Chapter 33 In Memory of Mr. Luo Xintian

The Beijing Linguistics Conference decided to publish a collection of essays commemorating the 80th anniversary of Mr. Luo Changpei's birth, and asked his friends during his lifetime to write commemorative articles.I, who was included in the covenant, felt both honored and infinitely sad. It will also be the 21st anniversary of the death of Mr. Luo Changpei Xintian.In the past two decades, the Chinese people have endured an unprecedented test. After a period of turbulence, there are very few "peers of the century" like Mr. Xin Tian and me.And in my "late sunny" years, the consolation I could get, the words that gave me the greatest hope for the motherland, were heard from people my own age.Therefore, I thought, if Mr. Xintian is still alive today, what kind of words of comfort and encouragement will this green pine standing up after the snow say to me?

Mr. Xintian passed away on December 13, 1958, which was a troubled time.Things about this period, for example: Did we visit him when he was sick?Did we attend his memorial service?It is blurred in my memory, but the scene of our being together more than forty years ago is very clear in my mind. My wife Wu Wenzao first met Mr. Xintian.I remember that in the early 1930s, he came back from a meeting in Qingdao and told me: "I met Luo Xintian, a professor of linguistics at Peking University in Qingdao, and we talked for a long time at the beach..." I knew they must have talked I asked some social science questions, because if Wen Zao hadn't talked about his profession and talked very speculatively, he wouldn't talk about "half a day" in his conversations with people!

I myself became acquainted with Mr. Xin Tian, ​​and it was after the Anti-Japanese War and the relocation of universities in Beijing to the south.In 1938, Wen Zao was teaching at Yunda University, and Mr. Xin Tian was teaching at Southwest Associated University. Our family lived in Luofeng Street in Kunming, Yunnan, and then moved to Weixin Street. At that time, there were several professors in Kunming who had no home , often come to our house as guests, especially Mr. Zheng Tianting (Yisheng), Mr. Yang Zhensheng (Jinfu) and Mr. Luo Xintian who call themselves the "Three Musketeers".Mr. Luo is a native of Beijing. He is very interested in our family's northern meals, such as dumplings, pancakes, and noodles with fried sauce.I always feel that he is not eating, but reminiscing about everything in his hometown!

The next year, when our family moved to Chenggong near Kunming, he was our regular weekend visitor.Chenggong is a small city surrounded by mountains. There are only three gates in the west, south and east. From the house on the top of the hill in the north wall where we live, we can walk up to the gate tower of the west gate.At dusk every Saturday, when the train from Kunming had arrived, plus the time to ride horses into the city from the train station, the children and I would go to the gate tower to wait for Wen Zao and the guests he brought.As long as they heard the sound of horseshoes on the mountain road, the children shouted in unison: "Come on, general name!"

As soon as they heard "I am Luo Changpei from Beiping", the children all clapped their hands and cheered. Mr. Xintian and everyone in our family, big and small, can talk and play together.Our children’s nanny—grandma Fu, also a Manchu—was also a cook at that time. Whenever she was in a hurry in the kitchen and the children were still pestering her, Mr. Xintian took the children’s hand Said: "Come, come, Grandma Luo will take you to the mountains to play!" Until now, our children who have become adults, when they mention Uncle Luo, they still affectionately call him Grandma Luo.

Mr. Xintian's academic attainments have long been judged in the academic circles, so I can't add another word.And his meticulous enticement and care for his students in their studies and life is what I have seen with my own eyes and what Wen Zao admires and appreciates the most.When we lived in Kunming, we often went to Shihua Lane where the "Three Musketeers" lived.There, there was always pen and ink on the desk, and they taught me to write.At this time, "Luomen disciples" such as Mr. Wu Xiaoling, a teaching assistant at that time, and Mr. Ma Xueliang, a graduate student, etc. (now they are also our good friends) came to talk to Mr. Xin Tian. In their serious and considerate conversations, I saw the most precious like-minded friendship between their teachers and students.Mr. Wu Xiaoling once told me: In the late 1940s, when Mr. Xin Tian was lecturing in the United States, he wrote an article "Sacrificing One'sself and Helping Others" for a publication run by his students, which is to say that a teacher should Have the spirit of "sacrificing oneself and cultivating others" to help students do a good job in academic research.

Mr. Xintian loves his students as much as he loves his own eyeballs. Although he has strict requirements on his students, he can't listen to a derogatory word about his students.I once said to Wen Zao in front of Mr. Xintian: "I know how to make Xintian angry. He is the most 'protective', as long as you say something bad to his students, he will argue with you On and on..." Mr. Xin Tian was not angry when he heard this, but smiled embarrassedly.What a respectable and lovely teacher he is! In the early 1940s, we lived in Geleshan on the outskirts of Chongqing, Sichuan. Whenever Mr. Xintian came to Chongqing, he would come to live there for a while.I remember that I once wrote a preface for a travel note "The Road to Shu" written by him.Now the book is nowhere to be found.

In the early 1950s, when we returned from Japan, Mr. Xintian was one of the first to visit us.Like many of our old friends, he brought us a comfortable and happy atmosphere of living and working in New China, and gave us great comfort and encouragement. Having said that, a Chinese Communist Party like Mr. Xin Tian who loves the motherland, loves the people, loves work, and loves to bring socialism to China, after going through 20 years of trials, will certainly be able to bring order out of chaos and rejuvenate the earth today. There will be some wise and optimistic words spoken to us.We have been assured by the immortal image he has left on our hearts of a staunch socialist patriot!December 6, 1979