Tsinghua University is one of the most prestigious universities in mainland China, alongside Peking University, and has passed a century since its establishment in 1911. In the past hundred years, Tsinghua has produced more than 20 masters with great influence. The masters are the great scholars. What is remarkable is that not only did none of these masters come from Tsinghua under the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, but most of those who remained on the mainland were insulted and harmed by the Chinese Communist Party, and some were even persecuted to death.
These masters were: Ye Qisun, Qian Xuesen, Qian Weichang, Qian Sanqiang, Wang Jianchang, Deng Jiaxian, Zhou Guangzhao, Tang Aoqing, Guo Yonghuai, Li Zhengdao, Hua Luogeng, Zhao Jiuzhang, Peng Huanwu, Zhou Peiyuan, Zhang Yuzhe, Hou Debeng, Liang Sicheng, Mao Yisheng, Yang Tingbao, Zhu Kezhen, Xia Nai, Ji Xianlin, Zhang Dainian, Cao Yu, Qian Zhongshu, Chen Daisun, and Zhao Yuanren. Their majors covered physics, chemistry, mathematics, architecture, meteorology, philosophy, linguistics, archaeology, theater, literature, etc. They were the elite of Tsinghua University and China as a whole at that time in the above fields.
Among these masters, except for Li Zhengdao and Zhao Yuanren, who stayed in the United States after the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, the rest either chose to stay in the mainland on their own initiative or “threw themselves into the net” out of patriotism, and their fate was sealed the moment they chose to accept the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
Architect Liang Sicheng had his soul drained away
Liang Sicheng, son of Liang Qichao, was a famous Chinese architect and architectural educator. He spent his life in the study of ancient Chinese architecture and architectural education, and systematically investigated, organized and studied the history and theory of ancient Chinese architecture, and was the pioneer and founder of this discipline. His talented wife, Lin Huiyin, was equally famous.
Fortunately, Lin Huiyin died prematurely in 1955, having escaped one of the tragic campaigns launched by the Chinese Communist Party against intellectuals, while Liang Sicheng passed away in the Cultural Revolution. Lin Su, his second wife, recalled that just after the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, large posters criticizing Liang Sicheng appeared in Tsinghua Park, calling him an accomplice of Peng Zhen and a “reactionary academic authority”. Liang Sicheng was very distressed, and Lin Su was also filled with fear.
After a working group was sent by the CPC Central Committee, Liang Sicheng “explained” his membership in the Party, his relationship with Peng Zhen, etc. However, he failed to “pass” the “examination” over and over again. Soon, he was repeatedly criticized with a black sign that read “Reactionary Academic Authority Liang Sicheng”, and Lin Su, who witnessed it at that time, felt the strong humiliation in Liang Sicheng’s gaze, and the only words that haunted her mind were “insulted and damaged.
The four major issues that Liang Sicheng was criticized for were: first, for “losing national dignity” by kissing the female head of the French architect delegation on the cheek when he received her in April 1966; second, for having served as a design consultant for the United Nations building; third, for having served as the deputy director of the Kuomintang’s “War Zone Cultural Relics Preservation Committee “The fourth is that he opposed Mao’s urban construction instructions. Today, such a charge is ridiculous.
After the “Breaking the Four Olds” campaign started in August 1966, the Red Guards came to Liang Sicheng’s home and confiscated all the cultural relics and deposits, and also put together a full set of knives from the western tableware, and asked Liang Sicheng in a stern voice what he was collecting so many knives for. And he said, “It must be to riot”! Lin Su was just about to speak when he received a slap on the face.
Because the Red Guards searched the home and found a short sword engraved with the words “Presented by Jiang Zhongzheng” worn by Lin Heng, Lin Huiyin’s younger brother, who died in the war against Japan, on his dress when he graduated from the aviation military school, from then on, anyone who wore a red armband could break into Liang’s house at any time and take away or destroy at will what they considered to be The “four old” things.
The Red Guards also routinely came twice a day to “lecture” Liang Sicheng and Linsu and forced Linsu and Liang Sicheng to divorce, but they refused. The family lived on Linsu’s 60 yuan salary. The repeated criticisms caused Liang Sicheng’s health to deteriorate significantly. At that time, the medical system for senior cadres had been abolished, and the university hospital refused to treat him because his medical relations were not in Tsinghua. It was good that Dr. Chen Shiji of the Third Northern Medical Center not only did not treat him differently, but also told Linsu how to take care of Liang’s health.
