Text/Zhang Jishan Wang Xianquan Qi
We were all "old students" in the history department of Tsinghua in the 1940s. Although I have left my alma mater for many years, I still have a deep impression on my study in Tsinghua campus in those years, especially the teachers who taught us.
The first thing to mention is Mr. Lei Haizong, the head of the department. He is a historian who is proficient in China and the West, and teaches us the history of Yin and Zhou Dynasties, Qin and Han Dynasties and the history of the Middle Ages in the West. As soon as the bell rings, Mr. Lei will push the door in on time. When the bell rang, it was just a paragraph. He never brings a lecture note and an outline in class, only two pieces of chalk. All the names, places, years and reference books are written word for word on the blackboard. He told us to read the novels in the bibliography, saying that it is not enough to understand an era only by historical events, but also by understanding its literature and philosophy.
Mr. Chen Yinque, who was jointly hired by the Department of History and the Department of Chinese Studies, was a tutor of Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies and has been teaching in Tsinghua ever since. He is a great master of literature and history in China. When we were in the third grade, he began to study the history of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and set up a room as a classroom in his own house in New Lin Yuan. When Zhang was doing his graduation thesis, he asked Mr. Chen to be his tutor. At that time, Mr. Chen was blind, but with amazing memory, he still instructed his assistant to consult ancient books and study the history of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The first compulsory course after our admission is Modern History of China by Professor Shao Xunzheng, an internationally renowned expert in modern history of China and ancient Mongolian history. At that time, Mr. Shao was very weak, but he was very serious about teaching. He gave us an incisive analysis of the western powers' use of the Qing government's ignorance of international affairs, forcing the Qing government to sign unequal treaties, deliberately using ambiguous words, laying the groundwork for expanding aggression in the future, and even adding content privately to deceive the Qing government. He also deeply analyzed the contradictions and collusion of the great powers in their interests of invading China.
When Mr. Wu Han, an expert in Ming history, gave us a lecture, he was not talking about Ming history, but about Song history. Adhering to the style of study of "taking history as a mirror", he continued the tradition of linking The National SouthWest Associated University's teachers' lectures with current affairs, and from time to time criticized the Chiang family dynasty by analyzing the disadvantages of the Song Dynasty. At that time, Mr. Wu was going to the liberated area. Mr. Shao Xunzheng, Mr. Qian Duansheng and Mr. Qian Weichang are often invited to talk about current events in the name of playing bridge in the West Campus. 1948 After the celebration, he went to Xibaipo. At that time, Mr. Ding Zeliang was also majoring in Song history, but he didn't give us a lecture.
Recently 1948 Mr. Sun Yutang, who specializes in the history of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, returned from the United States. According to my old classmates, Mr. Sun can draw a very beautiful map on the blackboard in the general history class in China. At this time, Mr. Sun's interest has turned to Chinese economic history, and later he opened a course on Chinese economic history for the Department of Economics and the Department of History.
At that time, the world history course lineup was also very strong. It is Mr. JohnJanGapanovich who teaches the ancient history of the West. He told us about the rise and fall of Greece and Rome in English with a strong Russian accent, which sounded nostalgic. There is also a well-read Mr. Kong who teaches western Chinese history. After listening to Comrade Yu in Mr. Kong's class, Mr. Kong asked him to read German reference books, which made him feel at a loss. Is modern western history Liu Chong? Mr. Wang teaches. He is gentle, concise and clear-cut. He often uses his own gains and losses in managing history to educate his classmates and tell them his ideals.
1948 after Mr. Chen Yinque left, the Department of History hired Mr. Zhou Yiliang from the Department of Foreign Languages to take over the teaching of medieval history in China. In addition, the history department of Tsinghua has always attached importance to the study of Japanese history, and Mr. Zhou has also participated in the course of Japanese history. His analysis of Japanese history and cultural background is more detached and fascinating than that of Japanese scholars. In addition, the history department also hired Mr. He Ji, who came back from the United States, to teach the modern history of the world.
In the past few years in the history department of Tsinghua, the teacher not only taught us knowledge, but also influenced our life path. After the adjustment of departments in 1950s, the history department of Tsinghua University ceased to exist. It was not rebuilt until the mid-1990s. We earnestly hope that the teachers and students of the history department will inherit the academic tradition of the predecessors of "integrating Chinese and Western cultures and linking the past and the present" and make the history department distinctive and standard.