Chapter 18 The inside story of Mei Yiqi's departure in the second quarter

Since Mei Yiqi had advertised more than once before that she was "born and grown, I love my hut" to Tsinghua University, why did she ignore the persuasion of the CCP and some colleagues and abandon Tsinghua University at such a historical moment of earth-shaking and changing dynasties? What if the student insists on flying south?Throughout Mei Yiqi's years in the mainland, although she has never done anything harmful to the Communist Party, it can even be said that she tried her best to protect the Communist Party students who were involved in the student movement when she was in charge of the school, but this practice was more for the sake of Protecting the school and the young students themselves does not mean that he agrees with the Communist Party and Marxism-Leninism, or agrees with the Communist Party's ideology and policy.He made this point clear when he was in Kunming.As mentioned above, when he saw Wen Yiduo, Wu Han and others "fighting" with the Kuomintang government personnel as "fighters", he made it clear in his diary on November 5, 1945: "I have no influence on politics." In-depth research, and I don’t know much about communism, but I am quite skeptical.” This “doubt” is not only the expression of his heart, but also represents the views of a considerable number of liberal intellectuals at that time, such as Chen Yinke and others, on the current situation. At the end of the year, when Wu Han, in his special capacity as a representative of the Chinese Communist Army, was ordered by Zhou Enlai to send a "retain" letter to persuade him to stay, Mei did not heed this suggestion, but quietly took the opportunity to fly south like Hu Shi.According to legend, once, a very good friend of Mei Yiqi asked him why he did not stay in the mainland, and he said: "If I stay in the mainland, there are only two possible ways out, one is to be a puppet, and the other is to be a counter-revolutionary. Because I don't want to do both, so I have to leave." When and to whom Mei Yiqi said this, it has not been implemented yet, and it can only be estimated and listened to.But one thing is certain, Mei's departure is roughly the same as Chen Yinke's, mainly to escape the upcoming new cultural and educational environment, as well as the mental control of those in power who are contrary to her ideology.Lin Congmin, who was born in Tsinghua University, said when talking about the case of Mei Yiqi's departure: "In fact, it is absolutely impossible for Mei Yiqi to stay, let alone take charge of Tsinghua. Mei respects academic freedom throughout his life and does not interfere with the personal political thoughts of professors and students. How can this principle coexist with the CCP’s belief in the theory of Marxism, Enlightenment, Leninism, Sri Lanka...and Mao’s Quotations?” As for the CCP’s “deplorable telegram” in Zhangjiakou, Mei’s secretary Zhao Gengyang believed that it was an act of “persuading surrender.” And "Mr. heard this, and thought that he had never been left-leaning. Today, he heard such slanderous words. To his colleagues in the government, he felt that he could not express his pain."For all kinds of rhetoric and explanations, Huang Yanfu, a student of Mei’s generation and a researcher on Tsinghua’s school history, believes that “although it is a bit harsh, but as long as you think about it carefully, you will admit that this kind of analysis is still to the point... Mei’s departure from the mainland is his culture. It is due to his standpoint and educational philosophy. For him, it is both inevitable and necessary. Moreover, it is precisely from this relatively sensitive matter that he can truly see his superhumanity-clearness of mind, Decisiveness of determination, as well as persistence and persistence in one's own ideas or principles of being a human being."What Huang said was not nonsense.

However, people's thinking is complicated. Mei Yiqi left Pingnan to fly, or Chen Yinke said in his poems after leaving Pingnan, "avoiding the land" and "avoiding the Qin Dynasty", of course there is "escaping from the Soviet Union represented by Stalin". The authoritarian system and the cultural environment” or “like many historical events in the past—for example, Wang Guowei’s self-sinking incident, it is a cultural phenomenon, or a political and cultural phenomenon.” (Huang Yanfu's words), but the research and interpretation of this political and cultural phenomenon is mostly limited to the differences between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, and does not involve the deeper ideological roots, and no one has compared Mei Yiqi's departure with his appointment as Tsinghua University at the end of 1931. What was said during the post of headmaster should be connected and studied.In that famous inauguration speech, Mei Yiqi said: "Mencius said: 'The so-called old country is not meant to be called a tree, but a minister of the world'. Now I can imitate and say: 'The so-called great man, It doesn’t mean that there is a building, but that there is a master.’” The latter sentence is often what scholars of later generations earnestly preach, but the former sentence is more important for the study of Mei’s lifetime thoughts. “Arbor” and “Shichen” The difference means that there are different value perceptions of the "motherland". Until her death in Taiwan, Mei always connected the Republic of China controlled by the Kuomintang on the mainland with the local government in Taiwan, and regarded it as a legal regime and "Zhengshuo". The location of "Zhengshuo" is the "homeland" in his mind, and he and those flying south are the symbols of the "officials" in the homeland.