In February 1967, Liang’s family was forced to move into a dark, damp house of only 24 square meters. However, even during such years, Liang Sicheng was unwilling to admit that Mao and the CCP were wrong, and his soul seemed to have been drained by the CCP. After several years of suffering, Liang Sicheng passed away on January 9, 1972, at the age of 70.
Yang Tingbao, who was also famous with Liang Sicheng, was imprisoned in a “cowshed”
Anyone in Chinese architecture knows the name “North Liang and South Yang”. The “North Liang” is Liang Sicheng, and the “South Yang” is Yang Tingbao. This name not only includes their architectural achievements, but also implies the deep friendship between them for decades.
During his early studies at Penn, Yang received a rigorous training in Western classical architectural techniques and technical knowledge. Liang Sicheng, who entered Penn three years after Yang, admired Yang and described him as “tough on the inside and beautiful on the outside, with a strong sense of accomplishment,” and mentioned that his assignments and notes were just like his own, very neat and pleasing to the eye, a model for his classmates. They studied together and interned together at the same architectural firm in the United States …… thus establishing a deep friendship.
After returning to China, as a partner and chief designer of China’s largest private architectural firm, Keitai Engineering Division, Yang Tingbao was able to showcase his architectural talents and ambitions in the 1930s and 1940s. The modern architecture designed by Yang Tingbao in the Chinese style embodies the principle of proportion with Western architecture. The Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory and the Zhongshan Mausoleum Concert Hall are his masterpieces. Zhongshan Road is also known as “Yang Tingbao’s Street”. In addition, he participated in the design of Beijing Tiananmen Square and the ten major buildings in Beijing.
After his return to China, he was invited to join the firm through Yang Tingbao, but he declined the invitation and went to teach at a university.
During the Cultural Revolution, Liang Sicheng was branded as a “reactionary academic authority” and was repeatedly criticized, while Yang Tingbao was also criticized and imprisoned in a “cattle shed”. Fortunately, Yang survived the Cultural Revolution and died in 1982.
Mao Yisheng, the founder of bridge engineering, was humiliated in public
Mao Yisheng, a famous Chinese bridge expert and one of the founders of modern bridge engineering in China, built the first road and railroad bridge on the Qiantang River in the 1930s, designed and constructed by the Chinese themselves, ending the history of steel bridges on Chinese rivers being built by foreigners. Other bridges designed by him include the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge and the Shibanpo Yangtze River Bridge in Chongqing, and in 1959 he was the head of the “structural review team” for the construction of the Great Hall of the People of the Communist Party.
Mao Yisheng also did not escape bad luck during the campaigns launched by the Chinese Communist Party. According to Guo Shurong, who worked with Mao Yisheng in the Railway Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Railways, before the “anti-rightist” campaign in 1957, Mao Yisheng, who was the director, responded to the call of the CPC and made eight proposals to the CPC, several of which were later found to be “black-hearted”. In 1958, the whole hospital launched a criticism against him, and large posters were piled up on the walls of his office, forcing him to make three inspections at the hospital’s general assembly.
Although subsequently Mao Yisheng was not branded as a rightist, several of his juniors were branded as rightists in order to teach him a lesson. For example, his nephew Mao Yushi, who was working at the Institute of Railway Transportation in the institute at the time and has now become a famous economist, was branded as a rightist.
In 1958, engineer Mao Yushi became a road maintenance worker, and the book he wrote that year, “Steam Engine Manipulation and Burning Fire,” was reprinted, but he could not sign his name, and the author became his son Mao Weixing, who was only one year old at the time. According to his niece Mao Qing said, at that time Mao Yisheng’s heart was very “bitter”.
After the start of the Cultural Revolution, Mao Yisheng once had to go to work every day with a sign of “reactionary academic authority” on his chest and a fork on his name, and was first shown around the courtyard and then engaged in punitive labor such as pulling weeds and cleaning up. His wife, Dai Chuanhui, died suddenly because of repeated shock.
Mao Yu Shi’s younger brother, Mao Yu Hai, graduated from the radio department of Tsinghua University and stayed on to teach there. As a top techie in the TV teaching and research group, he became a “hotshot” of Tsinghua President Jiang Nanxiang and soon joined the Communist Party. Later, because of his overseas connections, he was forbidden to take part in confidential scientific research work and was notorious for being a “special suspect” for communicating with foreign countries.
