A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Tang Guoan arranged an office and residence for Li Yu in Gongziting.

At least during the Republic of China, the accommodation conditions at Tsinghua University were far superior to those at Peking University, both for students and professors.

Many great masters from the Republic of China or great scholars who came to China for inspection from abroad, such as Rabindranath Tagore, would basically choose to live in Tsinghua Gongzi Hall.

At the request of Principal Tang Guoan, Li Yu took some classes in school during this time.

In fact, Tsinghua University has no shortage of teachers, and a considerable number of them are teachers from the United States.

In terms of teaching ability, Li Yu is not as good as Einstein, who gets stuck on the podium, but Li Yusheng has a cognitive level that is a hundred years ahead of his time, and can provide guidance from a high level and express some advanced views.

From an educational point of view, the impact on students is still great.

On the other hand, Xie Yuxi was also very helpful. After returning to the United States, he used the huge appeal of the Carnegie Foundation and Carnegie to bring back three more teachers: two female teachers and one male teacher.

The salaries of these teachers will be withdrawn directly from the Education Foundation and will not occupy Tsinghua's school funds.

Among the American teachers who came to Tsinghua in the early days, there have been more female teachers than male teachers for a long time.

In 1910, Tang Guoan selected suitable teachers from the United States through the "Interuniversity YMCA of the United States and Canada". After careful and meticulous selection, he formed a group of 17 American teachers: 9 women and 8 men. Includes a doctor and an athletic director

As for why there are more female teachers, it may be because Tsinghua University pays more, and the income of female teachers in the United States is far less than that of male teachers. It is better to go overseas.

It would also be good to have more female teachers, at least it would be useful for civilizing the country's morals - if there are no female teachers, how can we recruit female students?

Li Yu said gratefully: "In the past few years, you have traveled around China from east to west, north and south, busy with education. It is really hard."

She has been busy with several schools founded by the foundation, which can recruit thousands of students every year. She is already very good at doing this.

Xie Yuxi said: "My ideas have changed a lot in the past few years, and they are very different from the China I once had in my mind. The huge difference sometimes makes me very confused, and I can't even see hope. I just hope to be busy for a while. Forget the confusion.”

She has grown up more and more. A daughter of a top wealthy family who grew up in New York is really out of place in China at the beginning of the [-]th century.

Xie Yuxi took out another letter: "President Judson of the University of Chicago asked the foundation to bring you a letter."

Li Yu started reading, mainly asking about the situation at Harvard Chinese Medical School.

A few years ago, the University of Chicago also thought about setting up a "University of Chicago" branch in China, but the plan has never been able to move forward because the strength of the university alone is indeed too weak. The most critical thing is two words: funding.

Li Yu said: "Principal Judson can be asked to observe the situation of international students in the United States. As for running a school, he'd better contact Mr. Rockefeller."

Xie Yuxi said: "Mr. Rockefeller has already invested in education in the Far East. Seeing that our foundation has achieved such results, he is already ready to take action."

Li Yu said: "This is a good thing. If they have any questions, they can ask me. If an inspection team is sent, I will personally help receive it."

Xie Yuxi said: "I will convey your thoughts back."

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As a preparatory school for studying in the United States, Tsinghua’s curriculum is very different from other schools. Generally speaking, it can be divided into morning classes and afternoon classes.

Morning classes include English, mathematics, geography, history (Western history), biology, physics, chemistry, political science, sociology, psychology, civics, etc. All are taught in English using textbooks published in the United States.

Afternoon classes include Chinese language, history, geography, self-cultivation, history of philosophy, ethics, rhetoric, history of Chinese literature, etc. All are in Chinese and Chinese textbooks are used.

The purpose of this division is obviously to strengthen English teaching and give students more opportunities to be exposed to English.

Therefore, students at Tsinghua University generally have better English than other schools at this time.

Some of the teachers in the morning class are Americans and some are Chinese who can speak English.

The teachers in the afternoon class are some old gentlemen from China, most of whom have achieved fame in the former Qing Dynasty.

If you think about it for a moment, you will know that from the perspective of the school and the students, the focus is on the morning class.

This is reflected in all aspects, especially when graduating, the grades in the morning class need to be passing, while the grades in the afternoon are not considered at all.

This arrangement has caused most students to despise Chinese courses.

Frankly speaking, this was Tsinghua's biggest educational shortcoming in the early Republic of China.

But you can’t have your cake and eat it too. It’s understandable that it’s not easy to care about Chinese when you take English into account.

It's just that the school's differential treatment of Chinese teachers and foreign teachers sometimes easily causes students to have strange ideas.

