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

Chapter 660 National Scholar
During the Republic of China, there was a popular saying in the Peking University circles: "Peking University is old, Normal University is poor, Tsinghua and Yanjing are accommodating."

Among them, "Beida Lao" means that the students of Peking University are relatively older, there are many old scholars, and many of them were married when they were in school.

"Normal University is poor" does not mean that Beijing Normal University has no money, but that most of the students at Beijing Normal University are from poor families.

Other universities generally charge at least 160 to oceans per year in tuition fees. Yenching University is much higher, oceans per year.

Beijing Normal University not only charges no tuition fees, but also provides free accommodation, making it the first choice for students from poor families.

The last sentence "Tsinghua and Yanjing can be accommodating" means that most students from Tsinghua and Yanjing have superior backgrounds.

So...this proverb seems to be a standard for women to choose a mate?
If you ask why there is no famous Union Medical College? ——Maybe because they are too busy.

Medical school is notoriously stressful. If you have nothing to do and go to a medical school on the weekend, you will obviously feel that it is different from a comprehensive university: the campus is extremely deserted and there are not many people to see. Those who didn't know thought they were on vacation, but after looking around they found out they were all in the study room.

Since the establishment of the Union Medical College, academic pressure has been great. After all, the profession of doctor is too special, and it is a tug-of-war with the Lord of Hell.

As mentioned before, the hardware facilities of Union Medical College are excellent. It is said to be second in the country, but it seems that no one dares to admit that it is first, even if it is better than Tsinghua and Yanjing.

Tuition fees at Union Medical College are naturally the highest. If you don’t get a scholarship, one year’s tuition and living expenses will cost 400 yuan! Also the best in the country.

There are very few students in Xiehe University. It only recruits 25 students a year, and it is not possible for them all to graduate.

However, Concordia has an advantage over Tsinghua University and Yanjing University, which are also funded by the United States: it is sponsored by pure personal capital, that is, the Rockefeller Foundation, and is not subject to so many jurisdictions, so it has greater autonomy.

Everything about it is in full compliance with the requirements of the top medical schools in the United States, and its teaching and student standards are not inferior to those of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Hu Hengde, president of Union Medical College, and Gu Lin, representative of the Lowe Foundation, came to pick up Li Yu in a car.

Li Yu smiled and said: "This is very close to Dongchang Hutong where I live, so there is no need to be so polite."

Hu Hengde said: "This can represent our respect for you. Chinese people pay attention to courtesy."

At this time, the construction of the campus had been completed. What was surprising was that Li Yu saw an ambulance. He wondered if it was the first ambulance in Beijing. There are also several cars specially used for doctors to make visits.

In an era when cars were scarce, the school also had several trucks dedicated to transporting garbage.

But Li Yu is not very envious. His Datong University hardware is not bad at all.

"After graduating from Union Medical College, will my degree be recognized by the United States?" Li Yu asked.

Gu Lin said: "Students who graduate from the eight-year program of Union Medical College can also obtain a doctorate in medicine from the State University of New York."

In other words, after graduating from Union Medical College, you will directly become a doctor of medicine in the United States. Doctors are very rare in future generations, let alone this time.

Lu Bicheng asked: "Are there also female students?"

Gu Lin said: "Of course, he is, and he is a very good student. He will definitely be a skilled doctor in the future."

"I heard that you only recruit more than 20 students every year, and the investment is so large. Why don't you recruit more?" Lu Bicheng asked, "Because China is short of medical staff."

Gu Lin sighed: "I have been in your country for many years and have inspected almost half of the hundreds of hospitals in China. I talked with Professor Wu Liande of the Chinese Medical Association. Based on the current population of 450 million in China, if every 10,000 people want to Even if all medical schools in China expand their enrollment, it will take decades to achieve this goal. "

Until Li Yu traveled through time, the number of doctors per 3 people in the country was almost three, which was close to the level in the United States.

Li Yu understood Gu Lin's thoughts and said, "Mr. Gu means that if you want to solve the medical problems of the poor people, you need to solve the problem of guidance from the top first?"

"Yes," Gu Lin said, "In the future, your country will definitely establish grassroots health organizations to carry out extensive public health work in cities and rural areas. And the mission of our medical school is to train high-quality talents to lead and guide these efforts. Therefore, we only focus on quality, not quantity. If there are unqualified students, we will eliminate them without hesitation.”

There is some truth in what he said, but the words "grassroots health organization" are extremely difficult to achieve.

