Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 340 79 Appointment Letter from Academia Sinica

From January 1912, 1, when the former Prime Minister took office as the interim president of the Republic of China in Jingjing, until 1, 1927 years later, the National Government in the South finally "revived the Han Dynasty and returned it to the old capital." .

After the National Government was relocated to Tianjing, facing a country with a lot of waste waiting to be revitalized, all walks of life began vigorous construction movements, and the education sector was no exception.

During the period of the Kuangzhou National Government, the person in charge of education was called the Educational Administration Committee.

This year, when the former Prime Minister entered the capital of Longxing, people of insight launched an educational reform. All responsibilities of the Educational Administrative Committee were taken over by the National University of the Republic of China, becoming the highest academic education institution in the country.

Among the overseas students in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, they studied abroad all over Europe and the United States.

But because the cost of studying in France is relatively low, and because France, like China, implemented a republican system after overthrowing a superior emperor, many of these elites in high positions are loyal believers in France.

In 1924, after Chen Muwu won the championship in the Paris Olympics, at the dinner party held by de Broglie to celebrate, he met Cai Yuanpei, the former president of Bei University, who was also one of the loyal believers.

Although he studied abroad twice in Japan and Germany, he went to Europe several times to inspect education under the pretext of resigning during his tenure. However, he could not do without France at every stop, even in order to provide for himself and others in France. The students earned tuition and living expenses, and together with several fellow students, they opened a tofu company in France.

——This is not only because steamships to the European continent basically terminate at the Port of Marseille, but it also shows that Cai Yuanpei attaches great importance to the French education model.

So after the Heavenly Soldiers entered Tongjing and stabilized it and established a new regime, Cai Yuanpei, the former Minister of Education and still the president of Bejing University, used his status as a party and state veteran to propose a plan for the new country. The education reform plan of the National Government, that is, the university.

This graduate school is not a graduate school equivalent to a graduate school in this academic system, but is modeled after another country.
In this educational reform plan, Cai Yuanpei, who serves as the dean of the graduate school, proposed to learn from the French graduate school system and regard the graduate school as the highest educational institution in the country.

Then the country was divided into several university districts to replace the abolished local education departments.

Only one public university should be established in each university district, and the principal of the university district's university should also be in charge of local education administration and educate people as well as education administration.

Take Beiyang, the capital of the Beiyang government, as an example. In 1927, the Beiyang Ministry of Education, controlled by the warlords, ordered the merger of Beiyang University and eight other universities in Beiyang to form the Capital University.

In 1928, when the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Beijing, they took advantage of the situation and changed the name of Beijing Normal University to National Zhonghua University.

After the National Government officially launched the university district policy, National Chung Hwa University was renamed National Beping University according to the name of Beping University District - which is also similar to the University of Paris in France, the highest institution of higher learning in France.

However, Bei teachers and students do not want their school, which was originally ranked No. [-] in the country, to be confused with a bunch of little-known schools in Beijing City, so they have been insisting on the struggle to reopen the school.

Therefore, Beiping University first changed its name to Beiping University and Beida College under the compromise of the National Government.

In the end, Cai Yuanpei, who failed to achieve any results, had to resign as dean of the university due to various factors such as extremely loud opposition, huge expenditures, insufficient budget, and inconsistent powers.

Immediately after the graduate schools were abolished, all educational reforms were declared failed and canceled, and the Ministry of Education was restored to continue to follow the original old education system.

Although Cai Yuanpei's entire education reform lasted less than two and a half years before it failed.

But in this world now, except Chen Muwu, no one can foresee it.

In the summer of 1927, Dean Cai was still in an exciting state as the world had just been conquered and the bridge was demolished after crossing the river.

Looking at the graduate school that was about to be established, his heart was filled with the ambition to do something vigorous and vigorous.

Not long ago, at a meeting to prepare for the founding of a university, many elders of the Nationalist government proposed to follow the example of a series of foreign academic organizations such as the Royal Society of England and the French Academy of Sciences, and establish a scientific research organization in the style of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of China.

