Anecdotes of Qian Mu's characters

Qian Mu went to Peking University to teach. Objectively speaking, in addition to Gu Jiegang's strong recommendation, this is inseparable from the approval of Hu Shi, the dean of literature. When Qian Mu was in Suzhou, he met Hu Shi who gave an academic speech in Suzhou Middle School. At that time, Hu Shi was a generation of scholars who were always full of respect and admiration. Many of Qian Mu's studies on hundred schools of thought benefited from Hu Shi's inspiration. Hu Shi also "respects money". Qian Mu talks about the ancient history of China (pre-Qin history) in the history department of Peking University. Someone asked Hu Shi about the pre-Qin philosophers, and Hu Shi always said that he could ask Qian Mu, not him.

Peking University has a free style of study, and teachers put forward their own opinions in class, so it is difficult for students to stand and ask questions and contend for arguments. At that time, the academic discussion on Laozi became more and more heated. Hu Shi advocated that Laozi was prior to Confucius because Confucius had consulted and learned from Laozi. Qian Mu and Gu Jiegang argued that Laozi was behind Confucius. The three gentlemen discuss knowledge with each other outside the classroom and are friends; In class, they instill their academic ideas into students and criticize each other's views in public. For example, Hu Shi admires Qian Mu's Chronicle of Liu and his son, and often gives publicity to students on his own initiative. However, in class, he also made a big speech and strongly criticized Qian Mu and others' arguments about Laozi and Laozi's era. In his lectures, Qian Mu also contacted and criticized some of Hu Shi's arguments at any time, often saying, "Teacher Hu proved this wrong again." Students either talk nonsense or boast money, arguing with each other constantly.

On one occasion, a classmate who agreed with Laozi's theory of staying up late thought that Hu Shi was "biased on the issue of Laozi's era". Hu Shi said angrily, "Laozi is not my Laozi. How can I be biased?" However, his attitude is still very objective, and then he said to his classmates, "In college, professors introduce various theories to everyone, and students choose for themselves to see which one is more in line with the facts." In Peking University, he and Hu Shi are both famous for giving lectures, and they have also become one of the most popular professors in Peking University. There is a saying among the students that "Xiangbei money". 1937 after the "July 7th Incident", the northern universities moved southward one after another, and the three universities of Peking University, Tsinghua and Nankai merged to form a temporary university in Changsha. Qian Mu stuffed five or six thick volumes of notes accumulated by adding or deleting China's general history into the gap at the bottom of the suitcase. 10, together with Tang Yongtong and He Lin, started his academic career in southwest China for eight years during the Anti-Japanese War from Tianjin to Changsha. As in Peking University, Qian Mu taught the general history of China at the National Southwest United University, which attracted a large number of students, and all kinds of universities that moved to the southwest invited him to give lectures.

Fu Sinian was once a master of Chinese studies, Huang Kan, and one of Hu Shi's most proud students. In 1930s, when Qian Mu was teaching in Peking University, he met Fu Sinian. There are similarities in academic views between Qian Mu and He He. In Qian Mu's view, it is no less harmful for archaeologists to forget ancient books because they are superstitious about unearthed materials, or even worse. During the period of National Southwest Associated University, with the maturity of Qian Mu's own historical theory system, he made a comprehensive criticism of the historical textual research school. Therefore, as the leader of the school, Fu Sinian's attack on Qian Mu naturally won't be happy. Qian Mu was not invited when Peking University resumed school, which is probably one of the important reasons. The two eventually failed to become real "fellow travelers." At this point, Qian Mu bid farewell to Peking University and parted ways with Fu Sinian.

Because Qian Mu has long been famous for studying forestry, universities are eager to hire him. He traveled from one place to another, giving lectures and writing in several universities; 1947, Jiangnan University in my hometown was formally established. At the invitation of Mr. Rong Desheng, I became the first dean and head of the history department of Jiangnan University in the following spring. Qian Mu is a master of Chinese studies. In his later years, he wrote a book "Miscellanies of Teachers and Friends". In the book, some chapters describe his educational experience, and what impressed us deeply was an exam when he was in middle school.

It was a geography exam, with only four questions, with a full score of 100 and 25 points for each question. After Qian Mu got the test paper, he began to examine the questions from the first question. He was very excited when he examined the third question. It turns out that the content of this question is about the topography and military situation of Changbai Mountain. He has always been very interested in this problem, and he has read a lot of information in this field before, so he is reluctant after seeing this problem.

I don't know how long it took, but he finally answered the question and began to check it from beginning to end. Just then, the bell rang, but he was absorbed in answering the third question, and he didn't write a word on the remaining three questions, so he had to hand in the paper angrily.

According to common sense, Qian Mu can't pass the exam, because he only answered the question of 1/4, and even if that question got a perfect score, he could only get 25 points. However, after the test paper was handed out, Qian Mu was surprised to find that he had scored 75 points!

