Author: You Yujie Yuan Songlu Source: Jiefang Daily hits: 156 Time: April 28, 2009
On April 23rd, Cai Wei, 38, was included in the list of doctoral students to be admitted in 2009 by Fudan University after expert review and discussion by the school enrollment leading group. The tutor is Mr. Qiu Xigui, a master of ancient philology in China.
It is not uncommon to study for a doctorate at the age of 38. What is rare is that Cai Wei has only a high school education and has been laid off for more than ten years-eight months ago, he was riding a tricycle to support his family in Jinzhou, Liaoning. It never occurred to him that the biggest turning point in his life was coming.
A 38-year-old high school graduate, from a tricycle driver to a doctoral student at Fudan University, is not a simple inspirational story. Behind the story is not only a young man's persistence in learning, but also the infinite charm of a subject, a scholar's eye for talents and an open mind of a university. ...
Because of "Sasuke", he met Mr. Qiu Xigui.
How can a laid-off worker with high school education and a former tricycle driver be admitted to Fudan's doctoral program? What's special about him?
Mr. Qiu Xigui, the main recommender of Dr. Cai Wei's research, did not directly answer the reporter's question, but stressed that he did not advocate that Cai Wei be exposed to the spotlight of the media. "For Cai Wei, there is still the problem of how to train him. If he is really excellent and has academic achievements in the future, everyone will naturally know. "
In academic circles, Mr. Qiu is famous for his preciseness and pragmatism. He and Cai Wei have known each other for more than ten years. 1995 wrote a letter to Mr. Qiu when he was still studying by himself. Mr. Qiu wrote back and praised: "I admire his hard work, regardless of utility."
1997-65438+ 10, Teacher Qiu published an article "A Preliminary Study of SHEN WOO's Fu" in Cultural Relics, in which he mentioned the bamboo slips unearthed from the Han Tomb in Yinwan, and the meaning of "Zuo Zi" was unclear. Cai Wei wrote to inform that "Zuo Zi" should be pronounced as "Zi Zi", that is, "Zi", which is an exclamation. Later, Mr. Qiu published "Zuo Zi should be pronounced as a knot" in the third issue of 1998 Cultural Relics, calling it "very reasonable".
After 2003, Cai Wei published some articles about Sinology. "He writes very little and is very cautious. What is rare is that he can combine unearthed documents with handed down documents. " Mr. Qiu said that some of his views are very insightful. "For example, there is a phrase" Mo Zhigen "in Laozi, a bamboo slip of Guodian Chu Tomb, which is usually considered as" Heng ",which is not easy to understand in meaning. Cai Wei believes that "Ji" in Chu bamboo slips is often written as "root", which is of ultimate significance. It is very inspiring to me. "
"I once suggested that Cai Wei take an examination of graduate students. He speaks English with a poor foundation and is afraid of failing the exam. After about 2006, I think Cai Wei is a little quiet. Later, I heard that he made a living by three rounds, and his reading time was much less. I thought at that time, it would be a pity if Cai Wei gave up like this because of the bad environment. To tell the truth, many people who engage in ancient Chinese characters are nominally professors, but in fact they are not as good as him. I don't have his level in some places. " Mr. Qiu told reporters.
"The study of ancient Chinese characters can't be done without sitting on the bench for ten or twenty years." Liu Zhao, director of the Research Center for Unearthed Documents and Ancient Chinese Characters of Fudan University, said that Cai Wei had no professional academic training and had no chance to read many newly unearthed documents, but he taught himself a lot of classics handed down from generation to generation, many of which were memorized. "Cai Wei was not distracted. He is familiar with the words, syntax and ancient language habits of ancient books, even more familiar than many professional researchers. He is more easily integrated into the ancient language environment than ordinary people, and he can empathize with the actions and ideas of the ancients. After a long time, he has the ability to learn from ancient books. "
In Guo Xue. His screen name is "Bao Xiao"
Ability is on the one hand, and perhaps what impressed Mr. Qiu more is his sincere love for ancient books and philology.
