Chen Yuan's good calligraphy, as Mr. Qi Gong said: "Small calligraphy like Mi Fei and Dong Qichang is always so symmetrical and never scribbles." Every time I write, I am very wary of other people's collection and mounting. The inscription of celebrity calligraphy and painting looks smooth and natural. In fact, after careful calculation, the location of the deposit is properly arranged before they are willing to write. Chen Yuan likes to write letters with stationery and fans, so that he can write his own notes and research. Count the number of fan lines first, then count the number of words, which is longer and which is shorter, and write it at the end, no more, no less, plus the year and month, which is perfectly sealed. 1972, his old friend Wang Zongyan collected Chen Yuan's calligraphy. It took more than 40 years from 1933, and more than 30 general letters were selected, photocopied and published in Hong Kong today. This is the only printed collection of Chen Yuan's handwriting. Elegant and generous font, delicate and delicate, a calligraphy treasure in one go. Chen Yuan, a famous historian, has a set of "three classifications" in his research.
When Chen Yuan was a teenager, he got a Book of Bibliographic Questions and Answers written by Zhang Zhidong, a scholar in Qing Dynasty. When I opened it, I found that this book listed many famous classics in history, identified them and introduced the learning path for readers. Chen Yuan was very happy and soon bought a large number of books according to the bibliography. Someone asked him, "Can you read all these books?" Chen Yuan replied: "Not all books should be read carefully. Some are for browsing, some are for reference, and some need reading and memorizing. Some books should be well understood, and some don't! " It turns out that according to the contents and uses of books, Chen Yuan divides the books to be read into three categories: general browsing, careful browsing and familiar reading. Some go through it once in a day or two, some study for a week, and some recite it repeatedly.
This "three-classification" method has enabled Chen Yuan to avoid the problem of "one size fits all" and average energy input. He read more books than the average person, and he read more intensively than the average person. Until his later years, he could recite some famous works of all ages. At the age of 90, he can recite Wang Luobin's "Being a Warrior" word for word from beginning to end. Many basic historical materials can be quoted without reference to the original text, which brings great convenience to academic research and research work. Chen Yinque, Hu Shi and Chen Yuan have good personal relationships. Chen Yuan's Letters Collection contains Hu Shi's letters 17 and Chen Yinque's letters 19, which shows the frequent exchanges (edited by Chen Zhichao, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House). Chen Yuan's two famous books, A Study on the Sinicization of People in Western Regions in Yuan Dynasty and A Study on Yunnan-Guizhou Buddhism in Ming Dynasty, are the prefaces written by Chen Yinke. 1949, Hu Shi and Chen Yinque left Beiping on the same plane. Because 2 1 Chen Hu was an important figure in the history circle of China at that time, they were all on the list of the Nanjing government's plan to seize goods. The three historians broke up this year and took three different paths. Hu Shi first flew to the United States, and then went to Taiwan Province. Chen Yinque lives in Guangzhou and resigned from Beijing. Only Chen Yuan can keep up with the trend, continue to be the president of Fu Jen Catholic University, and become Beijing Normal University after the department adjustment.
1948 12 13 In his letter to Chen Yuan, Hu Shi was still talking about the related issues of the Notes on Shui Jing. You can see the friendship between the two scholars from the letter. At the end of the letter, Hu Shi wrote the following words: "I wrote this short message tonight, but I was interrupted by the phone six times." I don't know when I will be blessed to study calmly in the future. " (Chen Yuan's Letters 19 1 page) Three months later, on April 29th, 1949, Chen Yuan published an open letter to Mr. Hu Shizhi in People's Daily, which marked a major change in his life. Although the tone of the letter is not intense, it means that the friendship between the two friends is over, and it also means that his relationship with Chen is over. In his letter, he said: "On the eve of the liberation of Beiping, the Nanjing government flew in and out again and again. I think although you and Mr. Yin Ke have left ... "At that time, Chen Yuan" witnessed the people living freely, young students studying freely and professors studying freely ". We have never seen the handwriting of this letter written by Chen Yuan to Hu Shi. After seeing this letter, Hu Shi wrote "Postscript Chen Yuan's Open Letter to Hu Shi" and talked about his feelings calmly. He believes that this letter was not written by Chen Yuan (the first draft of Mr. Hu Shizhi's Chronicle, edited by Hu Songping, Volume 6, page 2 122 ~ 2 133, Taiwan-Taiwan Joint Economic Edition). Anyway, Chen Yuan has been transformed since then. Every time he writes about it, he almost denies his past and says that he "talked about what he learned" in the past (see Chen Zhichao's Biography of Chen Yuan, the first series of biographies of modern social scientists in China, Shaanxi People's Publishing House, p. 206). 