Cai Meibiao is used to doing everything himself. "My habit is to do my own work and write my own manuscript", which is deeply influenced by Mr. Fan Wenlan. Speaking of Fan Wenlan, Cai Meibiao looks like water, and her tone and manner are becoming more and more respectful, just like Fan Lao in front of her.
In the 1950s, Fan Lao lived in the courtyard of the Institute of Modern History. Although he has poor eyesight in one eye, he still insists on starting work after eight in the morning and leaving the office at least six in the afternoon. Everyone in the institute lives in the institute. In the evening, everyone lights up to study. People say that this is caused by the influence of Fan Lao. In fact, there is another important reason-Mrs. Fan took a walk in the yard after dinner and came back to tell her not to read and play chess. At first, everyone was unknown so, wondering how Fan Lao was so observant. Later, the truth gradually came out, so every family was brightly lit. Over time, Mrs. Fan's night patrol was jokingly called "Mrs. Escrow".
Later, the State Council allocated a house to Fan Wenlan, and he was inevitably lonely, so Cai Meibiao moved to the second floor to live, and they lived together day and night, exchanging needed goods in life and learning from each other academically. Fan Wenlan has no hobbies other than academics. He seldom watches TV and plays, but occasionally. When he doesn't understand new things, he has to ask Cai Meibiao. He has a serious sense of mission in compiling general history. To write a general history, he refused or resigned from many administrative leadership positions for decades until his last breath.
When talking about the general history of China, Cai Lao joked: "It's also very common. General history is a popular history book written by ordinary people. " It's easier said than done. Just before meeting with the author, Cai Lao had just solved a proofreading problem in the proof of A General History of China: the book quoted a sentence from Huang Zunxian, "Show ice, Shoot shows a peach blossom blood." In this way, the shadow shed tears again. "In the proof, it is' showing the world', and the leveling and arts and sciences are unreasonable. But which word is wrong? The old man went to the bookstore to look for it. He leaned against the bookshelf and opened Huang Zunxian's poems, and found that the original word was indeed "exhibition of ice". The original meaning of "Lian" is a dressing box, which was later extended to the meaning of dowry. Ice is used to describe a mirror, which means clean and clear. Cai Lao said that there are always shortcomings in the past, which need to be deepened because of the progress of ideas and the discovery of new materials. Dimensions need to be developed, but the next income must be cautious. " The more you don't understand, the more you dare to write; The more you know, the more you will cherish ink. Like Mr. Fan Wenlan, it took only a few thousand words to write Confucianism in the Tang Dynasty. That's because he studied Confucian classics since childhood and was too familiar with them to make such a high generalization. It is not easy to be concise in historical writing. The realm of writing a book is to win more people by taking a little of yourself. "
"An inch of Yin is hard to find. What's the use of an inch of gold? "
The key joint of Cai Meibiao's academic path is often that heaven helps nature. He said modestly, "nothing a man can do can be free from the influence of the environment." Almost all the work I do is' passive'. Editor-in-chief of general history is the duty of Fan Lao. Editing earthquake historical materials is a part of national disaster reduction work after Tangshan earthquake. It was through Mr. Luo Changpei that he came into contact with Jinshi rubbings and discovered new materials that others rarely saw. "
Cai Meibiao said. "I'm not interested in inch gold. What is the use of my money? Teachers of the older generation told students not to be greedy for fame and fortune, but to be really talented and practical. Fan Wenlan wrote a letter to the publishing house before his death, saying that he would not accept the payment, and all the payment would be turned over to the state. His modern history has been printed in millions, and China's general history in hundreds of thousands, but he has not received the payment for many years. The ancients called money' spring' and spent it when you got it. No consumption means no consumption. But learning can constantly enrich yourself and not get lost. "
Cai Meibiao is a judge of many awards. He disapproves of the author's own application and hopes to adopt the method recommended by scholars. He never applied for a bonus himself, and all the rewards he got were applied for by others. There is a story told as a joke: A few years ago, the book edited by Cai Lao was applied by the publishing house and won the national awards and bonuses issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication. He said, let's share it. 25 people each take 400 yuan. It was not until Cai Lao planned to buy a book as a gift that he found that the book was priced at 500 yuan. Officials are not invited to attend academic conferences.
