Chapter 87 Section 3 Before the Red Leaf Steps - Recalling Mr. Qian Mu

In the affairs of the world, there are often wonderful phenomena of twists and turns.When I was at Wuhan University, I failed to catch up with the grand occasion of Mr. Qian Mu's lectures.Unexpectedly, in the position of the compilation hall, because of the "Wu Sheng Yue Fei incident", I had the opportunity to contact Mr. Qian Mu. Before I enter the museum. "University Series" received a manuscript by Professor Lin Ruihan from the History Department of National Taiwan University. It is still under review and whether it will be published has yet to be decided. However, a newspaper reported that Professor Lin Ruihan's book is a compulsory Chinese history textbook for first-year students at National Taiwan University. He actually slandered Yue Fei as domineering, saying The general is away, and the emperor's order is not accepted. It takes twelve gold medals to call him back to the court.Why Song Gaozong killed him was not so simple.With such disrespectful words, National Taiwan University actually made textbooks.And the National Institute of Compilation and Translation actually accepted the manuscript of Professor Lin's "Synopsis of Song History" and it is about to be published. It really shakes the foundation of the country!

Li, who claimed to be Yue Fei's little fellow, wrote several articles in a row, saying: "You insulted the martial arts saint. You just forgot your ancestors..." There was also Wu Yanhuan, a legislator who scolded the most.Not only did he use the pseudonym "Oath Return" to criticize him non-stop in the "Central Daily" column, but he also made a formal proposal in the Legislative Yuan to ask the Ministry of Education to answer questions.Although Wang Tianmin, the director of the library, explained in detail when the newspapers visited: "The manuscripts accepted by the library have not yet been reviewed, and there is no publication plan." However, the newspapers continued to publish scolding articles. The person involved is a woman of the generation, and not born in literature and history." Director Wang was a history professor, knowing that no scholars in various schools at that time were willing to interrogate, and no one could resist the turbulent waves of political consciousness, so he ordered me to meet with him. Mr. Qian Mu, who came to Taiwan from Hong Kong to settle down, asked him to be an arbitrator, say a few words, and guide the attitude of the National Institute of Compilation and Translation to this book.

I felt extremely hesitant about going to Qian's mansion, and I didn't want to encounter the scene of sitting or not sitting, tea or not tea again.Director Wang, who has always been very polite to me, said: "There is no other way, you have to go if you feel wronged." The Sushu Building where Mr. Qian came to live in Taiwan is located on a small hillside behind Soochow University in Shuangxi, Shilin, Taipei. There is a stone-step road built along the slope.I really don't know what happened on the way to Wai Shuangxi, and I deeply regret that I strayed into official career.The car arrived at Waishuangxi, followed the Soochow University mountain path to the end of the hillside, rang the doorbell, and walked up the stone steps nervously.When Mr. Qian came to see him, before he sat down, he said, "I already said on the phone that I can't review it." What remains, now the public opinion continues to criticize, please see, how can we resolve this deadlock?" Probably all out of sympathy! Mr. Qian took the manuscript and put it on the table.I thanked him and resigned hastily, almost running down the stone steps, thinking that I would probably never use it again.

Unexpectedly, three days later, I unexpectedly received a call from Mr. Qian, asking Professor Lin Ruihan to have a talk.A few days later, Professor Lin came to the library in person, and he wrote 22 pages of his neatly handwritten manuscript, which comprehensively added six new materials that Mr. Qian gave him during the interview, and supplemented the part of Yue Fei in his book.The data are very solid and provide a multi-faceted narrative. But it still couldn’t save us. The Ministry of Education sent an official letter to the Legislative Yuan’s inquiry proposal, “The National Institute of Translation and Translation intends to rely on the reputation of Mr. Qian Mu to satirize and destroy the works of Wu Sheng Yue Fei and publish them as university books, shaking the country... .” Order the curator to go to the Legislative Yuan with the Minister of Education Luo Yunping to explain.A few days before the questioning, I brought a lot of materials to the library of the Legislative Yuan to meet with member Wu Yanhuan, explaining in detail that the draft of "Song History Brief" was originally left by my predecessor, and no one is willing to review it, let alone publish it in the near future.On the question day, I sat in the last row of hard chairs for the officials preparing for inquiries. The curator Wang was tall and fat, sitting in the official seat; Although the questioner came aggressively, he did not know what crime should be charged. How could an unpublished academic work "shake the foundation of the country"?Since I was in the student movement in college (until today’s Taiwan’s election propaganda), I have seen the hideous appearance of political consciousness controlling academic thought. I did not expect that I would study hard and study hard, and finally get a Ministry of Education. I have a full professor qualification and teach literature courses in a university, but I came here to see my teacher, Curator Wang, being criticized by these people with political ideology. Such an insult to dignity, how unworthy! I am full of indignation and regret Unfortunately, when I returned to the library, I wrote my resignation letter. The curator asked me: "Do you think resigning in this situation is to maintain dignity? What position can you explain by leaving at this time?" He took me a letter from the table The registered letter I just received was from Mr. Qian, and I will refund the review fee of 2,400 yuan that I sent along with the manuscript.A note said: "I am very troubled to be involved in the vortex of public opinion on your manuscript for no reason. I will refund the review fee, and please do not involve my opinions in the future..." The curator said that we cannot publish this book in the short term, but You have to apologize to Mr. Qian, this is the responsible attitude.