Guoxue.com Shangcaiwei's screen name is "Bao Xiao", which means "aspiring primary school". "Primary school" is a general term for philology, phonology and exegetics in ancient China, which was later renamed as "the study of language and writing" by Zhang Taiyan. As a specialized knowledge, "primary school" can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties at the earliest, but most contemporary people may not be familiar with it. Mr. Qiu told reporters: "China's thousands of years of civilization, most of our knowledge of the past comes from ancient books, but some of them have been handed down from generation to generation, some have been lost, and some have been tampered with by future generations. To understand the whole history, we need to constantly discover and revise it, such as Mawangdui silk book, Guodian bamboo slips and Champo bamboo slips unearthed in recent years, which contain many things that we didn't know before. Read these documents to understand what the real ancient times are like, where are the roots of our thoughts, habits and lives, and the study of ancient Chinese characters is the foundation. "
Cai Wei didn't think deeply about this meaning. He comes from an ordinary family, his parents are workers, and his love for ancient books is out of natural interest. He loved calligraphy since he was a child, and he was fascinated by Tang poetry and Song poetry when he was a student. When I was a sophomore, I happened to see a paper on literature and history by Mr. Qiu, and I was attracted by the traditional "primary school" from then on.
Cai Wei showed the reporter two masterpieces, Dialect and Erya, which he copied. Yellowing pages, faded pen handwriting, and time display on the title page 1993. At that time, Cai Wei had graduated from high school for two years. In high school, he was seriously biased. Except for Chinese, his grades in other subjects are a mess. In the end, he failed to enter the university, but worked as a worker in a hose factory. "In Jinzhou, these books are only available in libraries. The copying fee is too expensive for me, so I can only copy them. " Cai Wei said.
1994, the benefit of rubber hose factory was not good, so Cai Wei was laid off and set up a stall in front of a shopping mall. Cai Wei has no ambition for material life. He earns only enough food and clothing. He spends all his spare time reading books. "My family doesn't understand what I'm reading and doesn't interfere. They don't spend money anyway. " Cai Wei said that his parents and wife are ordinary people, and they didn't ask him to get rich. "I just feel lonely occasionally, and there is no one around to communicate with you."
In 2007, his wife fell ill, and in order to earn more money, Cai Wei began to pedal three rounds. "I can earn 30 yuan a day when I have more time, which is better than setting up a stall, but I have less and less time to study," he wrote to Dong Shan, a young scholar at Peking University. Dong Shan told his teacher Professor Liu Zhao about it. As it happens, Fudan Research Center for Unearthed Documents and Ancient Characters will jointly compile the Integration of Bamboo Slips and Silk of Mawangdui Han Tomb with Zhonghua Book Company and Hunan Provincial Museum. After consultation with Mr. Qiu, the center decided to hire temporarily.
Last September, Cai Wei came to Shanghai. This year, at the recommendation of Mr. Qiu, at the age of 38, he got the opportunity to take the exam.
Fine-tune the subjects and give him complete academic training.
Gu, vice president of the Graduate School of Fudan University, said that Cai Wei must complete his undergraduate and master's studies before pursuing his doctorate. Considering his special situation, the school will make some fine-tuning in subjects, such as taking Japanese instead of English. First of all, it is easier for Cai Wei to learn from scratch. Second, Japan has similar research, which will help him read international academic reports in the future. "Fudan recruited Cai Wei out of love for talents and should be responsible for him and give him standardized and complete academic training."
"Compared with the researchers in ordinary classes, his knowledge structure is biased," Professor Liu Zhao told reporters. "For example, the knowledge of linguistics, history and archaeology is lacking and needs to be supplemented." In this regard, Mr. Qiu also feels the same way. Limited by the conditions, I mainly refer to the previous research results, such as the introduction of Wang Niansun, Ganjia School Wang and others. "The king and his son, of course, get, but if you follow them completely, you can't surpass them. After recruiting Cai Wei, we should train him to do something practical and read more literature. Also remind him of his own shortcomings, such as foreign languages. Although unearthed documents and ancient Chinese characters belong to ancient China, they have now become worldwide knowledge. To quote other people's achievements, to communicate with others, you need a foreign language. " Mr. Qiu said.
