When I arrived at the hotel, it was completely dark. Fortunately, we live by the Cuihu Lake, and our group started the warm-up of this trip together with the leader fisherman, Mr. Schumann.
The destination is now Cuihu Park. Cuihu was originally a part of Dianchi Lake and was once called Caihaizi. However, I was deeply impressed when I saw the pump room of Kunming Waterworks. The green lake in the moonlight is very quiet, and the colorful lights around it bring different excitement from the daytime. Through the door glass of the pump room, we saw the raven electric pump, and our hearts were filled with emotion. 1 10 years later, this machine is intact.
Under the bright street lights, Schumann told us that even before the opening of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, Kunming's progressive national entrepreneurs had obtained the government's approval to build hydropower stations and ordered generator sets from Siemens of Germany. In the year when the railway was opened to traffic, the machine arrived. With the concerted efforts of Qi Xin, a technical expert, a construction engineer and an installation worker, it was completed on Shilong Dam in the western suburbs of Kunming in less than two years. 19 12, Kunming lights the light bulb.
After COVID-19, you can't just enter the university campus. Passing by the main entrance of Yunnan University, Schumann brought up an unavoidable topic in this trip-National Southwest Associated University. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to Yunnan Normal University to see the memorial hall of the General Assembly.
During the whole trip, I saw that only the former site of Mengzi Campus and the girls' dormitory of Honghe Prefecture College of Literature in National Southwest United University were related to the teaching building, but the special history of moving to the school that really affected the whole higher education in China nearly 90 years ago kept churning in my mind.
In the late Qing dynasty, the country opened. The fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 made the first group of people of insight studying in China deeply realize the backwardness and ignorance of our feudal empire. Therefore, saving the country by science and rejuvenating the country by culture became the main theme at that time. The only fundamental way to change is to start with education.
Cai Yuanpei, a native of Shaoxing, was a leading figure at that time. He actively advocated the policy of freedom of thought and inclusiveness, and became the helm of Peking University. After the Revolution of 1911, the first batch of outstanding candidates in China obtained the qualification of studying abroad at public expense (international students in boxer indemnity). Many people choose to study advanced science, engineering and mechanical majors in the west, engage in the teaching of higher education after returning home with degrees, and volunteer to train a new generation of practical talents for the backward motherland. Mei Yiqi, the first batch of G-class international students, taught in Tsinghua after returning to China, and 193 1 was the president of Tsinghua University. His speech at that time still reverberates in my ears. He said that the so-called scholar is not an architecture, but a master. He emphasized that there are only two key points in university education, one is to study academics, and the other is to cultivate talents.
In the more than 20 years after the Revolution of 1911, although the warlords were in melee, the spirit of learning from Western learning and striving for self-improvement was first established in the hearts of those masters. As soon as the suffering Chinese nation overthrew the feudal monarchy and did not get rid of poverty, the Japanese invaders stepped into the northeast. With the national strength at that time, it was impossible to compete with the powerful Japan. 1937 shortly after the lugouqiao incident, Japanese invaders bombed Nankai university in Tianjin, and Tsinghua and Peking university were also in jeopardy. In order to preserve the hard-won academic seeds and students' desks, with the support of the government of the Republic of China, the three best institutions of higher learning in Ping Jin decided to move south.
The traffic in those days was far worse than today, and it was a long way to complete this trip. For example, a group of professors and scholars, such as Liang Sicheng and his wife, took a large number of manuscripts and other materials with their families from Beijing via Tianjin, Qingdao, Jinan, Zhengzhou and other places, and finally arrived in Changsha by land and water. I can't help but think of all the hardships described by Qian Zhongshu in Fortress Besieged. Even if it is miserable, I can only smile bitterly.
Those who first arrived in Changsha, Hunan Province, formed the National Changsha Temporary University to resume their studies. Science, engineering and other disciplines are all in the city. Wen Shizhe rented a Bible school on the mountain, and there are a lot of books, experimental instruments, archaeological relics and precious manuscripts. What difficulties and obstacles those masters have experienced, and their lives are constantly turning, which our future generations can't imagine.
At the same time, the soldiers of the national army fought to the death and fought fiercely. However, with the continuous fall of countries and cities, Japanese planes bombed the south and mainland more arrogantly, and Changsha was not spared. So Changsha Temporary University had to consider moving to a more remote southwest area again, and Kunming was the final choice.
To Kunming, a large number of students and professors set off in three waves. The selected routes are: Guangdong-Han railway train to Guangzhou, via Hong Kong, then by boat to Haiphong, and finally by Yunnan-Vietnam railway to Kunming; Mr. Zhu Ziqing and Mr. Feng Youlan led the bus through Guilin, Liuzhou and Nanning in Guangxi, from Youyiguan to Hanoi, and then transferred to Kunming on the Yunnan-Vietnam line. There is also the "Hunan-Guizhou-Yunnan Tour Group" led by Mr. Wen Yiduo. It took more than a month to reach Kunming after more than a thousand kilometers of climbing mountains and mountains. Yunnan-Vietnam Railway played an important role in the journey here.