In this way, I started the 18-year fate of climbing the stone steps of Sushu Building.After the vigorous Yue Fei incident, Tao Baichuan, Huang Jilu, Chen Lifu, Wang Shijie and other elders who are still alive are in favor of Chinese textbooks for middle and high schools, focusing on literary sentiment education and less publicity of political ideas.At least, Luo Yunping, then Minister of Education, actually supported it.When stating my ideals for compiling the book, I finally had the courage to face Mr. Qian, not his reputation as a "Master of Chinese Studies".He has a gentle face, and when he listens to people, there is often a kind of contemplative tranquility.It is also an encouragement.

From then on, I used to climb the stone steps of the Sushu Building for official business, delivering manuscripts, books, and asking for benefits, and I went very frequently.Later, Mr. Qian knew that I was a student of Teacher Zhu Guangqian, and he talked about his trip to Leshan, Sichuan Province to give lectures at Wuhan University 30 years ago.I told him that I heard the seniors talk about the scene of going to the auditorium with a torch in the early morning to attend his class.Therefore, sometimes Mr. Qian also invites me to sit down and talk about the events of the year.When I was not on business, I still went to see him during holidays and before his birthday, until he was forced to leave Su Shulou.In eighteen years, I went up and down the stone steps nearly a hundred times, and the two rows of maple trees beside the steps grew very tall.When I was hospitalized in a car accident in 1985, Mrs. Qian went to see me and said that the teacher missed me very much.A year later, I went to see him again. When I slowly climbed the stone steps, I saw that the small ditch beside the road was full of red maple leaves, which are rare in Taiwan.

In those years, Mr. Qian's eyes have gradually lost his ability to read books.After I really got to talk to Mr. Qian, although I always felt his natural dignity, he also felt a kind of tolerance and gentleness. Maybe I don’t have a background in history and learning, so I don’t know what is the limit that cannot be crossed.When he asked me what new books were available in the market, I would sometimes recklessly bring him the books published in the library with the knowledge of the foreign language department, and also buy some popular topics, such as books by Bo Yang, and give them to him. .

After I returned to National Taiwan University, I often talked with him about some of the books I used as teaching materials, such as the reaction of students when I first used the English version of "Brave New World" and "Heart of Darkness". search".For the cultural phenomenon of pursuing loneliness, Mr. Qian finds it quite "interesting" (his Wuxi pronunciation is still unforgettable).In fact, in the book "Eighty Memories of Parents and Miscellaneous Memories of Teachers and Friends" that he personally gave me in 1983, Mr. Qian recalled that most of his important works in his life were conceived and completed in the loneliness of being alone in the garden. When I moved to the Southwest Associated University in Kunming, I lived alone in a small building for a year in Yanquanxia Temple, Beishan Mountain, Yiliang, Yunnan, and completed the "Outline of National History" under the situation of "lonely and impatient". For seventy years, this book is still a must-have for many people. The book of reading.It's just that his Chinese-style literati's loneliness is quite different from the loneliness in the sense of Western society.

Of course, after 1975, Mr. Qian faced various changes before and after the death of President Chiang.Recalling the turmoil in China before and after the Anti-Japanese War, observing it with the mood of a historian, he felt even more deeply. What he had been looking forward to but finally disappointed was a stable China. When the "Outline of National History" was completed, Kunming and Chongqing were under the bombing of Japan, and the frontline soldiers were fighting endlessly. The founding of the country is based on the fact that the cultural traditions of our people have not been completely eliminated.” This passage made me understand more specifically why he was willing to leave Hong Kong and come to Taiwan to settle down at the invitation of President Chiang, thinking that he could spend the rest of the year in peace, because he and At that time, like all Chinese people, for eight years they believed in the necessity of resisting Japan and saving the country, and after 1950 Taiwan was still a place to defend Chinese culture.

