Come closer to Fudan

Author: Chen Sihe
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-01-01
Features:
Last year was the centennial celebration of Peking University, and discussions about its traditions were abundant. At that time, I thought that whether the traditions of Peking University were liberal or patriotic, there was one undeniable fact: its traditions always had the shadow of the Imperial University. With this background, the spiritual traditions of Peking University reflected the national will of the time. The patriotic and liberal democratic spirit of the May Fourth Movement perfectly embodied the two ends of the national will during the transition from autocratic monarchy to a democratic republic. Therefore, when Chen Duxiu established New Youth in Shanghai, it was merely a private publication with liberalized discourse. Although it had heretical influences, it could not rally the nation. Later, when Cai Yuanpei invited Chen Duxiu to become the Dean of the Humanities at Peking University and moved New Youth to be published at Peking University, the situation changed. The idea of vernacular literature had been proposed for many years, but when Peking University raised the banner, the literary revolution was ignited. There were many reasons for this, but Peking University, with its background of the Imperial University, had the power to "rule with the to command the vassals," causing warlords and military figures to be disoriented.
As for Tsinghua University, the situation was different. Its predecessor was the Preparatory School for Study in the United States, and it had the model of the modern Western education system from the beginning. Schools with Western influence were less susceptible to national will, making them more non-official and non-mainstream. Human scholars within them could cultivate academic value norms more independently. This can be summarized by Chen Yinque's "independent spirit, free thought." The mentors of the Tsinghua National College of Arts and Sciences seemed not to be mainstream figures of the May Fourth New Culture Movement. Later, the academic leaders of Tsinghua University were also marked by a steady academic style. Wen Yiduo's outburst came later. At that time, Chen Yinque's thought was proposed in response to Wang Guowei's suicide. It was during the victory of the Northern Expedition and the establishment of the unified government by the Nationalist Party. Theoretically, the Nationalist Party government was a modern nation-state, and both patriotism and liberal democracy were applicable. However, Chen Yinque proposed this thought to distance himself from this government. His "independent thought, free spirit" was not discussed within the framework of political democracy, and it was different from Cai Yuanpei's idea of "inclusive and accommodating." He, as a scholar, had his own free thought and independent character, and his value was measured by the academic status of intellectuals. Traditional scholars only spoke for the sages and only addressed the court. In contrast, Chen Yinque proposed this principle to be responsible for scholarship and to maintain independence and freedom in traditional Chinese academic thought. This was aimed at the Nationalist Party government. At that time, Tsinghua had just been reformed into a "National University."
However, there is one more point to explain: although Tsinghua had a Western background, it was not like a typical church school. Some scholars are now paying attention to the educational experience of church schools, which is appropriate, but they must also recognize the fatal weaknesses of the church background. Church schools essentially reflected the penetration of Western thought, culture, and economic power into China. They focused on cultivating talents who met Western standards, with some technical disciplines like medicine and civil engineering showing more obvious educational effects. As for the cultivation of talents in humanities, it was hard to say. With this premise, discussing the traditions of Fudan University would not be difficult to find its characteristics.
The predecessor of Fudan University was Fudan Public School, founded by Mr. Ma Xiangbo to support students who protested against the church's control over the education of Shantung College. This means that it had two characteristics from the very beginning: opposing the church's control over education and adhering to private. It followed an independent and autonomous path of through private fundraising, support from overseas Chinese, without relying on official power or Western influence. In Shao Menglan's History of the School's Development, when recording the process of Fudan University being changed into a national university in Chongqing in 1941, there is a vague record of historical materials: "This report to the Ministry seemed to act first and then report, lacking some procedures. In fact, there had already been discussions about changing into a national university in March of the 28th year. Repeated exchanges of correspondence between Chongqing and Shanghai, exchanging opinions, were misunderstood due to rumors, saying that our school had already been ordered by the Ministry to become National Xikang University. Although Deputy Vice President Wu (Wu Nanxuan) formally clarified the rumors to President Li (Li Denghui), some issues in Shanghai were not resolved, so it had to be postponed. The second attempt to change into a national university was fortunate to be observed by President Li and other school directors in Shanghai, who jointly saved the crisis and no longer cared about other trivial issues." The details are vague, and many aspects are worth further exploration by school history researchers. It is roughly guessed that it was related to the "reform into a national university," which changed Fudan's long-standing tradition of private.
The former president of Fudan, Li Denghui, was an educator who should be valued in modern times. His greatness lay in his ability to rely on private fundraising to establish Fudan, a university with a strong humanistic spirit. In the past, many overseas Chinese had contributed to, but most of the schools they established were technical or vocational schools, providing a path for their hometown children to survive. In Shanghai, this economically oriented modern city, technical training and vocational schools were an important feature of its education, but Fudan, like Fudan, allowed the humanistic tradition to be passed down in the, enabling intellectuals to inherit academic spirit in good positions. This was worth attention in the history of modern Chinese education. In this sense, Li Denghui's contribution was not inferior to that of Huang Yanpei, Tao Xingzhi, Chen Jiaogeng, and other private educators.
