Chai Jing: But it was only today that I learned of his existence, Ye Qisun.

This is an article written by Chai Jing in 2010 to commemorate Ye Qisun. If you want to learn more about Ye Qisun's life experience, you can refer to Wikipedia.

I am amazed when reading historical records - in the turbulent land of China, as long as they are given a little space, what can Chinese intellectuals plant in the cracks of the rocks?

Eighty years have passed, and everything he planted in the blank space has allowed future generations like me to live in a world covered in shade, yet I only learned about the existence of Mr. Ye Qisun today.

One

I was reading a book on the plane when I saw this photo. I was stunned for a moment. I don't know this person, but I feel that it is rare to see such a calm and determined face. He looks really handsome.

After reading it, I learned that those of us who know Li Zhengdao, Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Wang Ganchang... should have known him - he was their teacher.

When Li Zhengdao was a sophomore, he was sent to the United States by him. At that time, Li Zhengdao was only 19 years old and went to apply for a passport wearing shorts. The staff in the office didn't believe it and said, "How can this be a child?" Li Zhengdao later said, "He determined my destiny."

Hua Luogeng was in junior high school, and he let him work in the mathematics department at Tsinghua University and sent him to study in the UK. Hua Luogeng said, "I owe him endless love."

That was a time of war and turmoil, but these people, who later became important figures in scientific development, were the peach and plum trees he planted on the scorched earth at that time.

But why didn't I know about him?

Two

Late at night, I searched for his information bit by bit.

He was born in Shanghai, and his father was an old-style scholar who had him read classics from an early age.

From a young age, he demanded himself to be a gentleman and practiced self-reflection. He also wrote about cutting off ties with friends over trivial matters: "The anger at that time, I still think about it now, and it still hurts."

He was not talkative, but he maintained the demeanor of a gentle gentleman throughout his life.

In 1915, when he was studying at Tsinghua University, he established the first student organization in the history of Tsinghua - the Science Society.

There was a scientific report meeting every two weeks, and they took turns giving presentations. "The range was very wide, such as the evolution of the universe, apple breeding, coal, wireless telegraphy equipment, surveying methods, force, waste utilization, etc."

He was only seventeen at the time, and the membership rules he drafted were: (1) No discussion of religion, (2) No discussion of politics, (3) Avoid distant goals, (4) Avoid high-level discussions, (5) Study diligently, (6) Act diligently.

In that youthful vigor, there was full of the nascent vitality of Chinese universities.

Three

In 1918, he went to the United States to study, and later obtained a PhD from Harvard under the guidance of Nobel laureate Bridgman.

His first research topic was to accurately measure the fundamental action quantum h using X-ray shortwave limit method. The experimental results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Journal of the Optical Society of America, and were soon recognized by the international scientific community as the most accurate value of h at that time.

This value was used in the international physics community for 16 years.

He was 23 years old that year.

Four

At the age of 27, he returned to China and taught at Tsinghua University, fully aware of what he would face.

According to his students' memories, "In the first year, there were 4 people studying physics, in the second year, there were only 2 people, and in the third year, there was only 1 person. From the first grade to the second grade, to the third grade, he was the only one teaching, and all the classes were taught by him alone. It was not that he wanted to teach alone, but he wanted to invite others to come, but they didn't come, and he couldn't invite them."

He didn't seek rewards, only hard work.

His strict teaching style was also well-known. He gave Li Zhengdao a score of only 83. He allowed his students not to attend his classes if they said, "Because you have read reference books that are more advanced than mine," but "if you don't take the experiments seriously, 25 points will be deducted."

Many years after his death, his relatives found that he had kept the three answer sheets from that year, written on yellowed Kunming paper.

Five

When reading historical records, there is a feeling - in the turbulent land of China, as long as they are given a little space, what can Chinese intellectuals plant in the cracks of the rocks?

He was the head of the physics department at Tsinghua University, which was actually a sacrifice for himself, as it meant giving up his own professional research to take on administrative work. Because he considered hiring top scholars to teach at Tsinghua as a top priority.

From 1926 to 1937, he successively hired a group of scholars such as Xiong Qinglai, Wu Youxun, Sa Bendong, Zhang Zigao, Huang Ziqing, Zhou Peiyuan, Zhao Zhongyao, and Ren Zhigong for the physics department and the College of Science.

