我在抗日战争中的最后两年

傅惟慈

我是在1943年年初逃离沦陷后的北平奔赴大后方的。之后,有大半年时间,一直在不同地方漂泊。这一年夏天,我在陪都重庆沙坪坝度过,我冒着炎暑跑了一趟青木关,拿到教育部准许我到浙江大学借读的批文。从四川重庆到贵州遵义是一段艰辛的旅程。我托人请求公路局海棠溪车站的站长帮忙,等待了近一个星期才搭上一辆往贵州运井盐的大卡车。多亏两位同赴浙大报到的女同学照顾,解决了一路食宿问题。从遵义到一年级生分校永兴,近一百公里路程,为了节省些钱入学后交饭费,我是步行大半程 山路过来的。
我在学校教务处报到注册,分到一个学号,又缴纳了一个月伙食费。学校在楚馆男生宿舍分配给我一个床位。宿舍是没有隔断的两层筒子楼,楼上楼下挨次摆着一张张上下铺双人木床,沿窗有一排长条课桌,每人一只木凳。这里没有电灯,每个学生都领到一盏陶瓷碗油灯。油灯用的是当地产的桐油,两三根灯草做灯芯,光线昏暗。
初步熟悉了环境,安排好生活以后,我开始考虑今后——至少今后一年将依靠什么生活下去。抗日战争期间,国民党政府为支持青年人从沦陷区前往大后方参加抗战,除在各地设有各种职业训练班外,还为有资格入学读书的人每月发给一定数额的生活费,称“贷金”。金额不多,勉强可以支付一个月的伙食费。按照当时教育部的规定,从沦陷区来的学生每人都能领到贷金,但是需要证明文件并通过各种手续。当时我担心自己申请不到这笔钱,无法继续读书,经过一番考虑,决定向学校申请转人历史系。因为历史系学生算师范生,而师范生享受公费待遇,就连饭费都不用自己掏了。我离开北平时,英语已有一定基础,远远高于内地高中毕业生水平。如果我有志学外语,靠自修同样可以学成,并不一定非要在外语系攻读。但后来事情发生变化,我转系的计划并末实现。
一年级新生人学后有两门必修课,一门是英语,一门是国文。因学生人数多,程度参差不齐,需要按程度分成三个班。所以开学前举行了一次测试。之后不久学校张榜公布考试结果,我的国文和英文考试均得第一名。国文课测试成绩与名次对我关系不大,且公布的是我的学号,不为人注意。英语考试却写出我的姓名,而且成绩远远超过他人,在同学中引起轰动。分校外语系主任费培杰老师很快就找到我,告诉我贷金会有我的名额,叫我安心读书,不必转系。另外还有一个好消息,费老师兼任先修班英语课,他需要一名助手,帮他批改作业。他问我愿意不愿意做这个工作,可以挣一些生活津贴。这当然是我求之不得的事。我在大后方求学读书的经济问题,就这样解决了。
我住进楚馆宿舍后,隔两张床住着一位四川籍的先修班学生,名叫张六平。他要在浙大先修班复读一年高中课程,然后重考大学。和我熟悉以后,我们各自介绍了一些自己的情况。张的老家在四川涪陵,父亲早年留学日本,家中有不少田产。张六平曾参加过高考,因英语太差,没有被录取。认识我以后,就求我为他补习英语。他的经济情况比较宽裕,嫌住宿舍太嘈杂,所以在街上找到一处公寓,租了楼上一间屋子,邀请我和他同住。
自从搬到小旅舍同张六平同住以后,我在永兴场的生活有了很大变化。认识了不少人,交际圈子扩大了。这家作为学生公寓的小旅舍除了我同张以外,还住着另外两三个学生。一个叫陈维的农学院学生,是个来自上海的白面书生,嘴里总哼着歌,不停给在贵阳工作的一位海外归来的广东小姐写英文信。同旅舍的学生,还有一个与我同系级的学生向联银。这人本是孤儿,是川东长老会一位美国传教土太太把他抚养成人的。他用略带美国音调的英语说一些日常用语没有问题,只是词汇量不大。向同学最擅长的是弹风琴,在家乡的时候,教堂做礼拜,他总是弹琴为教徒唱圣诗伴奏。可惜当年浙大分校穷得连一台风琴也没有,让这位同学英雄无用武之地。1943年年底,第一学期快要结束的时候,时机来了,学校突然来了一位身份不凡的客人。这人身材不高,穿一身西装、足蹬尖头皮鞋,是一位满口宁波话的“小开”式学生。他是从浙江经过江西、湖南、广西几省长途跋涉来校报到的。难为他大箱小笼居然随身带来五六件行李。自九月初动身,路上走了三个多月。学校虽然早已开学,却允许他注册人学,毫不留难。原来这个人大有来头,他叫翁心梓,是中国鼎鼎大名的地质学博士,也是国民政府一位高官翁文灏的侄儿。翁心梓到永兴后,也住进我们旅舍。他带的箱笼,装满四季衣服和内地稀缺的生活用品。最令人吃惊的是一只小提箱里装的竟是一台舶来品手风琴,声音洪亮,音色优美。这次会弹琴的向联银可以大显身手了。翁心梓不只喜欢音乐,而且颇有组织才能,没过多久,他就把小旅舍的全体住户组成了一个合唱团。我们既唱聂耳、黄自作曲的中国歌,也唱福斯特的黑人歌曲和像《当我们年轻时候》那类美国电影歌曲。合唱团给我们在永兴上学的平凡、单调的日子带来了活跃的、生气勃勃的气氛。我至今仍然佩服这位远方来客,聪敏、活泼、脑子十分灵活,翁来了以后,我们这些只知道死读书的人仿佛被吹了一口仙气,开始手舞足蹈,准备上演一出话刷了。翁野心勃勃,在指挥我们唱会几支短曲外,竟准备排练至少有双声部合唱的《蓝色多瑙河》。他梦想扩大合唱队伍,招进几名女生来。可惜第二年开学,正当万物回春的时候,他突然接到家中拍来的电报,叫他急速去重庆。原来他的有财有势的亲族,已经为他安排好去美国留学的手续。他一到重庆,就将出国了。我们这帮同学,自然非常惜别,但也为他能有机会出国深造感到高兴。翁为了轻装走上征途,行前他把他带来的绝大部分衣物都分散给同学。一套西服他本想送给我,可惜他身躯瘦小,衣服我无法穿。我只拣了一件比较肥大些的春秋衫留下,作为对这位朋友的纪念。
该简单谈一下我在浙大永兴分校学习的情况了。负责外语系的教师是费培杰老师。费是贵州人,清华大学毕业,在美国留过学。在永兴他教我们英语精读和语音学。费老师精通音乐,会拉小提琴(在新年联欢会上表演过)。据我的一位老同学说,过去他教外文系学生英文语句声调时,有时会借助一支笛子,吹奏出高低音调示范。费老师身体不好,患有肺病,但教学非常认真。他教我们的教材均系自编。另外,由于学生基础知识差,他每周又增加两节英语辅助课,并为之编了一套简易教材,通过问答,既让同学熟悉英语基本句型,又扩大了词汇,纠正学生发音。我的英语程度虽然比同学略高,这一辅导课却也参加了。在当时那种既听不到英语广播,又无录音设备的年代,能有机会多多听说一些简单英语也是好的。一年级第二学期有一段时间,费老师因病不能来校授课,我们全班学生就自己组织起来胡乱学习。后来他病情有些好转,我们开始去他家上课。费老师住在永兴场东头郊外的一幢平房里。他并无家室,只有一名中老年男仆服侍他。我看到他家中有一个玻璃柜,装着二三十本原版书,多是社会学、教育学等专论书籍,也有一两本语言学理论书。我在永兴一年,感到最苦恼的就是无书可读。图书馆可以借到的英文书只是抗战前商务版的《莎士乐府》《伊尔文见闻录》《威克斐牧师传》等二三十种老书。国内新文学创作和文学刊物也极少。缺少书籍,是抗战期间内迁学校的普遍状况。除了少数几个大城市,读书人无一不感到文化饥渴。
浙大永兴分校的英语老师除费培杰外,还有三位教公共英语的教师。学生按程度分成三个班,三位教师各准各一个学期三分之一教材,同一教材,轮换为各班上课。这样也好,教师节省了备课时间,学生也可以吸收每个教师的长处,比一个教师一学期(或一学年)从头到尾教一个班更可取。我们外文系学生在上费老师的专业课之外,也必须上公共英语课。一位说话带浓重南京口音的矮胖老师我对他印象不深,至今连姓名也想不起来了。只记得他的教材中有一篇选文名字是《新哀洛伊斯》。这篇文章我知道,是从法文翻译过来的,原来的作者是鼎鼎大名的卢梭,但内容同语言都没有什么特色。这位南京口音的老师讲起课来摇头晃脑、声调铿锵,充满感情,非常好笑。另两位,一位是个学者型中年人,名宋雪峰。新中国成立后他可能在张家口军事外语学校授课,我在50年代曾在某个刊物上读到过他翻译的几首英文诗。另一位是永兴唯一的女老师,冯斐女士。浙大迁返杭州后我听说她因为思想“左倾”曾被国民党速捕,后来是浙大校长竺可桢把她保释出来的。宋、冯两位老师当时都是单身,有时我去看其中 一位,常发现另一位也在座。我之所以同这两位老师比较亲近,是因为从他俩授课、选材中感受到他俩都有较高的文学造诣。冯斐为学生选定的教材中有济慈、雪莱的诗。我那时正做着文学梦,迷醉于写新诗。但是我的品位不高。何其芳当时已经去延安投身革命,但我还是抱着他早年写的《画梦录》不放。我喜欢的另一位诗人是个大学教授翻译家赵瑞蕻。抗战期间,赵毕业于西南联大外文系,曾先后在云南南菁中学、重庆南开中学和四川中央大学外文系执教。我偶尔在后方报刊上读到他翻译的法国象征派诗歌,总是抄下来赏读。宋雪峰好像同赵有一定关系。我从宋口中听到不少有关诗歌翻译同写作的谈论。但我却从来不敢把自己的幼稚习作拿出来向他们求教。
