Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Panic Escape

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, along with the rumbling artillery fire and the roar of Japanese planes, people in the Pingjin area were panicked and rumors spread everywhere. Various government agencies and business people began to find their own way to flee in the chaos.The educational circle represented by Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University, Peking University, Yenching University and other famous universities also showed signs of panic and panic. The billowing stream of people rushed out of the city against the scorching heat of midsummer and the pervasive smoke and dust.People of all kinds who had no time to escape or were unable to escape due to special circumstances waited and watched in the agony of fear and anxiety, secretly praying in their hearts and hoping that the Chinese army might win the help of gods and the blessings of Buddha spirits, and repel the Japanese army as soon as possible. Preserve the thousand-year-old city of Beiping and the campus that stores the blood of national culture.

Chiang Kai-shek, who was in Lushan Mountain at that time, in addition to sending telegrams to Song Zheyuan and Qin Dechun one after another to "stick to it and not retreat", invited people from all walks of life to rush to Guling, Lushan Mountain, and held frequent talks and national defense councils to discuss how to save the country and save the country. plan.Jiang Menglin, President of Peking University, Hu Shi, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Mei Yiqi, President of Tsinghua University, Zhang Boling, President of Tianjin Nankai University, Luo Jialun, President of Central University, Fu Sinian, Director of the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica, and a large number of academic dignitaries were invited to attend the meeting.At this time, the colleges and universities in Pingjin and Tianjin were in the summer vacation, and the principals, deans, famous professors and some faculty members who were invited to Lushan to participate in the meeting, as well as some teaching staff in other places, were far away from Pingjin, so it was difficult to tell the truth about the progress of the war. , and the chaotic situation is accompanied by terrifying rumors, flying around like wildfire in the wind.In the face of news from all directions, the principals of Jiang, Mei, Zhang and other three schools in Lushan were restless.For this reason, the presidents of the three schools and senior figures in the academic circle expressed their feelings one after another, hoping that the central government would make a decision as soon as possible to save Pingjin and the universities and academic colleagues who were struggling under the Japanese guns and bombs.

On July 16, in the face of the ambiguous and uncertain attitudes of Song Zheyuan and others in power in North China, 26 professors and cultural celebrities including Zha Liangzhao, Luo Longji, Pan Guangdan, Zheng Tianting, Jin Yuelin from Peking University, and Liang Sicheng and Liu Dunzhen from the China Construction Society , jointly sent a call to the military and political officials who were participating in the symposium in Lushan Mountain, and called on the government to resolutely resist Japan: "Since the Lugouqiao War of Resistance, the whole country has been invigorated and morale is high. In the past few days, there has been a sudden negotiation in Tianjin, and the enemy has penetrated deep into the hinterland. , How can we be spared. Please don’t unanimously advocate the determination to defend the land and resist the war, and absolutely stop making compromises before the Japanese army withdraws, so as to maintain the country’s rights.”