Of course, when Mei Yiqi flew south, he hadn’t realized that the Kuomintang would collapse so quickly and lose the entire continent. He believed that China would likely have a historical situation of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Jiangnan regime was his “homeland” in his mind. It is a new regime that has nothing to do with him, and its psychology is basically the same as that of Chen Yinke.According to Chen Yinke's estimation before flying south, the political situation in China after the Anti-Japanese War, the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is inevitable, and the result will be a situation in which China is divided into North and South.Therefore, in the spring of 1946, Chen Yinke published the poems "Southern Dynasty" and "Northern Dynasty", which is to compare the Southern and Northern Dynasties with the two regimes of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.Chen Yinke's second daughter, Chen Xiaopeng, once said to others: Because the Chen family thought that the country and the Communist Party might use the Yangtze River as the boundary like the Southern and Northern Dynasties, they hesitated to decide whether to stay or stay later.Of course, this "go" is from Shanghai or Guangzhou to Taiwan, not from Beiping to Nanjing.

As far as the situation at that time was concerned, there were many people who held the same views as Chen Yinke and Mei Yiqi.At that time, Zhang Bojun, the leader of the third party who quietly rose in the war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and wanted to compete with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, once publicly stated: "...At first I thought that the Communist Party could only operate in the Yellow River Basin, but later concluded that: 'No one can destroy No one can defeat anyone.' At most it is a 'Northern and Southern Dynasties', a situation of stalemate. That is, the Communist Party is in the north of the Yangtze River, and Chiang Kai-shek and others are in the south of the Yangtze River. In this stalemate situation, the third side has great potential and plays a decisive role in politics. In the Battle of Huaihai, the Kuomintang army was defeated, and after the loss of Beiping, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party conducted seemingly incongruous "peace talks". , there is still hope for unity.....as long as the legitimate regime continues to lose its temper, no matter how remote the world is, if it is supported for more than a year, it may not be hopeless in the future.” This letter not only reflects Fu Sinian’s unyielding, stubborn, and domineering attitude. His character also clearly showed his hope for the formation of the situation in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and his psychology of respecting the Kuomintang as "Zhengshuo".

In fact, the prediction of the formation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is not the vain fantasy of ordinary bureaucrats, politicians and free intellectuals. According to the archives released by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Stalin also intended to let the CCP and the Kuomintang regime draw a river to separate each other. In the case of "two Germanys" or "two Koreas", "two Chinas" were formed, that is, the situation of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.During the "Cultural Revolution", some people suspected that Chen Xujing's tenure as the president of Lingnan University in 1948 was inspired by the then American ambassador Leighton Stuart, with the purpose of undermining the unification of China and creating a situation of "Northern and Southern Dynasties".Although this suspicion has not been confirmed so far, it is certain that the two imperialist giants of the United States and the Soviet Union have intervened in the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and they have the wishful thinking of profiting from the fisherman. In order to expose the crimes of U.S. imperialism, Mao Zedong’s famous glorious chapter "Farewell, Leighton Stuart" on August 18, 1949 has clearly stated: "The People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, and the U.S. colonial government in Nanjing scattered like birds and beasts. Ambassador Stuart But the master sat still, opened his eyes and watched, hoping to open a new store and make some money.” Unfortunately, the CCP adopted the strategy of urinating with his hands behind his back—ignoring the little thing under his crotch, and Leighton Stuart’s new store failed to open. I had no choice but to prop up my limp little head and "walk with my purse in my arms".