1June, 959, he gloriously joined the China * * * Production Party, and he said excitedly: "On the one hand, I think it is too late to hear about it. In an era when advanced people and intellectuals fought bravely for the people's revolutionary cause, I never knew such a great cause before. I was really ashamed of the people because I didn't take part in the revolution. On the other hand, I also appreciate and thank the party for its care and training over the years. The party educated me with the world outlook and gave me a new political life in my next year, so I feel honored. " (ditto) Regarding the transformation of Chen Yuan, Lu Jiandong commented in "The Last Twenty Years of Chen Yinque": "The great transformation of Chen Yuan's thought is typical, which reflects the irresistible trend of the times. Beijingers believe that no one can stay out of this torrent. " (Book 1 18 pages, triple edition)
Chen Yuan has changed. From his experience in the first half of his life, we cannot deduce the inevitable result of his change, but his change is an existing reality. We don't need to ask too much for his transformation, but we should also remain a little skeptical. At that time, Chen Yuan was 69 years old. Although a lot of materials say how he studied Mao Zedong's books and Marxism-Leninism after the reform, there is a basic fact that cannot be avoided, and that is, to what extent can a rare person who is too old and too old immediately re-accept a new idea? If it is acceptable, it is not in line with a person's physical and psychological situation. Chen Yuan's academic research has nothing to do with politics, but who chose this person who has nothing to do with politics and made him a typical example of the transformation of old scholars in the new era? In almost every political movement in the future, Chen Yuan has a positive performance. He once wrote an article "Ideological Reform of Fu Jen Catholic University", describing his lifelong service to the university as useless, saying that he "served imperialism for a long time, and his thoughts were vague, regardless of the enemy and me ..." (See the first volume of "Ideological Reform of Cultural and Educational Workers", Human Bookstore 1952).
According to the logic at that time, after the ideological reform movement, Chen Yuan, as a typical old pedant, ushered in his own new era. From the academic method, he found something new. From the ideological field, he found Marxism–Leninism. He is a scholar and should reach a new realm beyond the past academically. Although he is an old man, he has not lost his academic ability. It is a pity that he should leave more academic achievements to people. In his later academic career, we saw many articles, such as Denying Austen's Insulting the People of China, Strengthening the Study of Politics and Current Affairs, My Thought Experience and Review in the Movement against the Three Movements, and Walking Forward along Comrade Stalin's Legacy. Chen Zhichao said, "Since liberation, he has written more than 20 academic papers." (ditto) Chen Yuan used to be good at writing monographs, but later he didn't write special books, and the articles on occasions were several times as many as these "more than 20 academic papers". (Liu Naihe's Year of Comrade Chen Yuan's Publication, Learning Notes by Li Yun Bookstore, 3rd Edition 1992) Is Chen Yuan too old? Judging from his health, it seems not. What makes people feel is that Chen Yinque, who was almost blind in the late 1940s, has always maintained her independence. Not only did he not change, but he also completed three volumes of Shi Hua, Samsara Theory and Liu Biezhuan. "Since the Cultural Revolution, he has completed at least a dozen articles, two monographs and the unfinished Dream of Cold Willow Hall. It's amazing that the blind have this achievement. " (Wong Young-tsu's "The Story of Chen Yinque", p. 166, Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House) Although Chen Yinque was 10 years old, her physical condition was not good at that time. Chen Yuan seems to have adapted to the times, but he left no legacy. However, Chen insisted on "independent spirit and free thought" and left a rich academic legacy for future generations. Chen Yuan's regret is caused by the times, but how much responsibility should an individual bear, and what inspiration should future generations get from this regret? I don't know much about Chen Yuan, but I can get a glimpse of his personality from a collection of Chen Yuan's letters, including two letters written by Dai Chuanxian and Wang Zhaoming to Chen Yuan in 1935. From the letter, I learned that Dai Chuanxian's reply was a thank-you letter after Chen Yuan sent him the Examination of People from Western Regions in Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Dai Chuanxian was the president of the examination institute. This letter from Wang Zhaoming is also a reply from Chen Yuan after sending out historical taboos and examples of examiners in the Western Regions in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Wang Zhaoming was the premier (see pages 624 and 625 of this book). From this letter, we can at least feel that Chen Yuan likes to associate with political dignitaries, and this personality may also have played a certain role in his final transformation. Historians' evaluation of Chen Er is that Chen Yinque values integrity and Chen Yuan understands the current affairs, so their fates are completely different.