On July 17, Mei Yiqi sent a telegram from Lushan to Pan Guangdan, dean of Tsinghua University: "The authorities expressed their firmness in today's important meeting and have made arrangements." Unfortunately, Mei Yiqi was talking about Lushan instead of Beiping. The situation was erratic, and what the teachers, students, and people in the Pingjin area saw was not the active "arrangement" of the defenders, but the abandonment and retreat. At 2 a.m. on July 29, Li Wentian, deputy commander of the 38th Division of the Tianjin garrison, according to the secret message sent by Song Zheyuan on the way out of Beiping, commanded the headquarters of the Japanese army stationed in North China at Haiguang Temple in Tianjin, the Dongjuzi Airport, and the Gu military wharf and other Japanese occupation points launched a fierce attack. "The people in the whole city are almost like watching the New Year's Eve. Most of them were startled by the sound of guns and stayed up all night." After the battle lasted for 15 hours, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on the 29th, they received a message from Zhang Zizhong, the successor chairman of the Jicha Political Affairs Committee, from Beiping. "Peace is hopeful" telegram, coupled with the arrival of Japanese reinforcements, and the rampant activities of enemy agents and traitors, Li Wentian reluctantly ordered to abandon Tianjin, lead his troops to retreat while fighting, and move closer to the headquarters of the 29th Army that had withdrawn to Baoding.The Japanese army took advantage of the situation to counterattack. Nankai University, located in Balitai, south of Tianjin, was suddenly attacked by artillery fire from the Japanese barracks at Haiguang Temple. The first target of the shooting was the towering dome of the Muzhai Library in the school. Passing by, the second artillery hit the target, and the huge impact force cut off the entire dome of the library and threw it into the air. Because the dome was so big and heavy, when it flipped and trembled and fell, the entire library was crushed and collapsed.Immediately afterwards, the Japanese army fired several artillery shells, and the Nankai University campus was rained like bullets. The Xiushan Hall, the Zhiqin Building girls' dormitory, and the single teacher's dormitory area were all hit by Japanese artillery shells. And rare materials were wiped out.After the shelling, Japanese planes volleyed and dropped bombs inside and outside the campus. The remaining buildings on the campus and the adjacent Nankai Middle School, Nankai Girls' Middle School, and Nankai Elementary School were all destroyed.After the bombing, the ferocious Japanese army sent a large group of cavalry and several cars, loaded with kerosene, into the campus of Nankai University, dropped bombs and set fire to it. Shrapnel flew across the campus, black smoke billowed, and flames rose.Founded by the famous educator Zhang Boling and others, and sponsored by people from all walks of life, the most outstanding private university in China at that time, which was developed through untold hardships, fell into ruins in the flames of war.Zhang Boling, who had already transferred to Nanjing, heard the bad news and fainted on the spot. After that, he burst into tears and couldn't control his grief.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhang Boling endured the severe pain and spoke to the reporter of "Central Daily" with a tragic tone and an unyielding spirit: "The enemy's bombing of Nankai this time will destroy the material of Nankai, and the spirit of Nankai will be destroyed by this setback." The more motivated you are." On July 31, Chiang Kai-shek met with Zhang Boling and said with the same emotion: "Nankai sacrificed for China, and if there is China, there will be Nankai." The conversation between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Boling injected a boost to the bewildered education circles in Pingjin, adding a sense of generosity and tragedy.The Japanese at this time knew very well that to completely crush a nation, in addition to using force to destroy it in political, economic, and military aspects, more importantly, it was a complete spiritual conquest.However, "Since the change in Shenyang, the authority of our country has gradually moved southward, and only with cultural power, we can compete with Japan in Pingjin. These three schools are indeed the backbone." The national cultural elite and precious cultural heritage.Before the incident, the Japanese army, which had regarded Pingjin University as an important target of conquest, finally put Nankai University under artillery fire and began a spiritual conquest.

At the time of the nation's life and death, it is more and more important and urgent to protect and rescue the educational and cultural intellectuals and national elites in the Pingjin area.Cai Yuanpei, President of Academia Sinica, Jiang Menglin, President of Peking University, Mei Yiqi, President of Tsinghua University, Zhang Boling, President of Nankai University, Li Yuying, President of Peking Research Institute, Weng Zhilong, President of Tongji University, Luo Jialun, President of Central University, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica The director, Fu Sinian, and 102 people jointly issued a statement, exposing the Japanese army's crimes of destroying Chinese educational institutions, put forward the slogan "education is the foundation of national rejuvenation", and asked the government to take decisive measures to relocate some colleges and universities to the mainland.

On the morning of August 17, the Senate of the Supreme National Defense Conference of the National Government was held in Wang Jingwei’s apartment in Nanjing. A total of 16 people were invited to participate, namely: Zhang Boling, Jiang Menglin, Huang Yanpei, Zhang Jiasen, Zhang Yaozeng, Shen Junru, Zeng Qi, ▲Li Huang, ▲Jiang Fangzhen, ▲Liang Shuming, ▲Tao Xisheng, ▲Fu Sinian, Mao Zedong, Ma Junwu, Yan Yangchu, ▲Hu Shi.Chairman Wang Jingwei, three ministers Jiang Zuobin, Wang Shijie, Wu Daquan and Secretary General Zhang Qun were present. About half of the invited people attended (the ones marked with ▲), and the CCP leader Mao Zedong who was in Yan'an at the time was represented by Zhou Enlai.From the list of invited people, it can be seen that in addition to military discussions, this meeting paid more attention to cultural education. The direction of education and academia in the Pingjin area has been raised to the height of national strategy for discussion.

