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

Chapter 688: Contention
Li Yu and Li Siguang organized a lecture on earthquake magnitude at the Geological Society in Beijing, with Li Siguang as the main speaker.

In response to this, many foreign geologists came to China to participate for the first time, including the Royal Geographical Society of the United Kingdom.

Everyone wants to know the cause of earthquakes, but it is obviously a long process.

At the meeting, Li Yu met two British people, Mallory and Owen.

"Excellent conclusion," Mallory praised.

Li Yu said: "In the future, Mr. Li Siguang will also give a speech at the Royal Geographical Society in the UK."

"I'm looking forward to it!" Mallory said. "I wonder if I can catch it when I return to England from Everest."

"You want to climb Mount Everest?" Li Yu asked in surprise.

Mallory said, "Yes, this is our third attempt."

Li Yu remembered that the Mallory in front of him were the two famous Mount Everest explorers in the 20s.

When Mallory passed through the United States a few months ago, he also said a wise saying in the mountaineering world.

At that time, the reporter asked him: "Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?"

Mallory gave the legendary answer: "Because it's there."

Li Yu said: "You are in China now, do you want to climb from the north slope in China?"

Mallory nodded and said, "We naturally want to climb the relatively simple south slope, but it is in Nepal. Nepal has rejected any climbing applications for some reason. We can only choose the north slope."

"Why not wait until next year?" Li Yu said.

Mallory shook his head. "This is my last chance to try to reach the summit of the world's third pole. I don't have time."

The so-called three poles of the earth are the South Pole, the North Pole and Mount Everest.

The South Pole and the North Pole have already been visited by humans, leaving only the highest geographical peak, Mount Everest.

Li Yu said: "Although the hymn of mankind is the hymn of courage, under the current conditions, Mount Everest is out of reach. Because from a geographical point of view, the low pressure, lack of oxygen and high cold at high altitudes are all fatal, and there is no such good oxygen supply equipment and cold-resistant clothing."

What Li Yu said were all real objective factors. Down jackets had not yet been invented, so it was really difficult to keep warm; the most critical thing was that the oxygen supply equipment could not be maintained for that long.

In the 1920s, climbing Mount Everest was definitely more difficult than reaching Antarctica.

Mallory was determined: "Everest means goddess in Tibetan. This goddess has been haunting me for so many years. If I don't try again, I will regret it for the rest of my life. And climbing to the Third Pole will once again prove to the world the greatness of mankind."

"Actually... sometimes there's no need to be burdened by fame." Li Yu wanted to give some advice.

"I don't know why," Mallory said, "but it's my lifelong dream."

Li Yu could only say: "Take care!"

Mallory's attempt this year failed again. His body was later found, but it could not be transported down and remained on Mount Everest forever.

When his belongings were examined, they found that the photo of his wife that he always carried with him was missing. Mallory had said that if he climbed Everest, he would place the photo of his wife there.

Unfortunately, the body of another team member, Owen, was not found, but he had photographic equipment with him.

-

In the following days, Li Siguang continued to improve his theoretical model, and after personally improving an American-made seismograph, he prepared to go to Peking University to continue his lectures.

Li Yu naturally followed.

At this time, news came back from abroad that Tang Feifan, Banting and Macleod of Canada had won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that year.

Naturally, it was another time for the whole country to celebrate.

Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief. He finally won the first Nobel Prize other than himself.

Historically, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology that year were only Banting and Macleod. Li Yu's intervention allowed Tang Feifan to get on board.

After receiving the award, Tang Feifan wanted to return to China immediately and enter Union Medical College Hospital or Xiangya Hospital, but Li Yu sent him a telegram, asking him to stay in the United States for a few more years, preferably to obtain an American medical doctorate degree.

Anyway, with such a big award, no American university would reject him.

Tang Feifan knew very well that half of his credit was due to Li Yu, and he respected his opinion very much. So, according to Li Yu's suggestion, he chose to stay in the United States for further studies temporarily, and then return to China after three or four years, after obtaining a doctorate degree and even the status of academician.

Li Yu has already obtained the rights to produce insulin and opened a laboratory in Shanghai, with the position of director reserved for him.

Now that the battle is over, Li Yu even has the idea of ​​using penicillin again.