I dare not enter the field of historiography, but I am very interested in cultural history, especially paying attention to the political changes made by intellectuals. The compilation of the Chinese textbook department of the National Middle School, and then the new compilation of the "History of Chinese Culture" in high school, everything is news. focus.During that period of time, I was the director of the humanities and society group and the textbook group, and I might live in the "Ban Bao Hotel" at any time. Fortunately, I grew up in a family like mine and experienced many storms. My father and brother often said humorously, You have become such a high-ranking official, but you have gotten into the trouble of reporting every day. You must remember the instructions in President Jiang’s proclamation, and you should always be "solemn and self-reliant" and "not surprised by changes."My father once said: "My daughter is timid, and she often "gets into a panic". Unexpectedly, the National Institute of Compilation and Translation in the 1970s was actually my "Courage Research Institute"

In fact, the public opinion circle is not one-sided. There are quite a few innovative ideals among the people who hope for academic neutrality. The influence of that time.The "Outline of National History" used to be our textbook in college, and we have re-read it at many different stages of life. Recently, it is known that "Outline of National History" has become a must-read book in mainland China. If so, the front page of the book requires "everyone who reads this book must first have the following beliefs": "The so-called people who know a little about the history of their own country must especially Attached is a kind of warmth and respect for the past history of its own country." For half a century of turmoil in China, the devastated human nature should have the effect of increasing gentle self-esteem. Looking back on nearly twenty years now, listening to Mr. Qian speak across the small square table is like his "Introduction".All have reanalyzed Chinese culture in different ways and in different changing situations.Sometimes Mr. Qian speaks calmly, sometimes passionately and indignantly. Sometimes I am alone in the room, and sometimes there are three people with Mrs. Qian.Most of his Wuxi dialect revolves around this idea, which is not difficult to understand. I remember talking about the destruction of division commanders and intellectuals by the Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution. When these people grow up and rule China, where will their brutal humanity take China? I am deeply worried.Mr. Qian said that after the Cultural Revolution, people in their fifties will still retain some of the quintessence of Chinese culture. One day they will speak, and there is still hope for the continuation of Chinese culture. In those years, Mr. Qian also often talked about the political situation in Taipei, especially the literati's attitude towards changing the political situation.Speaking of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Southwest Associated University moved from Kunming back to Pingjin. The returnees had almost no luggage settled down, and the war broke out again, and people were panicked.Like ordinary people, literati don't know where to go.Mr. Qian returned to his hometown in Wuxi and taught courses such as the history of Chinese thought at Jiangnan University on the shore of Taihu Lake. He also served as the dean of literature.He recalled that time in "Miscellaneous Memories of Teachers and Friends": "When there was a trend in the school, Gai Qun thought that if he didn't make trouble, he would be outdated and shameful. , worrying about his family and country, compiled Zhuangzi's annotations with colorful pens, and published "Zhuangzi Compiled Notes" in 1951.When the CCP moved in in 1949, most of the scholars stayed in the mainland. Not long after the Anti-Japanese War went into exile, their families had a lot of worries about their livelihoods, and those who stayed had no freedom of speech. Almost a fault. In 1950, Mr. Qian went from Guangzhou to Hong Kong and founded the New Asia College with his friends. There were only dozens of students at the beginning, and only three graduates in the first class. Among them, Yu Yingshi, the most outstanding one, was mentioned in the article "The Wind Blows the Water and the Scales" Talking about the rough and difficult situation back then and the "friends in need" of teachers and students, he has a brief testimony of the teacher's important works and open attitude towards learning.In 1967, Mr. Qian moved to Taipei. The government honored the scholar and helped him build a small building on the reserved land of the Yangmingshan Administration Hotel, named "Sushu Building". What he never expected was that Taiwan, where he "returned" to settle down in his later years, would come to a day without warmth and respect. At the age of 96, at the end of June 1990, he moved out hastily for the sake of dignity. Su Shulou in Waishuangxi, Taipei, settled in a small apartment on Hangzhou South Road, and died two months later.The Kuomintang President Lee Teng-hui, who succeeded him at the time, was unwilling to uphold his predecessor's courtesy to returned scholars. The recklessness and ignorance of the whole country driving a generation of great Confucians out of the country, and his disrespect for academics, made Taiwan sad.At that time, Chen Shui-bian, who had sharply questioned the Legislative Yuan and demanded the recovery of the city government's land, later served as president for eight years. Twelve years later, in March 2002, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou presided over the opening ceremony of "Qian Mu's Former Residence" Open as a study of Chinese literature, history and philosophy.Thirty years have passed since I first climbed the stone steps, how heavy my steps are now.A small canopy was set up in the yard on the stone