On September 10, the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government issued Decree No. 16696, officially announcing the establishment of temporary universities in Changsha and Xi'an.Changsha Temporary University is composed of National Peking University, Tsinghua University and private Nankai University.With Peking University, Peking Normal University, Tianjin Beiyang Institute of Technology (formerly Beiyang University) and Peking Research Institute as the backbone, Northwest (Xi'an) Temporary University was established.The former presidents of the two temporary universities served as the standing committee members of the preparatory committee, and they quickly went to the local area to select a site for preparations, and organized teachers and students to withdraw from the Pingjin area to start classes in the new school building as soon as possible.

On September 13, the Changsha Provisional University Preparatory Committee held its first meeting. The presidents of Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University were ex officio members, as well as Hu Shi of Peking University, Gu Yuxiu of Tsinghua University, He Lian of Nankai University, and Fu Sinian, director of the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica , Pi Zongshi, President of Hunan University, and Zhu Jingnong, Director of Education Department of Hunan Province are members.Minister of Education Wang Shijie was the chairman, and Deputy Minister of Education Zhou Binglin was the secretary. Because Zhou Binglin was not allowed to leave for Changsha, Yang Zhensheng acted as the secretary.The meeting decided to lease the former Bible College run by the American Church at No. 1 Jiucaiyuan, Changsha City as a temporary school building, and clarified matters such as the establishment of colleges and departments, organizational structure, and allocation of funds.At this time, the Changsha Bible Academy had been closed, and the classrooms, dormitories, furniture, and office equipment were relatively complete. In addition, there was a basement of the auditorium, which was just used as a temporary air-raid shelter for the teachers and students of the university to avoid Japanese bombing.

On September 20, Jiang Menglin, President of Peking University, and colleagues from the three universities arrived in Changsha for emergency preparations. On September 28, all matters were ready, and the National Changsha Temporary University began to use the customs defense system. The school affairs were in charge of the standing committee composed of the presidents and director secretaries of the three schools.At the same time, the Northwest Provisional University has also chosen a school site in Xi'an and is basically ready for preparations. The wartime Chinese education is about to open a new page.