Principal Hu Hengde said: "All the students recruited this year will be enrolled in the preparatory class and undergo three years of basic study to lay a foundation in physics, chemistry and biology. I think this link alone will eliminate some people."

Lu Bicheng exclaimed: "So strict? I know that physics and chemistry subjects are very difficult."

Gu Lin said: "There is no way. They are all basic courses and common requirements for entering medical school."

Students from famous medical schools in Europe and the United States must themselves be graduates of university science schools. In other words, medical school starts with graduate school.

In later generations, some European and American medical schools still had similar traditions. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine did not recruit undergraduate students.

The first three years of Union Medical College were actually very similar to Tsinghua University. The courses offered were Chinese, English, mathematics, physics, biology, sociology, etc.

The learning pressure at this stage is not much different between the two. During the preparatory period, students of Union Medical College must complete 192 hours of language study in Chinese and English; 96 hours of mathematics, 384 hours of biology, 384 hours of physics, and 544 hours of chemistry. The study of basic natural sciences; the study of social sciences such as economics and sociology; and the elective course of French or German as a second foreign language.

As for the textbooks and reference books used, they must all be original English versions, and the teachers will all teach in English because the teachers are all transferred from the United States.

The teachers hired by Xiehe are very well paid, at least 7,000 to 8,000 yuan per year.

By comparison, the salary of regular professors at Peking University is very high, which amounts to about three to four thousand yuan a year, which is far more than civilians and even senior staff, but it is only half of that of American teachers at Concorde.

The academic system of Union Medical College is the same as that of American universities, with three semesters in one academic year. Union Medical College stipulates that during the preparatory period, the academic system of Union Medical College is the same as that of American universities. An academic year is divided into 3 semesters. The first semester is from September to mid-December; the second semester is from January to March, followed by a short winter vacation; the third semester is from April to June, and there is a three-month summer vacation after the academic year exams. Most of Xiehe’s foreign teachers go home to visit relatives during the summer vacation.

Although school started two years earlier than in history, Li Yu still saw Lin Qiaozhi among the students. She had just graduated from Xiamen Women's Normal School in Gulangyu Island.

There were not many students in Xiehe, and the opening ceremony was held quickly.

Then he greeted a group of people from Xiangtan Medical School who came from Changsha, including Yan Fuqing, the president of Xiangya Medical School, and several students.

"President Hu, President Gu, congratulations!" Yan Fuqing cupped his hands and said, "Ah, and Academician Li Yu!"

Hu Hengde said: "Thanks to Principal Yan for coming all the way to guide us."

Yan Fuqing smiled and said: "How can I dare to guide you? You are just saying that you want to be the best medical school in China." Hu Hengde said: "Xiangya is not weak either."

Yan Fuqing looked at the magnificent building in front of him and sighed: "Mobil Company is really rich! How much money does this cost!"

Li Yu asked: "Is it troublesome for Principal Yan to come from Changsha? In recent years, Hunan has been the front line of the battle between the Beiyang government and the Guangzhou military government."

Yan Fuqing said: "That's it. Wu Peifu is not working hard now. He hasn't fought in a long time. Even if he fights, I think it is just a blank gun."

Those of us in the medical school can tell the intensity of the battle from the number of wounded.

The warlord wars during the Beiyang Government period were generally like this, with few serious actions.

However, at this time, the Zhili clique was about to completely break up with the Anhui clique. When Feng Guozhang died, Wu Peifu, the general of the Zhili clique, would not show mercy to the Anhui clique.

Li Yu said: "Pay more attention to safety."

"Thank you, Mr. Academician, for your concern," Yan Fuqing said, and then introduced his beloved disciple to him, "When I go north, Feifan must follow me."

Tang Feifan said: "I am Tang Feifan. I have admired the name of Mr. Academician for a long time, so I came here to ask for advice in person."

"So you are Tang Feifan." Li Yu thought to himself.

In the history of modern medicine in China, Tang Feifan is an absolute national scholar. He discovered Chlamydia trachomatis. He also made outstanding contributions to China's vaccine work and prevention and control of infectious diseases.

The discovery of this new microbial form, chlamydia, was enough for him to win a Nobel Prize.

(Chlamydia is neither a virus nor a bacterium, but something in between.)
"Asking for advice is out of the question, after all, I don't understand medicine." Li Yu said.

Tang Feifan said: "I have read the paper you instructed Bingzhi and Wu Jun to write on the discovery of bacteriophages, and I was enlightened!"