在永兴读书的第二年春季,某一佳日,遵义来了一位外语系老师看望我们读英语的学生。这人不是遵义外文系主任(主任是佘坤珊),但却与学生关系非常密切。他不只在教学上循循善诱,而且在课后与学生打成一片,言传身教,引导年轻人认清国内形势,树立正确人生观。这位老师就是引导我走进德国文学之门的张君川。外文系同学1943 年在遵义成立“戏剧班”,研讨西洋戏剧理论,实践戏剧活动,张君川老师亲自指导并积极参与各项活动。张君川老师思想进步,对国民党各种反动措施非常不满。1945 年冬,西南联大惨案发生后,他毫不犹豫地参加了浙大同学在遵义举行的追悼会。1946 年四五月,浙大回迁杭州,因校舍需要整修,开学推迟,夏秋两季,他在上海《侨商报》当记者,写了不少文章,抨击国民党独裁、腐败,招致当局忌恨,多次图谋暗害。幸赖校长竺可桢庇护,才未遭毒手。他知道我学过德语,也胡乱涂写过一些诗文,来永兴后,曾单独同我谈过几次话。我在永兴没有德国文学书可读,手头只有一本上海盗印本的《奥托德语口语及语法》,书后附有几首小诗,我在闲 暇时把其中一两首翻译成中文。张君川老师看过后为我指出几处误译的地方。他答应我,等我转到遵义本校后,他要单独辅导我读歌德、海涅、荷尔德林等德国诗人的诗篇。张君川毕业于清华大学,与吴宓是先后班同学,也是好友。吴宓后来去美国人哈佛大学进修,张君川却一直留在国内。他精通几国语言,研究西方戏剧,抗战后期,导演了好几出德国、俄罗斯名剧在遵义上演。
1944年秋,我到遵义上二年级课,张老师果然辅导我阅读了不少德国诗歌。他还把我介绍给他的另一位清华校友,就是那位古稀之年费时十八载翻译了但丁传世之作《神曲》的田德望老师。田自从在欧洲学成归国后,一直教德文,但专长却是意大利语言和文学。我到遵义后,当了一名工读生,为田先生教授的德语教材刻钢板,我从他那里获得了不少德语知识。
1944年秋季开学前,我离开永兴来到遵义。我到遵义后,没有搬进何家巷男生宿舍(女生宿舍在老城杨柳街巷内),而是听张君川老师安排,把简单行装搬到文庙街一幢居民楼里。文庙街是一条幽静老巷,离校本部只不过几步之遥。如果不去校本部,沿商业街东行就可以走到一个丁字路口。那是遵义南北通道上的闹市口。跨过马路,可以到街对面的电影院。大学的图书馆和一部分教室也簇集在近处的山坡上。
我搬进去的文庙街小楼有上下两层。楼上一侧是外文系戏剧班活动的场地,那是一间近三十米的厅房,位于楼梯左手。戏剧班几乎每周都在这里集会,研读戏剧,排练中外剧作片段,或者听君川老师请来的外人做学术性报告。楼上右侧分隔成前后两间,住着外文系两位高年级生,薄学文汪积功。这两人是我的学兄,也是戏剧班的发起人。我搬来以后,硬是在他们两人中间安置了一张行军床,从此便和两位学长成为室友。薄、汪都比我年纪大,在学习和生活上对我多有照顾,新中国成立后,薄在北京外国语学院执教,我的小女儿就是在他指导下完成毕业论文,于80年代初在外院毕业的。汪积功学兄,50 年代曾蒙受不白之冤,半生颠顿坎坷,直到改革开放后,不仅重返人间,而且由于他同台湾国民党主席连战的姻亲关系(连战夫人方瑀是汪的外甥女),多次与连主席会面,一时间成为新闻人物。汪积功学兄现在荣任新安江市政协主席,为两岸交流做出重要贡献。薄学文和汪积功两人在学校读书时,学习都极勤奋,而且都担当了不少社会工作。
我在遵义外文系二年级就读,主要课程是英国诗歌和英文习作,两门课都由系主任佘坤珊讲授,教西方戏剧的是张君川老师。天气好的时候,张老师喜欢把学生带到野外,在青草茸茸的山坡上席地而坐。别的课程还有法语(教师黄遵生广东人,是一位同盟会老党员,对学生很亲切)、哲学等。我的老毛病仍然不改,上课不好好听讲,课外却胡乱翻一些我似懂非懂的闲书。遵义校图书馆在市内丁字街外侧的山坡上,藏书倒也丰富。我不爱听佘坤珊按部就班讲他自编的英国诗歌,却从图书馆借了一些玄奥、晦 涩的作品,像17世纪玄学派诗人约翰•多恩(有人说他是现代派英美诗歌的先驱),19 世纪后半叶的唯美派、无神论诗人斯温伯恩(他支持欧洲人民革命运动、攻击传统礼规,因此被反对者用他姓的谐音讥刺他是“罪恶之火”、“地狱中的火魔”)。这些诗我当然只看得懂片言只句,却每天捧在手中。倒是张君川老师教我读了不少歌德的诗,不只内容讲解透街,而且为我分析语法和用词,使我获益匪浅。若干年后,我翻译了两三部德国文学重头著作,不能不感谢君川师那时对我的培育。
戏剧班成立于1943年冬。平日聚会除研讨文艺和戏剧外,有时也选择中外名剧片段,分别由学生来朗读或排演。在我去遵义前,戏剧班至少已对外公开演出过两次。一次演《寄生草》,另一次演出的是一出德国三幕悲剧 Maria Magdalena,中文译名为《悔罪女》,作者弗利德里希.黑贝尔。张老师是这个剧本的译者,演出也是他指导的。竺可桢校长在他的日记中对此事有过记载(见《竺可桢日记》1944年5月28日日记)。我到遵义后,自然也参加了戏剧班的各种活动。我对戏剧和表演虽然兴趣不大,但这种增长知识,与同学交流思想的活动我还是乐于参加的。一次活动,戏剧班排练曹禺的名剧《日出》,我也被赶鸭子上架硬分配了剧中方达生一个角色。虽然台词不多,但穿上不知从哪个同学那里借来的一身西装,马上就手足无措,连脚步也迈不开,更不必说摆各种姿势了。我的缺点一向是不善表演。这在二十余年后我国经历的一段非常时期中对我非常不利。应该欢呼雀跃的时候露不出笑容,该义愤填磨的时候又不能做怒发冲冠状,这就活该倒霉了。
杨孔娴和另一位女生萧绿石是和我同时在永兴报到入学的,她俩是当年外文系与我同年级的唯一两位女性。开始很长一段时间我同这两人只保持着不即不离的同学关系,后来相处日久,我才发现,这两位原来也是 “才女”,不仅爱好文学,看书很多,而且课余也写散文、短诗。杨笔名叫卡斌,萧笔名消逝,是萧绿石的谐音。这两位女性脸皮薄,不好意思把自己的写作向外公开,所以知道的人不多。到遵义以后,外文系有一位从浙江龙泉转来的写诗的学生杜念绍。我们四人凑在一起,经常单独聚会研讨新诗写作,就成立了一个诗社,杜建议叫黎明社,显示我们的朝气。当时还油印过两三本薄薄的册子。后来我参军离开学校,抗战胜利后复员归来,油印小册子在杜念绍一人操持下已经发展成一本铅印刊物,而且流传到当时后方好几所学校的文学青年手中。我译的一首爱尔兰诗人叶芝的诗一—“当你年老、发白、睡思昏沉,在炉火边打盹⋯⋯”也刊登在上面。我在永兴一度关系密切、转学重庆的女友估计就是看到我的译诗才又写信来同我联系的。杜念绍重听,与人交谈困难,但也正因为他两耳不闻窗外事,一心向诗神缪斯求教,才写得一手好诗。
自1944 年夏六七月开始,美国海军展开强势反攻,日寇因在 太平洋战争中连连失利,与南洋的诸多古领区联系日趋困难,6 月初在侵华战场发动了湘北攻势,急欲在旱路打通一条南北通道。 国民党政府军队无力抵抗,在短短几个月内,连失名城,军队南 溃五六百公里。到了11月,桂林、柳州失守,月底,日军先头部 队已人侵贵州。12 月初,独山陷落,贵阳发发可危。这时,贵州 大学和浙江大学先后停课。浙大在校务会议上,有人主张疏散人 川,但更多人赞成留守当地,在黔北山区打游击。形势紧急,国 民党政府甚至在做迁都西康准备。传说蒋经国已奉命至西康部署。 9月,蒋介石在国民参政会号召:“国难严重,爱国青年应该投笔 从戎,执干戈以卫社稷。”又提出“一寸山河一寸血,十万青年十 万军”的壮烈口号,宣传大反攻将以青年军为主力、接受美国援 华的新式武器,经过三个月训练,开赴前线,收复失地。