Prior to this, the evacuation order issued by the Ministry of Education had been secretly conveyed by letters and telegrams among the teachers and students of various schools in Pingjin. Escape from Pingjin and Tianjin, which had fallen to the enemy, as soon as possible, and rushed to Changsha, Hunan, and the ancient city of Xi'an-the most tragic retreat of intellectuals in modern Chinese history began.This decision was made hastily under the urgent situation of drastic changes in the current situation. Therefore, this retreat was actually a panic escape with no organization and order at all. The teachers and students of Nankai University, whose campus became a piece of scorched earth, were ordered to go south by boat along the coastal road.Huang Yusheng, secretary-general of Nankai University, and Yang Shixian, dean of the Faculty of Science, had already felt that there was no danger when Song Zheyuan, Zhang Zizhong and others were trying to talk and give in to the Japanese, so they began to organize some left-behind teachers and students to transfer books, Equipment, and organize the family members of professors to evacuate the campus as much as possible and transfer to a safe place.When the war broke out and the Japanese army shelled and bombed the Nankai campus, professors Huang Yusheng, Yang Shixian, Guo Pingfan and others braved the billowing smoke and sporadic gunfire to check the situation in the school.When evacuating the campus, Huang Yusheng picked up the unburned bedding and a shirt from the ruins of his own house, while Yang Shixian only had a set of unlined clothes and a camera on his body. He led the teachers and students of Nankai on the road to Changsha. Located in the center of Beijing, Peking University has the longest school history. Because the president Jiang Menglin, the dean of the Faculty of Arts Hu Shi and other celebrities went to Lushan to attend the government meeting, all the aftermath work fell to Zheng Tian, ​​the secretary-general of Peking University and professor of the Department of History. superior.With the fall of Beiping and the Japanese army entering the city, some literati and scholars with "five-short stature" of backbone and national integrity "entered the water" one after another, and began to collude with the Japanese invaders in an attempt to prevent teachers and students from going south. The situation was extremely grim.Facing the crisis, Zheng Tianting didn't care about his wife's new funeral and the grief and burden of his children's young children. He devoted all his body and mind to protecting the school property and organizing the safe transfer of teachers and students.He first decided to send 20 yuan to each of the stranded students in financial difficulties to urge them to leave the school quickly, and then tried every means to get the Peking University professors and their families to evacuate safely.In this regard, Zheng Tianting recalled: "Principal Jiang Menglin and others have not heard from Peiping for a long time, and everyone is not sure how to deal with the next step of the school. We can only deal with it temporarily. The Japanese invaders entered the city and the situation worsened. At that time, few faculty members came to the school. Most of my colleagues wanted to leave the dangerous city early, but there was no travel expenses. At that time, I still went to the school every day to solve the problems of staff and professors' life, safety, and school property protection. Professors who did not leave, such as Meng Sen, Tang Yongtong, Luo Changpei, Qiu Chun, Mao Zishui, Chen Xueping, etc. also held meetings many times, and proposed to pay 30 yuan maintenance fee to each of the low-paid employees. They also expressed their full support for me to support and maintain the school. At that time, everyone was often worried about my safety." In 1948, more than ten years after the evacuation of Peking University, Luo Changpei, a professor of the Chinese Department of Peking University, still remembered Zheng Tianting’s love and efforts: everyone still advocated calmness and response in the bleak and miserable atmosphere, and worked together to maintain the endgame. It has gradually disintegrated. On the day the city fell, Kui Yu (southern press: Fan Jichang, then dean of Peking University) took refuge in the German hospital. I went to the second hospital at ten o'clock in the morning to inspect and only met Zheng Yisheng (southern press: Zheng Tianting) , Zhang Maochen (Ting Qian), Liang Shiqiu, and Pan Guangdan. When I arrived at the No. 1 hospital at 11 o’clock, I heard that Lu Jichen had been there for a while, and then even the coworkers disappeared. On August 7, Pingjin was opened to traffic for a trial, and the Haidao Therefore, Kui Yu first left Beiping. The next day Hebian led the Japanese army into the city and stationed at the Temple of Heaven, Zhantan Temple and Iron Lion Alley. , Duansheng, and I met at the European and American student meeting, and some colleagues advocated leaving the dangerous city early. So Gongchao, Shuren, Shiqiu, and Yao Congwu accompanied Hu Shizhi’s wife to Tianjin in the early morning of the 11th. I also lost a box to Mrs. Hu. Since my colleagues have all gone south, the burden of Peking University is almost entirely on the shoulders of Yisheng.” And “On August 25, four Japanese military police went to the president’s office of the second school to check, It was supported by Yisheng alone. Later Zhou Zuoren arrived after hearing the news and argued with Japanese military police in Japanese. And ask Mr. Meng Xinshi (southern press: Meng Sen) to explain to them that the situation is getting tighter and tighter." Regarding what Luo Changpei said about the Japanese forcibly seeking maps, Professor Qian Mu of Peking University added the specific details in his recollections: "When the Japanese army entered Peiping, Wen Xinshi once found an old map in the library of Peking University. New evidence was discovered on the Mongolian border issue between the two countries. So I sent someone to visit Xinshi, and took a picture in front of his house. Xinshi was admitted to the hospital