Literary Master 1983

Chapter 379 Aftermath
These people are Wang Lijia from the Chinese Department, Jiang Shaoyu from the Ancient Chinese Language Teaching and Research Section, and Zhu Dexi from the Graduate School.

They were all professors from Yenching University, and Yu Qie's colleagues.

The formulation of the national college entrance examination questions has never been a mystery, and the location has always been Beijing. The Chinese language exam is particularly unmysterious, mainly handled by a few senior professors from Yenching University. Among them, Wang Lijia was in charge of modern text reading, Jiang Shaoyu was in charge of classical Chinese reading, and Zhu Dexi was the chief person in charge of the Chinese language exam, with the final review authority.

For several years, Zhu Dexi set the essay topics.

To prevent cheating within the Yenching University group, four middle school teachers and two professors from Yenching Normal University were added to the question-setting team.

However, how could a high school teacher possibly influence a Yenching University professor?
These few people from Yenching University had the final say on the exam papers, plus two reading comprehension passages, two essays, and even some grammar questions.

Therefore, it can be said that the Chinese language exam papers were Yenching University's private domain. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Yenching University students, represented by Zhu Dexi, dominated the aesthetic appreciation of Chinese language among college entrance examination candidates nationwide.

Zhu Dexi asked, "Teacher Yu, what year did you take the college entrance examination?"

"I was born in 1983, but I took the exam twice before that."

The other two immediately laughed: "Professor Zhu Dexi set the questions for those two essays of yours. If we had known we would live to see you become our colleague, Professor Zhu would definitely not have set such easy essay questions. He would have made them much more difficult."

Now that you mention it, Yu Qie vaguely senses that the difficulty of the college entrance examination in Chinese language increased throughout the 1980s, especially in the essay section.

The essay topic in 83 was "Finding Water," a picture-based writing exercise; in 82 it was Fan Zhongyan's "Be the first to worry about the world's troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures"; and in 81 it was simply a reading response! Each one was simpler than the last.

This is viewed from the opposite perspective; the reverse is not true. By Zhang Li's year, these were real social cases, and there was no longer a standard writing direction.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Yu Qie couldn't help but ask, "Why did you choose the Yenching University student cafeteria as the essay topic?"

Zhu Dexi said, "Because we knew it was you who did it. We are human too, and the information we receive is limited. The question-setting team was established in April and started setting questions. It just so happened that you won the Cervantes Prize, so we naturally thought of what you did in the cafeteria."

"Even our prestigious Yenching University couldn't handle this matter perfectly and satisfy everyone... so it's perfect to use it as a test question! It is indeed a bit beyond the syllabus, but it's worth it."

Yu Qie wasn't surprised that these professors knew he had donated money.

Because the anonymity of donations only applies to those outside the school; those inside the school are definitely aware of it.

What puzzled him was why he was given such an honor—his personal story being featured in a college entrance examination essay was certainly an honor.

Zhu Dexi and the other two exchanged a smile and said, "You'll understand when you work at the academy for a while longer."

Yu Qie is not the kind of person who can wait.
Zhu Dexi wouldn't tell him, so he asked Principal Ding Lei, who was convening the conference.

As a result, Ding Lei and Sun Yi knew nothing when asked.

Yu Qie then had to ask Hu Daiguang, who happened to know: "Oh, why is the School of Literature so eager to recruit you? It's because of your enormous influence. Actually, the literary talent of our generation at Yenching University isn't that strong."

Hu Daiguang gradually revealed the inside story:
Currently, there are two major schools of thought in the academic system of Chinese language studies: the Yenching University system and the Beijing Normal University system. Yenching University dominates university textbooks, while Beijing Normal University dominates primary and secondary school textbooks.

The college entrance examination is precisely the dividing line, and currently it is dominated by Yenching University.

So for a long time, a strange phenomenon occurred: test takers used the standard answers from high school Chinese textbooks to answer the college entrance examination Chinese paper, but they didn't necessarily get full marks. Why? Because they were using the answers from Beijing Normal University.

Yenching University has its own answer.

In most cases, such "mistakes" only amount to a few points and are not a big deal, especially since test takers in this era are almost never able to check their exam papers or even know if they have been replaced. If you happen to encounter this, you can only accept your bad luck.

Yenching University is currently facing a rather awkward situation: while they excel in Chinese language research, they lag behind in literature research, falling behind even Beijing Normal University.

If this continues, once Zhu Dexi and his group are gone, Yenching University will no longer be able to control the direction of the college entrance examination in Chinese.

Yu Qie directly transformed Yanda from a crippled institution into one with both wings soaring.

Who are many literary studies currently studying?

It's just a piece of leftover cut.

His arrival itself became a huge deterrent, so he was rewarded by his colleagues.

What the hell!

There are so many details to a single question.

