Before his death, Bin Si was proud to be a lifelong teacher. He runs education and advocates that "learning for the sake of learning" and "being a man" are absolutely inseparable. He himself has made this the goal of his life.
To be a scholar, life is already lonely. In today's era, to be a scholar who faithfully abides by China's own traditional culture, the loneliness and loneliness of his soul is even more difficult to describe.
The widow Qian Hu Meiqi died in Qian Mu.
Writes on the occasion of the 20th anniversary.
On August 30, 1990, Qian Mu, a master of Chinese culture, passed away. He entered a private school at the age of nine. At the age of thirteen, he entered Changzhou Mansion Middle School to study, dropped out of school in 1912 due to family poverty, and then self-taught. From 1913 to 1919 he was a primary school teacher. After 1923, he worked as a middle school teacher in Xiamen, Wuxi, Suzhou and other places. After 1930, he successively served as a professor at Yenching, Beijing, Tsinghua University, Sichuan, Qilu, Southwest Associated University and other universities, and also served as the dean of the School of Literature of Jiangnan University in Wuxi.
He moved to Hong Kong in 1949 and founded New Asia College, where he served as its director and engaged in teaching and research until his retirement in 1964. In 1966, Qian Mu moved to Taipei, Taiwan, and worked in the "Academy of Chinese Culture (now Chinese Culture University)", as an academician of the "** Research Institute" and a distinguished researcher of the "Palace Museum". He died in Taipei in 1990 and was buried on the shore of Taihu Lake in Suzhou in 1992.
Today, we come to commemorate this old man who has worked hard all his life to "summon the soul of his homeland".
n details about Mr. Qian Mu.
1, Qian Mu can recite "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" at the age of 9. One night, his father went to the town's tobacco house to discuss matters, and Qian Mu followed. Entering the smoke house, a guest suddenly asked Qian Mu: "I heard that you can recite "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", is it true?" Qian Mu nodded. Another asked, "Can I try it tonight?" Qian Mu nodded again. So according to the guest's request, he began to recite "Zhuge Liang's tongue and battle group Confucianism".
In the year, due to Gu Jiegang's strong recommendation, Qian Mu went north to Yenching University and served as a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Literature. The principal of Yan University hosted a banquet to entertain the new teachers and asked them about their impressions of the school. Qian Mu said: "When I first heard that Yan University was the most Chinese in the Chinese Church University, I admired it. And then it was a great feeling. When you enter the school, you will see the 'M' building and 'S' building, what does this mean? What about the so-called Chinese culture? This should be the same as the beginning of the Chinese name. Afterwards, Yan University specially convened a school council meeting to discuss Qian Mu's opinions, and finally changed the "M" building to "Mu" building, the "S" building to the "suitable" building, the "Pei Gong" building to the "office" building, and the other buildings also adopted Chinese names.
In the year, Qian Mu went to Peking University to lecture on the history of the pre-Qin period. At Peking University, Qian Mu and Hu Shi's classes were the most popular; Hu Shi admired Qian Mu, and Qian Mu admired Hu Shi, but academic controversy was inevitable. At that time, a hot topic in the academic world was the issue of Lao Tzu's birth year, Hu Shi believed that Lao Tzu was slightly earlier than Confucius, and Qian Mu believed that Lao Tzu was later than Confucius. It is said that once the two met unexpectedly, Qian Mu said: "Mr. Hu, "Lao Tzu" was written late, the evidence is conclusive, don't insist on your mistakes anymore!" Hu Shi said: "Mr. Qian, the evidence you adduced can't convince me; If you can convince me, I don't even want my own pro-Lao Tzu! ”
Hu shi. In Chengdu, Qian Mu was asked why he didn't go into politics, and Qian Mu said that everyone who reads books doesn't necessarily have to go into politics. Again, Guan doesn't care about politics? Qian Mu said, scholars must care about politics, but I don't want to go into politics, just do my own job.
In June of that year, Qian Mu moved to Hong Kong with Huaqiao University. After entering Hong Kong, I was touched to see that many young people who had come to Hong Kong from the mainland were unemployed, out of school, helpless, and wandering on the streets. The idea of setting up a school in Hong Kong to provide education opportunities for young people was born. Due to the lack of people, Qian Mu invited his colleague Tang Junyi, a colleague from Jiangnan University, and Zhang Pijie, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong's "Democracy Review", to conspire with him, and finally led to the establishment of New Asia College.
