Tsinghua University exams are linked to "Sun Xingzhi", and it is amazing for a candidate to write three words
There is a long-standing joke circulating on the Internet: among the top universities in our country, there are two "first-placed" universities.
That is, Tsinghua University and Peking University.
The "contest" between the two schools has been going on for almost a hundred years, but it has never been possible to reach a definite conclusion.
However, although the competition between the two top schools is "like fire and water", for the country, the more top schools, the more talents will be cultivated, so as to promote the development and progress of the country more.
It is undeniable that Tsinghua University and Peking University are both top universities in China, and their contributions to the development of New China cannot be measured by simple requirements.
As a top university, the admission requirements for students are naturally extremely demanding.
In today's era, if you want to pass the college entrance examination to enter Tsinghua University and Peking University, it is undoubtedly not the "leader" of various provinces, and its academic performance and academic Xi ability are rare even in the whole of China.
This also makes most students look forward to the doors of prestigious schools.
However, 90 years ago, Tsinghua University, which was already a top university in the country at that time, once came up with an extremely "special" topic as a reference standard for admitting students.
The reason why this exam question is special is that the paper is not a regular question such as various poems and articles as usual, but a "couplet" with "Sun Xingzhi" as the outline.
As a result, it was such a strange and simple question, but only one candidate wrote an answer that satisfied the examiner.
So, who came up with this topic and what is his purpose?Who is the candidate who answered this question?
Unexpected missions.
In July 1932, the "National Tsinghua University", which was jointly managed by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education, ushered in the annual enrollment work.
Usually at this time, the school has already drawn up the enrollment questions, just wait for the students to arrive, answer the test papers, and then the teachers will mark them one by one, find out the group of students with the highest answer scores, and issue admission notices to them.
However, this year's admissions have hit a difficult one.
Seeing that the exam is coming soon, but at this time, the exam papers for the liberal arts are still not decided.
The main reason is that Zhu Ziqing, the former head of the Chinese Department who was in charge of the question, went abroad for an academic visit not long ago, and the school could only temporarily change the director of the question.
After unanimous discussion by the school committee, the task fell to Liu Wendian, then a professor of Chinese literature at Tsinghua University.
When he learned that he was going to undertake the task of publishing the volume, Liu Wendian felt a little worried.
At that time, the situation in the country was chaotic, and many schools and the teaching of various subjects lacked teachers with teaching qualifications.
Therefore, in addition to teaching Chinese literature at Tsinghua University, Liu Wendian also has to teach at Peking University part-time, and is also responsible for the proofreading and compilation of ancient books, such as "Zhuangzi Supplement" and "Shuo Yuan Hu Supplement".
Liu Wendian felt a little overwhelmed by this new task, so he decided to find someone to help him share the job.
One day, when Liu Wendian was in his thoughts, a special guest came to visit his home.
Seeing the comer, Liu Wendian was overjoyed, quickly stepped forward, grabbed the sleeve of the guest and said, "God has eyes, send Heshou you to save me!."”
This guest was none other than the highly respected master of Chinese culture at that time - Chen Yinke (the word Heshou).
The best person for the task.
Hearing Liu Wendian's request, Chen Yinke felt a little confused.
After a friend's explanation, he realized that Liu Wendian wanted to "outsource" this job to himself.
I've never designed the exam questions, I'm afraid I might mess up this time, and I ask Shu Ya (Liu Wendian's words) brother to ask Gao Ming!”
In the face of Liu Wendian's request, Chen Yinke was a little worried, after all, recruiting students for Tsinghua University is an important matter, and he has no experience, and once he messes up, it will be a huge loss.
However, Liu Wendian said to him firmly: "No, I think no one is more suitable for this job than you, you are the most suitable person!."”
Why did Liu Wendian insist that Chen Yinke be the author of this exam?
There are two reasons for this: first, Chen Yinke is a generation of masters of Chinese culture, erudite and talented, both academically and in terms of qualifications, he fully meets the requirements.
Secondly, Chen Yinke was hired as a tutor of the research institute together with Liang Qichao and Wang Guowei, and was known as the "Tsinghua Big Three", who has taught at Tsinghua University for many years and has a very good understanding of the requirements of this top school for students. At the same time, he is also a professor of history, Chinese and philosophy at Tsinghua University and a director of the ** Research Institute, and has a wide range of thinking in liberal arts.
This gives him a deep understanding of the direction of the country's and schools' needs for liberal arts students.
Therefore, all things considered, Chen Yinke is indeed the best candidate for this task.
In the end, after careful consideration, Chen Yinke agreed to this request.
Due to the tight time, Chen Yinke only had three days to consider the question, and Liu Wendian asked him to hand over the proposition when he went to Beidaihe for a business trip.
When he got home that night, Chen Yinke thought carefully and suddenly laughed, because he had a brilliant idea.
Only the next day, Chen Yinke handed over the topic to Liu Wendian.
However, when Liu Wendian saw Chen Yinke's question, he was very puzzled.
Unique proposition.
Chen Yinke designed a total of two exam questions.
The first is a common writing question, called "Sleepwalking in Tsinghua Garden".
At first glance, this topic seems to be a little light, without the solemnity of the previous propositions involving the feelings of the family and country, the current political situation, etc., and even seems to be an essay question for elementary school students.
However, in fact, underneath this simple appearance, Chen Yinke provides candidates with full freedom to express their vision for Tsinghua University in the most simple way. This not only demonstrates students' literary skills, but also prompts them to examine their own academic intentions.
Therefore, after Liu Wendian thought about the first question a little, he also quite understood Chen Yinke's intentions.
What really bothered him was the second question.
The second line is actually a simple couplet, with the proposition "Sun Xingzhi".
