Speaking of Tsinghua University, I only feel that it is very far away.At that time, I didn’t know anyone from Tsinghua University. Once, Peking University and Tsinghua students held an English debate at the Youth Association, and I also went to listen to it.Tsinghua's English is indeed much more fluent, and they won.I have completely forgotten the title and content of that round; I only remember that during the re-argument, the leader of Tsinghua University was very airy and quoted something from Confucius.During Peking University's defense, the word furiously was used at the beginning to describe the leader's attitude.This word may be too much, but it also speaks a little bit.Tsinghua students went into the city by big bus that day, and the car stopped in front of the YMCA; back then there were very few big cars.It was late winter and early spring, and it was very cold.A Tsinghua student only wore a single coat in the house, but put on a thick leather coat when going out.This kind of "travel" and "clothes" method was quite standard at the time.

I first came to Tsinghua University in the summer of the 14th year.I just came to Beiping from the south and stayed at a friend's house near Chaoyang Gate.At that time, the Dean of Education was Mr. Zhang Zhongshu, and we did not meet each other.I wrote to him and made an appointment to see him the next morning.When I wrote the letter, I also discussed with that friend. Can I make it to Tsinghua University by ten o’clock? Where can I go from Chaoyangmen?He had already been here once at that time, but he seemed to only remember "long forests and green grass" - so he wrote to me in a letter to the south - he couldn't tell how long the journey would take.He advised me to leave at eight o'clock and hire a foreign car until Xizhimen to change trains, so as not to wait for trams and change back and forth, which would delay things.At that time, there was only a foreign car from Xizhimen to Tsinghua University; later I learned that I could also take a Xiangshan bus to Haidian and then take a foreign car, but that was later.

The third day arrived, I don't know if I got up late or something else, I stepped out of my friend's house, and it was already zero at nine o'clock.I couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and the coachman seemed to be walking very slowly.Changed cars at Xizhimen.According to the coachman, there used to be a small road, but after the rain, it became impassable due to the accumulation of water, so we had to follow the right path.We knew each other a while after we left the city, because it was also the way to Wansheng Garden; after that, we were at a loss.When I arrived at Huangzhuang, I looked at some houses and thought it must be Haidian; I thought that Tsinghua University would be here soon, so I comforted myself.When approaching the real Haidian, I asked the coachman, "Have you arrived yet?"Haidian is so hard to come by, when will Tsinghua University be?But the coachman said he was hungry and had to buy something to eat.Eat it, go all out anyway.It took another ten minutes to eat.It is said that there are still more than three miles to go.There was no Yenching University at that time, and there was nothing to see on the road, except for the faint Xishan Mountain in the distance—there was no sun that day—a little relief.After finally crossing the Red Bridge and the Lama Temple, I gradually saw two rows of tall willows, like vaulted gates.Although the weeping poplars in Shichahai are good, they are not so many and deep. At that time, I was the only car on the road, and I looked like I was driving straight.There was a sign in front of the willow tree that said "School buses and horses move slowly"; I finally arrived, I thought to myself, but the gate was far enough away. Needless to say, the west courtyard gate deceived me again, and it took another six or seven minutes before I really arrived.Sitting in Mr. Zhang's living room and watching the clock, fifteen minutes are still left at twelve o'clock.

Mr. Zhang lives in House B, so he has to walk through the "long forest and green grass", the thick green is really intoxicating.In the living room of Mr. Zhang, there is a pair of Deng Wanbai official script long couplets with the seal of the official bookstore.I have a classmate who can write, he likes Deng Wanbai, and he also has this couplet; so I feel like seeing an old friend at this time.Mr. Zhang came out.He is much taller than me and has a much longer face.At a glance, he is a capable person.I apologized to him for being too late, and he apologized too, saying that he had an appointment and couldn't keep me for dinner.We talked for a while, and after twelve o'clock, I took my leave.At the gate, the original car was still there, and I sat back to Beiping for dinner.After a day or two, I came to carry my luggage.This time, I took the train and got on the train from Chaoyangmen Station of the Ring Railway.

In the future, there will be more traffic inside and outside the city, and I have learned a trick; that is, as soon as I get on the foreign car at Xizhimen, don't even think about "going to" Tsinghua University, and you will arrive without thinking about it. ——I also took a ride in the Xiangshan car once or twice, which is really impressive.Sometimes there is simply no place to put two legs, and I wish they had to be my own.Once, I got off the car in Haidian, and in the small restaurant behind the current "West Garden", I picked a square table facing the street, sat on a bench, and asked for a plate of alfalfa meat, two homemade cakes, and two for nothing. Rose, eating and drinking, is also very interesting; and also wrote a crooked poem "My South" on that table.At that time, along the road from Haidian to Tsinghua University, poor women or children often followed the car asking for money.In addition to common phrases such as "you fix it", they sometimes say "you will be the principal in the future", which is not heard elsewhere.

Made on April 18, 1936 (Originally published in the 1936 "Tsinghua Weekly" Supplement, Volume 44, Issue 3)