Meng Erdong Biography

Meng Erdong (January 1957~April 22, 2006), born in Su County, Anhui Province (now Suzhou), was a professor of ancient Chinese literature in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University and a doctoral supervisor. Over the years, Meng Erdong has loved the cause of education and students, and has persisted in educating students to pursue true knowledge and set up correct ideals in life, becoming a mentor for students' healthy growth and a model of noble character. In order to support the development of higher education in Xinjiang, in March 2004, Meng Erdong took the initiative to participate in the work of Peking University to support the teaching of Shihezi University. He insisted on teaching the last class in the midst of violent coughing and collapsed on the podium. He was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the esophagus, and died in Beijing on April 22, 2006, at the age of 49, after failing to recover from his illness. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Education awarded Meng Erdong the honorary title of "National Model Teacher".

On September 25, 2019, Meng Erdong was selected for the list of "The Most Beautiful Strugglers".

Chinese name: Meng Erdong

Nationality: Chinese

Ethnicity: Han Chinese

Birthplace: Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Date of birth: 1957.1

Date of death: 2006.4.22

Occupation: Professor

Graduated from: Peking University

Beliefs: Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, ****productivism

Major Achievements: Love of education and students

Representative Works: History of Chinese Literature and History of Chinese Literary Criticism

Political Affiliation: Member of the Party of the ****Party of the PRC

Personal Experiences

Meng Erdong (1957.1-2006.4.22) was a professor at Peking University. Meng Erdong (1957.1-2006.4.22), born in January 1957, a native of Suzhou City, Anhui Province, an outstanding member of the C*** Party, former professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University, and doctoral supervisor; his disciplinary specialties are the history of Chinese literature and the history of Chinese literary criticism, and his research interests include the literature of the Wei, Jin, the North and South Dynasties, the Sui, the Tang, and the Five Dynasties.

Over the years, Meng Erdong has adhered to the Party's education policy, loved the cause of education, loved his students, and persistently educated his students to pursue true knowledge and set up correct ideals in life, and became a mentor for the students to grow up healthily, and a model of noble character; he is indifferent to fame and fortune and is willing to be lonely, and he has devoted himself to studying, and he has written "A General Theory of Chinese Poetry" (co-authored), "The Exploitation of Poetry of the Middle Tang Dynasty and the New Changes," "The Biography of Poetry in the Han and Meng Schools," and "The Beauty of the Thousand Ancient Traditions" (co-authored).

Meng Erdong was born on January 12, 1957, in Bengbu, Anhui Province. In March 1978, Meng became a student of the Chinese Department of the Suzhou Normal College through the college entrance examination, and at the beginning of February 1980, he was retained as a teacher of the Chinese Department on the basis of his merits. He never stopped studying, and in more than ten years he was admitted to Peking University three times, and went through the course of further study, master's degree and doctoral degree.

In 1994, Meng stayed at Peking University to teach in the Chinese Department. Since then, Erdong's preparation for the class is meticulous and thorough, and he sits in meditation before the class to "go through the movie" and "playback" after the class to find the gains and losses. The ins and outs of each problem and the arguments of each argument are all supported by informative literature. He never lost his temper with the students, and the students saw Mr. Meng as a knowledgeable and sporty, elegant and focused on academics, dedicated but also love life as a teacher and a friend.

Meng Erdong has published a number of treatises, including "The Exploitation and New Changes of Poetry in the Middle Tang Dynasty," which has won many awards, including the National Book Award.

Meng specializes in the history of Chinese literature and the history of Chinese literary criticism, with a focus on the literature of the Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Meng Erdong is indifferent to fame and fortune, willing to be lonely and dedicated to his studies, and has written monographs of more than 4 million words, such as The Exploitation and New Changes of Poetry in the Middle Tang Dynasty and Biography of Han and Meng Schools of Poetry. He spent seven years, after a lot of painstaking research, completed more than 1 million words of the "Enrollment Records Examination" correction.

In order to support the cause of higher education in Xinjiang, in March 2004, Meng Erdong took the initiative to participate in the work of Peking University's counterpart to support teaching at Shihezi University. In the second week of his arrival at Shihezi University, he developed severe symptoms of hoarseness, and despite daily injections and medication, he insisted on attending classes. As his voice became weaker and weaker, he had to use a microphone in class. School leaders and teachers advised him to rest many times, but he smiled and said, "It's okay, I can still hold on." At the repeated requests of teachers and students, he came to the local hospital for examination, and the doctor made the medical advice of "no voice" according to his condition, but he stood on the podium the next day and endured the pain of the disease. 26 April 2004, he insisted on finishing the last lesson of "Tang Dynasty Literature" in the midst of violent coughing and collapsed on the podium. After the hospital diagnosis, he has suffered from malignant tumor of the esophagus.