Today, we review the history of National Southwest Associated University 90 years ago, and sincerely believe that this is a miracle in the history of modern education. Never before, never after. Not to mention the death of students and school staff in the danger of constant migration under fire. Even in such an environment, normal teaching has never been interrupted. This can't help but make the younger generation respect us.
Professors wandered all the way, and to make matters worse, they lost valuable academic materials. Mr. Chen Yinke, a historian, suffered from serious eye diseases, but lost his precious books during his migration. He was sad, but he was helpless. Kim accidentally lost the manuscript while avoiding the air raid; Liu Wendian's four boxes of manuscripts were also lost in Hongkong. Lin was sick and insisted on sorting out architectural manuscripts in a simple bed; The two daughters of archaeologist Li Ji died in the flower season in an environment of lack of medical care and medicine. ...
But even in the bonfire years of the Anti-Japanese War, the national spirit of these teachers and students was greatly encouraged. The teachers insisted on teaching and the students were not interrupted by gunfire. The seeds of these academic researches slowly took root and sprouted in the southwest frontier under such difficult conditions. It is a miracle that the National The National SouthWest Associated University has trained a batch of outstanding talents here. Thank you to three great heroes who moved to the school and managed the school affairs. They are Jiang Menglin (Peking University), Mei Yiqi (Tsinghua University) and Zhang Boling (Nankai University).
They are the presidents of the first three universities, and they never thought of working for the Japanese invaders in the occupied areas during the war. They overcame great difficulties and solved the problems of school buildings, courses, enrollment, graduation, academic research, writing books and teachers' and students' lives, so that their teaching was uninterrupted during the migration and change. Overcome soaring prices, shortage of materials and economic distress, and often avoid air raid alarms to avoid being hit by bombs. ...
When we stand at Bise Village Station, when we walk along South Lake (Mengzi) in the dim night, when we walk to the former site of Mengzi Branch of United University, we can't help but think of the young students and professors who used to walk here, write poems, miss their hometown and worry about the future of the nation. At that time, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway carried them back and forth countless times. The teachers and students of this school were forced to temporarily borrow villages and temples in Yiliang and other places to attend classes because they wanted to avoid the attack of artillery fire. There are also Xuyong Campus in Sichuan, Lizhiwa Lizhuang ... they are suffering from displacement.
The professors who were almost displaced in the war did not change their minds, nor did their original intentions. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Britain, the United States, China and the Soviet Union, the allies of the world anti-fascist war, declared war on Japan. The Chinese expeditionary force fought against the Japanese army on the Yunnan-Burma line. At that time, students of National Southwest Associated University joined the army, mainly signal soldiers stationed in various places, responsible for the translation and communication of various telegrams and military orders. Xu Yuanchong, a young student, is one of them. Mr. Mei Yiqi's sons and daughters also joined the army to translate for the Flying Tigers. Many young people died when they were evacuated from savage valley, and the young teacher Cha Liang Zheng experienced this kind of life and death. He just wants to express everything in his heart with poetry.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Mr. Zhang, Mr. Mei and Mr. Jiang began to prepare for resuming their studies. It can be said that the National Southwest Associated University, which lasted more than eight years, was a glorious moment in the modern education history of China. Despite the suffering of the country's destruction and the fall of mountains and rivers, there are many talents here. The time of the conference in Yunnan also brought local students the idea of being studious, worrying about the country, knowing the world and striving for progress. Teachers and students of the Congress established primary schools, middle schools, girls' schools and teachers' colleges in Kunming, which laid a good foundation for free study and training of talents. When they left Kunming, many local young people, especially vocational school students who had listened to teachers and students, were very reluctant to leave.
Today, with the change of the stars, students' desks in China can be put down. Some conditions are excellent, but the master is long gone, along with thoughts, charm, ethics and feelings.
When I saw the photos taken by my friends on the herringbone bridge of Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, my heart surged. I think, the master professors or students of the General Assembly once traveled to and from this railway with full knowledge and the will to serve the motherland, hoping to strengthen the motherland and defeat the Japanese aggressors by spreading knowledge, democracy and science. And firmly believe that one day it will succeed.
Yunnan University, Yunnan Normal University, Peking University and other schools preserve a period of history, some materials and precious cultural relics of The National SouthWest Associated University. If we are lucky enough to see them, we should sincerely appreciate the precious spiritual wealth left by our predecessors and silently urge ourselves to take a step closer to their ideals.