Cai Wei doesn't have many plans for the future. My wife and children are still in Jinzhou, and my wife lives by delivering newspapers. When he came to Shanghai, in addition to the necessities of life, Cai Wei also brought a big box with books he had accumulated for many years. Cai Wei has always been very satisfied and grateful to have a quiet environment to study and communicate.
"For so many years, Cai Wei did it for no reason, not for profit, just to read ancient books. Just like guessing, he guessed it and solved the problem. I think it makes sense. You ask him what this thing is for and whether it contributes to society. I'm afraid he can't answer. On the other hand, if a society can allow people like Cai Wei to exist and provide an environment for him to develop in the direction of interest, it will be of great benefit to basic disciplines and social culture. " Mr. Qiu Xigui told reporters.
In Cai Wei's calligraphy Er Ya, the title page reads: "If you accumulate small characters, you will prosper." This is Cai Wei's self-encouragement at the age of 265,438+0, which means to accumulate from a small place, work hard and finally achieve great achievements ――38-year-old Cai Wei was very embarrassed by this ambitious and ambitious statement. He said that he is a scholar, and he is still in the "second realm" that Wang Guowei, a master of Chinese studies, said: "He is rich in clothes and does not regret it, and he is haggard for Iraq." This article has been going on for nearly 20 years.
Return the right to recruit doctoral students to the professor.
—— Interview with Gu, Vice President of Fudan University Graduate School
News viewpoint: It is said that Fudan University admitted high school graduates as doctoral students for the first time in its 100-year history.
C: It's inappropriate to say the first time. Ge Zai, the current director of Fudan Library, took the first place in the postgraduate entrance examination of Mr. Tan Qixiang on 1978. 1983 received his doctorate. Some of the graduate students recruited by Mr. Su have high school education, and some of them have become mathematicians now. There have been some such stories of "dropping talents without sticking to one pattern". For example, Liang Shuming was not admitted to the university, and Cai Yuanpei asked him to be a teacher in the philosophy department of Peking University. Shen Congwen didn't graduate from primary school, but Hu Shi invited him to the podium of China College ... This reflects the tolerance and spirit handed down from generation to generation in the university.
News opinion: Now that the degree awarding system is very sound, is it more difficult to enter Cai Wei?
Gu: Since 2000, Fudan has implemented a system: academicians of the two academies, outstanding professors and 100 excellent doctoral thesis supervisors in China can recruit doctoral students independently. The examination questions are determined by the tutor himself, and students may not take the unified examination. Mr. Qiu Xigui, as a famous ancient philologist in China, certainly has this qualification. But Cai Wei is really special, because according to the current regulations, doctors must have a master's degree or equivalent, while Cai Wei only has a high school education. To this end, I made a special trip to the Ministry of Education and communicated with relevant departments.
News viewpoint: Is it possible to popularize this model of teaching self-enrollment master or doctoral students?
Gu: Fudan University has carried out reform and exploration in Shanghai Medical College and other departments, transforming the traditional doctoral examination system into an internationally accepted application evaluation system. Students applying for doctoral degree must provide master's degree, thesis, published articles and a 5000-word study plan, and must be recommended by two experts with senior titles. The assessment link is equivalent to an interview. Students make a presentation for about 20 minutes, and then answer the tutor's questions. The decision is whether to admit the student.
News opinion: people will be more worried. Is it possible to operate in a black box?
To some extent, examination is certainly the fairest way. However, if the examination system is solidified and pushed to every level of talent selection, some amateurs and geeks will lose opportunities, especially in the doctoral stage. What they need are students who are particularly enthusiastic about a certain subject, willing to study and capable of research, rather than those who have the best exam results. We should at least give back the right to recruit doctoral students to professors, because they are most qualified to judge what kind of students are most suitable. I think if there is a strict supervision system, the problem of black-box operation can be completely avoided, and this responsibility should be borne by the administrative department of the school. With a good system that gives professors full trust, I believe most teachers will cherish their reputation very much.