Wu Mi

Wu Mi

Wu Mi (August 20, 1894 - January 17, 1978), whose name is Yu Seng and Yu Heng, was born in Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province. He is a famous modern Chinese western writer, master of Sinology and poet. He is one of the founders of National College of Tsinghua University and is known as the father of Chinese comparative literature.

Wu Mi, together with Chen Yinke and Tang Yongtong, is known as the "Harvard three heroes". His works include Wu Mi's poetry anthology, literature and life, Wu Mi's diary, etc.

Chronology of Events

Wu Mi (August 1894 to January 1978), a male, Han nationality, was born in Jingyang, Shaanxi Province. He came from the West courtyard of Wu family.

In 1916, he graduated from Tsinghua University as a preparatory student in the United States;

He studied at the University of Virginia in 1917;

In 1918, he transferred to the Department of comparative literature of Harvard University and obtained his bachelor's degree (1920) and master's degree (1921);

From 1930 to 1931, he studied in Western Europe and engaged in research in Oxford University and Paris University.

From 1921 to 1949, he successively served as professor of Southeast University and Northeast University; director of Institute of Chinese Studies and professor of Foreign Languages Department of Tsinghua University (Southwest Associated University); Professor and head of Foreign Languages Department of Wuhan University; Professor of Xianghui college, Mianren college and Sichuan Provincial Institute of education. He was also a professor of Peking University, Yanjing University, Peking Normal University, Yunnan University, Sichuan University, Huazhong University and Chongqing University.

Since 1950, he has been a professor and academician of the Department of foreign languages (1950-1954), Department of history (1955-1957) and Department of Chinese language and Literature (now college of Arts, Southwest University) (1958-1977), director of the teaching and research section of world ancient history, member of the Standing Committee of Chongqing Federation of literary and art circles, deputy director of the classical literature research association of Chongqing Federation of literary and art circles, and member of Sichuan Provincial CPPCC.

He has taught English, English poetry, translation, English prose, western novels, foreign literature, European and American literature, classical literature, western literary criticism, western literary classics, history of English literature, history of world literature, rhythm comparison between Chinese and Western poetry, study of old Chinese poetry and novels, world history, ancient world history, etc. In the 1950s and 1960s, we compiled some teaching materials and handouts, such as general history of the world, foreign literature, selected readings of foreign literary masterpieces, outline of Chinese literary history, brief table of the evolution (development and change) of Chinese characters, concise English grammar, French grammar and Latin grammar. During the period of chairing Tsinghua Sinology Research Institute, Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Zhao Yuanren and Chen Yinke were invited to teach, and a number of first-class scholars such as Qian Zhongshu, Ji Xianlin, Xu Zhongshu and Gao Heng were trained for China.

In 1940s, he made a speech on a dream of Red Mansions in Kunming, Guiyang, Zunyi, Chengdu, Wuchang and Hankou.

In 1920, he published a new talk on a dream of Red Mansions at Harvard University (the third volume of reference materials for the study of a dream of Red Mansions, people's Literature Publishing House, 1976). Later, he published papers in Chinese and English, such as the praise of the story of stone, the literary evaluation of a dream of Red Mansions, the dream of Red Mansions and world literature, and the typical characters of a dream of Red Mansions. Ren Xueheng, general manager of the magazine, published 79 issues. Ren Ta Kung Pao literature supplement, 316 issues. He served as literature supplement of Wuhan daily (1947, written, proofread and edited), and published 52 issues. Many western literary theories and masterpieces have been translated in classical Chinese and old poetic rhymes, and published in Xueheng magazine and Ta Kung Pao literary supplement. At the invitation of Zhengzhong Book Bureau, he translated the Pocket Oxford English Chinese dictionary and served as the chief editor. He published Wu Mi's Poetry Anthology (Shanghai Zhonghua Book Company, 1935). In 1956, he translated 738 volumes of world history and literature books, attached with the author's resume and abstract, and donated them to the library of Southwest Normal University (now the library of Southwest University).

Life of the characters

Born on August 20, 1894 (the 20th year of Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty), he was born in Jingyang, Shaanxi Province. Zhou Yingtang, niece of Shaanxi's richest woman in the late Qing Dynasty, is Wu Yuheng, whose real name is baldness. "Yuheng" comes from the meaning of "Yuheng of Chen Xuanji" in Shujing, and is one of the Big Dipper. In 1901, my grandmother decided to change the name of her grandson in order to get rid of the bad omen and strengthen her physique. So he asked Yu Heng's uncle and poet Chen Bolan to take a new name. This is a major event of the Wu family. Good wine and good meat make the host and guest like during the festival. The drunken uncle wrote "tuoman" on a broken piece of paper, and Wu Yuheng became Wu tuoman. Wu Mi was named after him when he applied for Tsinghua School in 1910. At that time, he took out a stone copy of Kangxi dictionary. On a certain page of a book, he closed his eyes and pointed out that the word "Mi" means quiet. Most of Wu Mi's words "rain monk" come from the Southern Song Dynasty poet Jiang Jie's poem "Yu Meiren · listening to rain": "now the rain monk is under the house, and his temples are already starry." In a word.