It turns out that Lv Simian, a master historian, is responsible for marking papers. After seeing Qian Mu's paper, Teacher Lu found that although he only answered one question, the answer to this question was particularly good and the argument was reasonable and sufficient. For a middle school student, it is really commendable to be able to do this. Mr. Lu is famous for his talent for love. He wrote a long commentary on Qian Mu's question, highly affirmed Qian Mu's answer, pointed out its shortcomings, and gave a score of 75 points, which made Qian Mu pass only one question. It can be seen that Lv Simian, as a reviewer, did not read papers according to rigid regulations, but encouraged students' creativity in a flexible way. During the period of 1949, the Kuomintang government retreated to Taiwan Province Province. Although Qian Mu didn't go to Taiwan Province, he also went to Hong Kong with many intellectuals via Guangzhou because he was worried about the current situation.

In Hong Kong, Qian Mu, who considers himself an exiled intellectual, not only published an article in the Democratic Review hosted by Xu, but also borrowed three classrooms from South China Middle School in Kowloon Street to organize an "Asian Literature and Business Night Conference" with scholars such as Xie Youwei, Tang Junyi and Cui, so as to achieve the goal of educating China people.

1In the autumn of 950, Wang Yuefeng, a Shanghai businessman, bought a new building, Sanyan, at No.61-65 Guilin Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon as a new school building. Although it doesn't occupy a large area and there is no library, Asian literary merchants have since changed from night schools to day schools, and renamed them "Xinya Academy", with Qian Mu as the dean.

Although Qian Mu runs a school in Hong Kong, he has not cut off his ties with Taiwan Province Province. With the gradual development of Chiang Kai-shek's government affairs and cultural construction in Taiwan Province, Qian Mu was invited to give lectures in Taiwan Province many times to teach China culture and historical spirit.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Qian Mu met Chiang Kai-shek several times in Sichuan and talked about Neo-Confucianism and history. Chiang Kai-shek asked Qian Mu to write "The Case of Confucianism in Qing Dynasty" and invited him to give a speech at Chongqing Central Training Corps. This is the so-called friendship. After Qian Mu founded Xinya College, Chiang Kai-shek not only personally invited Qian Mu to visit Taiwan, but also was received by Song Meiling and Jiang Jingguo. At the same time, he instructed the Taiwan Province Provincial Administrative Office to allocate HK$ 3,000 to Xinya every month to alleviate its financial difficulties. It lasted for 4 years, until Yale University subsidized Xinya College. After 1950, Qian Mu was invited to give a speech or chat with Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan Province Province every year. Jiang Jingguo will support you. Qian Mu once considered setting up a branch of Xinya College in Taiwan Province, but it was not supported by the Kuomintang.

Wang's brother-in-law Sun came to Hong Kong with his family. He goes to the academic lectures of New Asia College every week, not only every time, but also every time. Because of its detailed records, all previous lectures have been compiled as "academic lectures for new Asia" and "the first book published for new Asia". /kloc-in the autumn of 0/953, the New Asia Society was established, and Sun entered the school to study. According to Qian Mu's instructions, he wrote the book History of China's Military System, which is also the first book published by Xinya.

From 65438 to 0956, Qian Mu won an annual US$ 25,000 grant for Xinya College, which lifted the economic crisis of Xinya College. From 65438 to 0963, the Hong Kong government invited New Asia College, Chung Chi College and United College to merge to form a new university-The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Chinese does not mean language, but culture. It is said that many names came to mind at that time-China University, Zhonghua University, and finally Qian Mu insisted, "It is better to call it China University".

Qian Mu also insisted on China as the main body, so he has been mediating with the British government in Hongkong for a long time. "If (I) argue for principles, I will go to the headmaster one day, and I will never participate in the discussion." Fulton, an Englishman sent by the British Hong Kong government to negotiate at that time, was fluent in Cantonese and read China's books. He once said that Qian Mu "has a heart of stone and can't turn back." At that time, Qian Mu expected that Chinese people would never be despised in Hong Kong again.

"The rocks are deep in the sea, the earth is rich, the sky is brilliant, people respect it, and the spirit is broad-minded and has a long history, so cherish and cherish it. This is my new Asian spirit. " The lyrics of this widely circulated new Asia school song were written by Qian Mu himself. "Hong Kong turned out to be a colonial society, and Mr. Qian founded New Asia, so there are schools specializing in China culture and China history, which have a great influence. Later, Xinya became a part of CUHK, which was really significant. " What Qian Mu never forgets is that China could not be unified at that time. "He said that as a China person, how can he not stand in the position of China people?"

At that time, Xinya was the most famous of the three academies, and the British Hong Kong government was very dependent on it. Almost all the conditions put forward by Qian Mu were accepted. In addition to the fact that the president is from China and the name of the school is "Chinese University", he also agreed with Fulton that Xinya College will become the "first school" of the Chinese University, which was written into the laws and regulations for the establishment of the new university.

However, after the establishment of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qian Mu said that he needed time for academic research and showed fatigue. On the other hand, universities in China are developing in a centralized way, and their members have complex backgrounds. The idea of running a school is different from Qian Mu's idea of establishing a university organization with a joint college, which caused discussion for a while. Qian Mu failed to resign many times, so he had to ask Xinya College for a long vacation. 1June, 965, Qian Mu officially resigned as the principal of Xinya College, ending 16' s school career in Hong Kong.