Tsinghua University is a school set up by the United States with part of boxer indemnity returned, which specializes in preparatory education in the United States. Its academic system is eight years, and students can directly enter the second or third year of American universities after graduation. Therefore, Tsinghua University adopts the American education system for both teaching and extracurricular activities. Tsinghua University adopts the elimination system, and about half of the students are eliminated halfway, so it is not easy to study in Tsinghua for eight years. Wen Yiduo couldn't keep up with English when he entered school, and he automatically repeated for one year. 192 1 When he graduated, he was fined to repeat a year because he participated in the student movement. In this way, he lived in this school for ten years, which is probably the only one among the students in Tsinghua.
19 19, Wen Yiduo, together with the young people of that era, was baptized by the May 4th Movement. He was elected as a member of "Tsinghua Student Delegation", the school's student leading body, and was responsible for paperwork. He participated in drafting many documents, including Tsinghua's earliest record in this movement-"Minutes of the Tsinghua Student Delegation Meeting". In July this year, as a student representative of Tsinghua, he went to Shanghai to attend the inaugural meeting of the National Student Union. During the meeting, I listened to Dr. Sun Yat-sen's speech.
The May 4th Movement is also an ideological emancipation movement advocating "democracy and science". At this time, Wen Yiduo was influenced by Cai Yuanpei's view that "aesthetic education replaces religion" and thought that cultural transformation could improve people's quality. To this end, he and Liang Sicheng, the eldest son of Liang Qichao, jointly launched the group "Meisisi" to study figurative art, with the aim of improving society through "the artistry of life". His new poetry creation also started from this time. His first new collection of poems, Red Candle, was written at this time.
1921June, Wen Yiduo was about to take the last exam before graduating from abroad. A wage struggle for teachers broke out in Beijing, which was suppressed by the Beiyang government. The Beijing Federation of Students announced a strike to show its solidarity. Tsinghua, a student union member, also announced a "sympathy strike". However, the Tsinghua authorities decided to hold the final exam as scheduled, and those who claimed not to take the exam would be regarded as dropping out of school automatically. In this personal future struggle, 28 people, including Wen Yiduo, Luo Longji, He Haoruo, Wu and Sabendong, refused to enter the examination room, and were disqualified as a result. Later, the Americans on the board of directors felt that this was too much loss for the United States and should be punished as a one-year repeat.
1August, 922, Wen Yiduo entered the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. At that time, many Tsinghua graduates chose industry, but he chose western art, which could not guarantee his future life, in order to practice his ambition of "artistic life". 1923 transferred to the Art Department of the University of Colorado; 1924, I went to new york Art Institute again.
In the United States, the obvious contrast of national strength strengthened his patriotic sentiment, and the poems he wrote at the beginning of his visit to the United States, such as The Lonely Goose, Song of the Sun, and Yi Ju, all showed distinct patriotic themes. 1In the autumn of 924, he and Luo Longji, He Haoruo, Wu Jingchao, Pan Guangdan, Wu Wenzao, Liang Shiqiu and other Tsinghua students studying in the United States launched a nationalist group "Dajiang Club", the purpose of which was to "carry out the reform movement at home and oppose the invasion of foreign powers" in order to seek the free political development, free economic choice and free cultural evolution of China people.
Wen Yiduo is not a politician, but he thinks that China's "future is threatened not only by political and economic conquest, but also by cultural conquest" and "cultural conquest is one hundred times more than others". Driven by this "cultural nationalism", he not only created "Wake up! Anti-imperialist patriotic poems such as Song of Seven Sons, Patriotic Heart, I'm from China, Laundry Song, etc., and also participated in drama editing and performances to spread Chinese culture. 1At the end of 924, China costume drama "Yang Guifei" rehearsed by him, Yu Shangyuan, Zhao Taimou and Zhang was officially performed in new york, which was the first time that China's drama appeared on the American stage and achieved great success. Inspired by this, Boston's Liang Shiqiu, Xie Bingxin and Gu Yuxiu performed another China costume drama Pipa Xing. These two performances set off a small climax of spreading China culture in the United States. Encouraged by these successes, Wen Yiduo was determined to devote himself to the revitalization of China's drama, so he returned to China two years earlier, with the aim of improving China's culture from the perspective of drama reform, shortly after he established the China Drama Improvement Society with Zhao Taimou, Xiong Foxi, Yu Shangyuan, Liang Shiqiu, Lin and Liang Sicheng. Returning to China with Zhao Taimou and Yu Shangyuan, who later became important activists in China drama circle.