shortly after. After the Double Tenth Festival, Peking University colleagues left Peking one after another Going south. I went to the hospital to say goodbye to Xinshi, but Xinshi was gone." After Peking University colleagues withdrew to the south, a generation of historian Meng Sen passed away in 1938. He had no decent property to pass on to his relatives after his death.The old map he discovered was looted by the Japanese for "collection and research", and it has never been published since then. On September 3, a large number of Japanese troops entered the No. 1 Hospital of Peking University and the new dormitory in Huilou, and hung the Japanese nameplates of each unit and squad on the door.In such a severe and chaotic situation, Zheng Tianting still came to the school every day to take care of the school property and the lives of the professors who could not escape. Until October 18, the local maintenance committee hung a notice on the custody of Peking University at the gate of the Second Hospital of Peking University. He took a photo with all the staff of Zaiping, and took a small photo alone under the notice of the local maintenance committee in front of the Second Hospital, which was a final farewell to the post he kept. On November 17, Zheng Tianting, Luo Changpei, Chen Xueping, Luo Yingzhong, Wei Jiangong, Qiu Chun, Zhao Naitan, Zhou Zuoren (Southern Press: Department of Economics, not Lu Xun's brother), Wang Linzhi, Zhou Zhuosheng, Bao Yinfu and other Peking University professors , the last batch left the occupied Beiping and headed south to Changsha.As Luo Changpei said: "The endgame of Peking University after the fall of Peking is temporarily over!" On the afternoon of July 29, when Peking fell, the Japanese army rushed into the Tsinghua Garden in the northwest suburb of Beijing, where the trees were towering and the lotus was fragrant.Then several times in the name of visiting, a large number of stolen books, instruments and equipment were trucked out of the campus.Because Mei Yiqi did not return in Nanjing and the situation was getting worse and worse, Ye Qisun, who was acting as the school administrator, discussed with several professors including Chen Daisun and decided to organize the retreat of teachers, students and their families as soon as possible. Together with Wang Jianjun, Shi Tingyong, Chen Chuanxu and Fu Rengan, he stayed behind and formed the "Tsinghua University Preservation Committee" to protect the campus and school properties.Seeing this situation, the arrogant Japanese army simply dispatched Mutaguchi and other troops to invade the school for public search, seized some school buildings, looted the school property, and expelled the members of the "School Property Preservation Committee" from the school.Since then, "in the Tsinghua Garden, there will no longer be my footprints." According to Feng Youlan, who was the dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and the head of the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University at the time, recalled: At a time when the bombardment was raging, Peking was in danger, and people were frightened, in addition to the fleeing crowd, there were also people everywhere who were preparing to have sex with men and women to make them a hundred years old.Although this kind of practice is extremely inconsistent with the atmosphere of the whole north filled with gunpowder and ruined families, those infatuated men and women don't care about it, and continue to live in the dreamland of love and thinking according to their own temperament.On the day when Beiping fell, a teacher from Tsinghua University was holding a wedding in the city, and Feng Youlan was specially invited to be the officiant.Unexpectedly, the city gate was closed that night, and the new house prepared by the idiot man and woman in Tsinghua Garden could no longer be entered. They could only sit and watch Peiping fall, sighing. During the period from the fall of Beiping to the southward migration of Tsinghua teachers and students, the entire Tsinghua campus gradually fell silent after a period of chaos, almost becoming a vacuum.Feng Youlan recalled: "The few of us who attended the school affairs meeting still live in Tsinghua University, and they talked about protecting the school. I told the library staff in the library that China will definitely come back. If we wait for China to come back, If these books are lost, that’s not good. As long as I’m in Tsinghua, we’ll protect them. Once, Wu Youxun and I were walking in the school at night, when the moon was shining and there was no sound around us. Wu Youxun said: 'Terrible, terrible, so quiet that people are afraid!'." This situation reminded Feng Youlan of Huang Zhongze's two poems: "The stars are not like last night, for whom the wind and dew stand in the sky", and she almost burst into tears.Later, the Japanese army officially entered the city of Beijing and began to take over and search everywhere. Feng Youlan and other left-behind professors felt that the political power had been lost, and it was meaningless to keep it. In fact, it was kept for Japan, waiting for them to take it over.So everyone decided to move south. "The people who moved south and those who stayed behind cried and said goodbye." Feng Youlan and Wu Youxun left Pingnan together, and when they arrived in Zhengzhou, Feng suddenly suggested that they eat Yellow River carp at a restaurant. Because of this farewell, they didn't know when they would come back, so they had a chance to eat first.At this time, they met Xiong Fuxi, a colleague of Tsinghua University, by accident, so the three of them went to the restaurant to eat a meal of Yellow River carp, which was a wish fulfilled.At that time, Xiong Fuxi liked to keep dogs. He said to Feng and Wu with a worried face: "Many people in Peiping have left, and the dogs can't be taken with them, so they have to be abandoned. Those dogs, although they were abandoned, are still guarding the door. I don’t want him to go.” After Feng heard this, his eyes were full of sadness, and he said: “This is the so-called bereaved dog, and we are all bereaved dogs!”