Meteorologist Zhu Kezhen experienced the pain of losing his son
Zhu Kezhen, a famous contemporary geographer and meteorologist, founded the first geology department in a Chinese university and the Institute of Meteorology of the Academia Sinica. He also served as the president of Zhejiang University for 13 years and was respected as one of the four presidents of Chinese universities.
According to an article in the mainland’s File Time, No. 7, 2013, after he left Zhejiang University in 1949 after 13 years at the helm, the Chinese Communist Party sent someone to ask his opinion about the new government, and Zhu Kezhen expressed his hope that “it would not be as corrupt as the Kuomintang”. Before the words left his mouth, an attack on Zhu appeared in the wall newspaper of Zhejiang University, saying that he was “disgusted by the old and skeptical of the new. But democracy and anti-democracy are not allowed to have a middle (road), and Zhu has taken the middle road of destruction ……” The hideous face of the Chinese Communist Party was first revealed in front of Zhu Kezhen.
Zhu Kezhen instinctively remained averse to politics, and he was bent on taking the path of scientific salvation. When Chiang Kai-shek appointed him as president of Zhejiang University, he made it clear that he was “not good at serving ministers and committee chairmen and so on, and did not care to do so”. Although he reluctantly agreed to do so, he put forward three conditions when he took office: “the financial resources must be received from the source; the president has full authority to employ people without interference from political parties; and the time is limited to six months.” At that time, the National Government required all university presidents and deans to join the Kuomintang, but Zhu Kezhen refused to accept, becoming one of the few university presidents who did not join the Kuomintang at that time.
In February 1964, Mao Zedong received Zhu Kezhen in his bedroom, and since then he has become a household name as one of the “Three Red Scientists”.
I don’t know how Zhu Kezhen felt when he was forced to join the CCP, and in 1961, his eldest son, Zhu Jin, was labeled a rightist and died while working on a farm. Zhu Kezhen, who was 71 years old at the time, experienced the pain of sending his son to his death, for which he wrote “Weeping for Xiwen”.
After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Zhu Kezhen was very confused. Because of Mao’s protection, Zhu Kezhen himself was not directly affected, but in order to avoid being detached from the masses, Zhu Kezhen took the initiative to request a lower standard of work, and to hand over sofas and carpets, dismiss nannies and guards, reduce the size of his apartment, piano gift kindergarten, and combine the use of a small car …… At this time he often went by himself to the grain store a mile away He had to take several breaks on the way to buy rice.
His wife, Chen Kap, who is in her 60s, is often whisked away by the street office to dance the “loyalty dance” or to participate in marches and criticisms. At this time, Zhu Kezhen had to cook his own food as his wife instructed him to do. When he saw his colleagues being criticized, he wrote angrily in his diary, “It is too much to treat senior intellectuals in this way.”
The indignant Zhu Kezhen died of lung disease in 1974 at the age of 83. Two days before his death, he wrote his last diary entry: “Rain starting, cloudy to overcast. East wind 1-2, high -1°C, low -7°C.”
The pain of “cowshed” of paleographer Ji Xianlin
Ji Xianlin, who has taught at Peking University for more than 60 years and is fluent in 12 languages and is a paleographer, historian, orientalist, thinker, translator, Buddhist and writer, wrote “Miscellaneous Memories of the Cowshed”, recalling the painful experience of the Cultural Revolution.
At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Ji was not hit too hard, only criticized for writing an essay called “Spring Full of Swallows”, but he could still participate in some activities such as receiving Red Guards from abroad, demonstrations and labor in the countryside.
In the spring and summer of 1967, the struggle between the two factions at Peking University became increasingly fierce, and Ji was influenced by Zhou Peiyuan to join the Jinggang Mountain, an organization opposed to Nie Yuanzi. In the preface to his “Miscellaneous Memories of the Cowshed,” Ji wrote, “If I had kept to myself and been honest, I could have become a free and easy-going libertine and muddled along happily for a few years. However, fortunately? Unfortunately? The Lord of Heaven has given me a strong, I dare to stand up for what is right. If there’s something in me that’s worthy of praise, it’s this bit of strength. No matter how many faults I have, this is a strong point that is worthy of comfort, and my life is not in vain. The more I watched from the sidelines, the more I felt that the ‘Old Buddha’ of Peking University was perverse, in charge of the financial power of the whole university, the weak opposing faction of the crazy suppression, and even cut off water and electricity, and allowed his minions to stab foreign high school students with spears. This is unbearable! I didn’t know anything about this line or that line, but I was so energized that I rose up and resolutely joined the ‘revolutionary organization’ of the opposing faction of the ‘Old Buddha’.”