6. Qian Mu hurriedly went south to Hong Kong to run a school, and the mainland regime was easier, and he and his family were separated by sea and sky, and they had not heard from each other for 30 years, and they met again in 1980. Son Qian Xing still remembers the details of his childhood, and he must be light on his father's study to prevent disturbing his reading and writing.
7. At first, the conditions of running a school in New Asia College were extremely difficult, and the writer Su Xuelin said in "Xuelin's Memoirs": "After Mr. Qian Mu escaped from the mainland, he borrowed a middle school in Hong Kong to run a night make-up school, and the classroom desks and chairs were used by the middle school during the day and at night. After the students dispersed, he and his comrades slept on the chair table. ”
Qian Mu attends classes at New Asia College.
8. Qian Mu's student and scholar *** recalled: "One summer vacation, Hong Kong was very hot, and he suffered a severe stomach ulcer, and he was alone on the floor of an empty classroom to recuperate. When I went to see him, I felt really sorry for him. I asked him, "Is there anything you want me to do for you?" He said: He wanted to read Wang Yangming's anthology. I went to the Commercial Press and bought him one. When I returned, he was still lying alone on the floor of the classroom, as if New Asia College was empty. ”
9. Qian Hu Meiqi recalled that after the outbreak of the "Cultural Revolution" in 1966, "Bin Si was very worried that there would be no successor to the literature and history teachers in primary and secondary schools in the mainland in the future." At that time, he had resigned and lived in seclusion at home, preparing to write "Zhu Zi's New School Case". He walked up and down the corridor day and night without saying a word, and this went on for a month or two. He said he was thinking, is there any way to save this crisis? ”。He wants to compile a "Reader" for everyone to study the Chinese language. After the completion of "Zhu Zi's New Study Case", he repeatedly wanted to resume this plan, but he was trapped in funds and could not carry out his work.
In the same year, Qian Mu and his wife Qian Hu Meiqi moved to Taipei. The following year, the Sushulou was completed, and Qian Mu spent the most quiet time here for more than 20 years. Here, he once wrote the poem "A garden of flowers and trees, a house full of mountains and rivers, nothing to gain or lose, only this nature". In 1986, Qian Mu gave his last lecture at Sushulou and gave a message to students: "You are Chinese, don't forget China!" ”
The bronze statue of Qian Mu in the Sushu Building.
Reminiscences and evaluations by later generations of scholars.
**On Qian Mu's "pass".
The scope of my discussion with Mr. Qian Mu is almost all-encompassing, but the focus is always on the evolution of modern historiography. From his discussions, I gradually realized that traditional Chinese scholarship has its own classification and flux on the one hand, and on the other hand, it pays special attention to the overall viewpoint. This is a big issue between "specialization" and "communication." However, after this tradition came into contact with the trend of specialization in modern Western scholarship, it caused many difficulties about how to communicate and melt, and it was impossible to solve them for a while.
But in the eyes of those who are familiar with Chinese traditions, there is always a sense of far-fetched and thinness. If we pay too much attention to the tradition of "generalization" and first have an overall understanding and then take the road of experts, in fact, the researcher's time, energy, and intelligence cannot be allowed. Mr. Qian has embarked on his own unique path of "mastering specialization".
Nowadays, everyone regards him as an academic historian of thought, but in fact, he has worked all aspects of institutional history, historical geography, and even social and economic history, and he has written special works. The three chapters of "The Economic and Cultural Transfer between the North and the South" in the "Outline of National History" are particularly insightful, showing a multifaceted historiographical accomplishment and modern vision.
Qian Mu calligraphy. Xu Zhuoyun talks about the "Outline of National History".
This book is still an irreplaceable masterpiece in the general history of China. When I was in high school, my teacher, Mr. Qiu Weilin, specifically instructed me to study this history carefully. I have worked in the field of history all my life, and whether I am teaching or researching, the "Outline of National History" is still a very useful reference book. I often tell my students that there are hundreds of doctoral topics buried in this book, waiting for future generations to study and play. Later, the records of several speeches he gave in Taiwan were published in a book, which talked about the spirit of Chinese culture and the gains and losses in history, which is also a very enlightening work.