When Mei Yiqi flew to Nanjing, Leighton Stuart was still holding his neck high and pointing fingers at both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The entire area south of the Yangtze River and the west was still in the hands of the Kuomintang. On both sides of the river.Mei Yiqi went south calmly at this moment. Apart from "avoiding the Qin Dynasty" like Chen Yinke, she also had another important purpose, that is, just like Hu Shi's mission to the United States in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War to drag him into the Pacific War, it was for a "major event". Come—grab Tsinghua's fund in the United States.As long as the fund is firmly in his hands, he can use it as a bargaining chip to serve the "motherland", and Mei's status as the president of Tsinghua University and "old minister" will continue.If the KMT's "peace talks" succeed in keeping half of the country, Chen Yinke's prediction to Pu Jiangqing that "Tsinghua will still be established slowly in the south" and Mei's plan to build another Tsinghua in Fujian or Guangzhou and other places as Mei personally told Ye Qisun before flying south can be achieved.It’s just that the Kuomintang itself was too disappointing and defeated like a mountain. In an instant, the masts and sculls were wiped out. Mei Yiqi’s dream of rebuilding Tsinghua University in Fujian came to naught, and she had to find another way.In fact, Tsinghua University, which was later established in Hsinchu, Taiwan, was a continuation of this idea.

The day after Mei Yiqi flew to Nanjing, Sun Ke's cabinet of the shaky national government hastily appointed him as Minister of Education, but Mei refused to resign. After the farm.Regarding the reason for her resignation as the Minister of Education, Mei said sadly at the Tsinghua Alumni Association: "As the principal of Tsinghua University, I abandoned Tsinghua University in a dangerous city and felt deeply ashamed when I came to the south alone. How can I come out and become an official?" "Being an official", but did not give up "doing things". During the short days in Nanjing and Shanghai, Mei did her best to assist the Acting Minister of Education Chen Xueping to deal with the serious educational problems at that time.

At the end of June 1949, Mei went to Hong Kong from Guangzhou. After a short reunion with his wife and children, he flew to Paris. Together with Li Shuhua and other five people, he attended the upcoming UNESCO Science Conference on behalf of the National Government and served as permanent representatives.After the meeting, I lived with Li Shuhua in an apartment in Juvisy, a small town in the southern suburbs of Paris, and soon went to London, England. In December 1949, Mei Fei arrived in New York and rented together with Miao Yuntai, a frustrated politician from Yunnan, in an unused apartment of Bessonson (the father of architect I.M. Pei) for a temporary stay.Since 1950, Mei Yiqi has served as the executive director of the China Institute in America.The China Institute is the US-based agency of the China Education Foundation, and all Tsinghua University’s Geng funds in the US are managed by this agency. Mei Yiqi sought this position precisely for the "big event" in his heart, so that he can actually control it This huge amount of funds will not be lost due to war and domestic changes.When he left Pingnanfei, he said to Dean Wu Zelin, "I will definitely go, and I will go to protect Tsinghua's fund", referring to this matter.

After Mei Yiqi joined the Association, she set up an office to keep the Tsinghua Fund, and paid her own salary, 300 yuan a month, to maintain her daily life.Since 1951, Mei organized the "Tsinghua University Cultural Affairs Advisory Committee in the United States" in New York, assisted Chinese scholars in the United States to study academically with the interest of Tsinghua Fund, purchased academic journals published in the United States and donated them to Taiwan junior colleges and above, and planned to restore "Tsinghua University" Journal matters.During this period, Mei Yiqi took advantage of Xiao Jiakui, a former professor of economics at Tsinghua University, to return to the mainland, and asked him to bring back a letter addressed to the leaders of Tsinghua University, expressing that Tsinghua Fund could be used to fund the books and equipment of his alma mater.Due to the circumstances at the time, this letter was not delivered to the school in time, so the matter was left alone.It is said that in the early days of the liberation of Peking, Tsinghua University received periodicals of "unknown origin" from the United States, which were probably ordered by Mei Yiqi as a gift, but unfortunately no one took them seriously and let them disperse.