In May 1968, he was sent to Taipingzhuang, near the Thirteen Tombs, for reeducation through labor. A month later, he was sent back to the school, where he was locked up in the “cowshed” built in the cottages behind the Foreign Languages Building and the Democracy Building, with about 20 people in each room, each with only room to sleep on a wooden board placed directly on the ground. It was not until New Year’s Day 1969 that they returned to their homes.
Archaeologist “Xia Nai” paraded through the streets
Xia Nai, who earned his doctorate in archaeology from the University of London, returned to China in 1941 and served as a special design committee member of the preparatory office of the Central Museum, and in 1945 he carried out archaeological work in Gansu, investigating and excavating sites such as Yangwa Bay in Nanning, confirming for the first time stratigraphically that the Yangshao culture predated the Qijia culture. After the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, he served at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and presided over the important excavation of the Ming Dingling Mausoleum.
At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Xia Nai was ordered by the Institute’s “combat team” to conduct self-examination and write an account of his work, as recalled by staff members at his side. Later, he began to work under supervision, mainly as an auxiliary laborer in the construction of the house, handing over bricks and delivering plaster. Every morning they worked, and in the afternoon and evening they studied in the “cowshed”, and at night they cleaned the toilets.
On August 23, 1966, the Red Guards were established in the Institute of Archaeology, and those who came from North University were given high hats to parade through the streets. The “rebels” found a measuring rod, hung a black cloth on it, and had Xia Nai lead the parade with this “black flag”, while Niu Zhaoxun, the deputy director of the administration, wore a small “black hat The “black flag” was hung in front of the group, and Niu Zhaoxun, the deputy director of the administrative office, wore a small “black hat” and bent over a small gong to “open the way”, followed by “cattle, ghosts, and snakes” wearing various paper hats, in an extremely scandalous manner. A detailed list of the people who were paraded and the titles they were falsely accused of is given in Xia Nai’s Diary, with a total of 29 people. At that time, there were less than 200 people in the entire Institute of Archaeology, which is a high percentage.
In addition, Xia Nai was again criticized at the “Conference on the Struggle against the Three Opponents of Xia Nai” held at the Institute in early September. For the next two years, Xia Nai and others were confined to the “cowshed” and worked during the day, mainly sweeping the yard and rolling coal balls for winter heating. In May 1970, the entire staff of the Institute of Archaeology was sent to the “May 7 Cadre School” in Xixian, Henan Province, and Xia Nai was among them.
The dramatist Cao Yu became mentally crippled after the Cultural Revolution
When the theater world speaks of works such as Thunderstorm, Sunrise, The Wilderness and The Beijinger, the name Cao Yu immediately pops up. At the age of 23, he became famous for writing Thunderstorm, and at the age of 25, he was praised as a “regent” for writing Sunrise. This shows once again how serious the CCP’s spiritual and physical stranglehold on intellectuals is.
According to Tian Benxiang, the author of Cao Yu’s biography, what he felt most during his interviews with Cao Yu was his “bitter soul,” from the loneliness of childhood to the depression of youth, the anxiety of youth, and the pain of old age, so that he titled the interview “Bitter Soul The Bitter Soul”.
Liang Bingkun, who worked beside Cao Yu for 42 years, recalls his encounter during the Cultural Revolution. It was around the second half of 1973 that the “Mao Zedong Thought Liberation Army Propaganda Team” and the “Mao Zedong Thought Workers’ Propaganda Team” entered the Beijing People’s Art Theater together, claiming righteously to represent the proletariat in occupying the theater, which had been ruled by the bourgeoisie for years. This “bridgehead of the black line of counter-revolutionary revisionist literature and art” had been ruled by the bourgeoisie for many years. At that time, there was a couplet written for the theater, the first line of which read “The temple is small and the wind is strong” and the second line read “The pond is shallow and there are many bastards”.
On the gate of the residence of Cao Yu, the director of Beijing Ren Yi, a large slogan was also posted: “Down with the reactionary authority and counter-revolutionary literary figure Cao Yu!” Cao Yu’s home was also raided.
At that time, according to the instructions of his superiors, Cao Yu could return to the “revolutionary masses” only after he had “confessed and examined” his guilt. In response, Cao Yu was given special permission not to participate in labor, and he buried his head in writing the “confession of guilt” report. However, the report was repeatedly beaten back by the political commissar of the “Military Propaganda Team” on the grounds that it was “not profound” and “not on the line at all”, and ordered to be rewritten. Cao Yu was so miserable that he often sat on his pony and did not say a word, staring straight at the white wall with his two eyes.