However, we need to be cautious about this matter. It would be safer if the laboratory could be moved directly to a place like Kunming in the future.

-

During his stay at Peking University, Wang Guowei even came to thank Li Yu: "Thanks to you for preserving a batch of ancient books!"

"What ancient book?" Li Yu wondered.

Wang Guowei explained: "The emperor was deceived by the villain and wanted to give the priceless Song Dynasty books and paintings to the Japanese. Fortunately, Mr. Wang intervened to stop it."

"So that's what it is," Li Yu said with a smile, "It should be."

Wang Guowei was summoned by Puyi to the palace this year and became a "Southern Study". In the old system of the Qing Dynasty, those who served as Southern Study were basically well-educated people, at least Jinshi or Hanlin. Wang Guowei was very happy to enter the Southern Study as a commoner, and he also had the opportunity to see a large number of ancient books collected in the Forbidden City.

Wang Guowei pushed up his glasses and said, "The emperor donated 40 yuan, and allocated an additional 2 yuan to a few of us in the Southern Study to sort out the national history. Speaking of which, we should also thank the imperial teacher for this."

Li Yu muttered in his heart, he had clearly given the little emperor nearly 60 yuan, of which more than 40 yuan was for donations, and it turned out that he had only donated yuan...

Li Yu said: "It would be great to help Brother Jing'an (Wang Guowei's pen name) with his studies. After all, there are a vast number of ancient Chinese books. Previously, Peking University's Dean of Academic Affairs, Mr. Hu Shizhi, said that in today's Chinese academic circles, there are only a few old-style scholars left. The only scholars who can be called scholars are Brother Jing'an, Mr. Taiyan, and Mr. Luo Zhenyu. The only semi-new and semi-old scholars left are Liang Qichao and Qian Xuantong. Mr. Taiyan is now busy with political affairs. In terms of academic research, Brother Jing'an has the most hope."

Wang Guowei was surprised: "Dr. Hu actually has such a high opinion of me."

——In fact, Hu Shi also criticized Wang Guowei many times, feeling that his ideas were still too old-fashioned.

Wang Guowei added: "It's rare to see you, Mr. Academician. I have a question to ask you, since you have been abroad many times. As we all know, Westerners advocate desire too much. If it exceeds a certain limit, will it lead to destruction?"

Li Yu said: "It seems that you have been influenced by the previous doctrine that 'Western civilization emphasizes material things, while Eastern civilization emphasizes spiritual things'. In fact, there is no need to think so. First of all, Eastern people also emphasize material things. Who doesn't want to live a better life and have enough food and clothing? Secondly, Western civilization is not bad in terms of spiritual civilization. A great philosopher named Wittgenstein has just emerged. Before him, there were Nietzsche and others. Not all foreigners study science and engineering."

Wang Guowei said: "You mean that both Western civilization and Eastern civilization have the ability to adjust and control themselves?"

Li Yu said: "Yes, but overall, even if Western civilization has all kinds of pessimistic prospects, we have no choice but to follow this path."

"That's right! Maybe after we learn the knowledge of foreigners and add our own culture, we can be better than them." Wang Guowei said. He has deep confidence in Eastern culture. Li Yu nodded: "You can think so."

Wang Guowei then asked, "I also read in the newspaper that there are many film companies in Hollywood, USA, which spend millions of dollars and use thousands of acres of land to make a movie! What is the reason for such extravagant practices? Can they be sustained?"

This question actually came from Wang Guowei's mouth, which seems quite trendy and avant-garde.

Li Yu thought for a moment and said, "Americans spend a lot of money, manpower, and energy to make a movie, just like a scholar who sometimes spends several months, energy, and effort to research a single word, and reads through countless books?"

Wang Guowei opened his mouth, paused for a few seconds, and then praised: "You are worthy of being the Imperial Teacher. Your explanation has made me completely understand."

Li Yu smiled and said, "In fact, there are many economic issues involved. Maybe after a while, the Chinese will get used to it."

Wang Guowei said: "That is even more unimaginable."

-

According to Hu Shi's classification, Wang Guowei belongs to the old cultural person, but he is indeed very knowledgeable. Next year, he will enter the newly established National Academy of Tsinghua University and be one of the four major mentors.