In the end, everyone attending the meeting unanimously approved the proposal, and the topic of the meeting became, what should this organization be called?Who should be chosen as the first leader of the organization?
There were no mistakes in the choice of name. In the end, everyone unanimously approved the name Academia Sinica.

The central government naturally refers to Tingjing, where the future capital of the National Government will be located, and the word research includes not only scientific research, but also many social disciplines such as history, culture, philosophy, etc.

But who should be entrusted with the responsibility of becoming the first director of Academia Sinica?

Everyone who attended the meeting could not reach a unanimous opinion on this issue.

For scholars who focus on research, it would be a great move to have such an institution that could provide space and scientific funding for their research.

The Beiyang government has been embezzling education and scientific research funds for more than a day or two. The world has been suffering from Beiyang for a long time.

Maybe the newly established government in the south will bring some new atmosphere and usher in a new spring for academic research.

But for bureaucrats, Academia Sinica is the highest-level academic institution in the country under the Ministry of Universities.

Think about how many military talents the small military academy established in Huangpu in the east of Guangdong with the help of the Soviet people produced?
As the main force of the Northern Expedition, they were invincible and made great achievements during the recent Northern Expedition.

And the principal of that military school also became a respected title.

If the president of the military academy is like this, then the president of Academia Sinica, who will be the leader of the highest academic institution in the country in the future, will train talents from all walks of life for the country in the future.

Wouldn't this dean's future status be more noble than that of the principal of a small military academy?
Therefore, many people attending the meeting were interested in competing for the dean's chair.

There is no faction in the party, all weird and strange.

This was true for the team that was driven to Gan Province, not to mention the team that had just conquered half of the country, and there were so many mountain factions that they couldn't even count.

There are Li, Wu, Zhang, and Cai, who are collectively known as the four elders. Cai among them refers to Cai Yuanpei.

Li is Li Yuying, Wu is Wu Jingheng, and Zhang is also an old acquaintance of Chen Muwu. He was the uncle of Zhang Naiyan and Zhang Renjie, one of the three Chinese people in the audience of the Einstein Lecture at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau on New Year's Day in 1923. .

The proposal to establish the Academia Sinica was proposed by Li Yuying, Cai Yuanpei and Zhang Renjie from the beginning.Not only are the three of them four veterans, they also studied together in France. They also have shares in Cai Yuanpei's tofu company.

Li Yuying originally thought that since Cai had been appointed as the first dean after the establishment of the graduate school, the position of dean of Academia Sinica would be divided into his own hands, even if it meant sharing the cake, right?Therefore, he is determined to win the position of dean.

But in Zhang Renjie's heart, he also has his own candidate for the position of director of Academia Sinica.

Although his son is not an academic material, his nephew Zhang Naiyan is a top doctoral student who studied in England and Europe. He worked as a professor at Beijing University and went to Guangzhou with the former Prime Minister. President of the university.

This year Zhang Naiyan also went north with the Northern Expeditionary Army and is now the president of the Fourth National Sun Yat-sen University in Tongjing.

I heard that after the domestic situation stabilizes, the Fourth Sun Yat-sen University in Tengjing will be renamed Central University. The name sounds like it will definitely be the highest university in the country in the future.

With regard to these resumes, Zhang Naiyan is definitely a leader among the younger generation of educators.

Zhang Renjie felt that he had to play the card of rejuvenation in scientific research and successfully promoted his nephew from the position of president of Central University to the position of president of Academia Sinica.

The last elder, Wu Jingheng, had little interest in education and did not attend the meeting at all, let alone have any opinions on the candidate.

Among the four elders, two of them are eyeing the dean's throne, and they both believe that they are poaching and are sure to win.

But among the people at the meeting, everyone preferred Cai Yuanpei, the dean of the university, to concurrently serve as the dean of the Academia Sinica, the highest-ranking institution in the country.

This is not only because Cai was the first Minister of Education after the founding of the Republic of China, but also because he has been in charge of Beida University for many years and is very experienced in the management of institutions of higher learning.