The salary level of Chinese teachers is obviously lower than that of foreign teachers, and they live together in the relatively simple Guyuetang. Chinese teachers are obviously not respected.

This has an unusual impact on students' psychology: on the one hand, it will make students despise their own culture and worship outsiders; on the other hand, it will arouse resentment, because they just don't want to bow to foreigners.

There are quite a few students who have two ideas, and the second idea will slowly become more and more common - everything must be reversed when it reaches its extreme.

History has proven countless times that educated young people are the least easy to control.

Because no matter what, Tsinghua University still produced many masters of Chinese studies.

Li Yu's substitute class was naturally in the direction of mathematics, and mathematics was definitely the most important and everyone must learn it.

The content of Li Yu's lecture today was extreme, and the lecture notes were sent out one day in advance.

This is a school tradition. You must make adequate preparations before class, otherwise you will not be able to keep up.

Before Li Yu traveled through time, the pace of Tsinghua University was even more severe. There was a story that had been circulating before. When he was a sophomore in the Department of Electronics at Tsinghua University, there was a summer semester that lasted only two weeks.

On Monday morning of the first week, the students took a two-hour class in a classroom and learned the computer vhdl language (this language is rarely used, especially in China). Then after class, the teacher asked the students to program a CPU with a main frequency of 30M before Friday.

All the students went crazy because they had no idea what the teacher was talking about in the morning.

Later I learned that in the electronics department of other universities, this course takes one semester.

But the teachers at Tsinghua University made it very clear that if you can’t do it, you will fail.

So the students could only run to the library frantically to borrow books and go back to read them without eating or sleeping. I couldn't understand it on the first day, but I understood it a little bit on the second day. On the third day, I programmed a few simple programs during the day, and started formal programming at night. I programmed until 3 a.m. on Thursday. I programmed for one day and an all-nighter on Thursday, and on Friday at 8 a.m. pass the inspection.

——People are forced out!
  It seems that this has been the case since the founding of Tsinghua University, and it has been a century-old tradition.

Tsinghua did this from the beginning because elite universities in the United States also did this.

The extracurricular reading materials required by American universities are quite heavy, so Tsinghua University must prepare in advance to prevent students from being overwhelmed when they arrive in the United States.

At this time, the Tsinghua Library was not as grand as it would later be, and its collection of books was limited. If the teacher specified that a certain reference book must be read, students had to queue up early.

Of course Li Yu would not be as ruthless as that teacher. The students' level at this time was not that high, and the handouts Li Yu gave them were only at the level of high school mathematics.

After finishing the first English class in the morning, Jin Yuelin and Wu Mi then busily read Li Yu's lecture notes.

Wu Mi said: "Academician Li Yu's English calligraphy looks pretty good."

Jin Yuelin raised his head and said: "Brother Tuoman, how come you are still in the mood to appreciate English calligraphy? It seems that the focus is wrong."

Wu Mi said: "Don't call me Tuoman anymore, call me Wu Mi." Jin Yuelin said: "Isn't your real name Wu Tuoman? Why do you use an uncommon word?"

Wu Mi said firmly: "From now on, I will only use Wu Mi."

Jin Yuelin stuck out his tongue. After all, there are many strange people in Tsinghua University, so he was not surprised, so he said: "Okay then."

In fact, as early as two years ago, when he first arrived at Tsinghua University, Wu Mi named himself the character "Mi". It seemed that he casually pointed it out when he was flipping through the "Kangxi Dictionary".

It's so random.

Then last year during the Revolution of [-], Tsinghua University was on holiday, and Wu Mi went to Shanghai St. John's University to take temporary classes for half a year. As a result, when he was at St. John's University, he was ridiculed by his classmates, saying that he was a "country boy" from the north. His name "Wu Tuoman" was also maliciously translated into "confused man", and he wrote it while Wu Tuoman was out in class. on the blackboard.

As soon as Wu Mi entered the door, there was a burst of laughter in the classroom. He looked around inexplicably and discovered the reason. From then on, he decided to only use "Wu Mi" instead of "Wu Tuoman" in public places.

Wu Mi then said to Jin Yuelin: "Your Mandarin (Mandarin) is still not good enough."

Jin Yuelin is from Hunan, and he quickly said eloquently: "What's wrong?"

Wu Mi said: "Those Fujian classmates are almost catching up with you in Mandarin."

Jin Yuelin was shocked: "I will practice for an extra quarter of an hour every day from now on."

Tsinghua students come from all provinces, and the enrollment ratio has always been based on the ratio of Geng Geng compensation.

Dialects from all provinces can be heard in the school. Throughout the Republic of China, no students from any other school had a more complex origin than Tsinghua University.

Because of this, Tsinghua attaches great importance to Mandarin.

