Yuan 190 1 was born in a local Hanyuan family on the tenth day of the fifth lunar month. She is the eldest daughter of the family, and her name was Li Guan when she was young. His great-grandfather Yuan Jimao was the second scholar in the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang. He is the editor of imperial academy and the director of punishments. His great-grandmother Zuo Xixuan was also a talented woman in literature. His great-grandfather Ceng Yong was an academician of the Qing Dynasty. He used to be the magistrate of Wujin County, Changzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, and the magistrate of Ji 'an Prefecture, Jiangxi Province. His grandfather Yuan Xuechang served as a juror in Guangxu for five years. He used to be the magistrate of Quanjiao County in Chuzhou, Anhui Province and the ambassador of Hunan Province. Grandmother Zeng Yi was a famous female doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and poet in the late Qing Dynasty. Her second uncle Yuan was the last academician and the teacher of the emperor. His father, Yuan, was a famous banker in the early years of the Republic of China and presided over the Bank of Communications. From the above family members, we can know that the Yuan family has a long history of scholarly family and official children, and it can be said that it is a poetic and polite family.
As a noble family, Yuan recited poetry at the age of three and studied painting at the age of four, and saw the first clue of a talented woman. However, in this family with deep-rooted feudal clan hereditary concept, a woman without talent is virtue. Girls only need to know a few words, but stay away from learning. So the family only invited Mr. Xue for two younger brothers.
Perhaps because of his rebellious nature, Yuan is cheerful, loves reading and is talented, but he doesn't like being alone in the boudoir with "Nvhong", but secretly runs into the study and becomes an observer of Teacher Xue. Probably because she is an auditor. She studies harder than her two younger brothers and looks better. Her younger brothers play truant, and she often plays the role of "little teaching assistant", passing her husband's lecture notes to her younger brother. After a period of time, Yuan not only developed a solid writing skill and wrote beautiful words, but also won the admiration and trust of his siblings. Driven by personal practice, my sister also learned to be a self-reliant daughter from an early age, and she will be excellent in the future. Qiong Yao, the daughter of Third Sister Yuan Xingshu, is a famous high-yield novelist. Jing yuan, the fourth sister, has influenced several generations of young people. Recalling this time, Yuan Lao humorously called himself an "oil-sucking student".
The Revolution of 1911 broke out. Through the guests who came to her house, she learned that the outside world was carrying out a "May 4th Movement" that affected many young people. It also deeply influenced her to walk through the boudoir. The deep courtyard and noble lady can no longer restrain Yuan's young and impulsive heart. She formally swore to the whole family: "You have locked me up for eighteen years, and I will devote myself to the revolution and do something unprecedented." Parents are well aware of this clever daughter's rebellious character, so they made an exception this time. When her father asked her where she was going, Yuan replied without hesitation: "The south is the birthplace of the revolution, and I want to go to the south." Also at the mercy of parents, this time, only to create a daughter's bumpy and legendary life.
Break through the shackles of family and broaden the horizon. But after all, it's a long way. At the beginning, it was a heroic impulse, and Yuan, who was far away, was at a loss. Knowing that she didn't have a diploma, she went to Shanghai alone for a paper diploma, and with great effort, she went to an art school in Liu Haisu. However, art is not her goal, and she wants to seek a revolutionary road to save the country and the people. Two months later, she resolutely dropped out of school and came to the radical Nanjing at that time.
The national government has just been established, and there are many things to do, and a large number of new talents are needed. Yuan signed up for the job of Chinese secretary, and was hired as the Chinese secretary of He Yushu, director of the Department of Agriculture and Mines, with the first place. She entered politics for the first time. During this period, Yuan not only worked well, but also continued to practice painting and calligraphy, and participated in various painting and calligraphy art exhibitions, which won praises from many celebrities in the painting and calligraphy circles.
study abroad
Soon, Yuan was not willing to be an ordinary female secretary without independent personality, and made another decision-to study abroad. Perhaps the opportunity always favors those who are diligent and ambitious, but when they fail to show their talents, the rare opportunity comes again. 1930, government official Gaul was sent to Geneva as minister. Yuan immediately found and recommended himself as his secretary. Yuan Lima, who wanted to go abroad together but had no money, potential, education, qualifications, ambitions and ideals, was rejected. Yuan, who cultivated perseverance since childhood and never gave up, went to Gaul all day and pleaded for confession several times. Gaul could not help but be moved by the girl's insistence and agreed to take her abroad at her own expense. Yuan sold all the jewelry quickly.
