Chapter 40 Section 1 Chen Mengjia and Wu Han

Tsinghua University originally evolved from a preparatory school for studying in the United States, and it attaches great importance to the background of studying abroad. Without the experience of "going abroad" or special talents, it is very difficult to get the position of associate professor.Wu Han, who was born in the history department of Tsinghua University, once had a memory, saying, "My classmates at that time had a formula in their minds, Tsinghua-America-Tsinghua. It would be strange to think otherwise." But according to Su Shuangbi and Wang Hongzhi The biography article of Wu Han said: "Wu Han didn't think so, because he knew that he was a poor man and had to take care of his family after graduation; at the same time, he thought that he was studying Chinese history, so what could he do in the United States? So, before Wu Han graduated What is considered is not going to study abroad, but the actual work problem.” Obviously, what Su and Wang said is not reasonable, and they are trying to cover up something. If Wu Han does not want to study in the United States, it will really become a “strange thing”.Even if you come back from abroad, if you want to become a professor at Tsinghua University, you need to follow the established rules-three years as a teaching assistant, three years as a teacher, six years as a lecturer, and then associate professors and professors all the way up the spiral.The reason why Wu Han couldn't go abroad was that his family was not rich enough, Brother Kong Fang's scarcity only allowed him to dream of studying abroad but not actually board the ship to study abroad.For this reason, in the summer of 1934, Wu Han stayed at Tsinghua University as a teaching assistant after graduating from the Department of History.When Wu was a student at Tsinghua University, he had already made his mark in the study of Ming history. He also published several important papers such as "Hu Yinglin's Chronicle", "(Jin Ping Mei)'s Writing Era and Its Social Background". He and others regard him as "a rising star in the history circle" and love him very much.Therefore, when Wu graduated, Hu Shi really wanted to transfer him to Peking University to teach, but Jiang Tingfu, the head of Tsinghua's history department, insisted on staying at Tsinghua.The competition between Hu and Jiang, the two academic figures, caused the young Wu Han's social status to skyrocket. Obviously, he could not be promoted according to Tsinghua's old rules. Before the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, Xiong Qing, the director of the Mathematics Department of Tsinghua University, traveled back and forth to Yunnan to establish Yunnan University. At one time, he organized a group of key personnel in the Tsinghua Garden to enrich the University. Wu Han was hired as a professor of the Department of History at the University. When he arrived in Vietnam, he was 29 years old.

Shi Zhecun, who once taught at Southwest Associated University, made a brief evaluation of Wu Han's personality, academic level, and moral conduct: "Wu Han is straightforward, impatient, and too subjective about everything. There seems to be no objective world. He studied history at Tsinghua University, specializing in Ming history. The president of the National Yunnan University. Xiong Qinglai is a native of Yunnan, and this time he was ordered to serve Sangzi. He first organized his teaching staff in Tsinghua University, and recruited some people from various departments of arts and sciences, most of whom were teaching assistants and lecturers. Only Wu Han has just been promoted to be a lecturer at Tsinghua University. On the recommendation of Jiang Tingfu, he asked President Xiong to hire him as a professor, and President Xiong agreed. Therefore, among our generation, Wu Han can be said to be the fastest-growing One. But it also fueled his confidence and arrogance."

Wu Han's "self-confidence and arrogance" are really due to the environment and opportunities. That is to say, he was a poor student and a small teaching assistant. It really has a lot to do with the support and love of Hu Shi and Jiang Tingfu, two academic figures. , Once these two backers are lost, the situation will be very different. When Wu Han stayed in Yunnan University for three years, he "feeled that the school and department were hopeless, and he didn't want to mistake himself and others", so he wanted to return to Southwest Associated University, which had been moved to Kunming, and was established in Tsinghua University.At this time, Jiang Tingfu and Hu Shi both left the education field and turned to politics and diplomatic activities. The head of the History Department of the Southwest Associated University was Liu Chongqi (named Shoumin). This director Liu was born in a family in Fuzhou. Quite everyone's charm.Liu went to study in the United States from Tsinghua University in 1918. After receiving a master's degree from Harvard University, he returned to China to teach in Tsinghua University and has been teaching Western history.According to He Bingdi, a talented student at Tsinghua University who later went to teach at American University and became a world-class historian, said: This Liu Chongqi is a solid teacher, and he uses the two volumes of general history written by Americans. Higher-level reference books are also selected for free reading by students.It was this course that aroused He Bingdi's great interest in history, and he revised history by chemistry, and developed the self-discipline principle of "strengthening the stronghold and fighting to the death" in his studies.However, in the eyes of Zhao Lisheng, a student of Tsinghua University’s Department of Foreign Languages ​​at the same level as He Bingdi, and a famous historian who later became a professor at Shandong University and Lanzhou University, this compulsory course is nothing but a bookcase that can walk. Messy bookcase.In this regard, in his later years, Zhao Lisheng couldn't help lamenting the injustice of the world, and expressed his disdain and exclamation, "Wow, Liu was later touted as a master of history in Taiwan".Liu went to National Taiwan University with Fu Sinian in 1948 and served as the head of the history department for a time. Later, a person named Li Ao who was from the history department of National Taiwan University also mentioned Liu Chongqi in his memoirs, and said that Liu was "very stupid. In class, I was confused, but this kind of confusion was prepared by driving the night train the night before." This statement seems to confirm Zhao Lisheng's opinion.However, it was such a controversial figure who was called "teaching honestly" by his disciples and "a bookcase capable of running with two legs" who was also called "disordered" by his disciples. Wu Han suffered.