Now, remnants of the buildings built by President Li through fundraising still remain in the Fudan campus. More movingly, after Shanghai was occupied, Li Denghui, despite his old age and illness, hid in the foreign concession, considering the plight of the students who had lost their studies at Fudan. He persuaded a famous banker to buy a house on debt, providing it to Fudan teachers and students for free education. This was the Fudan University on Hede Road. The banker's connection with Fudan came from his daughter, who had been a student at Fudan and died of a dog bite on her way home from the library. During the handling of this tragic incident, Li Denghui had several contacts with the banker, leading to this remarkable event, revealing his extraordinary personal charm. Liang Dapeng wrote in In Memory of President Li Denghui, Doctor Liang a very well-expressed passage: "He was not like the typical university administrators who were good at bargaining, skilled in managing finances, and adept at dealing with people. As long as the school could be stabilized, it was considered a success. President Li was clearly also not like another group of university presidents who regarded themselves as social leaders, making policy decisions for the school but rarely involving themselves in details, yet taking very seriously matters that touched upon fundamental principles, speaking for what others did not speak, and doing what others did not do. Our President Li seemed to be a person who stood between the two groups." This is worth pondering. Private school principals must have practical spirit and business acumen, but Li Denghui, as a principal, was also remarkable for his noble humanistic concern and upright integrity. This was what distinguished him from leaders like Cai Yuanpei and ordinary administrative personnel in academia. Because Fudan had the tradition of a private university, it was relatively distant from the court but closely connected with the revolutionary trends of the. Fudan was established in the late Qing Dynasty and had close ties with underground political forces engaged in anti-Qing struggles. Yu Youren, one of the founding members of Fudan, was a revolutionary elder. After the May Fourth student movement broke out, the movement center gradually shifted southward, and Fudan students played a key role. They directly worked with the secret participation and leadership of Sun Yat-sen, mobilizing workers and merchants, ultimately leading to the decisive victory of the May Fourth Movement. This was a typical example of driving politics.
At that time, Shanghai had three relatively famous universities: Nanyang Public College was under direct government control, St. John's was a church school with a more conservative atmosphere, and Fudan was a private school where revolutionary winds could easily blow, making it a stronghold of Shanghai student movements. Many students had to transfer to Fudan due to their participation in student movements, such as Zhang Yi, who later became the president of the university, was expelled from St. John's for participating in the May Fourth Movement and transferred to Fudan.
In the 1930s, during the anti-Japanese movement, Fudan students were also in the forefront. At that time, Yu Youren had already become a figure in the court, naturally not wishing to see student uprisings. Once, when students launched a protest march to Nanjing, Yu arrived at the station to stop them, speaking until his throat was dry, but the students still boarded the train, and he followed them. After arriving in Nanjing, he continued to persuade them at the station, but it was ineffective. The students' audacity was due to many reasons, but the strong support of President Li Denghui and a group of core teachers like Zhang Yi was extremely important. A memoir records: a year before the war, the police entered Fudan's campus to arrest students. President Li and the Dean of the College of Arts, Yu Nanqiu, intervened to protect the students, but they were beaten with batons, triggering a major conflict between students and police. Of course, President Li Denghui would not deliberately oppose the government, but under the dual identity of a scholar and university president, he showed a rare noble character between the court and the school, something unimaginable in national universities. Therefore, Cai Yuanpei, with a conscience, could only resign to support the students but could not support them as directly as President Li Denghui. The spirit of protecting his students had influenced several generations of Fudan presidents. Zhang Yi was a student whom President Li had taught and guided personally. In extremely perilous times, he had tirelessly protected students. Mr. Chen Wangdao was also doing his best within his means to keep his students, and his sincere heart was invaluable. This has been mentioned in many memoirs.
Fudan University had a leapfrog development in the 1950s after the adjustment of university departments. A large number of famous professors joined Fudan, creating a new academic hub. These professors came from various universities, bringing their own academic styles and traditions to Fudan, elevating the grassroots spirit of. However, at that time, universities had been incorporated into the national unified education plan, becoming a main battlefield for class struggle, production struggle, and scientific experiments. The previous academic style was difficult to continue. Fudan had never been a product of national will, so its tradition was perhaps not that important. Even if there had been some school mottoes and rules, few people took them seriously.
I lack research on Fudan's history, so I cannot delve deeply into some questions. For example, in the Fudan University anthem, there is a line: "Academic independence, free thought, unbound by politics or religion." This aspiration for "academic independence and free thought" has no direct connection to Chen Yinque's "independent spirit and free spirit." If there is no direct connection, it means that the spirit of and the stance of intellectuals are fundamentally interconnected. Such a spirit could not be openly advocated in the 1950s, but the power of education lies not only in who holds the lecture hall but also in the dedication of intellectuals to scholarship and the consciousness of inheriting academic traditions.
Earlier, when writing a commemorative article for Professor Zhu Dongrun on his centennial birthday, I wrote more about my feelings for Fudan than about the professor himself, as I was living abroad at the time. I began like this: "The year I entered university, Professor Zhu Dongrun was already eighty-two years old and still serving as the head of the Department of Chinese. Time flies. I remember the first time I walked to the school gate, my eyes fixed on the four characters 'Fudan University' in Mao-style calligraphy, and my heart skipped a beat. As if to gain courage, I vividly remember the state of mind when I first stepped into the school gate. From then on, my life journey has been walking on the campus of Fudan, calmly attending classes and lessons. It has been eighteen years since then, and this year marks the centennial birthday of Professor Zhu Dongrun."
Now several years have passed, and I have been studying and working at Fudan for over twenty years. However, I have mostly been engaged in teaching and writing, not paying much attention to the history and traditions of Fudan. This time, when the Sichuan People's Publishing House's Ms. Zhu Xuejun invited me to edit this book The Flame of the, I had the opportunity to come into contact with a large amount of school history materials, which led to some thoughts like the above. But this is just a superficial exploration. I hope that through this small book, Fudan alumni will develop further interest in researching the spiritual traditions and academic stance of their alma mater.
July 31, 1999, Hongkou Black Water Studio