Facing the dawn of hope, Yuan finally boarded an ocean-going ship and began the long road of pursuing truth and knowledge. In the fourth-class cabin full of smelly fish and shrimp, she just overcame the dizziness of tumbling over the river during the 35-day voyage and soon learned French by herself. When the ship arrived in Marseille, she was already able to talk in French. Even Gaul, who never boasted easily, repeatedly said "admire, admire".
It was also on this ship that Xiao Yuan met the person who accompanied her all her life-Ye Nan. Although Xiao Yuan frankly admitted that Ye Na was not a like-minded lover in her dream, their acquaintance was also full of romance.
At that time, women studying abroad were almost "rare animals". Besides, Yuan is a woman with both talents and looks, which naturally attracts people's attention. At that time, a large number of students sent by Whampoa Military Academy went to study in Europe. Therefore, it is inevitable to "besiege" Yuan frequently. Just then, a handsome young man approached her and acted as a flower protector. When Xiao Yuan went out, she followed her step by step with an umbrella and a bag. When Xiao Yuan vomited, he brought tea and water to accompany him. Those students who can't get close to Xiao Yuan want to find a chance to beat him. He is Ye Nan, the son of Ye Chuchen, then chairman of Jiangsu provincial government. In this way, during the 35-day voyage, the strange fate of the next hundred years was formed.
Before Yuan arrived in Geneva, she said goodbye to Ye and got off the boat in Marseille, France. Later, she studied political economy at the University of Prussia. Ye Nan, who is infatuated, is struggling to pursue Xiao Yuan, but Xiao Yuan, who is ambitious and doesn't want to get married prematurely and fall into family bondage again, is naturally unwilling to agree to Ye Nan's pursuit. In order to escape from reality, Xiao Yuan moved to Brussels, the Belgian capital, to live with his younger brother who was studying there. One night, Xiao Yuan was reading a book in his room when he heard a quick knock at the door. Xiao Yuan opened the door and saw that it was Ye Nanfeng with blood all over his face. It turned out that he didn't know where he got the news and address of Belgian Xiao Yuan. In order to see Xiao Yuan early, he rode his motorcycle all the way to see Xiao Yuan.
Studying day and night in France, Xiao Yuan's life is very tense. She didn't get any financial support from her family, and she didn't want to accept Ye Nan's support. Xiao Yuan has no friends abroad and has to make a living by copying documents for the embassy. If the financial troubles are always supported by a persistent belief in studying, then after learning the news of her mother's death by chance, this strong, persistent girl who is dedicated to the motherland can no longer restrain her deep homesickness, and she is heartbroken and resolutely returns to China.
Go to Jiang Guangnai after returning home.
After returning home, the 19th Route Army of Jiang Guangnai and Cai Tingkai became independent in Fujian, and a "People's Revolutionary Government" was established. Yuan Xinran defected. Jiang Guangnai, who is looking for talents everywhere, was overjoyed and immediately appointed her as the deputy director of Xiamen Commercial Taxation Bureau. Shortly after taking office, many of her father's old friends asked to quit their jobs in the bank and come to her to "do tax work." Xiao Yuan asked them doubtfully why. They said: "tax is a vacancy for the rich, with many loopholes, which can save money the most." Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuan immediately sternly refused to say, "I'm here to collect taxes, just to plug tax loopholes. Unclean people can't do taxes. " She not only refused, but also formulated many targeted rules and regulations to plug the loopholes and make the tax bureau look brand-new in a short time. Fan, then director of Fujian Provincial Department of Finance, paid more attention to her and praised her as a revolutionary woman.
However, she also ruined the jobs of those who made a fortune from taxes. Those people hate Xiao Yuan and make things difficult for her everywhere. Finally, the female tax official resigned voluntarily after a year in politics and left the tax bureau.
Went to France to study again
She studied in France again, seeking truth. This time, she studied international relations. A year and a half later, she returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for half a year, and was appointed as the deputy consul of the Consulate in Kolkata, India, becoming the first female diplomat in China's history.
Run for the Anti-Japanese War and raise money.
At this time, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out. The domestic anti-aggression war is in full swing, and Yuan He spared no effort to call for the war of resistance and persuade overseas Chinese to raise funds. However, the arms donated by overseas Chinese have been unreasonably detained by the local government for many times, and Yolanda has repeatedly negotiated with the British government.
During his stay in India, he was in charge of overseas education.