Wu Mi said, "I'm afraid a quarter of an hour is not enough."

"Please forgive me," Jin Yuelin almost froze, then pointed at the door and said, "The big test is here."

The one who entered the school was Hou Debang. He just entered the school last year and shocked the whole school with perfect scores in all 10 subjects and a total score of 1000.

Looking at the entire Tsinghua University, it is invincible.

Hou Debang happened to be sitting next to them, and Jin Yuelin asked: "Brother Hou, why do you come here to class?"

The results in the Hou Deban were so good that I was directly assigned to the advanced class and can study in the United States next year.

Jin Yuelin is also good, but about two levels lower than Hou Debang.

Wu Mi's grades were worse than the two of them.

Hou Debang said: "Academician Li Yu comes to Tsinghua University to give lectures, and I will definitely come and listen."

Wu Mi asked: "Why don't you bring any handouts?"

Hou Debang pointed to his head: "They are all here already."

"Alas!" Wu Mi said desperately, "How did you do it? Can you figure out the patterns in these messy numbers?"

"It's very simple," Hou Debang shrugged, "and Academician Li Yu's lecture notes are so organized, you can't understand it, right?"

Wu Mi blushed, and then said: "When I was in elementary school, I couldn't understand a chicken and a rabbit in the same cage, let alone the limit of a sequence."

Hou Debang said: "As long as you make a few more turns in your mind, mathematics is not difficult. After all, it is just elementary mathematics knowledge."

"Elementary level?" Wu Mi asked in surprise, "What about advanced level?"

Hou Debang said: "When you buy a copy of Mr. Li Yu's game theory, be sure to buy the latest version, which was supplemented by Academician Lyapunov of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Then you will know what advanced mathematics is."

Wu Mi shook his head and said: "Forget it, I will never be able to read in my life! I just want to understand Academician Li Yu's lecture notes and pass the exam."

Hou Debang asked in surprise: "Your math is so bad? There was a monthly math test before classes were suspended last year. What score did you get?"

"I just passed," Wu Mi said, and then asked, "Where are you?"

As soon as he said it, he realized that he had asked too much. With his level of ranking first in the Houde Ranking test, he must have scored full marks again.

However, Hou Debang had no intention of showing off. He just said casually: "The question is simple and the answer is pretty good."

This sentence "the topic is simple" was already uncomfortable enough in Wu Mi's ears.

Jin Yuelin's mathematics is better than Wu Mi, but not up to the level of Hou Debang. He envied and said: "It would be great if I also had such good mathematics ability."

At this time, Li Yu had already entered the classroom and found that the audience was full, and there were still people standing in the last row.

At the same time, there was actually an American female teacher teaching mathematics in another classroom, but everyone slipped over to Li Yu's side.

Fortunately, the female teacher was more accommodating. After hearing that it was Li Yu, she directly announced that the whole class would come to listen.

The course itself was not particularly difficult, but Li Yu knew that these students would not all take the route of mathematics and physics research in the future, so he still paid more attention to the fun.

In the past few years, Li Yu has developed a bit of his own style. Even if his teaching skills are not very good, he can always tell something cutting-edge and easy to understand. Everyone falls in love with his class or listens to his lectures. .

For example, Li Yu talked about the expansion of limits today, letting students know that small limits lead to the great calculus and laid the foundation of modern mathematics; at the same time, they also imply a terrible mathematical crisis. The great god Newton even shook his head three times. shake. And the limit is far beyond the things in middle school. In the future, it will become more profound when it comes to advanced mathematics.

Finally, Li Yu came up with a few homework questions, most of which were done during the college entrance examination in the past. It was perfect for them to do it now.

After class, Wu Mi looked sad.

Jin Yuelin asked: "What's wrong with you?"

Wu Mi said bitterly: "I can't understand the rest at all, what should I do with my homework?"

Jin Yuelin said: "Didn't you listen with interest just now?"

Wu Mi said: "It doesn't mean I understand."

Hou Debang on the side encouraged him: "It's better to ask Academician Li Yu for advice."

Wu Mi said: "Isn't it good?"

"What are you afraid of?" Hou Debang said. "There is no shop like this in this village. Academician Li Yu doesn't give lectures in the school every day."

Jin Yuelin said: "I agree. After listening to this class, I always feel that I am good at mathematics again!"

Several people immediately decided to go to Li Yu's office together.

After arriving at the place, they found another classmate who had the same idea as them and followed them.

Hou Debang said: "Fanglan, you are here too."

Dai Fanglan was admitted to Tsinghua University in the same class as them. Mr. Dai later became the founder of mycology in my country.

Dai Fanglan smiled and said: "Such a good opportunity cannot be missed."