Mr. Cai has said more than once that officials are not invited to attend academic conferences. Once, Mr. Cai went abroad to attend an international academic conference, the theme of which was about Mongolian history. Because he is the executive director of the International Mongolian History Society, the chairman of the China Mongolian History Society and the chairman of the China Yuan History Research Society, he is highly respected, so he was justly elected as the director of the organizing committee of the conference. The meeting went smoothly, but something happened at the closing ceremony, which made the scholars at the meeting know more about Mr. Cai.
After the closing ceremony of the conference began, the rostrum was full of government officials at the conference site. The card table sign says that only two seats are reserved for scholars: one is Mr. Cai and the other is Yang Zhijiu, a famous professor at Nankai University. Mr. Yang was Mr. Cai's mentor when he was studying in Nankai, but this time he was behind Mr. Cai. Other scholars at home and abroad are not qualified to sit on the rostrum. The host of the closing ceremony invited Mr. Cai to take a seat on the stage many times, but Mr. Cai insisted on not attending. Until the closing ceremony, two seats reserved for scholars were still empty. It was the first time in my life that there were no scholars at the closing ceremony of the academic conference on the podium. Mr. Cai resisted bad atmosphere and maintained academic dignity, which won the respect of Chinese and foreign scholars attending the meeting.
Don't write a preface to others.
Nowadays, it is very common for popular academic celebrities to write prefaces for other people's new works. What's more, make a preface for others and let them publish. It is said that many prefaces are written by the author himself, just embellished in the name of celebrities. Mr Cai is a historian and author of The Encyclopedia of China China History Volume. The first edition of Encyclopedia of China was published in March 1992, less than 20 years ago, but few famous historians in China are still alive. Mr. Cai can make a name for himself by his position. However, we can hardly see Mr. Cai's Mo Bao. Many familiar scholars asked Mr. Cai for a preface and were rejected. Even the doctoral thesis published by his doctoral students didn't get a word. More than once, he regarded "people's trouble lies in being good at order" and "relying on celebrities to respect themselves" as contempt for people who don't know how to respect themselves in society.
On one occasion, however, he broke the precept he had observed for many years and made a preface to Professor Zhou Qingshu of Inner Mongolia University's History of Yuan and Mongolia. He made an exception because he said, "My old friend Brother Zhou Qingshu published his Collection of Essays on the History of Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and asked me to write a few words at the beginning. This time, I made an exception. This is not because I have studied the contents of the anthology much, but because I have known the author for forty years and kept close contact with him. I was impressed by his life and knowledge. A few words about my personal feelings may help readers understand the author. "
Don't be a short editor-in-chief
Now there are some so-called experts in academic circles who have been appointed as nominal editors in vain. Mr. Cai has never been a nominal or empty editor-in-chief. Mr. Cai said that when you are an editor-in-chief, you must write word by word from beginning to end. He turned down many people who asked him to be editor-in-chief on this ground. As far as I know, there are only three books edited by Mr. Cai: China Earthquake Historical Materials Collection, China Historical Dictionary, Liao Xia Jin Yuan Historical Volume and Fan Wenlan Complete Works. When compiling earthquake historical materials, Mr. Cai's office moved to the editorial board of Gulou West Street and worked hard with the editors every day. It was not until the publication of seven volumes of information books that Mr. Cai returned to the office of the Institute of Modern History. He participated in every link of the compilation of China Historical Dictionary, History Volume of Liao, Xia, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, from the drafting of entries to the drafting, revision and finalization. Mr Cai, the editor-in-chief of The Complete Works of Fan Wenlan, is even more hands-on. The above three books edited by Mr. Cai are still praised by the academic circles as high quality and high standard.
Pursue profit without admiration.
It is often said by Mr. Cai that "it is a real disaster to retire from fame" and "fame is a fly on the head". Mr. Cai repeatedly refused to be interviewed by the news media on the grounds that he didn't want to be an "actor". In particular, he couldn't tolerate the interviewer misinterpreting his original intention or acting arbitrarily. He has a lot of part-time jobs in academic institutions and organizations at home and abroad, but his business card always has only the words "researcher at the Institute of Modern History of China Academy of Social Sciences". He rarely takes the initiative to apply for project funds and participate in awards. Almost all his life, he struggled for the General History of China with a volume of 12, and only applied for 20,000 yuan for scientific research. The Ministry of Education offered him the General History of China as a college textbook, but he refused. When The General History of China won the National Book Award of 10,000 yuan, he divided the prize equally among all the authors and participants. There are many such examples. Some of his practices, seemingly out of date, reflect the aristocratic demeanor.