Liu Chongqi received Wu Han's request to transfer to Tsinghua University of the United Nations University, and replied on the spot: "Tsinghua University can only be hired as an associate professor with a monthly salary of 280 yuan due to regulations." He is already worth as a professor, but he was degraded as an associate professor as soon as he entered Tsinghua University, and "in the old days, most of the scholars had already served as professors in Tsinghua University, but now they go back as associate professors, which is quite grim in comparison, although the difference is only 20 yuan (Tsinghua professors 300 yuan Yuan starting salary), but it is difficult to be relieved when one is high and low.”

Faced with the result of "reducing salary and returning to Tsinghua University", Wu Han was not convinced. With his unique "confidence and arrogance", he found Liu Chongqi's theory again, and pointed out in no uncertain terms that Liu did not let himself, a talented Tsinghua student, go. In his eyes, it is not only unreasonable to reduce himself to an associate professor, but also outrageous.After hearing this, Liu Chongqi responded strongly, saying that this is the rule of Tsinghua University, no matter who comes here, he must abide by this rule.Wu Han saw that the other party did not regard himself as a big dish, but only a piece of cake, and immediately became angry, so he "put aside the matter of returning to Tsinghua University".However, because Wu Han was too confident before, he has recklessly rejected the kindness of Yunnan University's "salary increase at the end of the year and other adjustments to support him".In the dilemma, Wu Han pondered over and over again, and decided to come here without a foster father, and to break out of his own place, abandoning Yunda and Tsinghua University, trying to get into Peking University, and appearing at the Southwest Associated University Heroes Meeting as a professor, so that Liu Chongqi, who has eyes but does not know Mount Tai, took a look.After making up his mind, Wu Han learned the lesson from the last time he encountered a wall when he approached Liu Chongqi. He did not dare to ask Yao Congwu, the dean of the History Department of Peking University rashly. The reporter followed suit, and said in the letter: "I heard that there are still many people lacking in the history department of Peking University. Can you brag about it?" How Fu Sinian treated and handled this matter after receiving the letter has no historical evidence, so it is unknown.The result seen by the world is that Wu Han finally transferred from Yunda University to Tsinghua University at the end of 1939 as an associate professor and taught in the Department of History of Southwest Associated University.Because of this opportunity, Wu Han gradually got in touch with Chen Mengjia.

Wu Han is from Yiwu, Zhejiang, and Chen Mengjia is from Shangyu, Zhejiang. Wu is two years older than Chen. When Wu graduated, Chen began to study for a master's degree at Yanda University and graduated two years later.Although history and literature belong to two different departments, they both belong to the category of humanities after all, and Chen Mengjia's research on ancient characters is closer to Wu Han's historiography.Chen's degree and reputation in the literary and academic circles at that time were comparable to that of the "new star" Wu Han, and Chen Mengjia's social reputation was in the hearts of young people with the appeal of his new poems and the reputation of the New Moon School poets. His status is much louder than Wu Han.With such a reputation and a master's degree, it is common sense to strive for the title of associate professor as soon as you enter Tsinghua University.It is a pity that Chen Mengjia does not have a background of "going abroad" and a degree hired by foreigners—even the fake "Clayton" university degree described by Professor Fang Hongjian in Qian Zhongshu's book, or the so-called "deceive everyone" a few years later. That's it, that's success," Jun Tang, who graduated from Pacific Western University with a Ph.D.Although Yenching University itself is funded and founded by the American church and is quite American imperialist, after all, the campus is located in mainland China, and the students it cultivates still cannot escape the fate of "earth turtles" that are underestimated by the people at that time. Not armed with knowledge.According to the mindset that only foreign monks can chant sutras, the students of Yanyuan are like Monkey King, capable of jumping hundreds of thousands of miles, but they still cannot compete with those who are big or small, big or small, who crawled over from the west coast of the Pacific Ocean or Western Pacific University. True or false "turtles" contend.According to the statistics of a researcher, among the 179 professors (including associate professors) who have successively taught in Southwest Associated University, 97 stayed in the United States, 38 in Europe, 18 in the UK, and 3 in Japan. 87%.Among the 26 department heads, except for the Department of Chinese Literature, they are all professors who have returned from studying abroad, and all 5 deans have PhDs in the United States.Perhaps, such a camp is the concrete embodiment of Mei Yiqi’s advocacy that “the so-called great scholars are not meant to be called buildings, but to be called masters”.It can also be seen from another aspect that Southwest Associated University has produced so many world-class scientific and technological heroes and literary and historical masters in just eight years.