在中国正处于生死存亡关头,蒋的号召甚至在一些高等院校 的学生中,也得到不少响应。特别是像我这种家乡已经沦人敌手, 冒着生命危险奔赴大后方的人,原来就是来参加抗战的,如今敌 人更侵人内地,连一张摆书桌的空间也要失去,与其等到敌人打 来再去打游击,真还不如穿上军装,到前方战场与敌人拼个你死 我活呢。就这样,没有太多的犹豫和思考,很多人都下决心报名 参军了。我也是其中一名报名者。但在离开学校去四川部队受训 前,自然也有另外一种声音传到我的耳中来,那是一种谨慎的、 暗中带有某种警告意味的声音。那声音说:蒋介石此举其实是在 树植个人势力,准备在抗战胜利后与共产党抗衡,争夺中国的领 导权。只可惜这种声音在国难临头、几乎人人处于亢奋与忧惧的 当口发出来,而且讲得不够清晰,对我这种思想尚在混沌状态中 的人,更难明白话中的大道理。当然了,也许先知先觉的人根本 就没想对我提出任何警戒。从在永兴起,我就认识一位哥们儿, 一位小同乡。后来知道他是南方局派来学校的地下工作者。可能 在他眼中,我是个只懂吟风弄月的纨绔子弟,不配和他坐以论道, 所以就索性让我到反面教员那里去接受教育去了。这也好,后来 我逐渐明白些事理,确实都是受了现实教育的结果。但这已是后 话,这里先不说。
我是这年11月14日在遵义浙大报的名。同我一起报名的还 有我的两位好友,机械系的韩有邦和土木系的张澄亚。他们两人 一个老家在徐州,一个在江阴,都早已沦陷。我们三个人,另外 还有一位在永兴读过浙大先修班的北平老乡沈正衡,那几年总是 摽在一起。就是在青年军,后来又考取军事委员会外事局,派往 昆明受训准备当译员,也一直没有分开。虽然由于美国投掷原子 弹,苏联红军出兵满洲,目本无条件投降,我们都没有轮到上前 线作战的机会,但我们始终是生死伙伴。1946 年浙大复员以后, 我同韩、张分开了。从此天各一方,一直无缘相聚。前两三年, 他们两人先后走完人生旅途,奔往另一神仙世界,走时都没想到 拉我一把,就不辞而别了。
根据当时记载,自当年10月起,前线吃紧,政府即派遣援军从四川、陕西等地源源不断南下。遵义是南行必经的通道,浙大师生积极开展劳军活动。遵义市内要道丁字口设有一个献金台,浙大同学轮流值班,接受市民募捐,并向过境国军捐献慰问品。戏剧班的学生积极参加劳军活动,并抓空排练了一出话剧《人约黄昏后》,为部队慰问演出。男女主角分别由外文系潘维白萧绿石扮演。
既然谈到潘维白,我就再啰唆几句,介绍一下我这位品学兼 优、多才多艺的外文系学长。潘比我大概长一两岁,同上文谈到 的汪、薄两人同班,我同他后来一起参加青年军,又一起赴昆明 当译员。在青年军里,他是合唱团指挥,带领几十人的乐团高唱 抗战歌曲,在译员训练班他是篮球队健将,同另外几名健儿奋战 美军篮球队,为国人争光。大学毕业后,他在高校从事英语教学, 钻研古英语,成为这方面专家。可惜同大多数单纯、幼稚的知识 分子命运相同,50 年代遭受无中生有的打击,罚去农场劳改,度 过一段血泪生活。“文革”结束后,他重返讲坛,曾写诗明志: “愿将蜡炬春蚕意,换取清清维凤声。”两年前一个冬天,我突然 接到他打到家里的电话,原来他退休后,费了一番力量已经把户 口从遥远的边陲迁来北京。我们约定几天后再找几位老校友聚会 一次,共忆往昔峥嵘岁月。可惜还没等到聚会,他老兄就遽然离 去,想来天国那边已有人等着听他讲授古英语呢。
在戏剧班的一些活动中还有一件事值得记述。由于日寇逼近 桂林,原来滞留该地的文化人(不少是从香港撤回的)纷纷避难 北上。这些人经过遵义,有人略作停留,也有人匆匆赶赴陪都重 庆。还有极个别的人觉得遵义人杰地灵,文化气息浓厚,便有了 长期居留的意愿。张君川老师不仅在文化界小有名气,而且同很 多人是旧交。他总是拉着过境客不放,请他们到戏剧班来给学生 讲点什么,或者讲文学艺术,或者介绍时局和形势,让我们这些 长期处于闭塞环境中的年轻人长些见识。在他请来讲话的人中, 有一个人是我国当代著名戏剧家熊佛西。张君川老师请他来分析 介绍罗曼•罗兰的名剧《爱与死的搏斗》,张老师有意以后在遵义 上演此刷。那一天正赶上我值班劳军或者做别的事,没有赶上参 加这次座谈。另一位请到戏刷班的名人是我很喜欢的作家端木蕻 良。日寇占领东北成立伪满洲国后继续向绥远、内蒙古一带扩张 势力,端木当时正在清华大学读书,愤而投笔从戎。他和几个同 学到绥远投人孙殿英的骑兵部队,准备同日寇一搏。但是他们几 个“学生兵”并没有捞到上战场杀敌的机会,倒是常常骑马在草 原上奔驰,练就了精湛的骑术。端木蕻良在部队里待了三个月就 打道回府了。这以后,他并未在清华复学,不久就去了上海,专 心从事写作。他是我非常心仪的一位作家。我在北平读书的时候 就读过他写的长篇小说《科尔沁旗草原》。当时这本书刚出版不 久,就在爱国青年中风行一时。后来我又看了他写的一些短篇。 《遥远的风沙》是他在绥远参军后写的一个名篇。张老师这次能把 这位大作家请到戏剧班和我们座谈,叫我非常高兴。座谈结束后, 大家自由发言。端木答应我们他愿意回答任何有关文学和创作的 问题。我记得我曾问他,在颠沛流离的日子,一个人无法携带很 多家私,但书还是要带的。爱好文学的人随身应该带几本什么书。 端木没有具体说什么书最好,他只是说,看什么书主要还是依据 个人兴趣。值得反复阅读的大概还是那些经典著作和诗词。《红楼 梦》《聊斋志异》、唐诗、宋词等等。我曾读过端木用现代小说笔 法演义而成的几篇红楼梦故事,刊登在当时桂林出版的一本文学 刊物上,写得确实很好。新中国成立后,他又创作了《曹雪芹 传》,看来端木是极其喜爱《红楼梦》的。不过我怀疑在烽火连天 的战争岁月,有谁的行囊中总带着这样一部大部头书籍。他又说, 懂一点儿外文的当然也可以带一两本外文书,甚至带本外语词典。 端木还说了一个故事,西南联大有一名学生,抗战期间从长沙步 行去昆明。随身只带着一本英文字典,每天背若干英文单词。一 路走来,背会一页单词就撕毁一页,就这样在他走到昆明以后, 一本字典已经撕完,但是他已经把里面的词汇全都记在脑子里了。 端木讲的这件事实有其人,那人就是我国著名的诗人和翻译家查 良铮(笔名穆旦)。这是若干年后我热衷阅读查译普希金抒情诗 时,出版社一位老编辑告诉我的。我在后方东奔西跑,因为生活 不稳定,所以一直不肯用功,时间虚掷,叫我深感愧悔。见到这 位我倾慕的作家后,我曾记下他给我的印象:“身材高大、长方 脸、高颧骨、五官楼角分明。穿一件半旧的方格西服上身,外套 灰布短大衣。与人谈话时笑声朗朗,让人感到亲切”。总的来说, 他的既落拓不羁、又豪近飒爽的姿态,正是我心目中一位带有某 些浪漫情调的年轻作家形象。当时知道一点文坛内幕的人都在议 论端木与萧红婚变的事。但在座谈会上,却没有人敢提这个问题。