Meng Erdong in Shihezi University, in addition to insisting on the Chinese Department of 2002 four classes of students weekly lectures 10 hours of compulsory courses, but also for the Chinese Department of Teachers to open the "Tang Dynasty Science and Examination" elective course, use of spare time to take the initiative to talk with teachers of the Department of Teachers, the exchange of teaching experience, the successful completion of the two sides of the agreement of Peking University and Shihezi University teaching tasks. During his treatment in Beijing, Meng Erdong still faced his illness with tenacity, insisted on research and supervision of graduate students, and actively prepared for his graduate students to give lectures to undergraduates at Shihezi University.

Beijing University placed a bronze statue of the late "Sunshine Professor" Meng Erdong in the Tianshou Mausoleum, and his bones were put in the ground yesterday.

The students bowed three times to the bronze statue of Prof. Meng Erdong with white chrysanthemums to the sound of low mournful music. The statue stood in front of the white orchids and pines and cypresses, and Prof. Meng Erdong's thin face wore a light smile and his eyes looked straight ahead.

For Meng Fei, the daughter of the late Professor Meng Erdong of Peking University, June 9, 2006, is unforgettable -- she received a letter from General Secretary Hu Jintao on that day. In the grief of the loss of her loved ones, she felt warmth, the mood is difficult to calm for a long time. General Secretary Hu Jintao said emotionally in the letter, I read your letter with tears in my eyes. Your father's endless thoughts, you recounted his last days still thinking of his students, attached to his unfinished business, all of which, I was y moved. Your father is an ordinary scholar, but he climbed the academic peak with the spirit of diligence and pragmatism, and made extraordinary achievements. Your father is an ordinary teacher, but his noble character as a teacher has y touched everyone, giving people a spiritual shock. Your father deserves to be the outstanding model of teaching and educating people, deserves to be the excellent representative of contemporary Chinese intellectuals. Your father's death is an irreparable loss to your family, and a great loss to Peking University and the national education cause. General Secretary Hu Jintao said in his letter that Prof. Meng Erdong loved the profound Chinese culture all his life. He not only studied and researched Chinese culture in the vast ocean of texts, taught and passed down Chinese culture on the three-foot podium, but also interpreted and practiced the essence of Chinese culture with his own exemplary behavior. He devoted his limited life to serving the motherland and the people. In him, he embodied not only the charm of learning, but also the charm of personality. His noble spirit and character are worthy of serious study by people from all walks of life. General Secretary Hu Jintao said in a heartfelt manner to Meng Fei that you expressed in your letter your determination to carry on your father's legacy and choose teaching as a profession to continue to fulfill your father's unfinished business. This is very gratifying to me. I believe that you will inherit and carry forward your father's noble spirit, study hard for knowledge, strengthen moral cultivation, and strive to become useful to the motherland and the people, to live up to your father's high expectations and trust. General Secretary Hu Jintao's letter in the majority of teachers and students spread, caused a strong reaction. We read the kind and touching words in the letter, and were greatly moved and spurred on. Teachers and students have said that this fully embodies to Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the work of education and the majority of teachers and students of the cordial care, we must conscientiously carry out the spirit of the letter back to the spirit of learning Meng Erdong's advanced deeds and noble character, to promote the development of China's educational undertakings. General Secretary Hu Jintao's kind care, y moved Meng Erdong's family. In order to express their gratitude to the General Secretary, May 25, Meng Fei penned a letter to the General Secretary. What they did not expect is that the General Secretary soon returned the letter, so that Meng Fei and her mother was thrilled. Recalling the scene when she received a letter back from the General Secretary, Meng Fei said: "The General Secretary is so busy, but also took the time to give us a letter back, back so quickly, written so emotionally, read read, our tears fell." Unnamed Lake, Boya Tower, the General Secretary's letter in Peking University teachers and students widely recited, we feel close, y inspired. "This word for word, touching letter is not only written to Prof. Meng's daughter, but also to the teachers of Peking University and to the teachers of the whole country. This is the General Secretary's concern for Prof. Meng and his family, but also for Peking University teachers and teachers across the country." The words of Fu Zengyou, a professor in the Department of Eastern Languages, spoke to everyone's heart.