As a local scholar who has never been exposed to European style and beauty, it is common sense for Wu Han to become an associate professor after he transferred from Yunda University to Tsinghua University.When Chen Mengjia entered Tsinghua University, he was a teacher who was slightly higher than a teaching assistant. This also took care of his reputation in the eyes of scholars all over the world, especially young students, in Tsinghua. He was promoted to full-time lecturer (according to the south: between lecturer and associate professor), and was promoted to associate professor in 1942 under the support of Wen Yiduo.After another two years of suffering, it was not until 1944 that the daughter-in-law became a mother-in-law and put on the hat of a professor.This year, Chen Mengjia was 33 years old.And Wu Han was promoted to professor in 1942, and he was also 33 years old at the time.As far as the promotion speed of Wu Han and Chen Mengjia is concerned, they belong to the lucky few who are the fastest in Tsinghua University and even in the whole Southwest Associated University. "Confidence and arrogance" gradually disappeared, replaced by a frowning depression, while Chen Mengjia, who was two years younger than Wu, was always in a state of excitement.Regarding Chen Mengjia's promotion, all Confucian scholars in Lianzhong are well aware of it. If there is no Wen Yiduo's support and help, whether overt or covert, Chen Mengjia's arrogant character and arrogant way of handling things, his fate and fate may be worse than Qian Zhongshu's. Also embarrassed (according to the South: Qian Zhongshu, who taught in the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of the United Nations University, was expelled from the school by Chen Futian and other powerful professors due to his arrogant personality, and left his hometown, details will be described later).It is an indisputable fact that Chen Mengjia, who is a poet and a scholar, is extremely talented and romantic.However, such characters often lack self-discipline in life, and are very proud and conceited. They usually walk with their heads up and their chests upright, and their strides are very large. There was even resentment, and Wu Han, who was from the same hometown as the Chen family, was one of them.

In 1947, Wu Han said in an article called "Wen Yiduo's "Handicraft"": "Yiduo used to study fine arts in the United States, he could draw characters, he also learned to engrave seals...he could write Seal characters, writing oracle bone inscriptions, and writing bronze inscriptions. There are always a pile of ancient philology books on the desk, and I have also written many special articles on the interpretation of ancient characters. Once talking about one of his poet students, many people said that the public Gossip. Yiduo let out a long sigh, saying that he had also been duped. At first he talked about new poems with him, and later he talked more about ancient philology. It was published as an article. I never mentioned who said this. There were also a few times when I didn’t have a very definite opinion, so I just said it casually; soon, this man wrote another article. It is said that Wen Yiduo once said this, in fact It is wrong. How to read it, how to explain it. Now, this man has his own family, and he doesn’t communicate very often! At that time, someone interrupted, why didn’t these strange things be exposed? He laughed and didn’t go on. gone."

Although this statement does not directly name and surname, this immoral person undoubtedly refers to Chen Mengjia, and the "someone" who "interrupted" in the article seems to have nothing to do with Wu Han.In fact, people with a discerning eye can see it at a glance. If Wu Han didn't use the mouth of Wen Yiduo and "someone" to tell the story, how would the world know that there is such a "festival" between Wen, Chen, and his students?There are not many people who are skeptical about the privacy disclosed by Wu Han. Chen Mengjia did have his personality flaws. The reason why he was murdered by his colleagues at the academic institution where he works, the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is that big and In short, it is the darkness and cruelty of politics. In short, it has something to do with its character and the way of dealing with the world.Chen Mengjia, who dealt with Wen Yiduo at that time, perhaps hadn't realized it yet, or maybe pretended to be confused with understanding in his heart, and couldn't overcome it consciously. Jay showed a rare kindness and caring.In this regard, although it may not be a good thing for the growth and development of Chen Mengjia, it can be seen that Wen Yiduo has a side with clear grievances and grievances. When he thinks of Liu Wendian's tragedy, future generations cannot but sigh.