Wu Youxun was just a newly arrived ordinary teacher at the time, and his qualifications and age were not as good as his. He set Wu Youxun's salary higher than his own. In 1934, he recommended Wu Youxun to take over as the head of the physics department. Four years later, he strongly advocated for Wu Youxun to take over as the dean of the College of Science, when he was in his prime.

When Feng Bingquan graduated, he said to them, "I'm sorry for not being a good teacher. But one thing I can be proud of is that every teacher I invited to teach you is better than me."

He not only wanted to plant, but also to cultivate the soil.

In 1929, he established the College of Science at Tsinghua University, which included six departments: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and geology.

He said that wherever talents are produced, scientific culture must flourish, scientific soil must be fertile, and the scientific atmosphere must be strong. For example, Gottingen and Munich in Europe, and Chicago in the United States.

Chinese scientific research had stagnated for thousands of years, and for the first time, there was such a burning ambition: "In addition to cultivating talents for the application of science, we also seek to establish a center for scientific research to achieve academic independence in China."

Six

Those tender shoots grew forcefully from under the rocks.

The history of Tsinghua records, "In the early years, Tsinghua was under the control of the Beiyang government, and it was governed by the personal authority of the president. The presidents were mostly officials and politicians, who had little knowledge and understanding of management. The frequent changes of presidents seriously affected the normal conduct of education and teaching."

In 1927, Tsinghua established the Professors' Council and the Evaluation Council. The Professors' Council was composed of professors from various departments, and the members of the council voted to elect the heads of each department. The Evaluation Council was composed of evaluators, who were professors recommended by various departments.

The following year, he was elected as an evaluator, and he was not yet 30 years old at the time. This reform was driven by the "young and vigorous" group.

Researchers of Tsinghua's history later said, "Professor-led governance means rejecting outsiders from entering the school's management, sweeping away those who do not understand science, are ignorant of academics, and are unfamiliar with education. It prevents the bureaucratic system from eroding and destroying university education under the old system, and also decentralizes the administrative power of the school, forming a mechanism of checks and balances. It has played an indelible role in ensuring the democratic operation and management of higher education institutions, guaranteeing the independence of the school, the freedom of thought of scholars and students, and stimulating creativity."

From 1929 to 1931, Tsinghua did not have an officially appointed president, and the professors' council represented all the professors in governing the university.

The declaration of the professors' council at that time was: "Tsinghua is not an administrative organization. The school can completely transcend political trends and operate independently."

Qian Xuesen was his student. If you understand this history, you will know that Qian Xuesen's last question before his death was not only about the future, but also a look back with great effort.

Seven

He never married in his lifetime, but was close to his students. One of them was Xiong Dazhen, who had the deepest relationship with him.

You can find Xiong's photo online, full of vitality, as if he could jump out of the paper. They were almost inseparable during those years.

In 1938, Xiong suddenly told him that he wanted to go to the Central Hebei region to fight against the Japanese.

He knew very well that this student had no acquaintances to rely on in Hebei and had no political experience, but in times of national crisis, he could only send him off. After Xiong left, he spent "about ten days, feeling depressed and lost, sitting quietly in the room, reading English novels to calm himself down."

The only consolation for him was that he could help his student purchase some detonators, explosives, and other military supplies in the rear.

When reading this book, I learned that the TNT landmines that blew up Japanese locomotives were manufactured by the "Technical Research Society" where Xiong was located, not the homemade landmines we saw in the movie "Landmine Warfare" when we were young.

In 1939, as the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party deteriorated, Xiong Dazhen was suspected of being a Kuomintang spy and was secretly arrested. Without investigation or legal procedures, he was stoned to death while being escorted.

Nearly a hundred intellectuals who came from Pingjin to the Central Hebei region to participate in the resistance against Japan were implicated. After that, because they did not have the technological capability to produce ammunition, the soldiers in the Central Hebei region could only fight with empty guns, stuffing straw into their bullet bags.

June 23, 1947, he wrote in his diary, "Today is the traditional Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Every Dragon Boat Festival, I think of Dazhen. Nine years ago, he returned to Tianjin from the interior, which was a surprise. Who would have known what would happen later. In recent days, I have been reading 'Songs of the White Stone Taoist', and when I saw his 'Five Days of Sorrowful Heart', it added to my grief."

Eight

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the head of Tsinghua for a period of time, until 1951.