After returning to China, Beijing Institute of Art was established, Wen Yiduo was appointed as the dean, and Zhao Taimou and Yu Shangyuan were also appointed as professors. With the efforts of the three of them, a drama department was finally added to the Art College. Hong Shen, a famous dramatist in China, said: The establishment of the drama department of the Art Institute is the first time that China "regards despicable drama as having something to do with national educational institutions".
However, what Wen Yiduo can't forget most is poetry. 1April, 926, he and Xu zhimo, Zhu Xiang, Rao mengkan, etc. On the basis of the poetry publication of Morning Post, the experiment of new poetry meter is carried out. The Dead Water, which brought many praises and criticisms to Wen Yiduo, was published in this supplement. It was also at this time that his theory of "three beauties" in new poetry creation was publicly put forward.
During the period of 1926, the Beiyang government implemented a high-handed policy towards intellectuals, which caused the first great migration of intellectuals in Beijing since the Republic of China. In the autumn of this year, Wen Yiduo left Beijing and went to Shanghai Wusong Political College as the dean. At the beginning of 1927, he served as the head of the art unit in the general political department of the Northern Expeditionary Army of Wuchang National Revolutionary Army. At that time, besides Tsinghua alumnus Hu Shi, there were Liang Shiqiu, Pan Guangdan, Rao Mengkan, Yu Shangyuan and Zhang. South friends include Xu Zhimo, Ding Xilin, Liu, etc. They founded the famous "Crescent Bookstore" in China's literary and political history. Crescent Monthly, edited and published by Crescent Bookstore, was quite influential at that time, and Wen Yiduo was one of the first three editors.
Wen Yiduo was very depressed when he saw that a large number of young people were implicated after the Kuomintang held a "great inner-party purge" in 1927. In his poems, such as Heartbeat and Abandoned Village, we can feel the hatred of warlord melee. In his poems such as Discovery, A Word, Confession and You Swear to the Sun, he expressed his indignation. These realistic works constitute another new stage of his patriotic poetry creation.
Also in the autumn of 1927, the national government carried out educational reform and set up a university area imitating France. In Nanjing, the capital, some universities merged to form Nanjing No.4 Sun Yat-sen University (later changed to Central University, now Nanjing University). Wen Yiduo was appointed head of the Department of Foreign Literature. 1928 Summer, Wuhan University was established. Wen Yiduo was inspired by Sangzi's feelings and became the dean of the College of Literature of Wuhan University. /kloc-in the summer of 0/930, Qingdao University was founded, and he was hired as the dean of literature and the head of the Chinese Department. 1932, a student movement took place in Qingdao University, aiming at Wen Yiduo and librarian Liang Shiqiu. Wen Yiduo left Qingdao University in a rage and returned to his alma mater, Tsinghua University, to become a professor of Chinese Department.
In the modern history of China, Wen Yiduo was defined as a poet, a scholar and a soldier. This evaluation can be said to be his three different identities and three stages of his life. If before the "new moon", it was his poet stage, then from Wuhan University, he entered the scholar stage.
In Wuhan University, Wen Yiduo concentrated his main energy on academic research because of the need of teaching. After returning to Tsinghua, his research tentacles have been widely involved in many fields, such as ancient literature, bronze inscriptions, the Book of Songs, Chu Ci, Zhouyi, a hundred schools of thought contend, Yuefu, Tang Dynasty literature and so on. He has an old academic background and a good understanding of western research methods, so he has taken a brand-new road in academic research. On the one hand, he attached importance to textual research, and on the other hand, he re-examined China's literature with the method of cultural anthropology, and made considerable achievements. After the publication of The Revision of Songs of the South of China, it won the second academic prize of the Ministry of Education the following year. Commenting on Wen Yiduo, Guo Moruo said that some of his research was unprecedented and never came again. After Wen Yiduo's sacrifice, scholars agreed that it was "a great loss for academic circles". Most of Wen Yiduo's complete works published in volume 12 are academic achievements. Wen Yiduo once said that his ideal was to write a "history of poetry" or a "historical poem", and he hoped to reflect China's splendid ancient thoughts and culture through the window of literature.
1937, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out, and Tsinghua, Peking University and Nankai moved south to Kunming and merged into The National SouthWest Associated University. For a long time in Yunnan, he still devoted himself to teaching and research. However, the corruption of Kuomintang rule forced him and many intellectuals to get out of the ivory tower and start asking about politics. 1943 In the spring, Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts changed greatly after reading The Destiny of China. He said that this book "openly challenged the May 4th Movement" and made himself "unbearable anyway". This autumn, he saw the poems in the liberated areas in Zhu Ziqing's place, among which the street poems in the fields gave him a great shock. So in the first class after school, he introduced the poems of the field, saying that he had been living in a pile of ancient books with humiliation, and the field was "the drummer of the times". The voice of this class immediately spread throughout the conference, and people said, "A poet who listens to drums will become a poet who beats drums."