1945年1月,青年军 201 至 207六个师正式成立,分驻四川 不同县份。3月又在江西成立了 208 和209 师。浙江大学入伍的学 生,根据丝可桢日记及个别同学记载共九十四人,加上浙大附中 及另外几个与浙大有关系的青年,参军总数超过一百。这些人于 1944 年年底,次年年初陆续到四川禁江 202师报到,编人驻在綦 江三溪镇的 604 团战炮营,在进行短期人伍培训后,再分人不同 兵种。入伍后除分发了新军服,每天起床集合,在操场听训话, 做些徒手操练外,军营生活并不紧张。倒是当时已临近旧历新年, 部队正准备过年。除了写标语、出壁报外,还预备搭一座戏台演 出节目。士兵们有时被命令到乡间去砍竹、伐树,准备搭舞台的 建筑材料,这倒给我们一个远足的机会。一年半以前,我初次人 川,搭乘一艘小机轮沿嘉陵江南下,四川农村的田园风光令我心 醉。现在终于有机会进一步欣赏这里的优美景色了。如果以前是 从远处观赏一幅画,现在却已是走入画中。可惜同美景一同收人 眼帘的还有令人心酸的四川农民的悲惨处境。我们从一家农舍砍 倒两粿竹子,正在往外拖,一个白发老太婆哭哭啼啼拉着我们军 服不放。我们砍走的是她们一家的命根子啊!最后还是我们几个 大兵掏腰包自己凑了些钱塞到老婆婆手里,才略觉心安一些。 准备新春演出,我最高兴的是练习大合唱。我们高唱抗战歌 曲:《松花江上》《八百壮士》《中国不会亡》《大刀向鬼子头上砍 去》。也唱一些老歌:《满江红》《白日登山望烽火》⋯随着嘹亮 的歌声在溪谷中荡漾,我们一些游子胸中的郁结也发泄出来。虽 然还没有置身战场,却已经热血沸腾了。合唱团的成员几乎清一 色是浙大学生,指挥就是外文系那位天才文艺家潘维白。他不只 精通音乐,还有一副好嗓子。在遵义读书的时候,有一次戏剧班 在播声电影院公开演出一出话剧,大幕开启前,潘维白在幕后引 吭高歌一首英文名曲,使全场震动。
新兵集结的战炮连营房在三溪电化冶炼厂(那里还有几位浙 大早期毕业的校友)对岸山上。一月的三溪已是隆冬季节,早上 到营房山下溪水中洗脸,冰冷浸骨。然后回来吃早饭,略事休息, 就开始一天的活动。
战炮连营房下瞰三江。江上有一座木桥,虽然建造了没有多 久。我们住进营盘时却已未老先衰,桥身明显下沉,只能通行人, 不能再承担过往车辆了。过了桥,就是古旧的三溪镇,唯一一条 主街沿江而建,呈弧形。镇上只有几家茶馆和小餐馆,供农民购 买日用品的杂货店和三两家小旅舍。倒是每逢三六九赶集的日子, 狭窄的街道总是挤满用白毛巾裹头的农民,熙来攘往,一片繁忙 景象。我们在营房里每天的日课是七小时以上的操练和掘战壕等 体力劳动。连里偶尔抽调几名士兵(多半是浙大从军学生)到镇 上巡逻是我们企望得到的美差。原来青年军师部接获情报,有个 别四川当地的“兵油子”混进青年军,一旦五千元法币安家费拿 到手,穿上军装以后,就偷偷溜进某个小城镇,把军服脱下卖掉, 然后再重新人伍骗钱。战炮连派人到镇上巡逻就是检查到镇上去 的土兵,有没有上级颁发的通行证。我也有两次被选派当了大半 天巡逻兵。同三两个同伴装模作样地在街上兜一个来回,就找了 一家茶馆,泡上一杯沱茶,一边望街景,一边摆龙门阵。在四川 生活,泡茶馆实在是一种享受。我走遍大半个中国,在任何地方 也没有像在四川看到那么多茶馆。从在重庆沙坪坝,我就已经养 成在茶馆消磨时间的习惯。参军以后,旧习难改,仍然抓空(比 如派到外面出公差)坐两三个钟头茶馆。
春节到了,我们自然松散了两天。翻看我当年的记载,除夕 下午军中举行庆祝会,士兵们早有准备,上台表演了几个节目。 晚餐非常丰富,有鸡有肉,还破例喝了几口酒。平日吃饭的时候 总要喊的“立正、稍息、开动”一套口号也免了。大家都争着嬉 笑、喧哗,把一切烦恼事暂时抛在脑后。晚饭后,有人留在营房 里写信、聊天,也有些人簇拥着到镇上去消磨时间。根据四川人 的风俗习惯,过年要吃汤圆,镇上的三四家甜食店家家挤满顾客。 这个晚上我同韩、张等几个好友,在镇上找到一家北方老乡开的 馆子,吃了一盘水饺。之后又买了不少花炮,一边走一边放,身 后跟了一大堆孩子。我们给了两个穿新衣服的小女孩一大把旗火 (一种带一根苇秆儿的小火炮,点燃后可以钻到半天空上,当地人 叫火龙)。这两人说普通话,原来她俩是南京人,父母都在冶炼厂 工作。走到大木桥的时候,我叫大家每人擎着一支旗火,口喊

  • 一、二、三”,一齐点放,姜时,一条条火龙飞上天。只可惜火

药燃烧的时间过短,片时的光焰,片时的兴奋和欢乐,很快又都 包围在暗夜里。这就是我流浪到大后方过的一次除夕夜。
春节过后,军营中有两件大事值得一记。一件是从军人员分 科,根据个人填写的志愿,分到不同兵种。我大致记得浙大学生 分别分配到工兵营(原来浙大土木系的几个同学分去)、通信营 (电机系的同学)、山炮二营(即迫击炮营)、师直属连、辎重连和 搜索连几个单位。我同几个要好的同伴不愿分开,被分到搜索连。 我们原来填写志愿填的是辎重连,因为我们梦想从印度各驾一辆 载重卡车回来,不仅学到驾驶、修车技术(战后如不读书,也会 有吃饭的饭碗),而且能到境外游历一番,长长见识。但是后来因 为报名学车的人多,所以把一部分人分到了搜索连。搜索连在作 战时是尖兵,需要侦察探路,危险性较大。但我们参军既然抱着 “为国捐躯”的志愿,危险不危险也就不计较了。四个月以后我和 一部分同学离开青年军,考取翻译,也不是因为怕去前线打仗, 而是国民党最初应许的诺言并未兑现。什么在青年军训练使用新 式武器啊,三个月开赴前线啊,都是空炮。继续待在青年军,只 是时光虚掷,具好另寻出路了。搜索连与辎重连营盘相连,我们 在辎重连的操练场地还看到停着一辆十轮卡车,士兵轮流实习驾 驶掌鴕。而在搜素连,两三个月过去,只进行过两次真枪实弹打 靶。还有一次旁观别人拆卸一挺轻机枪,我们士兵却根本无缘插 手。促使我们离开青年军的另一重要原因是,在军中几个月,我 们逐渐认识到,国民党把这支精锐当作自己私产,即使最初还没 有以之投入内战战场的明确想法,至少也是想扩大自己的势力①。 这从我们在军中亲身经历的一些事中都可以清楚看到。2月 底,202 师举行人伍典礼,师长罗泽恺(亦作阁)出席,给全师 官兵讲话。罗是黄埔军校第六期毕业生,已提升为中将。蒋介石 为表示对青年军重视,要他降格当青年军师长。罗在大会上的发 言,不仅笑话百出,充分表现他的无知,而且并不掩饰他的反共 立场。罗吹嘘自己在西北多年(他曾任胡宗南一战区参谋长),对 共产党了如指掌。说时还做了个手势,意为共产党掌握在他手心 里。罗泽恺的发言有很多毫无水平的话。譬如说他把那天的入伍 典礼比作三国刘关张的桃园三结义。又说年轻人在军中应如何注 意“阴阳调和”,将来反攻武汉收复失地后,可以放假三天。这些 ① 根据江南著《蒋经国传》,蒋介石于1944年10月下令成立“青年军政工 人员训练班”,委任蒋经国为中将主任。训练班第一期学员华业后,蒋又宣布成立 “青年军总政治部”,蒋经国任主任。“政工即是首脑,蒋经国等于掌握了全军灵 魂⋯他已是实际上的统帅。”可见蒋介石成立青年军是为壮大自己力量,建立一 支”蒋家军•。关手青年军參战问题,江南说。“(青年军)延长训练,群先生有私 心。他曾说,经国的嫡系部队,不到牺牲关头,绝不轻言牺牲⋯⋯”1946年6月, 迫于事先曾经许诺,第一期招募的青年军只得复员(复员前还进行了三个月的预 备军官训练),但在1947 年7月,庐山会议即决定重招新兵。根据《近代中国百年 史辞典》记载:这次招募新兵缩编成七个师,先后投入内战。207 师派往东北战 场,在辽沈战役中被全歼。206师1948 年在洛阳被全歼。205 师及其余四个师残劑 撤往台湾。可见1944 年冬成立青年军是用以同共产党争青年、争人心。
无耻言语让我们从高等学府出来的人听着实在不堪入耳。最后引 起大学生士兵和这位师长发生公开冲突的是有一名浙大学生当场 质问他,青年军究竟是“国军”还是“党军”。罗大怒,指着军帽 上青天白日帽徽说,这是什么?你们头上不都戴着党徽吗?一时 台下大哗,不断有人高喊:我们来当兵,是为了打日本,保卫国 家,不是为了党。罗泽恺非常尴尬,词穷而退。会后,同学仍然 十分激动。这场纠纷最后是由政治部派来一位副主任,对参军学 生讲了一通和稀泥的话,并明确表示,政府不会叫青年军去打内 战,事情才算平息下去。
谁也没有想到,这次“党军”“国军”之争竟触动青年军 202 师中反共成性的高官神经。他们秘密商谈,阴谋报复。一个月后, 山炮二营四连,就发生了浙大参军同学李家镐、易钟熙等五人被 秘密逮捕事件。