Yuan was in charge of overseas education during his stay in India. One day, Yuan went to the home of an old overseas Chinese and saw a whip hanging on the wall. He asked why. The old overseas Chinese replied, "I advise my descendants who don't learn Chinese well and can't speak Chinese." Overseas Chinese can't be true descendants of the Chinese people without learning Chinese. "The words of the old overseas Chinese not only deeply touched Xiao Yuan's patriotic enthusiasm, but also prompted her to learn China culture and how to teach Chinese in a simple way. She pushed her way through the crowd, offered Chinese classes, compiled easy-to-understand Chinese textbooks, and personally taught Chinese to overseas Chinese. Until now, some local overseas Chinese still remember her teaching Chinese.
Yuan worked in the consulate for 6 years, and Ye Nan was appointed as the military attache in France. Although I didn't give up the diplomat garden, I still couldn't stand Ye Nan's repeated persuasion and had to follow Ye Nan to post-war French office. In France, Yuan was cordially received by General Charles de Gaulle and was invited to enter the Arc de Triomphe with General Charles de Gaulle.
After being transferred back to China, he was elected as a "deputy to the National Congress"
1947, Ye Nanfeng was transferred back to China and served as the director of the Second Hall of the Ministry of National Defense. Yuan was also elected as the "deputy". At this time, in contact with his sister, Yuan gradually learned to appreciate China's * * * policy agenda. When the anti-communist upsurge of the Kuomintang became increasingly arrogant, Ye Yuan jointly wrote an open letter to the Kuomintang government. The letter denounced the Kuomintang's dark rule, corruption and incompetence, and loudly called for cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to realize the reunification of China.
Chiang Kai-shek was expelled from the Party for an open letter.
This open letter is undoubtedly a blockbuster, and it also touches the sore spot of Chiang Kai-shek. In desperation, Chiang Kai-shek expelled Ye Yuan's party membership and wanted them on charges of "attaching criminal evidence of bandits".
This despicable means of Chiang Kai-shek undoubtedly contributed to a complete break between Ye Yuan and the Kuomintang. After they announced their separation from the Kuomintang, they went to the United States via Hong Kong.
Settle in America
After Yuan settled in the United States, he was admitted to the United Nations Secretariat with a solid foundation of Chinese and fluent English, French and Arabic, and won the third place, specializing in writing thanks to countries and regions that gave gifts to the United Nations. "I remember that once Singapore presented a statue of the God of Peace to the United Nations, and the headquarters asked me to give a thank-you speech in Chinese. One of the words is' May people all over the world live happily and peacefully in a quiet environment without war', which has been praised by many senior officials of the United Nations. "
Yuan's years of working experience in language and writing in the Secretariat of the United Nations Headquarters also gave her more experience opportunities. At that time, she worked as a translator, with staff in four languages: America, France, Russia and Spain. She has a dictionary, a pen and thousands of Chinese characters in her mind, and she never fails to translate them. "However, some people say that China's Chinese characters are too complicated. A word is a sound, unlike 26 letters in a foreign language, which is easy to remember and read. " At this time, Yuan always refutes them: "China's Chinese characters are easy first and then difficult, while foreign languages are easy first and then difficult, with great grammatical changes and difficult to remember and understand ..."
Successfully developed a set of "Yuan Pinyin Scheme"
Although Yuan tried her best to protect the dignity of Chinese characters in the United Nations, she also knew that China had many strokes of Chinese characters, and it was really difficult to recognize a word and a sound. To become an international common language, we must carry out reform and realize the modernization of Chinese characters. Therefore, she devoted all her spare time to the research and reform of Chinese characters. After decades of hard exploration, Yuan finally succeeded in researching a set of "Yuan's Pinyin Scheme".
This is a new type of Chinese character, so it is called "modern Cang Xie". After repeated analysis, comparison and induction of Chinese characters, she extracted 108 pinyin Chinese characters, which were divided into basic consonants, basic vowels and mixed sounds. The letters used are all components of basic Chinese characters. Using the principle of combining male and female shapes and sounds, learners can "read whenever they see words, and write when they can speak". She tried this scheme in several primary schools and kindergartens in Beijing and Inner Mongolia, and reached the level of "reading, speaking and writing".
Yuan's language reform was praised and respected by the Prime Minister. 197 1 After Nixon's visit to China, Sino-US relations eased somewhat. As the first Chinese-American who applied to lead a delegation to visit China, Yuan was received by Premier Zhou, Deng and other central leading comrades. Premier Zhou also ordered six universities to try out the scheme of Renminbi Pinyin. For various reasons, this program has not been popularized in the whole country at present. However, her idea of "knowing the complexity and writing simply" is widely recognized for the sake of communication between China and foreign countries and the reunification of the motherland.