One day at noon, Cao Yu was so anxious that he did not even eat his meal, sitting on a small pony in front of the bunk in his room, once again staring straight at the white wall with two eyes, holding a paper and pen in his hand, sighing, unable to write a single word. Liang Bingkun, who was beside him, also did not know what to do. Suddenly, Cao Yu could not help but whisper to Liang, “I am the grandson! I’m not a grandson, I’m just a worm, let them crush me as they like!” Liang Bingkun, who could not bear it, had an idea and decided to write it for Cao Yu.
The report of the “confession of guilt” written by Liang soon came out, which basically used the language of editorials from the “Two Newspapers and One Magazine” (i.e. People’s Daily, Guangming Daily and Red Flag). After reading it, Cao Yu had some concerns because the report had to admit that he had “implemented the counter-revolutionary revisionist literary line”. That was a very, very serious political issue. However, under the circumstances at that time, he could not pass the test without such an examination. Through Liang’s repeated explanations, he finally reluctantly accepted and agreed to take it home and recopy it.
After the “confession check” report was sent up, the political commissar of the “military propaganda team” said it was okay and did not call back. When waiting for the approval from the higher level, there was no further information. Perhaps someone from the higher level made a mistake and said something bad, so the issue of Cao Yu’s “cadre liberation” became a special status of “can be liberated but not set down yet” and was delayed.
In this way, Cao Yu’s mood, which had already improved, fell back to the situation when his wife Fang Rui had just died. Subsequently, Cao Yu was sent down to Nankou Forestry Farm, where he continued to work in the movement while participating in labor.
Due to the prolonged torture, Cao Yu was so exhausted that he could hardly support himself and had to be admitted to the Xiehe Hospital. Soon after he was released from the hospital, he was sent to the communication room of the Capital Theater, also known as the communication room of Beijing Ren Yi, to “watch the gate”. This was another form of punishment different from the “cowshed”. Every day he was responsible for distributing newspapers and letters, registering visitors, and cleaning the entire theater courtyard. Later, because the Japanese theater troupe was coming to perform and they were afraid that the foreign guests would find out that they were providing “negative propaganda materials” to foreign class enemies, Cao Yu was transferred to the communication room of the family dormitory of Beijing Ren Yi at No. 56 Shijia Hutong to “watch the gate”. In addition to his original work at the theater, he also added the tasks of paging for the family and taking out the garbage.
Cao Yu, who seems to have been transformed well, has a heavy pain in his soul. The aura he once had was completely wiped out during the Cultural Revolution. At that time, Cao Yu not only had to bend down deeply when he met people – whether old people, middle-aged people or children – and bow 90 degrees, but also said loudly, “I am the reactionary literary figure Cao Yu! ” Moreover, in his heart, he sincerely believed that he should never have written plays, should never have poisoned the audience, and that it was completely superfluous for him to come into the world.
Cao Yu often stood alone in front of Mao’s colorful portrait, saying that he wanted to “plead guilty” to Mao and to the people, even kneeling on the ground and asking his wife, “Just help me die! “
Only after the end of the Cultural Revolution did Cao Yu reveal the secrets of his heart in an interview with journalist Zhao Haosheng. “What happened to me was not bad. I was imprisoned for a few years, and then I worked. Labor is a good thing, but if you take it as punishment or humiliation, it’s not good. Not only do you have to labor, but you’re isolated from your family, and it even affects your children, and it keeps messing with your sanity, and you end up even feeling wrong yourself. Because they force you to chant all day long: I am a reactionary literary figure, a reactionary academic authority!”
Zhao Haosheng asked, “What is your greatest sin?” “Reactionary! Reactionary literati, reactionary authority, the black line of literature and art in the 1930s, which corrupted many young people …… It’s really hard to say that when what we wrote first appeared, there were people who said we were progressive. They forced you to confess, confess after not only others believe, even you believe, feel that you are a big bad, can not survive in the world, resulting in a sense of inferiority, feel that they have made a big mistake, do not write the play, would rather go to sweep the streets. This kind of self-destructive thinking was created, and this kind of ideological torture was more powerful than killing people.”
After the Cultural Revolution, Cao Yu was “rehabilitated” and reinstated as the director of Beijing Ren Yi, but his soul could never be recovered.