这五人被逮捕的时间,大约在3月底。消息传出后,同学义 愤填膺。部分同学立刻开会抗议,决定一方面派代表去重庆找训 练总监罗卓英和政治部主任蒋经国交涉,一方面迅速把这件事向 校长竺可桢汇报,请他出面与军方交涉迅速放人。丝可桢当时正 在重庆开会,并为浙大失踪教授费巩奔走。听到这个消息后,于 4月中旬到綦江面见罗泽恺,要求释放被捕学生。罗开始搪塞说, 这件事可能是下面人所为,自己并不知情。后来不能再为自己开 脱,只能承认拘人是不对的,他会查明办理。这件事前后经过竺 可桢校长在他的日记中都有记载。被捕的五个人于5月获释。但 其后不久,战炮连余红基、熊易生两位同学又因出墙报刊登了 “言辞不妥”的文章被关禁闭。熊后来因精神失常由家人接走,余 据说直到9月才被释放。在这几个被捕同学中熊易生和李家镐后 来同我关系都很密切。熊在抗战胜利后到了北京,和我都是北京 大学进步学生社团呐喊社成员。新中国成立后在育才学校当教员。 李家镐同我一样,从青年军考取军事委员会译员,后来在跳伞部 队工作。“文革”后任上海石化总厂厂长,曾任上海市人大常委会 副主任,可惜在我写这篇文章时,两人都已弃离人世了。
1945年从1月到5月中下旬我在青年军服役近五个月,级别 一直是二等兵。编人搜索连后,因为个子高,列队时站在队首, 所以被连长指定当连属六个班中的某班班长。班长的职责包括早 晨起床检查内务,看看士兵的被褥是否折叠整齐,要叠成豆腐干 形才合格,列队时点名,喊立正、稍息口号,向连长报告。唯一 的“特权”是有时出勤务,可以领几名部下走出营房,外出执行 某项公差,趁机换换环境。连长隔一两周会把全连班长(我记得 共六人,都是浙大参军同学)召到他的住所,同我们谈些“知心 话”。譬如说,不久师里要对全体士兵进行一次笔头测验,考查文 化水平。他会在事前泄露两三个题目,希望搜索连在考试中,与 其他连队评比时名列前茅,为他脸上增光。连长姓名我不记得了, 他年纪不大,从军前曾在北平志成中学读过书,自认与我们从军 同学同属知识阶层。他说话没什么顾忌,常常发表一些过头的甚 至荒唐言论,什么胜利后,青年军要驻日本本土啊,等等。蔡江 县城里有从下江来的母女两人开了个猪油菜饭馆。母亲已经徐娘 半老,女儿倒还年轻。“这两人行迹有些可疑,会不会是敌人派来 刺探军情的呢?”到底是我们的连长警觉性高。他告诉我们,他正 着手侦察。连长这一席话,引起不少士兵兴趣。我也同两个伙伴 趁周日休假,去禁江县城吃了顿猪油菜饭。我们发现,开餐馆的 “菜饭小姐”也不是什么出众的美女,只不过来自沿海地带,衣服 穿得时髦一点,讲话也带着明显江浙口音而已。据连里同伴说, 最近确实有人看到连长频繁出人这家餐馆。看来他已对这母女两 人下功夫。不过他扬言开餐馆的女人可能是间谍却没人相信。事 实是,人伍以后,我们经常听到“首长”们讲一些荒唐话,大家 多半一笑置之,只是叫我们日益对青年军失望,感到这些带兵的 人实在不是称职的军人而已。
近三个多月过去,新式武器连影子也未见到,开赴前线更是 遥遥无期。再加上李家镐等同学被捕,暴露了军中思想专制。另 外,我们还听过从小道传来的消息,蒋介石曾经放过话:训练期 满还要延长,经国的嫡系部队(指青年军)不到最后关头,绝不 轻言牺牲。这就更加使我们寒心,不禁怀疑,到青年军人伍是不 是抗日救国之道。要是真想上战场杀敌,一定还有别的道路可走, 我们难道一定要在这里死熬吗?这种思想在我们参军的大学生中 逐渐滋生、蔓延,个别思想激进的人甚至提出浙大同学可以考虑 “集体退伍”。这当然并不现实。办了正式人伍手续,穿上军服, 就很难再换回早已丢弃了的老百姓的衣服了。知识青年参军,一 切都在众目睽睽地注视下,我们已经迈开步子不可能再退缩回 去了。
我和两三个要好的伙伴,不断议论这件事。当然了,我们议 论不出什么更好的“自救之路”,唯一能做到的只能等待。时间会 改变一切。在青年军没有发生什么大的变化前,我们要争取到一 点自由空间,多看几本书充实自己,尽量不要荒废在大学学到的 一点知识。我为自己想了两个办法逃避军中的机械生活。我得到 连长同意,同三两个同伴为连里编写墙报,每十天出版一期,写 稿、抄录、张贴,减少了我不少出操的劳役。另外,我和一个爱 读书的安徽小青年约好,每天清晨早起一个半小时,点一盏油灯, 在饭厅里用功看一点书。如果可能,我还要争取写一点随笔、日 记类的小文章。同我一起起早读书的小友姓表,家在徐州,家乡 早已沦陷。他跟随做小生意的父亲逃来内地,勉强读完中学,无 力升学,就参加了青年军。裴几次表示要我教他英语,他说把英 语学好,抗战胜利后起码能在学校教书混碗饭吃。我告诉他,学 一门外语,必须长期坚持不懈。我不能保证我能在青年军里待多 久。我说我可以帮助他学好国际音标,他今后可以自学。我还给 他讲了那个西南联大学生一路走一路背英语词典的故事。裴同意 我的办法,很快他就托人从重庆弄来一本用国际音标注音的英语 词典。我同表的早读计划进行了一个多月,虽然因睡眠少白天有 些困倦,但我们一直坚持下来。 5月初来了一个好消息。第二次世界大战欧洲战场这时胜利 结束,美军把反攻重点移至远东,加强对中国的军事援助,大批 美军进驻国内,英语译员需求随之大增。军事委员会外事局想方 设法挖掘这方面人才。我们参加青年军的大学生自然是一个丰富 资源,不久师部就接到命令,叫会英语的士兵踊跃报名。5月中, 外事局派来一位考官,到202师下属几个基层进行面试。至今我 还记得当年面试的一些情况。考场就设在我们的饭厅,考官坐在 一张桌子后面,参加考试的人一个个走进考场,坐在对面椅子上 等候考问。我注意到这位考官是个四十来岁的中年人,虽然是文 职官员(级别可能是上校),却穿了一身笔挺的军服,桌子上摆着 他随身带着的一个鼓鼓裝囊的大皮包。我们应试的人自然有些惴 惴不安,不知考试是什么架势。没有想到,考试很容易,搜索连 报名应试的近二十人,大部分都通过了。我记得口试分两部分。 第一部分是十个句子,从中文译为英文,其中一个句子是“从中 国乘船赴欧洲需要一个多月时间”,对一些英语句型不熟悉的人可 能难一些。第二部分是口语问答。考官的一个问题是:“你对今年 三月先政协进会提出要还政于国民大会有何看法?”当时與论正在 争议:是该还政于各党派联合大会还是还政于国民党一手操纵的 国民大会。我心想:这可能是考官用以考察我们的思想、立场问 题。我不想明白表示看法,陷入考官设的圈套,就回答说:我现 在最关心的是进行反攻,打败日本鬼子。没有时间考虑国内政治 问题。我的回答得到考官赞许。过后,他对全体应试人总结时说, 如果外国人问你这类棘手问题,你完全可以避而不答。
很快就放榜了,202 师考取译员的共约四十人,乘一辆美制 十轮大卡,被送往重庆。几天后,一架美国空军货机又把我们转 载到昆明,进了西南联大代外事局设立的议员训练班 (Interpreters’ School) 培训,正式取得译员资格。
1945 年5月下旬,一辆十轮大卡车把綦江202 师考取译员训 练班的青年军士兵接往重庆。在重庆市内临江一条街的空房里住 了两三天以后,立刻飞往昆明。那是我第一次乘飞机。一架美军 运输机,机舱里只有两排彼此面对的简易座位。我不记得座位上 安裝着什么安全带,我们随身带的简单行李就放在脚下。飞机从 重庆白市驿机场起飞,估计不到两个小时(我当时还没有手表, 无法知道准确飞行时间)就在昆明星贡机场着陆。我不敢相信这 么短时间自己就已经置身于千里外的另一座城市,但重庆为两江 挟持,机场常常笼罩在迷蒙的雾霭中,而这里的机场不但非常辽 阔,机坪上停着更多飞机,而且碧空如洗,空气清新,虽然已进 人夏季,却凉风习习,一点不感到郁热。译员训练班在市区尽西 端,靠近郊野。有时进城逛街,多走几步路,就可以穿过翠湖, 在长堤上漫步,欣赏一下湖光水色和拂波垂柳。训练班离西南联 合大学不远,训练班除生活、后勤由军委员外事局派了几名下级 军官负责外,教学及行政管理均委托西南联大代办。西南联大社 会学、民族学教授吴泽霖担任译员训练班主任。吴泽霖从事教育 多年,抗战爆发后,赴西南联大任教。由于他同联大关系密切, 译员训练班历届授课教师,除一部分直接聘请美国军中人员担任 外,几乎清一色都是联大教员。