Chapter 116 Recalling Mr. Xu Dishan

Xu Dishan’s wife, Zhou Qisong, brought her daughter Yanji to visit me a few days ago, and said that Dishan’s 95th anniversary was coming soon, and asked me to write an article.I also mentioned that when Dishan passed away in 1941, I hadn't written anything.How did she know that I was living in confinement in Geleshan in the suburbs of Chongqing that year, and that even the news of Dishan's death was not let me know until a long time later? I met Dishan in 1922 when I listened to his class in the liberal arts class of Yenching University.At that time, he was Mr. Zhou Zuoren's teaching assistant, sometimes lecturing for him.I even forgot what he was talking about, he only came to talk to us as a senior classmate.He spoke very humorously, and there was always laughter in the classroom.He often had contact with students outside of class, but at that time Yanda Boys' School was in the Armor Factory, and the Girls' School was in Tongfu.We don't see each other very often.We really became acquainted at the editorial meeting of "Yan University Student Weekly". He, Qu Shiying, Xiong Fuxi and others were male editors. I remember that a classmate named Chen and I were female editors.We cooperate very well, but sometimes, we argue endlessly over a manuscript, or even a single word.Ms. Chen always smiled and said nothing. I was used to fighting with boys-cousins ​​since I was a child, so I never backed down.I remember one time when I wrote the word "Xiang" in an article (simplified characters were not popular at that time), Dishan quoted scriptures and said that the word "standing beside people" should be added.Written as "like", taught me a lesson!It's really "no acquaintance without fighting", and we have cooperated more harmoniously since then.

In the early autumn of 1923, four students from Yan University went to the United States on the same boat, among them were Dishan and me.It’s a coincidence that Wen Zao and I met because I asked him to find my female classmate Wu Loumei’s younger brother and Tsinghua student Wu Zhuo, but he found Wen Zao and asked for his name. I found the wrong person, so I had no choice but to ask him to join the sandbag throwing game that our Yanda students were playing.Afterwards, Di Shan often joked with us, saying, "Thanks to the 'wrong circumstances' at that time, otherwise, after you arrived in the United States, one would be in Wellesley in Boston in the east, and the other in Dartmouth, New Hampshire in the north, It takes seven or eight hours to go by train, so maybe we will never have the chance to meet each other!"

After Dishan arrived in the United States, he entered Columbia University in New York.When I was recuperating in Sharang in the winter of 1924, he came to see me once.In September of that year, he transferred to Oxford University in England. In 1925, when I recovered from illness and went back to school, he even wrote to ask if I wanted to study at Oxford.He can try to apply for a scholarship for me.I was a little timid about this prestigious British university, so I had no choice but to resign. In 1926, after I received my master's degree from Wellesley University, I returned to Yemen University to teach.In the second year, Dishan also came back from England. At that time, Yanda University had moved to a new location outside the city. The teachers lived on campus, and there were many opportunities to meet them. In 1928, through the introduction of Xiong Fuxi and his wife, he met Zhou Yusong, and they announced their engagement in 1929.The place where Yanda announced it was at the home of the American female professor Bao Guisi in Langrun Garden. I said the congratulatory message in Chinese. This can be regarded as my reward for his "mistakes"!

In 1935, because he disagreed with the principal Leighton Stuart, he was hired by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and moved his family south.We haven't seen each other since then. Dishan is well-informed and has written many books. Regarding his academic works, I am a layman, so I dare not praise him in vain.As for his literary achievements, they are indeed astonishing.His works have a special style and sentiment of a foreign land and country. He is a native of Taiwan, and has been to many Southeast Asian countries and regions. He describes the customs, customs, and human conditions in those places vividly, so that readers who have never been to those places or have contact with those characters can learn from his novels. , drama, fairy tales, poetry, prose, travel notes and memories, taste and appreciate those novel sentiments, which makes Dishan unique in style among Chinese writers!

It has been nearly half a century since Dishan left us, and he was in his prime when he passed away.If he is still alive today, let alone how many creations we can learn and enjoy, we are really unfortunate.I remember that there was a poem in the past that said, "beauties have been like famous generals since ancient times, and the world is not allowed to see gray hair." I think "talented people" are also the same as "beauties"!It's true, what is it called! Early morning, November 10, 1987