Meng Erdong's touching story aroused the great concern of General Secretary Hu Jintao, who, on Dec. 8, 2005, upon learning of Meng's condition, immediately entrusted State Councilor Chen Zhili to visit him and instructed the relevant parties to treat him meticulously; since then, he has asked about Meng's condition many times, expressed his cordial greetings to Meng, and instructed the medical staff to do their best to save him.

On April 22, 2006, at the age of 49, Meng Erdong died in Beijing after his condition worsened and he was unable to be treated. General Secretary Hu Jintao, who was on a visit abroad, made a special phone call to express his condolences, expressed his sympathy to his relatives, and sent a wreath in his personal name.

Character Story

Meng Erdong moved into this new 90-square-meter home only two years ago. For more than a decade, the family had been living in a "silo" on the Peking University campus. His lover, Ms. Geng Qin, said the old Meng has been reluctant to leave that "silo" because it is close to the Peking University Library, where it is convenient to go to look up information.

Meng Erdong graduated from Suzhou Teacher's College in Anhui Province in 1980 and stayed on as a teacher, during which time he was fortunate enough to attend the Chinese Department of Peking University for further study of ancient literature, and began to study under Mr. Yuan Xingjue.

Meng was admitted to Mr. Yuan's master's degree program in 1985 with the first place in the major courses. 1988, after graduating from the graduate program, Meng Erdong came to teach at the nascent Yantai University as the head of the Ancient Literature Teaching and Research Room of the Chinese Language Department of the University. In 1991, Meng obtained his doctoral degree from Yuan Xingjue, and after graduation in 1994, he stayed at the Department of Ancient Literature of the Chinese Department of Peking University as a teacher. From 1994 to the beginning of 2001, when she was a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo, Meng was also the academic secretary of the Center for the Study of Traditional Chinese Culture at Peking University, and was Mr. Yuan's right-hand man.

Cheng Yufu, a professor of Chinese at Peking University and head of the Department of Social Sciences, told reporters that for a long time, in order to complete the monograph with significant value of the historical literature, "Dengke Jikao Supplementary Correction", Meng Erdong almost every day with the librarians to and from work, and became the most loyal readers of the Peking University Library of the ancient books room. The "Enrolment Record Examination" is the Qing Dynasty scholar Xu Song on the ancient imperial examinations masterpiece. 1994, Meng Erdong looked for a lot of information, found that there are a large number of errors in the content of this book. So he began to research and organize this work. It took Meng Erdong seven years to complete the more than one million-word book, "The Remedial Correction of the Enrolment Records Examination" (the first, second and third volumes, published by Beijing Yanshan Publishing House. 2004, this monograph won the first prize of Beijing Municipal Philosophical and Social Science Achievement Prize, and was highly evaluated by China's literary and historiographical circles, which considered it a rare masterpiece of China's literary and historiographical circles in recent years. When writing this work, Meng Erdong rummaged through all the relevant ancient books he could collect. After a great deal of painstaking research, the number of people in the imperial examinations alone was increased by half compared with the original. He put in a lot of effort, but got only 30,000 yuan for the manuscript. It was this 30,000 yuan that he also exchanged all for writings to give to his teachers and students.

Mr. Yuan Xinjiu said that it is important to use first-hand information to do research, and Meng Erdong started from first-hand information, and his research is very solid. His research results of more than 4 million words, from the General Theory of Chinese Poetry to the Ancient Transmission of Beautiful Writings, from the Tao Yuanming Collection Translation and Annotation to the History of Chinese Literature, are as thick and credible as his personality.

Meng Erdong is not an isolated case at Peking University. More than a decade ago, Mr. Ji Xianlin, a master of Chinese literature, "soaked" in the ancient books room of the Peking University Library for several years in order to write the "History of Sugar". Meng Erdong's spirit of learning by sitting on the bench and doing academic research is the inheritance and development of the glorious tradition of Peking University. Tempted by the wave of fame and fortune in society, the university does have a part of the teacher busy with social activities, to the outside lectures to make extra money, there are some teachers are keen to save the bestseller to make money. With Meng Erdong's learning, there are a lot of places with high pay to ask him to go to lecture, but he was put off. His lover, Geng Qin, said that over the years, Meng never took a single extra payment.