我是第八期译员训练班学员,时 间大约是 1945 年6一7月(训练期为六周,我与一部分学员提前 结业)。我们上课有一套40课时的英语教材,主要是日常生活用 语和军事用语。上午上大课,主讲是两个美国人(他们的身份都 是传教士),另一个中国人张上校在课堂上做翻译和解释。下午分 小班上课,练习口语。我不喜欢为我们上口语课的那位中国教员, 他的姓名我忘记了,但记得他上课没有教材,每次选定一个题目, 如国外生活习惯、礼俗、美国的政治,之后便滔滔不绝地信口讲 下去。每节课结束前向学生提问几个问题,算是练习口语。我还 记得有一次他选择的讲题是如何用英文写求职信。我心里想,我 一辈子也不会写这种信,从此对上他的课就毫无兴趣了。我感兴 趣的是,译训班每周都请一位联大老师给全体学生作报告。留在 我记忆中印象最深的,一次是潘光旦来作报告,另一次是费孝通。 当时德国法西斯已经垮台,日本在太平洋战争败局已定,美国轰 炸机开始轰炸日本本土。人们对抗战胜利信心加强,转而思考胜 利后中国的前途问题。联大来译训班作报告的教师或多或少对这 一方面表达了自己的看法。我在青年军参加译员面试时,考官曾 经问我对政府提出召开国民大会有何意见,那正是当前国内有识 之土热议的问题。国民党坚持还政于自己一手操办的国民大会, 而思想进步坚持中国必须走民主道路的人则主张“还政于民,还 军于国”。来作报告的教授都学有专长。当时我对他们的大著,什 么优生学啊、乡土建设啊,都一无所知。但是他们谈到的中国人 口问题,农业发展改善农民生活等问题,都与中国前途息息相关。 我一向耳目闭塞,对现实认识不清。译训班组织的这些报告会开 启了我的脑子,有如呼吸到一股清新空气,朦胧中,引起我对民 主、自由的向往。
在译训班受训的一个多月可以说是从我参军以来最愉快的一 段日子。思想上,视野比以前开阔了;生活上,译训班组织的各 种文娱、体育活动叫人不再感觉日子过得单调。我们喜欢跟一位 美军军士学唱英文歌。他发给每人一本歌集,美国民歌、电影插 曲、“一战”期间军中流行的歌曲,非常丰富。“It’sa long way to Tipperary”(“到蒂珀雷里去是一条漫长的路”,蒂珀雷里是爱尔兰 一个历史上有名的小镇)是派往欧洲大陆作战的英国士兵唱的思 乡曲。歌中还有匹卡底里、菜斯特广场等一些英伦著名的街区名。 我们引吭高歌,不由也勾起自己的思乡之情。译训班也很注意我 们的体育活动。从202师考取译训班的浙大同学,有七八个人都 是篮球健将,刘长庚、潘维白、陈强楚、孔祥玑、沈正衡⋯⋯一 上球场个个有如生龙活虎。每隔三五天译训班的篮球队都同近邻 的美国驻军进行一次友谊赛。美军篮球队员虽然人高马大,交起 锋来有时却也败在译训班球队手里。比赛的时候,我们一些不会 打球的人也都到场助威,为队友加油。在赛场上,双方争夺虽然 激烈,但气氛仍然是友好的。就这样,我们这些未来的译员们还 没有和美军士兵在战场上并肩作战,在日常生活中却已经相互沟 通,建立起友谊了。
到昆明以后,还有一件叫我大喜过望的事,就是几乎每天都 可以看一两场电影。这仍然是沾了我们近邻——一座美国驻军军 营的光。夜幕降临不久,值星官一吹哨,译员很快就排好队,步 行一小段路,走到邻近美军营房中一个篮球场。电影是露天放映 的,银幕设在操场一端,观众分散坐在看台上或者在操场上席地 而坐。放映的电影大多是新片,但偶尔也演一些老片,我在北平 就已经看过,像《悲惨世界》《纽约奇谭》(Tales from Manhat- tan)等等。美国大兵似乎对这类文艺片不感兴趣,喜欢看的是歌 舞片、喜刷片。一看到银幕上美女大腿如林,就又是呼哨,又是 喊叫。滑稽逗笑的影片也受欢迎。胖哈代、瘦劳瑞一对活宝和马 克斯三兄弟那时似乎已经过时。有点冷幽默的滑稽新星鲍勃•霍 普①和以唱流行歌曲闻名的宾•克罗斯比②当时正在走红。这两位 大腕曾合作拍摄了一系列显示世界各地风光的喜刷片,如《通向 缅甸之路》《通向新加坡之路》等,大受人们欢迎。
我在昆明从军时爱看电影,另一重要原因是,每次放映某一 影片,开始时都有很长一段时事新闻节目。看到美国海军、空军 在太平洋上击沉日本军舰,或者美国海军陆战队强行在某一海岛 登陆,日本守军被歼,大快人心。中国多年受日本欺凌、屈辱, 现在终于可以扬眉吐气了。
昆明另外一个吸引我的地方就是到市区地推上淘书。由于大 批美军拥人,随之也有大量英文书流进中国。这些书有的是消闲 读物,也有不少有价值的文学和经典著作。美军看完了,一旦驻 地换防,就随手抛弃,流落到地摊上,售价极低,几与废纸相等。 ① 鲍勃,霍普,英国出生的美国喜剧和电影演员,1944 年电台广播节目收 听率最高。第二次世界大战以及以后美国对越南作战,他曾多次为军队巡回演出, 获得美国国会荣誉勋章。中国人熱知的美国喜剧片《出水芙蓉》就是他主演的。 ② 宾•克罗斯比,美国有名歌星和歌曲作者,享有国际南誉,常与黑人小号 手阿姆斯特朗共同演出爵士歌曲。早年录制的唱片《白色的圣诞节》为 20 世纪最 流行歌曲之一。
我每次进城,总要到金马碧鸡坊一带逛地摊,选一些值得收藏的 带回住所。战时美国军中版的口袋书同现在的口袋书式样不同。 这种书是长条横开本,书页从中间用书钉固定,不用胶粘,所以 书页不易脱落。军中口袋书按内容分大小厚薄两种,每二十本合 为一集,包括不同体裁、不同时代的作品。我在昆明待了一个多 月,大概买了三四十本,我记得名字的有美国梅尔维尔写的《白 鲸记》、爱伦.坡的短篇小说集、狄更斯的《远大前程》和几本诗 集。至今恐怕仍有三两本夹在我的乱书堆里。
在译训班上了一个月课以后,经过一次考试,一部分成绩优秀 的学生提前毕业,转到一处叫“派遣站”(Interpreters’ Pool) 的营 地等待分配。派造站设在西郊黑林铺,后来是否迁到北校场我不 记得了。在派造站里,生活更加轻松。除了上午有一个美国军人 给大家上上操,按照一本教材学一些军事用语和武器零件名称外, 就没有别的事干了。我们从青年军考取来的浙大同学几乎全体都 提前毕业到派遣站等待分配工作。下午没有事不是进城闲逛就是 去游览昆明郊区的一些名胜。大观楼、黑龙潭、铜瓦寺(又称金 殿),这些地方我们在一周内几乎都走遍了。黑林铺派遣站留给我 的最佳印象是那里的伙食。宣威火腿炒饭大米略带黏性,火腿油 而不膩,至今我仍念念不忘。可惜这种神仙生活我过得很短,刚 刚过了一两个礼拜,就有人相中我,把我接走了。
那是一个周一,我们集队操练后,一个美国军官把我们十几 个从青年军考取的译员召集到另一处,对我们说,有一个参加实 际作战的单位需要受过军事训练、英语水平较高的译员,我们愿 意不愿意做这项工作。如果愿意可以同他们派来的人面谈。我是 愿意做这项工作的译员之一。来人同我单独谈了一刻钟话。他首 先告诉我,他供职的军事单位任务是到敌后进行破坏活动,工作 有一定危险性。我对他说,我原来在大学读书,放弃学习出来当 兵就是要参加战斗。他详细询问了我的一些情况:有没有作战经 验?受过哪些军事训练?掌握了什么技术等。看来他对我还算满 意。告诉我他可以录取我参加他的单位。我需要先经过一个时期 训练,爆破、通讯、使用新式作战武器,必要时还要练习跳伞。 后来我知道,我要参加的单位是美国战略战策作战部 (Office of Strategic Services,或译作美军战略服务局)Q。这一作战机构,成 立于1942 年7月,专事破坏敌占区内机场、铁路、弹药库等军事 设施。战略战策作战部下分两个部分,一部称“行动组”(Opera- tion Group,即伞兵部队,对外称鸿翔部队),另一部称“特别行 动组”(Special Operations)。与我一同参加 OSS 的浙江大学同学 有陈强楚、刘长庚、李家镐等人都分到行动组(O.G.)。我则被 分配到特别行动组(S.0.)中去。鸿翔部队训练跳伞的空场离派 遣站不远(可能在岗头村,我记不清了),我们在派遣站等候分配 时,就能看到远处伞兵做跳伞练习。据参加跳伞队的译员说,他 们自称“突击总队”,总队下辖四个大队(一说二十个大队),庄 美国人进行训练。 ① OSS建立后在中国战场进行的敌后破坏行动,见诸记载的、有下列几项: 一、0.G.行动 1945 年7月12日,180名中国伞兵及美国顾问自昆明呈贡机 场飞往广东开平县巷城镇空降着陆,进行游击战,袋扰海南岛日军北撤行动。7月 18日伞兵500余人空降广西丹竹,与地面部队配合,攻占当地日军机场。另一次 在7月27日,100 余名伞兵空降衡阳西洪罗庙一带,与当地游击队配合装击日军 车队及据点。以上行动均由O.G.组美军顾问指导(资料见台湾1995年5月15日 期刊《万象系列》)。 二、S.O.行动 1945年8月9日塞尔Cyr 少校领导行动小组与中国军队配合 执行“猎犬行动”,炸毁河南开封黄河铁桥,破坏日军一列运载军火火车。日军宣 布投降前两日,展开“悲悯行动”(Mercy Mission)。成立八个小组乘陈纳德飞虎 队飞机奔赴日军在占领区建立的集中营救援盟军战俘(资料见“维基百科英语网” 和《OSS在中国》一书)。