In 1968, at the age of seventy, he was arrested on suspicion of being a member of the "Kuomintang C.C. Special Operations Group."

He spent a year and a half in prison.

Huang Yanfu, who had read the records of his interrogations, said that all he said was, "I am a scientist, I am honest, I don't tell lies."

After that, he was isolated and investigated by the Red Guards.

He experienced auditory hallucinations and believed that there was a radio station monitoring him. "Every action he took had a reaction. When he took a sip of tea, the radio station would say it was not right. When he walked out, the radio station would tell him to go back immediately."

His nephew looked at him and "felt very sad" and said, "You are a physicist, you know that radio waves cannot penetrate walls, there is no such thing at all, it's an illusion."

He said, "No, it's because you are deaf and can't hear."

Afterwards, he was imprisoned again. When he came out, he was seriously ill, had urinary incontinence, and his legs were swollen and difficult to stand. His whole body was bent at a ninety-degree angle.

Nine

At that time, many people in the Zhongguancun area had seen him. He wore a pair of worn-out cotton shoes with split soles and sometimes went to a small stall, reaching out to the stall owner to ask for one or two small apples while walking and chewing.

If he encountered someone who looked like a student, he would reach out and say, "Do you have money to give me a few?"

He only asked for three to five yuan.

Later, he gradually regained some of his sanity. One day, Qian Sanqiang met him on the street in Zhongguancun. "As soon as he saw his teacher, he immediately went up to greet him and show his concern. As soon as the teacher saw him, he immediately said, 'You should leave me quickly, stay away from me when you see me in the future.'"

At that time, Qian Sanqiang was the deputy minister of the Second Ministry of Machine-Building Industry, responsible for the atomic bomb project.

His students understood his intentions. "He knew that such important work was most afraid of associating with people with political problems. He was afraid that Qian Sanqiang would suffer some misfortune because of this."

Ten

Two years later, Zhang Zhixiang, who was teaching at Peking University, found him in an apartment outside the campus while riding a bicycle.

Zhang Zhixiang said, "He didn't recognize me anymore. I said I am Zhang Zhixiang, and he said, 'Oh, come in and sit.' He sat on a wicker chair and showed me his legs, which were swollen severely and he couldn't walk. He didn't complain, he was very calm. But he no longer looked like a human being. I didn't have much to say, I said take care, and I left, and I never saw him again."

His nephew said that he never told anyone about his own misfortune. "His view seemed to be that there are many injustices in the world and in history, and there is no need to lament one's own life."

He often sat on an old wicker chair, reading classical poetry or history books to pass the time.

He passed away on January 13, 1977. When Qian Linzhao went to see him at the end of his life, he took out the "History of the Song Dynasty" and turned to a passage in Fan Ye's "Letter to Nephews in Prison": "I am crazy and rebellious, and it is no longer worth mentioning. You should all abandon me as a sinner... But my actions in my life are still in my heart, and they can still be found. As for whether they can or not, it is up to your interpretation, which you may not know."

Ten

I repeatedly read these few sentences of his, "I am crazy and rebellious, and it is no longer worth mentioning...".

Even until the 1980s, after he was rehabilitated, when Tsinghua wanted to create a statue for him, some people still said, "If you want to make a statue for this person, I will pee on it."

"But my actions in my life are still in my heart, and they can still be found..."

In 1929, in an article called "The Past, Present, and Future of the Chinese Scientific Community," he said, "Some people doubt whether the Chinese nation is suitable for scientific research. I think these arguments are unfounded. China has realized the importance of scientific research in recent times. We have not yet undergone a long period of experimentation, so we cannot say that we lack the ability to conduct scientific research. We can only hope that everyone will work together to do research and make a judgment after fifty years. You should know that a nation without natural science cannot stand firm in the modern world."

"As for whether they can or not, it is up to your interpretation, which you may not know..."

He looked at me so honestly and gently in this photo, without seeking understanding or asking questions, but such questions have since weighed heavily on people's hearts.

(Ha Lin and Qian Liexian reminded me that the research project on Planck's constant at Harvard should be in lowercase italics. I originally wrote it as H, but I have corrected it. Thank you. Another friend left a message saying that the first sentence of the "History of the Song Dynasty" should be "I am crazy and rebellious," but I made a typing error by writing "覆天" (covering the sky) instead. I have corrected it, sorry.)