In view of the chaotic domestic and international environment at that time and Mei Yiqi’s actions, the Taiwan side frequently sent people to New York to negotiate in various names to transfer the Tsinghua Fund to Taiwan for government control, or to ask them to bring the fund interest to Taiwan to purchase equipment for academic institutions. Instruments, but were rejected by Mei Yiqi.At that time, the "Board of Directors of the Chinese Culture Education Fund" that managed the Tsinghua Fund was chaired by Jiang Menglin, who had retreated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang, and the director was Hu Shi in the United States. Under pressure and coercion, Jiang Menglin was sent to the United States to negotiate with Hu Shi, Mei Yiqi and other members of the board of directors, and finally reached a consensus and formed two conclusions:

1. In the Tsinghua Fund Custody Case, since the establishment of the board of directors in 1929, it has been decided that the Chinese and American governments will no longer interfere, and it will be handled in accordance with international customs.It seems impossible for all the funds to be transferred to Taiwan if there is a by-election for directors who are vacant.This proposal was formally reported to Chiang Kai-shek by Secretary-General Hu Shi: 2. The principle of Tsinghua University's resumption is feasible, and how to handle it will be decided by President Mei Yiqi and Taiwan's Ministry of Education. Although Jiang Menglin and Hu Shi made a detailed report to Chiang Kai-shek on this matter, they were still entangled and made things difficult by some Kuomintang politicians and those who did not know the truth.According to Mei’s assistant, Zhao Gengyang, recalled: “In the winter of forty years, the government had decided to allow Tsinghua to resume school in Taiwan, and some officials advocated that the Tsinghua fund was the balance of Boxer’s indemnity, and it was best to spend it as much as possible, which was tantamount to ‘washing away the national humiliation’. Although President Mei did not express any opinion on this, he disagreed with it from the bottom of his heart. Especially limited to the fact that the custody case is entrusted, it is impossible to do it.” The custody case mentioned by Zhao, in addition to making it clear that the government will not interfere, this huge fund The disbursement procedures must be unanimously agreed by the government minister of education and the president of Tsinghua University, and a considerable plan should be submitted to the board of directors, and then the board of directors will hold a general meeting of the board of directors to decide whether to approve and allocate interest (the principal cannot be moved).In view of the strict restrictions of the existing rules, many people can only blow their beards and stare at these funds and make absurd and strange remarks, even including Ye Gongchao, a former professor of Tsinghua University and then the "foreign minister" of the Kuomintang regime in Taiwan.Ye recalled: When Mei Yiqi was in the United States, “Every time I went to New York to see him, I advised him to come back to Taiwan and use Tsinghua’s money in Taiwan. Every time he said: ‘I will definitely come. , but for Tsinghua’s money, I always have to think of a better way to use it before I go back.” Once, he came up with many plans, and he said: “I don’t want to use Tsinghua’s money to build a big house, to do business. Superficial work. He has been thinking about how to use limited money to do long-term research work for the country. At that time, some people in China were not very satisfied with Mr. Mei, thinking that he was a miser who was only willing to use his money abroad. Ken used it in Taiwan. I thought so at first, but later I realized that he was not so, but more thoughtful than I thought. He was the first to think of the long-term development of science, at least that’s what Mr. Hu Shizhi told me.” While the Taiwan authorities were always paying attention to Mei Yiqi's movements and trying to get her back to the embrace of the "motherland" as soon as possible, the CCP did not forget Mei's existence and great value. In early 1949, Wu Han, who was ordered to accept Peking University and Tsinghua University, publicly stated that Mei should have stayed at Tsinghua, but she was very disgusted with Hu Shih.After the founding of New China, Premier Zhou Enlai mentioned Mei Yiqi again when he talked to the presidents and deans of Beijing universities in the Concorde Auditorium, saying: "Mr. Mei Yiqi can come back, he has never done anything against us." Although Mei Yiqi did not do anything detrimental to the CCP, he still did not respond to Zhou Enlai, a small Nankai alumnus and the CCP’s kindness, and resolutely went to London from France and then to the United States.During Mei's short stay in London, a group of Tsinghua alumni got wind of it and started doing Mei's "political and ideological work" to urge her to return to the mainland.A Tsinghua alumnus named Fang Jucheng said many years later: "After President Mei settled down in the apartment, we invited him to our house for a light meal... The conversation center