On June 2, 1927, Wang Guowei, a famous scholar in modern China, sank into Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace at the age of 50. He compiled the famous "History of Song and Yuan Operas" in 1906 and was one of the few scholars who first read oracle bone inscriptions. In 1917, he published the famous "An Examination of the Forefathers and Kings Seen in the Ci of the Yin Dynasty" and "Continued Examination". His "On the System of Yin and Zhou Dynasties" caused a sensation in the academic world. Famous works in the study of bronze inscriptions include: "The Examination of Life and Death" and "Examination of Mingtang and Sleeping Temples", etc.

1927 was a year of sudden political changes in modern Chinese history. For Wang Guowei, this year was also unusual, because Wang Guowei, who was in his prime, set the end of his life course in the ups and downs of this year.

On June 2, 1927, Wang Guowei went to the institute after breakfast as usual. After arriving at school, he first remembered that he had forgotten to bring the students' grade books to the office, so he asked his colleagues from the institute to pick them up at home. After that, he met Hou Houpei, secretary of the office of the institute, and talked with Hou about the enrollment arrangements for the next semester. He talked about many of his ideas and suggestions, and it took a long time before he broke up with Hou. When parting, Wang Guowei asked Hou Houpei to lend him three yuan in cash, but Hou did not bring the cash, so he could only lend him banknotes. Wang Guowei took the money and walked out of school. He hired a rickshaw at the school gate and asked the driver to take him to the Summer Palace, not far from Tsinghua University. It was about ten o'clock in the morning when we arrived at the Summer Palace. Wang Guowei paid the coachman and asked the coachman to wait at the gate of the garden, then walked straight into the Summer Palace. In early summer, the Summer Palace is filled with lush green mountains and green waters. However, as it was approaching noon, there were few visitors in the park. Wang Guowei came to the Yuzao Pavilion to the west of Paiyun Hall and stopped for a long time. He took his last puff of cigarette and then jumped into Kunming Lake. At that time, a gardener (some say a patrolman) was not far from where Wang Guowei jumped into the water. After hearing the sound of falling into the water, he hurriedly ran to rescue him. It only took about a minute or two, but Wang Guowei had already expired. Although the lake in front of Yuzaoxuan is only two feet deep, the bottom of the lake is full of soft mud. When Wang Guowei sank, his head went into the water, causing his mouth and nose to be blocked by mud. The gardeners who came after hearing the sound did not know how to give first aid. Wang Guowei eventually died of suffocation. When the gardeners rescued Wang Guowei from the water, his underwear was not soaked through. If artificial respiration could have been carried out in time, he might have been saved, but this was delayed.

A generation of Chinese studies masters passed away quietly like this.

At noon, the rickshaw hired by Wang Guowei was still waiting outside the Old Summer Palace, and his family waited for him to eat for a long time but no one came back. At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the family went to the school to inquire. So Hou Houpei went to the school gate to ask the coachmen and learned that the car carrying Wang Guowei had gone to the Summer Palace and had not returned yet. Hou Houpei immediately got on his bicycle and went to the Summer Palace to find someone. Previously, Wang Guowei's son Zhenming had inquired about the situation at the school gate and rushed to the Summer Palace. On the way, he met the coachman who was taking his father to the Summer Palace. At this time, there were policemen sitting in the coachman's car. They were about to report to the school. . Because the coachman was waiting for Wang Guowei outside the Summer Palace until three o'clock in the afternoon, he heard that someone was throwing water into the garden. When he entered the garden, he saw that the deceased was the person he was waiting for. By the time Zhenming arrived at the Old Summer Palace and confirmed that the deceased was his father, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

The bad news reached Tsinghua University. At about 9 pm that day, about 30 people including the president, provost, professors, teaching assistants and students rushed to the Summer Palace in two cars. There are Professor Chen Yinke and Professor Wu Mi who are good friends of Wang Guowei. However, the gate of the garden was closed at this time, and the guards were not allowed to enter. After repeated negotiations, the principal Cao Yunxiang, the provost Mei Yiqi, and the director of the guard department Wu were allowed to visit. The next day, many faculty, staff, students and Wang Guowei's family members from Tsinghua Garden went to the Summer Palace together. At this time, Wang Guowei's body was still lying in the Yuzao Xuan Pavilion. His family and the coroner found a suicide note from Wang Guowei's pocket. The cover said: "Send to Mr. Wang Zhenming on the 18th of the West Hospital." The final date and signature were: "On the second day of May, the word "Father" was written. The suicide note was written by Wang Guowei the day before his death and was put in his pocket before leaving. Later, people moved Wang Guowei's body to the three huts under the eunuch in the old inner court outside the northwest corner of the garden for burial. At seven o'clock in the evening that day, Wang Guowei's coffin was sent to Gangbing Temple in the south of Tsinghua University for burial. On this day, in addition to Wang Guowei’s family and students from Tsinghua Research Institute, there were also professors Wu Mi, Chen Yinke, Mei Yiqi, and Chen Da from Tsinghua University, professors Ma Heng from Peking University, professors Rong Geng and Liang Shuming from Yanda, and others. .