我参加的特别行动组训练营地在开远,在云南省东南部,距 昆明约两百余公里。我在昆明市 OSS 总部报到,领取美军卡其军 服和蚊帐、水壶、饭盒、手电筒等生活用品后,隔日又拿到一张 去开远的火车票,就同三四个美国大兵一起乘坐火车驶往开远, 这是我在内地第一次乘坐火车。滇越路是一条窄轨铁路,原为法 国人在1910 年兴建。抗战军兴,云南与沿海省份万里相隔,交通 非常不便。在香港沦入日本人之手前,从江浙和沿海一带去内地 的人,不少先从香港乘海轮到河内,再转乘火车北上。1942 年中 国把滇越铁路收回,自己经营,但铁路上的机车、客车车厢和其 他设施都是原先遗留下的旧物,一切都未改变。我在车厢里甚至 还发现不少用法语拼写的标志。 乘上狭窄的车厢,像是搭上一列玩具火车,第一个感觉是极 不舒适,座椅与座椅之间的空隙非常狭小,很难把腿伸开。听说 有的车厢根本没有座位,行李随便堆放,乘客席地而坐。真难为 了与我同行的四个美国人。我同他们有一搭无一搭地闲聊。从谈 话中我了解到,开远的营盘既是训练场地,也是S.Q.成员的驻扎 基地。和我一起去开远的美国人有两个刚刚执行完一项任务,现 在回基地休息。他们没有讲到什么地方去过,我当然也不便问。 一个年轻的通信兵是第一次来中国,无论看见什么(水牛耕田、 妇女用背篓背着幼儿)都觉得新鲜,不断向我问长问短。这人有 个德文名字 Hirschwal(直译作麇鹿树林),一听就是个德国姓氏。 我问了问,他果然是德裔犹太移民后代,不过他的德文早已忘光。 这个年轻人后来同我分到一个战斗组,如果日本晚投降几天,我 俩还真会成了同生死共患难的战友了呢。
我去的训练基地在开远西郊,距县城大约七八里路。这是依 傍着一条大河的一块开阔地,上面除了用作办公室、教室、饭厅、 食堂和仓库用的几幢简易建筑物外,还搭起两排账篷,供基地工 作人员住宿(为基地服务的中国劳工另有住处)。我到开远以后, 也住进一座帐篷。帐篷里摆着四张行军床,已经有一个中国译员 住在里面。我后来知道,这人姓王,原来是中央大学(战时内迁 重庆)的学生。他已经参加过一次战斗行动,在完成任务后,正 在基地休息。姓王的同伴人很开朗,我跟他很快就熟起来,听他 介绍了 S.Q.的很多情况,包括他参加敌后破坏行动的经历。我到 开远的第二天,有一位美军校官找我谈了一次话。这人是S.O.开 远基地的负责人。他首先说了说我的培训计划:要练习熟练使用 几种武器——手枪、冲锋枪、火箭筒,学会爆破(使用 TNT 炸 药)本领,练习简单收发电报技术,等等。训练时间为四周。四 周后训练期满,就等待命令准备行动了。他把我编进由四名美国 人组成的一个行动小组,今后我将与他们一起上课、打靶或到野 外行军演习。这四个人的名字当时我记在一个小本子里,可惜本 子“文革”中被我的专案组拿去,一直没有归还。我只记得四人 中有一个是和我同来开远的那个年轻通讯兵 Hirschwald,还有一 个叫 Farmer 的中尉。F.是个矮胖的南方人,爱说话,性格开朗。 后来我同他混熟了,问他入伍前做什么,他说:“你没有看见我的 姓吗?Farmer,我以前就是‘农夫’。”他有自己的一个小农场, 养了七八匹马。他给我看了他的家庭照片,老婆和两个胖孩子。 他很想家,常常哼唱《我的家最快乐》这支感伤歌曲。另一个军 人也是中尉,入伍前是中学英语教员。这个人爱看书,不管走到 哪里,衣服口袋里总装着一本军中版的口袋书。我和他谈话不多, 只有一次我发现他正在看一本以中国为背景的小说一《消失的 地平线》。这本书我也看过,讲的是云南的大山中的一个世外桃源 的故事,“香格里拉”一词就来源于这本小说。我跟他议论了几句 这类外国作家笔下的中国,他说他还看过赛珍珠写的小说《大 地》。他认为中国人信奉的“与世无争”、“知足常乐”这些生活信 条很有道理。不过今天到处打仗,恐怕中国人不能再过平和的日 子了。
我在开远接受军事训练,学会使用各种武器,手枪、带望远 镜瞄准的步枪、火箭筒、投掷手榴弹⋯⋯我最不喜欢练习收发电 报,滴滴答答的莫尔斯电报信号总是记不清。我的美国教练发现 我的手指比脚趾还笨,宽慰我说,学不会没关系,我们每个战斗 组都有正式通讯员,你只要学会发 SOS求救就可以了,那可是救 命信号。同美国大兵一起轻松愉快。当头儿的也不端架子,常同 下属开玩笑。有一回去野外作业,中午在外面休息,自己做饭。 他们叫我到附近一个村子里去买些鸡蛋,我已经走了很远,一个 美国人在后面喊,叫我再带回点儿什么,我没有听清,气喘吁吁 地往回走,想问清楚。“农场主”对我大声喊:“快走吧。他跟你 开玩笑呢。他叫你从村子里带一个 blonde(金发女郎)回来。”
我最喜欢的训练项目是野外作业。小组四五个人开一辆吉普 车,在乡下乱跑。经过桥梁、小火车站,看见停在铁轨上的机车, 就研究如何进行爆破。该用多少数量的炸药,如何把炸药固定在爆 破物上,等等。最重要的是,要知道被爆破物的关键部位,什么地 方最脆弱。比如说,要炸毁一辆机车,最好炸它的汽紅。铁路致命 的地方是铁轨转辙器。小组长很想教我们爆炸飞机,可惜开远附近 一带没有机场可以供我们实地研究飞机构造。
有很多次我们乘吉普车外出只是在外面闲荡,“游山玩水”。 有一天下午,我们想不出要去什么地方,我建议到山区少数民族 村落去看看。我听本地人说,离开远市几十里外的山区住有彝族 人。美国人不同意去,他们说路太远,而且路况太坏。我想他们 说得很对,进山后多半无路可走。又有一次,我提议去开远南面 百十里路的个旧。我知道那是中国有名的锡都,锡产量占中国一 半左右。个旧县城保存完好,据说西南联大曾在城里建立过分校。 这次美国人听从了,但是吉普车开到城门口,却被两名美国宪兵 拦住,叫我们掉头离开。因为这一带离国境线不远,越南已为日 军占领,美国军方不允许自己的士兵到处乱跑。我在美国部队期 间,发现他们严守纪律,行动不敢越轨。有一次外出作业,归来 经过开远市街。我因为天天在美军部队食堂吃淡而无味的美国罐 头食品,很想吃一顿中国饭,换换口味,就邀请他们停车同我一 起去一家面馆吃碗面条,我的美国同伴不肯。原来不在市街上吃 中国饭也是美军禁令之一。
在开远受训期间,有一天我住的账篷里又来了一位中国客人, 他告诉我他叫关国华。这是他当时的化名。在以后我们相互交往 的十余年间,我一直叫他这个名字。关比我年长十余岁,原籍辽 宁,曾在日本留学。后来潜入美内,到国统区参加抗日。他在国 民党海军部任职,这次派到S.0. 来是为了观察美国援华新式武 器情况。关为人爽直,与我又是同乡,所以很快就同我无所不谈。 我从离开老家,进了“社会大学”以后,已经受了不少教育。特 别是在国民党青年军入伍几个月,对中国的现状开始有了认识。 在昆明听几位西南联大教授的演讲,对我也有所触动。这次与关 相识,两人随意聊天,他却有意为我分析了国内抗战形势。我逐 渐了解,自从日寇人侵,除国民党部队和一些非嫡系部队在主战 场抗击日军外,广大敌占区还活动着上百万游击队。这是由中国 共产党领导的力量非常雄厚的一支大军,牵扯着敌人不敢大举进 攻重庆。关对我说,我现在参加 S.O. 去敌后进行破坏,很可能 要到共产党打游击的地区,我必须对形势认识清楚。如果同游击 队遭遇,一定同他们搞好关系,枪口一致对外①。