Liang Qichao was one of the four great mentors. Recently, Li Yu received a message from Liang Qichao's lecture club: Tagore has come to China.

Tagore first arrived at the Port of Shanghai, where he was greeted by Xu Zhimo and Lin Huiyin, who also served as Tagore's translators.

However, Tagore's visit to China was obviously not as influential as that of Dewey, Russell, and Einstein, Planck, and Madame Curie who were invited by Li Yu. Even before he arrived at the port, many domestic intellectuals began to oppose it.

For example, the young Mao Dun published an article in advance to warn the admirers who flocked to the docks not to be deceived by Tagore's rhetoric of "Eastern culture" and "paradise of the soul". Mao Dun wrote:
"We believe that at this time when China is facing internal and external troubles, under the dual oppression of imperialism and warlord dictatorship, the only way out is the national revolution of the Chinese nation. And to achieve this goal, we can only do as Mr. Wu Zhihui said, 'If someone attacks us with machine guns, we should also cast machine guns and shoot back.' Talking about Eastern culture is actually equivalent to 'reciting the Five Classics to repel the enemy'! Moreover, we are still very skeptical about whether the term Eastern culture can be established!"

After Tagore arrived at the dock, he gave a speech. To everyone's surprise, Tagore not only touted the traditional view that "Eastern civilization is the most sound", but also publicly criticized China's New Culture Movement, accusing "a part of Asia's youth of erasing and abandoning Asia's ancient civilization."

This offended almost all the rising stars in China's cultural world.

Especially Mr. Chen Zhongfu, who stands out from the crowd, has the biggest contrast.

Mr. Zhongfu translated and published Tagore's poems in 1915, introducing Tagore as "a promoter of Oriental spiritual civilization, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and famous in Europe. Indian youth respect him as a pioneer, and his poems are full of religious and philosophical ideals."

This time, Mr. Zhongfu was not polite. He published a number of articles, including "Tagore and Oriental Culture", in which he commented: "When Tagore first came to China, we thought he was a poet with Oriental thoughts. We were afraid that the Chinese youth who like to fantasize would be more obsessed with demons, so we had to oppose him. In fact, we still overestimated him. He never said a serious word in Beijing. He just dealt with people like the Qing emperor, Shulman, Angelin, the monks of Fayuan Temple, and the Buddhist young women. What a person he is!"

And he advised, "Please stop spreading bad words to disrupt our ideological world, Tagore! Thank you, there are already too many transsexuals, young and old, in China!"
Wu Zhihui's criticism was equally sharp: "Mr. Tagore knew that imperialism was hateful, but he did not give the Chinese people some power. He just clamored that people in the Paleolithic civilization would be non-resistance and wait for the imperialists who used iron tools to commit all their crimes. This is just like the saying in our village, 'Turn yourself into a rotten vegetable leaf, lie on the ground, and hope that the robber will slip.' It's just as ridiculous."

Hu Shi had originally liked Tagore very much, but after hearing his opposition to the New Culture Movement, his attitude immediately changed. However, Hu Shi's opposition was very tactful. He simply believed that Tagore's ideas were not suitable for China at that time.

Tagore was criticized as "somewhat embarrassing" because he came to China at the wrong season with a "gospel of salvation" that was not suitable for China's national conditions, and was surrounded by a group of Chinese cultural thinkers (including those who welcomed him and those who opposed him) who did not understand him. Hu Shi felt that Tagore's visit to China was "an unpleasant exchange accompanied by a series of misunderstandings, and a cultural gathering that ended unhappily."

Speaking of which, this situation is somewhat similar to the previous vigorous debate between science and metaphysics.

Some metaphysical views are not wrong, they are just not suitable for China today; or the order is wrong. After all, there is a superstructure only when there is an economic foundation, and those metaphysical views and some of Tagore's views belong to the superstructure. At least you have to wait until China and India become as strong as the United States and Britain before you make any claims.

When that time comes, who will dare to oppose...

Except for Hu Shi, Chen Zhongfu and Wu Zhihui, the vast majority of intellectuals, including Lu Xun, also disagreed with Tagore's ideas.

It seems that only a few literary and artistic young people such as Xu Zhimo, Lin Huiyin and Bing Xin worship him.