This made Liu Wendian very confused.
Because after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the traditional theme type of couplet has not appeared in the test paper for a long time.
Moreover, the uplink of "Sun Xingzhi" is also quite eccentric.
Why did Chen Yinke choose such an "alternative" topic?
In fact, this second question is more "ingenious".
As we all know, couplets have always been a part of the Chinese language.
The most essential feature of a standard couplet is "battle". Whether it is a verbal battle or a verbal battle, the meaning of the upper and lower sentences is required to be relative when expressed orally, and when written in words, it is necessary to ensure that the content of the upper and lower sentences is irrelevant.
Thus, what may seem like a simple couplet is actually a test of students' understanding of Chinese literature and their knowledge.
So, after some evaluation, Liu Wendian agreed to take these two questions as the proposition of the entrance examination of Tsinghua University, and these two questions successfully appeared on the candidates' answer sheets more than half a month later.
Excellent answers.
These two seemingly simple but connotative questions make most students helpless.
When the exam came, the students in the examination room faced these two unique questions one after another, frowning, frowning, and meditating.
Even the teacher in charge of the invigilator said bluntly that this was the most arduous test for students since the establishment of Tsinghua University.
Naturally, the quirky exam questions also brought headaches to the grades.
After the test papers were collected, Chen Yinke, who was in charge of grading, looked at the students' answers on the test papers, and also showed the same painful expression.
For the first writing question, although the students' answers varied widely, the students who came to take the test were all outstanding students from all over the country, so the overall level was considered high, even if there was no special excellence.
However, when it comes to the second question, many people are helpless in the face of the uplink of "Sun Xingzhi".
Some people had no choice but to give up and hand in blank papers.
There are also some people who write "Journey to the West", "Zhu Bajie" and other content that has nothing to do with the meaning of the question on the answer.
This made Chen Yinke feel disappointed.
Just when he thought that no one in this exam would meet his expectations, the content on the last paper made his eyes shine.
Three words were also filled in on the test paper: Hu Shizhi.
Seeing this answer, Chen Yinke immediately exclaimed: "The answer is very wonderful!."What a brilliant answer!”
He immediately opened the candidate's test paper, only to see that the name column read: Zhou Zumo.
Chen Yinke said to his colleague who was correcting the paper next to him: "This student Zhou's talent is completely worthy of Tsinghua University, and I can even conclude that he has no problem if he wants to go to any university in China!"”
Why did Chen Yinke speak so highly of Zhou Zumo's answer?And what is the unique meaning of the three words "Hu Shizhi"?
Outstanding answers.
"Hu Shizhi" and "Sun Xingzhi" represent two names, and the two are combined to form a transliterated "monkey", which cleverly corresponds to the hidden "monkey" in "Sun Xingzhi".
Secondly, "fit" has the meaning of "arrival" in the ancient language, which forms an ingenious causal relationship with the "walking" represented by "walking".
The "and" and "who" are imaginary words in the ancient text "之hu 者也".
In terms of the rhythm requirements of the couplet, Sun Xingzhi's "Ping Ping Qian" and Hu Shizhi's "Ping Ping Qian" conform to the law.
The answer is almost fantastic. The two answers that Chen Yinke thought of when setting the question, Zu Chongzhi and Wang Yinzhi, were not as good as "Hu Shizhi", so he thought that Zhou Zumo had a high talent.
So, where is Zhou Zumo sacred?
A new generation of masters of Chinese culture.
After investigation, Chen Yinke found that Zhou Zumo was only 18 years old and was born in Beijing.
He has been familiar with Confucian classics since he was a child and has a profound knowledge of Chinese studies.
Even though the intelligent Zhou Zumo switched from traditional literature to a new classroom, his academic level has always maintained a top level.
When he was in elementary school, he jumped two levels in a row and was admitted to Beijing Normal School at the age of 11.
Zhou Zumo, who had just graduated from the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, chose to come to Tsinghua University to take the entrance exam.
Chen Yinke specially invited Zhou Zumo to the office to communicate.
Zhou Zumo said that when facing this exam question, he thought about it for a long time, and the two answers "Wang Yinzhi" and "Hu Shizhi" came up in his heart, and finally felt that Hu Shizhi was more symmetrical and neat.
Chen Yinke also said bluntly: "On this topic alone, even I, the person who wrote the question, is not as profound as yours." ”
After talking, Chen Yinke thought that Zhou Zumo was a young talent with great ambitions, and personally invited him to enter Tsinghua University's Xi.
Zhou was willing to join the top university, but the plan ran into setbacks before the start of the school year.
Due to the high tuition fees at Tsinghua University at that time, it was an unaffordable burden for ordinary families. Zhou Zumo's family belonged to ordinary people, and they could not pay such a high fee for their children to go to school for a while. As a result, he failed to fulfill his desire to enter Tsinghua University.
However, as Chen Yinke said, Zhou Zumo's talent was enough to get him into any of China's top universities. In the end, he was successfully admitted to the Chinese Department of Peking University, which is comparable to Tsinghua. After learning of this, Chen Yinke believed that the atmosphere of Chinese studies at Peking University was more suitable for Zhou Zumo's academic development.
After successfully completing his studies at Peking University, Zhou Zumo focused on the study of literature and phonology. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he returned to Peking University as a professor in the Department of Chinese, teaching courses such as modern Chinese, Chinese history, phonology, the study of speaking and interpreting characters, and the solution of important books of language and literature.
In 1955, Zhou Zumo was entrusted by the Ministry of Higher Education to draft the Modern Chinese Teaching Syllabus. After that, he was hired as the director of the Classical Literature Research Office, and devoted himself to the study of Chinese culture for decades, eventually becoming a new generation of masters of Chinese studies.