cannot be separated from the development of the domestic situation. The two of us told President Mei , our family is preparing to go back, we want to participate in the work of building the motherland, and we also told him that several classmates we are familiar with will soon return to China. At that time, you said to each other, expressing the hope that President Mei will return to Beijing after leaving Europe. … …Chen Yi said on the spot that if Mr. Mei had difficulty with travel expenses, this problem could be solved. …After a while, Mr. Mei made his statement, and he said to us: ‘I agree with you going back, but I still want to go outside Let's see.'" Faced with Mei Yiqi's attitude and the fact that he later moved to Taiwan, Fang Jucheng said with emotion: "Thinking back on the past more than 30 years ago now, I feel that I still didn't persuade him enough at that time, otherwise Principal Mei would probably The road to take after 1949 will be different." Fang Jucheng, who expressed frustration, returned to the mainland and served as the editor of the "Beijing Weekly" of the Foreign Languages ​​Bureau, and co-translated "Zhou Enlai" and other books with Jiang Guinong.After returning to China, Chen Yi taught in the Chemistry Department of Tsinghua University.I don't know whether these people were specially instructed by the CCP to hold this banquet for Mei's work. Judging from Chen's generous and urgent words and deeds, it is very likely that they followed orders, but the element of "jumping out on their own" cannot be ruled out.Every time there is a turning point in history when there is great social turmoil and chaos, there are always some people who "jump out on their own" with different purposes to make troubles, but the troubles of Fang Jucheng and others give the world a sense of indescribable taste. "Sun Tzu's Art of War: Mouth Attack" says: "If you know your enemy and yourself, you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you don't know your enemy but know yourself, you will win and lose once; if you don't know your enemy and yourself, you will be imperiled in every battle." I can only say that they don't understand the old principal, they don't understand themselves, and they don't understand the painful historical background of Tsinghua University and the doom they will face in the future.What the world saw was that within a year, the "Thought Remolding Movement" had sprung up, and various professors who stood on different ideological fronts, left and right, began to stand in line and "bath".Immediately afterwards, Tsinghua University was dismembered, leaving only one engineering college to support it.As a series of more violent campaigns began, many professors were labeled as "rightists" wearing white top hats, or "reactionary academic authorities" of the same color.In the political storm of the autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, millions of intellectuals, large and small, across the country suffered this fate.The autumn wind in the vast sky is getting tighter, the cold air is blowing, and the overwhelming snowstorm is about to hit the city. In Tsinghua University, old "turtles" with shaking teeth are being caught by the Red Revolution The young generals caught the "turtle (ghost) platform" and sprayed their last green blood in the rain of knives and arrows.Under the feet, the yellow flowers soaked in the bloody storm trembled on the desolate and desolate land... It is incredible that after more than 30 years, when the Chinese people, especially the free intellectuals, generally recovered from that scene that seemed to be a world away When waking up from the nightmare, Fang Jucheng and others were still expressing their emotions about the "righteous deeds" of the year, and were heartbroken for not getting Mei Yiqi to the mainland. They are really confused.Such presumptuous actions are easy to remind people of Chen Yinke's protégé, who had no qualifications to talk to his mentor at all. Enlightening tone", the scene of persuading Chen Yinke to return to the north with "not knowing the heights of the sky and the earth".The difference is that Wang Zhen soon realized his absurdity and ignorance, while Fang Ju would probably live in the regret of not getting Mei back to the mainland until his death, and this regret gradually evolved into a cripple in his life. Broken big dreams and continue to dream.However, a dream is still a dream after all, there is always a time to wake up, if one day Fang Jucheng wakes up from this old dream, and asks in the mirror: "What is my name and who?" In the spring of 1954, invited by the Taiwan authorities, Mei Yiqi went to Taiwan to participate in the election of the "President" in the "National Assembly" and returned to New York in April.During this period, a professor friend in China was entrusted by the CCP to write a letter asking him to return to the mainland.At this time, Han Yonghua, who had come to New York from Hong Kong, read the letter and asked Mei tentatively: "What do you think of the Communist Party?" Mei Yiqi replied: "The country is governed well." But Mei Yiqi failed to return to the mainland in the end, but went to Taiwan a year later.