Guo Chuanzhong: Lu Yuan will always be my teacher
2024-08-07
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Teacher Lu is a typical gentleman and a role model for people to follow.
In the middle of the night, I suddenly saw the obituary of Mr. Lu Yuan's son from Sydney on WeChat, and learned that Mr. Lu had passed away on the afternoon of July 13. This should have been expected, but it came so quickly, after all, it was a bit sudden. So I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Teacher Lu and I were both born in the Year of the Rabbit. He is one year older than me and is now 96 years old. From 1964, when I started teaching at the Affiliated Middle School, to 1993, when I left the teaching position, I was always in the same Chinese teaching and research group with him, for 30 years. In theory, we should have a teacher-friend relationship, but whenever I think deeply about it, I always feel that he will always be my teacher, not only my teacher, but also the teacher of all teachers. There are so many things worth learning from him.
Take business research for example. His hometown Dongyang, the local dialect is difficult to understand, he has a heavy accent, and he had a throat surgery when he was young, so his pronunciation is not clear. It is often quite difficult to listen to him speak, which is very disadvantageous for him to eat the "opening meal" of a Chinese teacher. However, over the years, students who take his classes still listen with relish. This is because he has profound knowledge, prepares lessons carefully, interacts fully with students, and connects his thoughts and emotions. The difficulties in pronunciation are easy to overcome. He knows his shortcomings and works hard to make up for them. He doesn't speak Mandarin accurately or fluently, but he remembers the pronunciation, rhyme, and tone of each Chinese character clearly, and he is fully capable of testing and guiding students in Mandarin. He memorized this word by word, and how much hard work he put in. As for his expertise in ancient Chinese and ancient poetry reading and analysis, it is easy to get it without any effort. But he is never satisfied. I think the ancient Chinese dictionary he edited is most suitable for primary and secondary school students because he worked hard.
Although I graduated from the Chinese Department of a normal university, I often focused on drama activities in college and did not pay enough attention to the basic skills of Chinese. After I started teaching at the Affiliated Middle School, Mr. Lu keenly noticed this and immediately and warmly reminded me of some of the problems in terms of fonts, strokes and writing format. He showed me his corrected essays and also looked at my corrections to find problems. I immediately paid attention to them and made up for them. I am very grateful for his honesty.
After the Gang of Four was smashed, the Chinese teaching ideology was in a mess. He took the lead in reform and let me take advantage of favorable conditions to open some open classes. He worked hard behind the scenes, but I was the one who "stole the limelight" in front of the stage. But he didn't care. We co-signed and wrote articles such as "pay attention to "words, phrases and sentences" and published them in magazines such as "Chinese Learning", which attracted the attention of some colleagues. At one time, I often went to other places with him to give lectures, and the cooperation was very pleasant. He humorously said that I was "the oriole singing under the flowers", while he was "the gurgling spring flowing under the ice", which moved me very much. Later, I started as the deputy leader of the Chinese teaching and research group, and gradually served as the deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office, the vice president, the executive vice president, and finally the president, while he always served as the director of the Academic Affairs Office, but he didn't care at all, and was still enthusiastic and frank. He praised what should be praised and criticized what should be criticized, and never cared about personal gains and losses. He lived a simple life for decades, and kept a clear distinction between public and private. When he went to the city for meetings or business and returned to Fudan dormitory, he often only had a bowl of glutinous rice balls as a meal when changing buses near Hongkou Park. Some colleagues joked that he was the "Glutinous Rice Ball King".
Teacher Lu is a typical gentleman, full of traditional cultural atmosphere, but also keeping up with the times and accepting new things. He is our role model. (Guo Chuanzhong)