Li Yu smiled and said: "I can't help, they have to work hard on their own."

Tang Feifan said: "Mr. Bingzhi said more than once during his lectures that the first contribution should be recorded on you."

"It sounds like you are ready to study microbiology?" Li Yu asked.

Tang Feifan said: "That's right! Although I obtained a doctorate in medicine, I have decided that I can't just be a doctor."

The number of teachers at Xiangya is much smaller than that at Xiehe University, but the teachers are all doctors of medicine. Moreover, Xiangya's requirements are also very strict. It implements the "last elimination system". There are only 10 graduates in the first batch, all of whom received "Doctor of Medicine" degrees, including Tang Feifan. Moreover, Americans also recognize Xiangya’s medical doctorate.

Li Yu asked: "How do you say this?"

Tang Feifan said: "As a doctor, how many patients can you cure in a lifetime? If you invent a preventive method, you can prevent hundreds of millions of people from getting sick!"

"That's very well said," Li Yu praised, "I don't understand medicine, but I generally know that microbiology will definitely be the general direction of future medicine."

Tang Feifan said: "I plan to continue to study microorganisms in the United States after graduation. Shibasaburo Kitasato of Japan is called the 'Koch of the East' because of his research on serum, and I want to be the Pasteur of the East."

"I think you will definitely succeed," Li Yu said. "In fact, I have invested in building a laboratory a long time ago, but there are too few scientific researchers now. I hope you can study and return home soon."

Tang Feifan suddenly said: "I want to get married in advance, otherwise I won't have the money to study abroad."

Li Yule said: "You have very beautiful ideas in your head. You also want to find a wife, and you also want to make some money from your father-in-law's family."

Tang Feifan's father-in-law was named He Jian. He later became a second-level army general of the Kuomintang. However, this guy later did many counter-revolutionary things.

Tang Feifan said: "Otherwise, my mother won't let me leave."

According to history, Tang Feifan delayed going to the United States until 1925. Li Yu's purpose was to enable these people to go to the United States as soon as possible...

"When you complete your marriage, I will help you contact Harvard professors and let you do a graduate degree in microbiology. The president of Harvard must give me this face." Li Yu said.

Tang Feifan expressed gratitude: "The students will definitely live up to Mr. Academician's arrangements."

"It's all small things," Li Yu said easily, "I always have some ideas about microorganisms in my mind. When you return to China, maybe we can discuss something."

Tang Feifan said: "It is said that Academician Li Yu has extraordinary scientific attainments and sharp vision. I have great confidence in you."

Li Yu smiled slightly: "It should be said that I have confidence in you."

Tang Feifan was a very patriotic person. After completing his studies at Harvard, Harvard wanted to keep him, but Tang Feifan insisted on returning to China. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he followed Yan Fuqing's request and took charge of epidemic prevention work.

After the miracle drug penicillin began to meet the conditions for large-scale mass production in 1942, it was Tang Feifan who completed the domestic production of penicillin.

The United States kept this technology strictly confidential at the time. The price of a box of penicillin on the Chinese battlefield was almost equivalent to a gold bar, so Tang Feifan decided to develop it himself. It happened that Needham was also in Kunming at the time. Through him, he contacted the Red Cross and received financial support, which enabled Tang Feifan to complete the production of penicillin under extremely difficult conditions.

What's even more commendable is that Tang Feifan didn't want to make money from this at all. He provided penicillin to soldiers who were bleeding on the battlefield. Each bottle sold for only one yuan, which was many times lower than imported products.

After that, Tang Feifan was like cheating and developed a large number of vaccines.

After the defeat of the Kuomintang, Tang Feifan resolutely chose the latter between going to Harvard and staying in mainland China. It is said that the ticket was placed in front of him at that time. After Tang Feifan thought for a long time, he thought: "Leaving my own country to live with others will make me mentally unhappy!"

His wife firmly supported his decision.

Since then, there has been a legendary story of Tang Feifan’s discovery of Chlamydia trachomatis. His contribution to domestic epidemic prevention should not be too great. Just pick one: smallpox disappeared in China in 1961, and Tang Feifan was indispensable.

The absolute "Father of Chinese Vaccine"!
What Li Yu thought was that many things could help him advance a little earlier, such as the domestic production of penicillin, which Tang Feifan completed in the autumn of 1944. If it had been a few years earlier, tens of thousands more injured soldiers and civilians could have been saved.

At least keep the same progress as the old Americans.