Wang Guowei’s act of committing suicide shocked Tsinghua University and even the academic community. People all lamented the loss of such an accomplished master of Chinese studies. On the day Wang Guowei committed suicide, Liang Qichao had already left Tsinghua. After receiving the bad news, he rushed back to Tsinghua to personally participate in the arrangements for his aftermath and to fight for Wang Guowei's pension from the school and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He lamented the death of Wang Guowei extremely. He said of Wang Guowei to his daughter: "This public scholarship method is extremely new and extremely sophisticated. He is only fifty-one years old. If it is delayed for another ten years, it will be invented by the Chinese academic circle." Unlimited”. Gu Jiegang, a young scholar at the time, emotionally compared Wang Guowei's death with Kang Youwei's death in March of the same year. He said: I ignored the death of Mr. Kang Changsu indifferently. I was no less influenced by him intellectually than Mr. Jing'an. Since I admired him, why didn't I feel sad about his death? Because his knowledge has only begun and he has not continued to process it. Therefore, Kang Youwei, an academician, died at the age of thirty-six. "As for Mr. Jing'an, he is indeed different from Mr. Kang. He is improving day by day. His greatest contributions were made after the age of thirty-five. In recent years, he has become more and more sophisticated. Others cannot resist the oppression and temptation of the environment. They all changed their ways, but he still worked tirelessly and became the only important figure in Chinese academic circles. He is only fifty-one years old this year. If he could have lived as long as Kang, I don't know how great his achievements could have been. "High." Now he has "given up in the middle" for the sake of the academic world. His death is a very heavy loss, a sacrifice that cannot be said to be costly. The words of Liang Qichao and Gu Jiegang reflect the academic community’s deep regret for Wang Guowei’s death.

On June 16, a memorial service for Wang Guowei was held at the All-Zhejiang Association in Xiaxie Street, Beijing. People sent elegiac couplets one after another. In the elegiac couplet, Liang Qichao particularly praised Wang Guowei’s academic research and mentioned Wang Guowei in particular. Regarding the outstanding achievements he made in the study of oracle bone inscriptions, he wrote: "His study is based on knowing the specifics and understanding the categories. He not only translates strange words?, but also creates turtle deeds. There is a sense of shame in knowing one's actions after one's death. Don't ignore all kinds of emotions and grievances." , guess what." Chen Yinke's elegiac couplet has a deeper emotion: "If you dare to cry for this person, your cultural heritage will be ruined. Guan Tianyi, knowing each other and being jealous of Daozhen, won the Qing Dynasty's pure water, and said Lingjun every year." Wu Mi expressed his views on Wang Guowei's self-destruction in the elegiac couplet: "Living the palace is still the previous dynasty, the main humiliation. The ministers are worried, and the Miluo generation fell into disgrace; the disaster happened on this day, the people perished and the country was exhausted, and Haiyu cried for Zheng Jun together." The hundreds of mourning couplets received at this memorial service fully expressed people's feelings for him. My condolences and regrets to Wang Guowei. In addition, Beijing's "Chinese Studies Monthly", "Chinese Studies" and Tianjin's "Ta Kung Pao" and other local newspapers and magazines have successively published "Mr. Wang Jing'an's Special Issue", "Mr. Wang Jing'an Memorial Issue", and "Mr. Wang Jing'an's Death Anniversary". Waiting for the album as a commemoration. The death of Wang Guowei also caused shock in overseas academic circles. Japanese scholars held a memorial meeting for Mr. Wang Guowei in Osaka. Japanese friends and scholars of Wang Guowei attended the meeting to reminisce or wrote articles and poems to pay their respects. In 1927, the 8th and 9th issues of the Japanese magazine "Yiwen" (eighteen volumes) were entirely dedicated to recalling Wang Guowei's academic work. French scholar Pelliot also wrote many articles to introduce Wang Guowei's achievements to readers. He wrote in the 26th issue of the Bulletin: As an old friend of Wang Guowei, I often mention his name and quote his extensive and rich achievements many times. Modern China has never had such a pioneer. And a learned man who dabbles in such richness. All this shows that Wang Guowei has won widespread respect from people with his great academic achievements