Professor Zhao Weimin, director of the Peking University News Center and vice dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, said with deep feeling that in the society, the utilitarian thinking is serious, and impatience is prevalent, while Mr. Meng is loyal to the Party's educational cause, all of the body and mind on teaching and research, willing to be lonely, dedication and dedication, which is exactly what should be vigorously carried forward a noble spirit.

Love books as life

Professor Meng's home is the largest room is the study, east, west and north walls are bookcases. Together with the collection of books in the living room, he has thousands of books in his personal collection. "In the 1980s, Old Meng and I were paid only a few dozen dollars a month, but the books he needed were still moved home in stacks." Professor Meng's wife, Ms. Geng, said, "It would have been nice to buy the house with an attic across the street to make it easier for Old Meng to hide his books." Having been together for so many years, she is most familiar with Professor Meng's character and most supportive of his career.

The books in the study cabinets are neatly arranged in columns. Many of the books are wrapped in white wrappers, and when they are inspected, there is a note for indexing, while some books without wrappers have been inspected and turned black. Prof. Meng's profound literary training and skills came from his hard reading day after day, year after year. During the many years he lived in the 44th floor of Peking University, Prof. Meng became the "first reader" of the library's antiquities reading room. He held a cup of boiling water every day, early to return late, rain or shine, for many years as one day. It is by this kind of accumulation, water drop by stone solid and diligent, his masterpiece "" Dengke Ji Kao "" correction ", a wide collection of long, new, once published on the widely acclaimed.

Versatility

Long immersed in traditional culture, Professor Meng was y inculcated. He is also sensitive to the ancient concept of "time is not precious, time is ten gold", which has been transformed into a beautiful language like poetry. In the "Dengke Jikao" corrections "postscript" he lamented: "cold to summer, green lamps and yellow scrolls; day after day, rusty sideburns, a few do not dare to steal half a day of leisure." Before his illness, Prof. Meng's drinking capacity was extremely high, and there were few people in the Chinese Department who could surpass him. Drinking, reading and learning, in his body has a harmonious unity. From Tao Yuanming to Li Bai, there is no shortage of ancient wine and literature dual-flowers. He once annotated a collection of poems of Tao Yuanming in the Wei and Jin dynasties, with much understanding and deep feelings, which is still used as a textbook for universities by Japanese friends.

Pen, ink, paper and inkstones are all over Prof. Meng's desk. His calligraphy has considerable attainments, and his strokes are powerful and elegant, like swimming dragons. "The words are like his person." Mr. Yuan Xingyu, Dean of the National College of Peking University, said. Practicing calligraphy is a must for Prof. Meng every day, even when he is ill. The art of seal-carving, handed down from the ancients, also fascinates him. "When we first got married, he fiddled with those stones every day." Ms. Geng said with a smile. The multi-talented Prof. Meng exudes an air of literacy and elegance.

Expansive and aloof

Professor Meng usually didn't say much. His words seem to be even fewer because he struggles to speak due to the disease's compression of his vocal cords. But there are times when the quiet man is chatty. When it comes to academic issues, his interest comes right away.

A refresher teacher approached Prof. Meng for professional advice, and he was warmly received. From the pre-Qin to Sui and Tang dynasties, from the ancient books to the ancients, talk incessantly, do not realize to three or four o'clock in the morning. His daughter slept next door, and said to her mother the next morning, "I can't imagine that Dad not only has a belly full of learning, but also surprisingly can talk so much!" In the general public's impression, he did not talk much, his professional feats were well-known for his examinations, and his life should be very withered. In the face of these, Prof. Meng did not deliberately try to refute or prove anything. When he was reading and thinking in the reading room of ancient books, was he not wandering between the words of ancient elegance, like a fish out of water in the divine fellowship with the ancients? Did he suddenly realize at some point that he had arrived at a beautiful peach blossom garden, spiritually rich and unseen? He traveled among the many bookshelves, and he lived in his own poetic and rich world.