After the opening of the door to Sino-US relations, it also promoted the economic and cultural exchanges between China and the United States. Ye Nan participates in the Canton Fair every year. As soon as he set foot on the land of the motherland, Yuan actively promoted the promotion of Sino-US relations and exchanges. She also visited all parts of the motherland, wrote articles about the ever-changing motherland, and built a bridge between Chinese and American cultures. These articles have been included in The Selected Works of Xiao Yuan, edited by Yuan and inscribed by Zhao Puchu.
Restore China citizenship
After returning to China again and again, strong patriotic enthusiasm finally contributed to her decision to give up the United States and return to China with another son 13 years ago. When she appeared at the American Embassy in China and asked how to quit the United States, the cultural counselor of the other side was surprised and said, "You are already an American. Come back." Xiao Yuan said seriously, "This time I'm here to return your American citizenship. I want to restore my China citizenship and become a China citizen. " The counselor shrugged and said, "People are asking how to be an American, but you are the first person to retire from the United States and become a China." When people asked her about her decision, Yuan Lao said, "If China is as powerful as the United States, I won't ask to go back. It is precisely because China is not as strong as the United States, so we need every China and Qi Xin to work together to build our country as strong as the United States. " 1985, Yuan left her husband and son, abandoned the superior environment of the United States, returned to the motherland and settled in Beijing with half a century of dust and a pure heart.
Establish hospitals and publications.
After returning to China, Yuan was re-elected as a member of the Sixth and Seventh China People's Political Consultative Conference, and served as chairman of the Central Supervision Committee of the Revolutionary Committee, president of the Beijing International Chinese Character Research Association, president of the International Calligraphy and Painting Art Research Association and honorary professor of six universities, enjoying special government allowances.
She sold her family property, actively donated it to the public welfare undertakings of the motherland, founded the "Xiao Yuan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine" and opened up an international friendship forest, which has now become a memorial resort for heads of state and guests to plant friendship trees. According to her proposal and donation, the famous stone tablet of Mount Tai in Qin Wen was restored to the top of Mount Tai.
After returning home, she donated all her savings of $60,000. In order to realize her patriotic desire, she preached the culture of loving the motherland and Chinese characters everywhere, regardless of age. Many people who supported her advised her: "You are old, it is time to enjoy your old age." But she said seriously, "Everyone thinks that 60 is the retirement age, but I think this is the beginning of my life, and now it is the prime of my life ..." But she still doesn't change her original intention of loving the Chinese character culture of the motherland. I took out my savings and devoted myself to the establishment of China Magazine, which became an authoritative magazine for the study of Chinese character culture. But to her regret, after China People magazine was handed over to a vice president, who expected that he changed Yuan Lao's original intention of promoting the reform of cultural research in China, aiming at making profits, which violated Yuan's previous purpose of running a magazine. He made a lot of money from the decline of the magazine, so the magazine was forced to close recently. The deputy director was afraid of Yuan Lao's pursuit, but he went through the immigration formalities with his wife and went to Canada. It is this man who used to be a poor student and developed to this day with the help of Yuan Lao. The centenarian was deeply saddened by the mention of this matter.
Nanjing is Yuan Lao's second hometown. After returning home, he visited here 10 times. She was very happy when she heard that there was a rehabilitation center for deaf children in Zhou Tingting and five deaf children were successfully trained. She gave the books engraved with Oriental Myth and Love for People to the rehabilitation center overnight. The next morning, I visited the rehabilitation center on the sixth floor and accepted the letter of appointment as a consultant of the rehabilitation center.
Set up "Yuan Aiguo Cultural Foundation"
In order to realize the change of Chinese character culture, Yuan Lao established Yuan Aiguo Culture Foundation in Nanjing to inherit and develop her unfinished business, to help young people who are interested in studying Chinese character culture, and to let some dropouts return to the classroom.
At 2: 50 pm on June/KOOC-0/65438+/KOOC-0/October/KOOC-0/7, 2003, the legendary woman Yuan quietly bid farewell to her legendary life of exploration and pursuit at the age of/KOOC-0/02. More than two months ago, Yuan Lao was still in good health, and he wrote calligraphy every afternoon to meet people. But then the lung infection, uncontrollable, heart failure, died. On June165438+1October 18, the relevant state departments sent personnel to Nanjing to discuss with their families the establishment of funeral committee.