In 1907, he studied in Sanyuan Hongdao academy and was influenced by Guanxue. In 1911, he was admitted to the preparatory class of Tsinghua University in Beijing (the predecessor of Tsinghua University). In the spring of 1912, Tsinghua University was temporarily suspended because of the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the restructuring of the Republic of China. Wu tuoman, a northern "countryman" who was studying at St. John's University in Shanghai, was ridiculed by some of the children of foreign slaves. When Wu tuoman went out between classes, they wrote down the ironic "confused men" on the blackboard. When Wu tuoman came in, there was a burst of laughter in the classroom. He looked around inexplicably. Fang FA's laughter now connects "Wu tuoman" with "confused men" on the blackboard. Therefore, he decided to use "Wu Mi" instead of "Wu tuoman" in his speech. In 1917, at the age of 23, Wu Mi went to the United States to study journalism. In 1918, he changed to western literature. First, he studied in the Department of English literature at the University of Virginia and got a Bachelor of Arts degree. The next year, he transferred to Harvard Graduate School and studied comparative literature, English literature and philosophy under the guidance of Professor Babbitt, the leader of the new humanistic literary criticism movement. Together with Chen Yinke and Tang Yongtong, they are called "Harvard three heroes". During his ten years in the United States, Wu Mi made great efforts in the study of 19th century English literature, especially the works of romantic poets.

In 1928, Wu Mi returned to Nanjing National University to teach comparative studies of Chinese and Western cultures It is the first of its kind. In Nanjing University, Wu Mi, together with Mei Guangdi and Liu Yizheng, edited and founded Xueheng magazine in 1922. In the past 11 years, it published 79 issues. It is different from the old and the new culture. It has a deep understanding of Western Europe and North America, and it has not gone all the way to the old Confucianism. Therefore, the chamber protested and formed a different school. During this period, he wrote such papers as "the new and the old in China" and "on the new cultural movement", which adopted classicism, criticized the new style of free verse, advocated maintaining the due value of China's cultural heritage, and tried to be Chinese Babbitt. He has written such monographs as Wu Mi's poetry anthology and Kong Xuan's poetry talks. In 1924, he went to Shenyang as a professor of Foreign Literature Department of Northeast University. The following year, Tsinghua University was founded. Wu Mi was the director of the Research Institute of Tsinghua University. At that time, he hired the most famous scholars Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, Chen Yinke and Zhao Yuanren as the tutors of the Research Institute. He was known as a successful person for a time. The academy is known as the "Academy of Chinese Studies", which has cultivated many outstanding talents of Chinese Studies for the country.

After leaving NTU, Wu Mi became a professor in the Department of foreign languages of Northeastern University and Tsinghua University. In September 1929, Qian Zhongshu was admitted to the Department of foreign languages of Tsinghua University, where his father, Qian Jibo, once taught. He became Wu Mi's favorite student. There were often poems and songs between teachers and students. However, due to Qian Zhongshu's book review in 1937, the relationship between teachers and students was tense for many years. In 1928, Wu Mi was also the chief editor of Ta Kung Pao literary supplement in Tianjin. He edited classical literature and invited Zhu Ziqing, a professor of Chinese at Tsinghua University, to compile new literature. In 1930, Wu Mi traveled to Europe, visited Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and many other countries, and visited the remains of Shelley, Scott, Rousseau and others. He returned to China from Europe the following year and became a professor and head of the Department of foreign languages at Tsinghua University. He founded the Department of foreign languages of Tsinghua University according to the plan of the Department of comparative literature of Harvard University. It is clearly proposed that the training goal is to cultivate "liberal and elegant people". With his efforts, the Foreign Languages Department of Tsinghua University soon became the first-class department in China.

Wu Mi was appointed as one of the first professors by the Ministry of education in 1941. From 1943 to 1944, Wu Mi acted as the director of the Department of foreign languages of Southwest Associated University. In the autumn of 1944, he taught at Yanjing University in Chengdu. In September 1945, he became a professor of the Department of foreign languages of Sichuan University. In February 1946, Wu Mi declined the appointment of Zhejiang University and Henan University to be the dean of the school of foreign languages. He became the director of the Department of foreign languages of Wuhan University in Wuchang. From January 1947, he edited Wuhan daily · literature supplement for one year Mei Yiqi and Chen Futian of the University repeatedly asked him to go back. In 1949, Chen Xujing, the president of Lingnan University in Guangzhou, invited him to go south as the dean of the school of Arts, and his good friend Chen Yinke was also in Lingnan. Hang Liwu, the Minister of education, invited him to be the dean of literature at Taiwan University. His daughter asked him to go to Tsinghua University. At the end of April, he flew to Chongqing to work as a foreign language professor at Xianghui college, and also as a literature professor at Mianren college in Beibei, which was presided over by Liang Shuming. In April 1950, the two academies were abolished one after another. Wu Mi went to the newly established Sichuan Institute of education. In September, he was incorporated into southwest Normal University to teach history (later to the Chinese Department). As a result, the scene was very bad.

When the "Cultural Revolution" came, Wu Mi became a major culprit of Southwest Normal University

Chinese PinYin : Wu Mi