In the original time and space, in the end, the candidate for the first director of Academia Sinica was indeed Cai Yuanpei.

It's okay with Zhang Renjie, because after all, he is not fighting for his position, but for his nephew Zhang Naiyan.

The latter said that he had a good job as the president of Central University, so Zhang Renjie didn't have much prejudice against Cai as the dean.

But Li Yuying's attitude is completely different. He thinks that according to the idea of ​​dividing the cake, each person has a dean, and everyone will have a happy ending.

But Cai Yuanpei is too greedy. He wants the deans of graduate schools and Academia Sinica.

Li Yuying and Cai Yuanpei gradually developed a rift between them, and this rift is getting bigger and bigger.

After the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Beijing and the whole country was controlled by the Nationalist Government, Li Yuying went north to serve as the newly established Beiping University District, which was formed by the merger of Beiping's nine national universities and Tianyi's Peiyang University. Principal of Pingda University.

Shortly after the establishment of the Central Research Institute in Tingjing, Li Yuying also announced the establishment of the National Beping Research Institute in Beping.

Although the Beping Research Institute bears the name of a national institution, its nominal superior, the Ministry of Education, cannot actually manage it.

Because the establishment of the Beiping Research Institute can be regarded as a kind of compensation for Li Yuying, who failed in the factional struggle in the education department, by the Nationalist government. It is basically equivalent to setting up an entire research institute for him alone, except for the annual funding. Without funding, the Ministry of Education no longer has the right to interfere with the Beiping Research Institute.

Even after setting up a research institute in Beiping, Li Yuying was still not satisfied.

The university system that Cai Yuanpei dreamed of failed in just a few years, and Cai Yuanpei had to resign from the position of dean of the university sadly.

His replacement was Cai Yuanpei's right-hand man during his time at Bei University, Jiang Menglin, who had served as acting principal many times to clean up the mess when Cai Yuanpei resigned.

Cai Yuanpei left Beijing University completely in 1923 and went to Europe to investigate education in the same year. Since then, Jiang Menglin has been the acting president of Beijing University.

Later, when the March [-]th Massacre occurred, Jiang Menglin was put on the Beiyang government's blacklist and had to hide in the Liuguo Hotel in Dongjiaomin Lane for several months before moving south.

Jiang Menglin served as the dean of the university for eighteen days after Cai Yuanpei resigned from office. Then the university was abolished and reorganized into the Ministry of Education, and he became the first minister of the Ministry of Education of the National Government.

Li Yuying felt that although Cai had stepped down, Jiang Menglin, who was sitting in the position of minister, was still Cai Yuanpei's puppet, just like he was at Beida University.

Therefore, under his strong opposition, Jiang Menglin only served as Minister of Education for forty days before following Cai Yuanpei's footsteps and resigning.

The contradiction between the Li and Cai factions in the education system is simply impossible to reconcile in a short time.

This kind of moth came out just after the new National Government was established. In the end, he had no choice but to use his identity as the Executive Dean and concurrently as the Minister of Education.

Looking at the relationship between Li Yuying and Cai Yuanpei, it was just because of the issue of the position distribution of the dean of Academia Sinica.

Of course Cai Yuanpei knew that the position of dean was hot on the butt, and his thoughts were all on the reform of the university. Even if he became the dean of Academia Sinica, he would not pay too much attention to management work.

In the original time and space, he might have been pushed there and forced to do nothing, but now, Cai Yuanpei has an excellent candidate in his mind who can both convince the public and distance himself from the relationship.

The content of this letter from the National Government Graduate School in the UK across the ocean from Beijing was that the members of the Educational Administration Committee jointly invited Chen Muwu to return to China and serve as the first president of Academia Sinica.

He is now the most famous and most accomplished Chinese scientist in the world, and he is not one of the two factions of Li and Cai.

Moreover, if Chen Muwu can be invited to take up this position in the National Government, he can also use his reputation to support the new government that is about to take down the world.

Killing three birds with one stone, no matter whether it succeeds or not, you still have to give it a try.

(End of this chapter)