Yu Qie thought he hadn't leaked any questions to Zhang Li and had done everything fairly, but it turned out to be a complete blunder. Zhu Dexi from the question-setting team used Yu Qie's story to set the questions. And Yu Qie didn't even know Zhu Dexi before!

This has really put me in a terrible situation! Why did they have to drape the yellow robe over me?
Fortunately, it wasn't publicized at the time, otherwise it would have been a minor stain on the record.

This meeting at Yenching University was to inform all faculty members. Last August, Ding Leisun gave a report entitled "Aiming at World-Class Standards and Accelerating Yenching University's Progress," in which he first proposed developing Yenching University into a world-class institution.

Yenching University needs to catch up with international universities in many disciplines, which requires frequent international exchanges. The central government allocated a large sum of money to Yenching University, but Ding Lei and Sun have never dared to misappropriate it.

"Our current level is still far behind that of developed countries. The fastest way to catch up with them is to learn from them. Moreover, I feel that this honeymoon period may not last long, and we must seize every minute to carry out exchanges."

"Yu Qie!" Ding Lei called out Yu Qie's name.

“I see that a group of European mathematicians have visited Yenching University! You were the one who facilitated this! This is a great move! In the past, when our researchers went abroad, it was mainly a one-way visit, but now it’s time to invite others to come over.”

A teacher in the audience asked, "What if I call someone and they don't come?"

"Then you'd better use your personal charm!"

Everyone couldn't help but laugh.

During this period, foreign professors going to Yenching University in China was like going to Cairo University in Egypt; the two were ranked similarly internationally.

Aside from those who are already interested in Egypt and China, how many people would actually make a special trip to visit?

Ding Lei and Sun Ran could obviously see what everyone was laughing at, and said with a rather earnest tone:

"Professors also have their own personal feelings and can make their own decisions to a certain extent. If this honeymoon period doesn't end in the future, they can still maintain a small channel of contact through personal relationships." This, of course, makes things even more difficult.

It's like making a foreign professor take the blame for you, but that foreign professor also has to obey the overall situation.

That requires a bond so strong it's like risking one's life for someone.

The meeting was a nightmare!
After that, Yu Qie held three meetings, from the beginning to the middle of August. Kakutani Shizuo left China, and two Japanese mathematicians, Kodaira Kunihiko and Mori Shigefumi, came to China for a visit.

Both men were quite honest and showed no signs of being associated with militarism, so they received a warm welcome from Yu Qie.

Although he hadn't been to Japan for several years, Yu Qie's reputation there was growing stronger. He was considered the foremost writer of his generation in Asia, and a man of many talents. The Japanese manga "City Hunter" even referenced Yu Qie's life story.

Manga artist Tsukasa Hojo originally created a character who was almost perfect except for his lechery. This character was a chivalrous thief, an expert archer, trained as a spy, dashing, multilingual, and possessed amazing driving skills, owning several modified luxury sports cars... It was clearly inspired by the British "007" James Bond.

City Hunter began serialization in Japan in 85, the same year Yokiri went to Japan. This manga has always been very popular, but it has never reached the pinnacle of shonen action manga.

To address this lack of energy, Hojo Tsukasa went to the United States to gather information.

Last September, Hojo Tsukasa unexpectedly learned of Yogi's news in Columbia, which subsequently caused a sensation throughout North America and left the Japanese stunned. This was the first time such a story had occurred in reality.

Tsukasa Hojo immediately changed the Chinese pseudonym of the male protagonist, Ryo Saeba, from "Meng Bo" to "Yu Bo". Moreover, although Yu Bo owns countless luxury cars, he suddenly has a particular fondness for Yamaha motorcycles. In response to the male protagonist's lecherous nature, Tsukasa Hojo also gradually modified his character design, making him amorous but not lecherous. Yu Bo loves writing love poems, enjoys using a revolver, and always composes a poem or leaves behind extremely ornate and pretentious language after robbing the rich to help the poor.

For example: Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

When I love you, the pine trees in the wind will sing your name with their silken leaves.

I am a barren land, and you are my last rose.

—Most of these are excerpts from Neruda's poetry collection. Furthermore, Yu Bo also calls himself an economist, believing that Japan will collapse sooner or later. Since Japan has not yet collapsed, Yu Bo's "economist identity" has become a source of amusement, like the one thing a great person might not have predicted correctly in their lifetime.

As is widely known, the most famous person in the world who advocated the "collapse of Japan" theory is Yu Qie.

This targeted attempt to capitalize on the hype led to a sales explosion for "City Hunter," which finally topped the list of shonen manga, and Yu Qie also gained widespread popularity.

Currently, the country with the most rebroadcasts of the documentary "East Wind Prevails West Wind" is not China, but Japan.

Many Japanese people adore the way Yogi bosses around the white employees at Harper's Press.