Soon, Hua Gang, the propaganda minister of the Southwest Bureau of the Communist Party of China, was sent to Kunming by Zhou Enlai to do the United front work of Long Yun, chairman of the Yunnan provincial government. Hua Gang is a scholar-type professional revolutionary who knows how to win over senior intellectuals and pays a special visit to Wen Yiduo. Under the influence of, Wen Yiduo participated in the Southwest Cultural Research Association, which was composed of Luo Longji, Pan Guangdan, Zeng Zhaolun, Pan Dakui, Chu Tunan, Shang Yue, Feng, Wen Jiayou, Wu Han and other progressive professors. At first, everyone focused on academic exchanges, and then gradually shifted to analyzing the situation and learning; Later, we got China's * * * documents and newspapers, such as On Coalition Government, On New Democracy, Battlefield in Liberated Areas, Xinhua Daily and The Masses. So, one day Wen Yiduo announced: "After living in a pile of old newspapers for more than ten years, I am sure and see clearly the diseases of our nation and culture, and I dare to prescribe drugs."
During the period of 1944, the most serious military crisis occurred in the frontal battlefield of China since the fall of Wuhan. In just a few months, thousands of miles lost, southwest Daimon Masaru opened, and the situation was in jeopardy. A year ago, Wu Han advised Wen Yiduo to join the NLD, but Wen Yiduo was influenced by the concept that "a gentleman is not party member" and disagreed. At this time, he felt that "the house is on fire, no matter who will put out the fire", he joined NLD. Since then, he has changed from a scholar to a soldier.
After questioning politics, Wen Yiduo still has the temperament of a poet and speaks frankly. In August this year, at the symposium of the Fifth Military Department of the Kuomintang, he publicly declared that "there is only one way now-revolution!" . In February 65438, when Yunnan commemorated the uprising, he shouted "Yuan Shikai is not dead" and "Democracy must overthrow dictatorship". This fearless character is easy to communicate with young people. He was soon called "Lu Xun of Kunming" and was regarded as a mentor and friend by young people. At the NLD National Congress, he was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee.
After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, opposing the civil war and striving for peace became the central task of the democratic movement in the new period. 1 945 65438+February1day, the Kuomintang mobilized troops, surrounded the National Southwest Associated University, killed four young people with bayonets and grenades, and created the "December 21 tragedy" that shocked China and foreign countries. In the face of the massacre, Wen Yiduo used his position as the secretary of the professors' conference to urge the professors' conference to pass a resolution in favor of students' demands. Together with professors Pan Guangdan, Xiang Da, Shang Yue, Chu Tunan, Fei Xiaotong and Wu Fuheng, they issued a strike declaration, which created an unprecedented student movement.
Although Wen Yiduo participated in political activities, he was angry because he couldn't stand the reality. In fact, his wish is to engage in academic research. 1946 1 October, the political consultative conference was held. He told Wu Han that once he got on the political track, he would go back to his study to continue his academic work. However, the development of the times prevented him from returning to his study.
On May 4th this year, the National The National SouthWest Associated University ended and teachers and students were demobilized one after another. On July 1 1, Li Gongpu, a member of the NLD Central Committee, was assassinated in Kunming on the night when Wen Yiduo sent off the last batch of classmates.
After Li Gongpu's death, it was widely rumored that Wen Yiduo was the second person on the blacklist. When Wen Yiduo lived in the dormitory, spies watched him all day. Some even ran into the yard and asked him what clothes he was wearing. A female spy also broke into his house and said that Wen Yiduo's "two" was "night", and his life was hanging by a thread. The situation at that time was terrible, but at that time, as the main person in charge of Yunnan NLD, he had to lead the protests and handle Li Gongpu's funeral. At the same time, he doesn't believe that the Kuomintang dares to kill himself, because he is a scholar studying in the United States after all, not a * * * production party.
On July 15, Li Gongpu Martyrs' Report was held in Yunnan University. At the meeting, the spy made trouble and Wen Yiduo was very angry. He made a famous "last speech" off the cuff. He said that he would, like Li Gongpu, "step out of the door with his front foot and not prepare to step into the door with his back foot!" . At five o'clock in the afternoon, several spies attacked his house. He was hit by more than a dozen bullets in the back of the head, chest and wrist, and immediately fell into a pool of blood. Accompanied by his eldest son, Wen, a student of National Southwest Associated University, he was also hit five times, his lung was hit and his leg was broken.