Philosopher Zhang Daïnian was sent to the right and sent to labor
After 1952, philosopher Zhang Dai-nian became a professor in the philosophy department of Peking University, director of the Institute of Thought and Culture at Tsinghua University, and part-time researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and in 1957, he was criticized for responding to the Chinese Communist Party’s call to give advice to the Communist Party, and was branded a rightist. The following year, he was sent to Huangcun, a suburb of Beijing, to participate in labor.
In 1965, he participated in the “Four Clean-ups” campaign in the suburbs of Beijing. After the start of the Cultural Revolution, he was “sidelined” again. In 1967, he was “liberated” from sweeping the floor and copying large-character posters because of his “good inspection”.
After another year, the Cultural Revolution Group of the Philosophy Department ordered Zhang Dai Nian to move out of his original house and live in a small room and a half instead. He did not dare to disobey, so sold four flat tricycle of old books, and sold the sofa, reluctantly settled down.
In September 1969, Zhang Dai-nian and others were sent down to Jiangxi carp island five seven cadre school, to participate in labor. Because he was over 60, he was assigned to the elderly group and engaged in vegetable gardening. Once he slipped and hurt his left shin, which took a hundred days to heal. A year later, the end of the decentralization, back to Peking University to write textbooks. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Dai-nian’s fate took a turn for the worse.
Economist Chen Daisun was completely brainwashed
Graduated from the University of Wisconsin, received a bachelor’s degree, and won the Golden Key Award for the famous economist Chen Daisun, was the head of the Department of Economics and Dean of the Law School at Tsinghua, in finance, statistics, international finance, the history of economic doctrine and other aspects have considerable achievements.
Compared with other masters, Chen Daisun did not suffer much impact during the Cultural Revolution, only being copied from his home and working in the suburbs of Beijing. Although Chen Daisun did not suffer a drastic impact during the Cultural Revolution, he was brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party for many years, and his academic thinking was greatly affected.
Chen Daesun read Western economics in the United States, to Tsinghua lecture is also Western economics, but in 1953, he had to write the “economic doctrine” lecture notes with Marxism-Leninism ideas, the 60s when compiling the “economic doctrine” textbook, he participated in the preparation, is also using Marxism-Leninism ideas as a guide, the 70s to write the “economic doctrine” topic outline, is also throughout the Marxism-Leninism ideas. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, he could have properly recovered some of his original independent ideas, but after years of brainwashing, he himself already felt that Western economic doctrines really did not work and that Marxist-Leninist economic doctrines were justified. In other words, in his later years, he completely rejected the Western economic doctrines he had accepted in his early years. Such a tragedy was undoubtedly caused by the Chinese Communist Party.
Writer Qian Zhongshu was shaved with a “cross head”
Qian Zhongshu, who was appointed to the Foreign Languages Department of Tsinghua University for his outstanding achievements in Chinese and English in his early years, was widely known for his novel “The Siege”. After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, he was also branded as a “bourgeois reactionary academic authority” and was initially criticized and had his head shaved.
His wife, Yang Jiang, was one of the first scholars to be attacked. The day after the Central Committee’s “Decision on the Cultural Revolution” was issued, she was taken out and became a “reactionary academic authority” three days earlier than Qian Zhongshu. During the Cultural Revolution, Yang was punished to sweep the toilets, and from time to time she was subjected to various kinds of criticism, such as wearing “high hats” and hanging “black signs”. …… The most embarrassing thing for her was cutting her “yin and yang” hair. The most embarrassing thing for her is to cut her “yin and yang head”, her hair is shaved off on one side and left on the other, becoming a devilish half hair. In order to cover up the ugliness, she had to find her daughter’s old hair cut off and make up a wig of her own.
In July 1970, Yang Jiang was sent down to the “May 7 Cadre School” in Xinyang, Henan Province. Although she was able to reunite with her husband Qian Zhongshu, who had been deported earlier, it was not easy for her to burn bricks to build a house, build a well to draw water, and grow food to make a living in a poor countryside. It didn’t take long for Yang Jiang to get sick from exhaustion. Here, the couple stayed until 1972, when they were “pardoned” and returned to Beijing.
As for their son-in-law, Qian Yuan’s husband committed suicide because he could not bear the humiliation of the Cultural Revolution. The room where he committed suicide was still plastered with insulting slogans after his death.