steps. When the ceremony started in the afternoon, it rained abundantly in spring, and the small canopy could not cover the rain, so the scene was quite messy.After I went in, I found a seat in the back row where no one would notice. I could listen and listen. Thinking about the past thirty years, Mrs. Qian's mood can be imagined.When the parliament clamored to take back the property, some young scholars who studied history still visited Su Shulou, and sorted out and edited old works for him.Mr. Qian asked them: "What are these people eager to do with this house?" They said: "To be a memorial hall." Yu Yingshi mourned Mr. Qian and wrote an elegiac couplet: I spent my whole life calling for the soul of my homeland, and at that time, I was smashing musk deer into dust.The incense in Wei Xue Zhai does not disperse. Thousands of miles away, Zeng Jiashan fell into a dream, and this day rode a whale across the sea, and it was cold at the beginning of the month outside the Sushu building. He wanted to use this elegiac couplet to symbolize Mr. Qian's ultimate and final care in the article "Calling the Soul for the Motherland All My Life". "Wei Xue Zhai" is the name of Mr. Qian's study in the past, and it is his self-study mood. The Su Shu Building "does not exist today."Mr. Qian read Liang Qichao's "China's Future is Lack of Hope and National Responsibility" since he was sixteen years old (1910). He was deeply attracted by Liang's historical arguments. according to.He hopes that the country and society can seek progress in stability, instead of aggressively seeking change and damaging culture with hostility.Yu Yingshi said: "Mr. Qian undoubtedly left this world with deep disappointment, but he did not despair... What he pursued was never the return of the old Chinese soul intact, but the birth of a new soul from the old soul. Today many more people would agree with that view." When I first met Mr. Qian, he was already in the stage of red leaves. In late autumn, the leaves of thinking have turned from green to a kind of peaceful and rotten. After a few more storms, they will soon fall.On his 80th birthday, he traveled south and wrote the article "Eighty Memories of Parents" at the Wuling Farm in Lishan: "This is the one that often haunts the rest of my life. It can also be said to be the most meaningful and valuable place in my life." After this article Compiled with "Miscellaneous Memories of Teachers and Friends", it is full of warm memories of family and friendship, as well as the sighs of the literati of his generation in troubled times: "Is it possible for Yu to close the door and live his life alone? This is also the era. As a result, how can Yu go back to the times and become a scholar. But the recollection of writing is far from Yu’s ten-year-old childhood. Those who can reminisce, this is the beginning of my life.” The people and things that cannot be forgotten are the real life.This is also what Mr. Qian Mu, who wrote "China's Academic History in the Past Three Hundred Years", said. I have moved in recent years, and on the front wall of my current study is a calligraphy gifted to me by Mr. Qian, which records five five-character quatrains by Ming Confucian Mr. Gao Jingyi. The first one expresses his reclusive mood when he settled in Shuangxi: Open the window, the sun rises under the north mountain, the bamboo is shining, and the people in the building are standing still.His eyesight was poor by then.This word is even more precious.On the wall opposite to it, there is an upright broad-leaved tree photographed by Zhuang Ling, whose branches and leaves are clearly projected on the rocks interlaced with light and shadow—this is also the situation I am looking forward to. I miss those years. Why is Mr. Qian willing to talk to me? He is an academic historian of thought. He has worked hard on institutional history, evolutionary geography, and social and economic aspects. "Case", "Ancient History and Geography Theory Collection" and other collation work were reviewed by Dai Jingxian and He Zeheng from the Chinese Department of National Taiwan University.When he talked with me, he never talked about learning and research, but he talked about life. For example, he said in the book "Eighty Memories of Parents": "The National Government has withdrawn from the United Nations. Chen Baisha's poems are used as a pastime. Following Zhu Zi's poems, two collections were selected, and Wang Yangming, Gao Jingyi, and Lu Ningting were added to compile a book of six Neo Confucian poems... It is said that Neo Confucianism is mainly concerned with life, and poetry is a part of life. One important item. I love to recite poems, but I can't write poems. Reciting other people's poems is like coming out of my own heart..." From reading poems to talking about life, and talking about how literati survive in troubled times, he believes that scholars should serve the country and live up to their talents and abilities. Going to my hometown to study at the shore of Taihu Lake, and then going to Hong Kong in Quyunnan, and coming to Taiwan, at least I kept the dignity of not speaking, let alone "confessing" in the CCP's criticism.After arriving in Taiwan, he was employed by the Institute of History of the Cultural Institute (now Cultural University), and two hours a week, Qu students went to Wai Shuangxi to attend classes, and served as a special researcher at the Palace Museum. His life was arranged, and he never made any political remarks, such as Yu Yingshi in Wenzhong Said, "Old Time is fair in the end. So in his talks, he always emphasizes that scholars should not be too eager to sell themselves, so that they will be swept away by the trend of the times and become dust in the vacuum cleaner." Since Mr. Qian passed away on August 30, 1990, I have been thinking about it, and I can write this memory in my lifetime.Because of the warmth and respect for history, there are still people and events in the world that cannot be forgotten.