In Professor Meng's study, there is a thick pile of paper on the table. Stretched out, all Professor Meng copied Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface". Thuji black characters, is so eye-catching. Prof. Meng never thought that the disease would come so seriously and suddenly. When he recounted the onset of the disease, his tone was calm. But why did he copy this Lanting Preface over and over again? The Lanting Collection Preface" has been immortalized throughout the ages, not only thanks to Wang Xizhi's exceptional calligraphy talent, but also because it is itself a philosophical essay reflecting the style of Wei and Jin dynasties, the kind of "death and life is also great, is not it painful," the sentiment of life almost every person's **** Ming. Every day when his wife went to work and his daughter went to school, he was the only one left in the empty house, and what did Prof. Meng, who usually talked very little, think? Death and life are also great, true to form, the flavor of the experience, those who know themselves. The loneliness and loneliness of facing the disease, the compassionate feelings of the ancient and the modern, did not express, did not express into a text, but poured into the "Lanting Preface" over and over again in the imitation of the writing. The sunlight poured on Prof. Meng's face. He smiled.

High praise

Meng Erdong is a doctoral tutor in the Ancient Literature Department of the Chinese Department of Peking University, and he has devoted himself to teaching undergraduates at Shihezi University in Xinjiang, preparing and teaching meticulously; he is willing to be lonely and dedicated to his studies, and in order to complete a monograph of great historical and documentary value, he has worked for seven years as if it were one day, and finally completed the more than 1,000,000-word book, <> Complementary Corrections; he has worked for one year in the Landing Jiji Preface> (兰亭集序). Supplement"; he went through the torture of three major surgeries within a year, but still optimistic about life, positive.

Mr. Ji Xianlin once said that the most valuable thing about Chinese intellectuals is the strong spirit of patriotism, which has different manifestations in different times. Meng Erdong has put all his love for the Party and the people into his work. In him, we see a people's teacher indifferent to fame and fortune, selfless dedication to the lofty virtues of a scholar to see an incomparable richness of mind and noble feelings. Meng Erdong is an excellent representative of the intellectuals cultivated by the party, he has been in the process of learning and teaching for decades, will be a person and do learning harmoniously united together, always put the students in the heart, quietly practicing the value of a *** member of the party and the people's teachers standards, with their own actions once again interpreted the true meaning of life.

In the construction of a harmonious socialist society today, our educational cause needs more teachers like him. We learn Meng Erdong, is to learn him everywhere to **** the advanced standards of Party members to demand their own, for the party and the people's educational cause of indifferent to fame and fortune, the spirit of selfless dedication; learn him to love his work and dedication, as a teacher, for the teaching and educating the people to dedicate themselves to the spirit of dedication; to learn him to advocate the virtues of the teacher, rigorous, for the pursuit of academic perseverance, the spirit of truthfulness and pragmatism; to learn him to cherish his life, The spirit of perseverance, in order to overcome the disease indomitable, positive and optimistic spirit.

He is a model for contemporary intellectuals.

In the short movie, Meng Erdong is very optimistic despite his weak body, and his voice is very strong despite his raspy voice. He told the audience, "The Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi had two lines of poetry, 'A thousand sails pass by a sinking boat, and ten thousand trees spring up in front of a sick tree', which he wrote after suffering a major political and life setback, and he was encouraging himself to face the future and life with optimism and a positive attitude. I have also become a 'sick tree' today, but this 'sick tree' of mine is also full of confidence to meet the new spring and embrace the new spring together with you 'big trees'.

Major honors

In April 2006, Meng Erdong was awarded the Capital Spiritual Civilization Construction Award.

In early 2007, in order to recognize and publicize Meng Erdong's advanced deeds, and to further improve the level of teachers' morality, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Education conferred on Meng Erdong the honorary title of "National Exemplary Teacher," and called on the majority of teachers and education workers in the national education system to learn from Meng Erdong; the All China Federation of Trade Unions awarded Meng Erdong the National May Day Labor Medal. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions awarded Meng Erdong the National May Day Labor Medal; the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party posthumously awarded Meng Erdong the honorary title of "National Outstanding *** Party Member".

On September 14, 2009, he was named one of the 100 people who have moved China since the founding of New China.

On September 25, 2019, he was selected for the individual list of "The Most Beautiful Strugglers".

Outside Evaluation

Meng Erdong has long been engaged in the study of ancient Chinese literature, and it is the excellent and splendid traditional culture that feeds scholars like him. He has a rich inner world and an upward spiritual pursuit, treats his colleagues with modesty and students with care, and always adheres to the responsibility, persistence, courage and morality that intellectuals should have, showing an extraordinary character among the ordinary.

He is a model for contemporary intellectuals.