What happened to the “Two Bombs and One Star
The “Two Bombs and One Star” refers to nuclear bombs, missiles and artificial satellites. According to official information, China’s first atomic bomb was successfully exploded on October 16, 1964, and China’s first ground-to-ground missile with a nuclear warhead was successfully launched on October 27, 1966; on June 17, 1967, China’s first hydrogen bomb was successfully tested in an air explosion; and on April 24, 1970, China’s first artificial satellite was successfully launched.
The Chinese Communist Party was able to master the “two bombs and one star” technology in a short period of time after the establishment of the government, in addition to the help of the Soviet Union, but also relied mainly on the 23 scientists, mostly returned from overseas, whom the authorities regard as the “two bombs and one star fathers”, among whom were early graduates of Tsinghua Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian, Zhao Jiuzhang, Wang Jianchang, Qian Sanqiang, Guo Yonghuai, Zhou Guangzhao and Peng Huanwu. They made great contributions to the Chinese Communist Party, but during the Cultural Revolution, except for Qian Xuesen, who was specially protected but had to tell lies against his will, the fate of all of them and their families was quite unpleasant.
For example, in 1971, nuclear physicist Deng Jiaxian and others were concentrated in the Qinghai base and subjected to criticism. Xu Lushi, Deng’s wife and a professor at Beijing Medical College, said that the Gang of Four had a plan to get rid of those who were engaged in nuclear weapons. The slogan at that time was: “Those who know English are American agents, and those who know Russian are Soviet agents,” which shows the intensity of the persecution.
Xu Lu Xi was branded as a “gangster” of Peng Zhen and Liu Ren’s “Black City Committee” at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, and she was plastered with big-character posters, which almost broke her spirit. At that time, Deng Jiaxian did not see his wife coming home, so he went to Beijing Medical College to look for her. When he saw the tragic scene of his wife being criticized, his heart was broken. Later, his third sister, whom Deng Jiaxian respected very much, chose to commit suicide because she could not bear the endless torture by the rebels.
Zhao Jiuzhang, a space physicist who was the first person to introduce mathematics and physics into Chinese meteorology, was paraded through the streets every day after the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, and a square board was hung around his neck with the words “Reactionary Academic Authority Zhao Jiuzhang” written on it. At the beginning of 1968, he was sent to the Red Guard Brigade in the suburbs of Beijing for labor reform. The rebels hung a big sign around his neck, which read “Down with the bourgeois reactionary academic authority Zhao Jiuzhang!” Then a big black cross was put on it. On October 26 of the same year, Zhao Jiuzhang committed suicide by taking sleeping pills after writing an examination in the early morning. He was 61 years old.
The famous physicist Wang Jianchang was also branded as a “bourgeois reactionary academic authority” during the Cultural Revolution, and he was accused of “living philosophy” and “disturbing the military”. Even those who sympathized with and supported Wang Jianchang were arrested and forced to give an account of their relationship with Wang Jianchang by using fake gunshots.
Before the Cultural Revolution, Qian Sanqiang, a famous nuclear physicist, was asked to go to Henan to carry out the “Four Clean-ups”, and his name was changed to Xu Jin. The “Four Clean-ups” campaign was a prelude to the Cultural Revolution, and in just two or three years more than 5 million people were rectified and more than 77,000 people were persecuted to death. In October 1969, after the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Qian Sanqiang, who was over the age of majority, was sent to work in the “May 7 Cadre School” in Heyang, Shaanxi Province, and his three children were also sent to rural Shaanxi Province.
In addition, Guo Yonghuai, a famous mechanic, applied mathematician, and aerodynamicist, became an “American agent” because of his experience in studying in the U.S. He was censored in his unit and died in a plane crash in 1968. Zhou Guangzhao, a theoretical physicist and particle physicist, had his family raided several times during the Cultural Revolution and was criticized. His parents-in-law, who helped him take care of his children, were also expelled. Peng Huanwu, a theoretical physicist, was also branded as a “bourgeois reactionary authority” and was censored.
The fall of Ye Qisun, “the master of masters”
Ye Qisun, one of the founders of modern Chinese physics, founded the Department of Physics and the Faculty of Science at Tsinghua University and taught there for a long time. He was also the teacher of such famous scientists as Li Zhengdao, Yang Zhenning, Wang Jianchang, Qian Weichang, Qian Sanqiang, Wang Daheng, Zhu Guangya, Zhou Guangzhao, Deng Jiaxian, Chen Shiansheng, etc. He was therefore called “the master of masters”.
