Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
very important then that I could get a better understanding of the idea of Gu Yanwu's
Tianxia junguo libing shu
. He was born in the late Ming dynasty, and felt great con-
cern for the deteriorating society and politics which caused the people great suffer-
ing. Then he compiled his
Tianxia junguo libing shu
. In the foreword to his work,
he wrote the following: “I am moved by the many ills that beset all the corners of
our land, and thus am ashamed of the lack of skill of the students of the Classics”.
Then he started propagating his idea of “Use the Classics”, attacking the shallow
style of study of his contemporaries, and he recommended openly “everybody has a
responsibility to protect the world”. Thereupon, he called out loudly in distress,
saying:
As of today, it is our responsibility (as scholars) to save our people from their state of utter
distress and open up an era of peace for ten thousand generations.
Even when the Qing armies had entered through the passes and snatched away
the ruling power of the Ming dynasty, he kept resisting Qing dynasty rule, and
refrained from being employed. When my country was in imminent danger, I was
able to understand the deeds of his life much better, and I was deeply moved. In the
period that the country's crisis deepened after the occupation of Peking, it took me
3 years to fi nish my sequel to
The Blessings and Ills of All Regions of the Empire
on
Shandong province. William Hung was there to recommend it, and he had my M.A.
thesis published as a special edition of the 19th issue of
Yanjing Xuebao
. This work,
written under the enemy puppet regime, was full of ideals of saving the country and
rebuilding the land, which without Yenching University and the guidance of
Professor William Hung would have never seen the light.
However, when in the winter of 1941 this topic had just been published, the
Japanese invasion army that had recently occupied China meeting with the persis-
tent resistance of the Chinese people, suddenly attacked the American naval base at
Pearl Harbour from the air on December 8 (Peking time), setting off the Pacifi c War.
It was very early that day that the Japanese military police surrounded Yenching
University quickly and consequently occupied the campus. All students and staff
members were expelled from the area, the staff with American nationality were
locked up in concentration camps, and a couple of staff and students were arrested
and confi ned in the army barracks of the Japanese military police in Peking, includ-
ing the university president Leighton Stuart. Eleven people of the staff were arrested
in all, among whom I was the youngest. Both my professors, William Hung and
Deng Zhicheng, were arrested too.
Here I should go into the reasons of my arrest.
After fi nishing my M.A. in June 1940, I had decided to stay on at Yenching to
teach, and I had already started to prepare classes. Dr. Leighton Stuart the university
president, invited me for a talk. He wanted me to be in charge of some student mat-
ters part time besides teaching, because there were many problems the students
were facing due to the campus' position on occupied territory. Some students had
fi nancial problems because of the war, some students couldn't work quietly because
of the puppet regime, they all needed to be given care and support. Because I had
been a student here for 8 years myself, I was rather good in understanding the students.