“Mr. Yu, I know you oppose militarism, and I agree with you!” Kunihiko Kodaira knew that Yu Qie liked to investigate one’s family background, so he took the initiative to state his own: “How could I have such thoughts? I will always hate those warmongers!”

“When I was young, my family was well-off and we lived in a villa area in Kamakura. I had a friend named Tsumori Genta, who applied to be a candidate officer after graduating from Keio University, but he died in the war soon after. His house was also bombed to pieces! My major in mathematics was useless. Like many liberal arts majors, I was almost sent to be a kamikaze pilot. If I hadn’t earned a doctorate and been spared, I probably would have died on the spot!”

Mori Shigefumi was only about ten years older than Yokichi and belonged to the postwar generation. He had not experienced the horrors of war, so he did not have much reflection, but he still believed that "Japan's war was completely unnecessary. They killed each other and gained nothing. The civilians were constantly deceived and fooled."

Yu Qie realized that this might be the truth behind the anti-war sentiment among many Japanese people in the 1980s.

Because they no longer need war, yet they have achieved far greater economic success than during the war.

When the premise of this economic achievement no longer exists, the reflection on war will gradually disappear, because that is human nature, even for mathematicians.

Although Mori Shigefumi was younger, his background did not completely pass Yu Qie's test. Therefore, Yu Qie had a much better relationship with the old man, Kodaira Kunihiko. After learning that Kodaira Kunihiko was Yang Zhenning's junior, he obviously lowered his guard against Kodaira Kunihiko.

Mathematics and physics have something in common.

Yang Zhenning and Kunihiko Kodaira started working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in the same year. They were both appreciated by Hermann Weyl, who was also an expert in physics and mathematics, and were given ample resources, which enabled them to stand out early on.

Yu Qie even invited Kunihiko Kodaira to his home as a guest.

Then, I asked him about one of my recent troubles: “I thought I was pure as a writer, at least in terms of my teaching profession, but that’s not the case at all. My very existence benefits some people… but they don’t have any bad intentions and are always looking out for me.”

Kunihiko Kodaira was very opinionated and realistic. His solution was to actively integrate himself and create an atmosphere that was more favorable to him.

For example, Kunihiko Kodaira is now a leading figure in the Japanese mathematics community. After a long career in teaching, most people acknowledge him as their student or grand-student.

"I have another question..." Yu Qie brought up the topic of the university's international exchanges. "There will definitely be a period in the future when our relationship is not as close as it is today. Without official advocacy, how will we continue to exchange ideas and develop our relationship?"

“This is not a problem!” Kunihiko Kodaira said. “Even in the most closed era, Yang Zhenning was still able to recommend any Chinese scholar to Princeton University for a visit, and he could also assign research institutions to provide sponsorship in this regard. In the decades that I have witnessed, research institutions have maintained a relatively independent status.”

"In other words, as long as you can achieve the same status as Mr. Yang in the physics community, you can ignore the external turmoil."

Yu Qie said, "Isn't this asking me to be the best writer?"

"Yes! To paraphrase what you said to Márquez in Colombia that year, the simplest things are also the most difficult."

A few days later, after learning about the conversation between Kunihiko Kodaira and Yokiri, Shigefumi Mori suddenly said, "The aftermath of City Hunter also said this!" So that's where the source is.

It seems that the City Hunter manga is indeed very popular in Japan.

Like James Watson, Kunihiko Kodaira also wrote an autobiography and earned a living from writing articles later in his career. He is currently the most accomplished mathematician in Asia, having almost entirely and independently pioneered complex algebraic geometry.

During his visit to China, he brought his autobiography, "I Only Know Arithmetic," and hoped that Yu Qie could help him translate and publish it.

This was a transaction of learning on the spot. Yu helped Kunihiko Kodaira publish his book in Chinese and supported him, while Kodaira strongly encouraged the University of Tokyo, where he worked, to establish more academic programs for visiting China.

During the translation process, Yu Qie discovered that Kunihiko Kodaira's autobiography was much better than Watson's "Double Helix".

Kunihiko Kodaira is undoubtedly a genius, yet in his books, he describes himself as a lazybones, habitually lazy, and a chronic procrastinator… giving his novels the qualities of inspirational stories, without any obscure or difficult-to-understand elements.

It's easy to imagine this book appearing on the reading lists of engineering-minded young people with a love for literature and art.

Zhang Li helped Yu Qie organize his manuscripts and gradually finished reading the autobiography. She admired Kunihiko Kodaira in the book and asked Yu Qie, "You asked him so many questions, why didn't you ask about rural education?"

"Because Watson isn't Kunihiko Kodaira, there's no academic deal here... Watson genuinely believes Chinese children deserve an education, even though his logic is completely flawed and his heart is malicious, he'll still get things done!"

(End of this chapter)