When Tagore came to Tsinghua, he lived in the beautiful Tsinghua campus and gave another formal speech. The content was nothing more than the same old thing, that is, the so-called "Orientalism" position that spiritual civilization is always superior to material civilization (India does not represent the East at all, so it needs quotation marks); and he also vigorously promoted the bankruptcy of Western culture with the European war, etc.

These statements coincide with those of Liang Qichao, who invited him.

Li Yu certainly would not agree. The First World War did have a huge impact on Europe, but it was not fatal. China would have to continue catching up for many years before it could significantly narrow the gap with developed countries.

Only Chinese people can understand the pain involved.

Li Yu would never allow anyone to have high aspirations but low skills and to boast that spirituality is superior to material things. That would be a denial of the decades of hard work of the Chinese people.

That day happened to be Liang Qichao's birthday, and he invited many cultural celebrities including Tagore to attend the banquet.

Li Yu came to congratulate with gifts.

Liang Qichao said happily: "There are not many people in the East who have won the Nobel Prize. Today, two of them came to my house. This is just a great honor for my humble home!"

Tagore said: "Coincidentally, the year I won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mr. Li Yu also won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the second time."

At that time, Li Yu had an in-depth conversation with Tagore.

Hu Shi said: "Even if I don't study science, I can see that Mr. Li Yu is not far from winning the next Nobel Prize."

Li Yu smiled and said, "That was the decision of the jury."

Liang Qichao's viewpoint was similar to Tagore's. He said to him, "I saw a photo in the newspaper. Lin Huiyin and Xu Zhimo were standing next to the old man. Miss Lin was as beautiful as a flower. She walked arm in arm with the old poet. Xu Zhimo, who was dressed in a long gown and had a pale face and looked thin, looked like the three friends of pine, bamboo and plum."

Tagore praised the two young men: "They have excellent English and are extremely knowledgeable, almost beyond their years."

Liang Qichao said: "Sir, you don't seem to have a Chinese name yet, and the publicity is not wide enough. How about I give you a Chinese name?"

Tagore readily accepted: "It couldn't be better."

Liang Qichao said: "According to the original text, the old poet's name means sun and thunder, and can be extended to mean long as the sun and thunder. If it is briefly expressed in Chinese... the two words Zhendan are very wonderful. In addition, the old poet's country, India, was called Tianzhu in ancient times, so this can be used as a surname, that is, Zhu Zhendan."

After listening to the explanation, Tagore was very pleased: "I don't know Mr. Liang's birthday, but you still bothered to help me come up with a Chinese name. Thank you very much!"

It seems that this name is not well-known at all...

After eating for a while, Li Yu thought about the recent criticism of Tagore in the intellectual community, so he said, "Mr. Tagore, now you can appreciate the contention of a hundred schools of thought in the Chinese intellectual community, right?"

"A hundred schools of thought?" said Tagore.

Li Yu explained the situation during the Warring States Period to him, and then said, "China today is a bit similar. There are many people with different opinions, and everyone speaks out. So, it is normal that some people don't like you. It is actually a symbol of civilization."

Tagore suddenly realized: "So that's how it is! Then I really want to express my appreciation. It's a pity that in India, there are countless ideas, but no debate."

This sounds quite sad... After all, India has been colonized by Britain for too long.

Liang Qichao was originally worried about how to ease the recent attacks on Tagore by Chinese intellectuals, but he did not expect that Li Yu's words would solve his problem. He said happily: "Shu Cai is right! Since Mr. Tagore has his own ideas, if he sticks to them, he will be one of the schools of thought among the hundreds of schools of thought!"

Tagore then reiterated his point of view: "I have always believed that life is not limited to conquering the world with intelligence and physical strength. Such conquest cannot be unlimited; in addition to physical strength and intelligence, people also have spirit, which is a more ancient, more real and more profound form of life existence."

"Okay!" Liang Qichao raised his glass, "Let's drink to the spiritual world!"

Tagore stayed in China for two months before leaving. Although he was questioned by many people, the old poet still had a very good impression of China. Xu Zhimo saw him off all the way to Japan. When they were leaving, Xu Zhimo asked Tagore if he had left anything behind. The great poet replied, "I left my heart in China."

All we can say is that he firmly believes in his own ideas.

The Chinese also believe in their own ideas more.