According to Wen Liming, Wen Yiduo's eldest grandson, Tsinghua University's archives kept two letters sent by Wen Yiduo to Mei Yiqi, which had been lost for a long time.Many years later, Wen Liming, who has become a researcher at the Institute of Modern Chinese History, intends to write a chronology for his grandfather. While searching for materials, he accidentally found this letter and made it public in the chronology. From this angle, we can see more clearly Wen Yiduo's care and support for Chen Meng's family.The letter said: It has been three years since associate professors Xu Weitong and Chen Mengjiaer of the Department have been promoted to their current posts, and they have devoted themselves to writing books in addition to teaching. At the beginning, they did not change their aspirations slightly due to the poverty of material life and the rudimentary library equipment.In addition to completing the twenty-four volumes of his masterpiece "Guanzi Jishi" and the ten volumes of "Han Shi Wai Zhuan Jishi", he also devoted himself to "Shangshu Yizheng", mastering ancient precepts, inventing diction, and rectifying words. , created so much, since the Sun family in Rui'an in the late Qing Dynasty, it is rare. ... Mr. Chen not only studied bronze inscriptions, but also tried to study "Shangshu", and made a great contribution to the textual research of the two weeks and historical facts. "Calmanology" is the basis for the management of ancient prose, and scholars in recent times have gradually paid more attention to it, which is one of the new advances in the field of history studies.Based on his experience in studying bronze inscriptions, Mr. Chen devoted himself to his study, which is like a sudden rise. All the problems that the sages of the time could not solve were often dealt with by Mr. Chen, and he could easily straighten them out and suddenly understand them.To sum it up, over the past few years, Mr. Er has not only delved deeper into the ancient books of the pre-Qin period, but also used new materials and new methods everywhere, so his achievements are like this. One more than the work of Mr. Er, I deeply admire it, and it is characteristic of the professors in this department. With the consent of colleagues, it is proposed to ask the teacher seat to refer to the appointment committee. From the next school year, Mr. Er will be promoted to be a full professor.

Wen Yiduo's opinion was approved by the 21st Appointment Committee of the UN General Assembly on June 8, 1944, and Mei Yiqi approved it on July 28.From then on, Chen Mengjia officially entered the classroom as a professor, and he received his job to solve his doubts.Just over a month later, under the recommendation of Jin Yuelin and American scholar Fei Zhengqing, Chen Mengjia was invited to go to the University of Chicago via India to give lectures on Chinese Paleography.According to "Wen Yi's Long Years of History", Wen "clearly expressed his disapproval of Chen's going abroad at this time, and believed that domestic matters were more important. But Chen felt that the opportunity was rare and insisted on going to the United States, so the husband said nothing more." Why did Wen Yiduo disapprove of Mrs. Chen's going to America? What matters more in China? The author of "Chronology" did not specify, but it is not difficult to see from Luo Changpei's autobiography. At the end of 1944, Luo Changpei, director of the Chinese Department of the United Nations University, was invited to the United States as a visiting professor of humanities at Park Mauna University. Luo said: "At that time, the struggle against Chiang had already intensified. Yiduo, Guangdan and others also urged me not to stay away from the motherland. However, I have dreamed of going abroad since I was in middle school, but because of financial oppression and family entanglements, I didn’t get this opportunity until I was 47 years old, how could I lose it!” At this time, Wen Yiduo, Pan Guangdan, Wu Han and others had all joined the NLD. Having embarked on the road of opposing the Kuomintang government, they naturally hope that Chen Mengjia, Luo Changpei and others will also act together with them to turn Kunming or the whole of China upside down.But people have their own ambitions, and Chen and Luo are not interested in such political demagoguery and propaganda from the bottom of their hearts, so they can't be reluctant after hearing more about it.What's more, for scholars who have never stayed abroad, in a small environment where "sea turtles" walk around the pool, they have been suppressed and aggrieved for so long, and their faces turn blue and their legs are shaking. Taking a breath of fresh air is far more refreshing and yearning than wading through the smoky atmosphere in China.What's more, for Chen Mengjia's trip to the United States, his wife, Zhao Luorui, the ex-Yan University belle, can also go with her (Note: Because Tsinghua has a rule that couples cannot teach in the same school, Zhao Luorui has been following Chen Mengjia to Kunming since then. Unemployed at home and self-study), merged into the school to study for a master's and doctoral degree, how can there be any reason to give up such a beautiful thing?Chen Mengjia is determined to leave this time. On the evening of September 15, 1944, Mei Yiqi held a banquet to send off Chen Mengjia and Zhao Luorui at his Xicangpo residence. The invited guests included Mo Panqin, Feng Youlan, Wang Li, Wu Mi, Wen Yiduo, Wu Han and others.As Wu Han, whose background is basically the same as that of Chen Meng's family, it is unknown what emotion he felt during the banquet. As far as Wen and Chen are concerned, the teachers and students did not expect at this time that under the moonlight hanging high, Jiugan's words were all over the place. It is Yongjue.