In June 1967, after the start of the Cultural Revolution, Ye Qisun was seized and imprisoned by the Red Guards of Peking University as a “counter-revolutionary”, and his salary was suspended and he was sent to a “gangster labor camp”. At one point, Ye suffered from mental disorders and hallucinations.
In April 1968, the General Office of the Central Military Commission issued an official arrest warrant for Ye Qisun, and interrogated him eight times in a row, forcing him to write “written confessions” several times, but he only replied, “According to my speculation, …… is because I know a little about various sciences. But he only replied, “I presume that it is because I know a little about the various sciences and can still handle disputes among scholars fairly, so that each can develop its own strengths.
In November 1969, for lack of substantial evidence, Ye Qisun was released and returned to live at Peking University, but was still under isolation as a “suspected agent of the Chinese Communist Party”. He was given a monthly living allowance of 50 yuan by the Chinese Communist authorities. At this time, the once elegant man was tortured with swollen feet, an enlarged prostate, urinary incontinence, and a body bent to 90 degrees. With his back bowed and wearing broken cotton shoes, he tramped the streets, begging for a living. When he met a student he knew, he said, “Give me some money, all you want is three or five yuan!
In May 1972, Peking University concluded to him that “the contradiction between the enemy and us was handled according to the internal contradiction of the people”; in June, his professorship was restored, and his monthly salary of 350 yuan was also restored, and he was assigned a one-room house in Zhongguanyuan of Peking University. It is said that once Ye Qisun met Qian Sanqiang on the road and Qian came over to greet him, but Ye immediately told him to leave so as not to affect him.
On January 10, 1977, Ye Qisun’s condition worsened and he was later sent to Peking University Hospital and the Peking Medical University Hospital, where he died on January 13. It was not until 1987 that Ye Qisun’s “rehabilitated” file was officially announced. This is how a master of his generation perished!
The fate of other masters of science and technology
Qian Weichang, who is considered the “father of modern mechanics” in China, was forced to stay away from and bid farewell to the scientific and technological community after he was branded as a “rightist” in 1957. After the Cultural Revolution, Qian was again attacked and sent to work in the Beijing Special Steel Factory from 1968 to 1971, where he was often subjected to “shame, sarcasm and teasing” by “revolutionaries”. Such humiliation was the experience of every defeated intellectual of that era.
Tang Aoqing, the founder of theoretical chemistry in China, received his doctorate from Columbia University in the United States. During the Cultural Revolution, he was beaten down and suffered many misfortunes. At that time, Mr. Liu Xueming (now a retired professor from the School of Administration of JIU) was criticized for writing a novel with Mr. Tang as the background. It is said that during the Cultural Revolution, Tang Aoqing was slapped by a student, who later apologized to him.
Hua Luogeng, a modern Chinese mathematician, is said to be the founder and pioneer of many aspects of Chinese research in analytic number theory, typical groups, matrix geometry, self-consistent function theory and theory of functions of multiple complex variables. During the Cultural Revolution, he was criticized in a conference at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with several other “bourgeois powers-that-be” and “reactionary academic authorities”. According to the recollection of his students, he was once criticized for eight hours in the morning and eight hours in the afternoon, and was pulled, pushed, and forced to bend his head. Hua Luogeng had a leg disability, and was punished by standing on the stage for a long time, suffering from humiliation and pain. The students who put up big-character posters and took to the stage to “expose and criticize” Mr. Hua were also his students, who vowed to draw a clear line with their teacher.
Zhou Peiyuan, a physicist who was a professor, vice president and president of Peking University, was almost branded as an “American agent” and had his home raided for taking the lead in opposing Nie Yuanzi, who was supported by Jiang Qing and others during the Cultural Revolution. Fortunately, under the protection of sympathetic students, he escaped further persecution.
Hou Depeng, a Chinese chemist and the founder of the “Hou’s alkali method”, was “sidelined” during the Cultural Revolution and died of depression in 1974.
Zhang Yuzhe, an astronomer who devoted himself to the observation and orbital calculation of asteroids and comets for a long time, and whose planetary research laboratory discovered many asteroids not on the ephemeris and three new comets named after “Purple Mountain”, was also “sidelined” during the Cultural Revolution. Fortunately, he survived those inhuman years.
Conclusion
The reason why the Chinese Communist Party has failed to produce masters after the establishment of the government is evident from the unpleasant experiences of these masters in Tsinghua. The Chinese Communist Party owes a sincere apology to the masters they insulted and to the many Chinese who suffered persecution. Such an apology will probably not come before the fall of the CCP, and there will be no more true masters.
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