当时我们究竟是初识,有些话关国华说得还不透彻,但是话 里话外,我已明白了他的弦外之音。看来中国存在着两股力量。 眼下大敌当前,双方一致对外。将来把敌人遂出国门.彼此如何 相处,该是一个很严重的问题呢。关国华在开远只停留了五六天 就匆匆离去,但在他走前,我们相互留下通信地址,约定今后保 持联系。1946 年浙大复员回杭州,我路过南京的时候,曾在他的 住所——国民党政府海军宿舍寄住了十来天。他仍旧单身,我在 他的宿舍里打地铺,晚饭后聊天,两人无所不谈。分别已近一年, 我的思想有了很大变化。抗战胜利后,蒋介石坚持一党专政,并 积极准备打内战,引起全国人民公愤。爱国人士闻一多、李公朴 在昆明被暗杀,更加暴露了国民党的反动本质。民主爱国学生运 动在全国院校风起云涌。我复员回浙大后也积极投人各种民主活 动。在与关国华通信中,我不时告诉他我的情况,他也不断寄给 ① 关国华提出一个很有意思的问题。OSS派出的行动小组,如果去的地方是 共军控制地区,与当地游击队遭遇,结果如何?双方是否会协同作战,抑或美方 人员受到钳制?当时我没有政治头脑,对这个问题无从作答。今天重新思考,想 來这应该由 OSS与中国共产党关系好坏来决定。近读 Mao Chun Yu(美国海军学 院副教授)著英文本 OSS in China(耶鲁大学出版社1966年),对此有所阐述。自 太平洋战争爆发后美军为获取更多敌方情报,急欲与延安方面建立联系,另一 方面,共产党也希望得到美国军援。双方几次在延安会晤,商谈 OSS 在游击区建 立情报网以及与共方开展军事合作事宜,1944年11月3日,OSS 高级军官 Joln Paton Davies 和 David Barrett 应邀赴延安,听取叶剑英、周思来提出建议,美军能 否在共方配合下在连云港进行一次欧洲诺曼底式的登陆战,重创日军心腹地带。 12月14日OSS另一高级军官 Willis Bird 又去延安会谈,与中国共产党达成八点军 事合作协议,包括在延安建立特别行动训练学校及为两万五千名游击队员提供武 器装备等。这些会谈决定虽未实现,但是足以说明 OSS与中国共产党的关系一度 是良好的。但在日本投降前几个月,双方关系紧张。1945年5月发生 OUSS 四名美 国人在 Fuping 被共方扣押一事。日寇投降后,OSS成员 John Bircb 在山东半岛共 产党控制区被枪杀。美国OSS 驻华机构干1945 年9月宣布解散。

我上海、南京出版的进步报刊。这次在南京重逢,我同关国华相 处时间较长。他在了解清楚我的思想状况后,向我透露了他的身 份。原来他早已加人共产党,在国民党政府海军部任职只是伪装, 实际上他一直在做地下工作。他劝我回北平后,一定要找到党的 地下组织,积极靠拢。中国是没有第二条出路的。关国华一直留 在南京工作。1946 年底,国其和谈破裂,共产党代表团撒离南 京。又过了一段时间,关的处境多半出了问题,他给我写信,叫 我在北平为他设法从北平进入冀中解放区。我替他把事情办妥了。 1947年秋天(或次年春)关同他的新婚夫人来北京,在我家住了 几天,我介绍他同北平地下党接上头@,平安投奔解放区去了。 新中国成立后,我同他偶尔相互问候,但没有再见面。“文化 大革命”中,关所在的组织(我想是解放军海军大院)先后有两 次来人找我调查关的历史。第一次外调,来人问我问题实事求是, 态度也比较和缓。第二次来外调的人却有如凶神恶煞,恨不得当 场就逼我供认关是“美蒋双料特务’。“你们俩不都给美国情报机 构干过事吗?在云南开远密谋过什么?”我无法把事情跟他们说 清。这几个在红旗下长大、人伍不到几年的“小年轻”对抗战史 和中国历史知道多少?谁能为他们上几堂基础历史课?这两次外 调后来都没有下文,我再没听到关国华的任何消息了。乱世已经 过去,是非颠倒、黑白不分年代留下的团团乱麻有多少还未解开? 我连自己的档案里有什么未解之谜都弄不清,哪里有暇过问别人 的事呢?但话是这样说,有时候想起这位我在云南偶然认识的朋 友,我思想上的启蒙人,一直不与我联系,还是怅然若有所失。 ① 关于新中国成立前我与北平共产党地下组织的关系,我在《出亡记》中有 简单交代,这里不再赘述。我只能祈祷上苍,让他平安渡过“文革”这场浩劫吧!
8月初,这时我在开远受训已近一个月,我所属的行动小组 终于接到执行战斗任务的命令。再过十天,我们将与一连中国部 队配合,潜入日本占领下的越南,破坏某一军事设施。但在投入 战斗前,小组还要携带武器、装备演习一次负重行军。我们需要 熟练在丛林中作战的本领:辦识路径、选择地形以及露营、野炊 等技能。这时我们小组已经又派来一个美国校官任组长。我的同 伴们说,这人原在海军陆战队,在太平洋岛屿争夺战中积有丰富 的战斗经验。这位组长不喜欢在大热的天气里,背着沉重包袱在 丛林中走路。他决定把早地行军改为走水路。我们营盘边上的那 条大河,当地人有的说是红河上游元江的支流。组长想探索一下 这条河通不通红河,能否沿河而下,直达河内。他带领我们砍了 二三十根粗壮的竹子,又弄来裝汽油的直径近半米的空铁桶和一 捆捆铁丝。我们用这些材料制成一只长方形的竹筏,可以负载小 组五六个人同武器设备。我们每人选了一根长竹竿当撑杆。就这 样在一个晴朗的午后,脱下军服,每人只穿背心、短裤,全体登 上竹筏,开始远征。开始一段路,漂流非常顺利,我们把竹筏划 到河流中间,深处最浅也有两米多,可以说畅通无阻。在一两处 河流转弯的地方,水流湍急,竹筏有撞到岸边岩石的危险。我们 都及时用撑杆把筏子从石崖边撑开,没有倾覆。但是大约一个多 小时以后,河水逐渐变浅,经过一个浅滩时,卵石不断摩擦船底。 又走了一段路,遇到更浅的一片河滩,几块大岩石突出水面,竹 後下的铁桶也不断剐蹭大大小小的卵石。耳边只听到卵石同汽油 桶撞击时发出的一片叮叮咚咚的声音。终于,在嘎嘎声响中,捆 绑汽油桶的铁丝有的脱落、有的断裂,两三只汽油桶同竹筏分了 家,我们的水上运输工具搁浅在乱石滩上,一点不向前移动了。 幸好竹筏还被几只汽油桶托住,河水没有完全漫过筏面。我们只 好把筏上的物品一件件搬到岸上,找到一块干燥的坡地,搭起帐 篷,准备宿营。因为找不到正路,第二天身负重担,兜了大半天 圈子,直到黄昏,才狼狈不堪地回到营地。我们总算完成了一次 伟大的行军演习。
休整了两天,马上就要奔赴战场,形势突然发生了变化:日 本宣布无条件投降了。消息是8月 15 日传来的,实际上从8月上 旬起,日本战败就己成定局。8月6号,美国在广岛投下第一颗原 子弹;9号,在长崎又投下另一颗。苏联百万红军在中苏、中蒙 边境9号向日本关东军发动全线进攻。10日下午重庆中央电台就 已经播出日本通过瑞士向盟军乞降的消息。但是直到14日,日本 天皇在皇宫内召开了御前会议,才宣读《停战诏书》,正式宣布无 条件投降。抗战八年,中国军民伤亡三千余万,财产损失巨大, 无法计量,但终于把侵略者逐出国土。举国上下,扬眉吐气,欣 喜若狂。胜利消息传来没过几天,驻在开远的S.O.营地即行撤 离,我参加的战斗组也宣布解散。我随着美国人回到昆明,领到 一笔复员费,回到遵义继续读书。我的抗战梦从此结束。
1948年,国内内战方酣。国民党统治区学生民主爱国运动如 火如茶,我和D都积极投身到学生运动里。两年前,我从内迁贵 州的浙江大学返回故乡北京(当时还叫北平),在辅仁大学复学。 D 是辅仁历史系学生,比我低一年。我们同另外儿个同学组织了 一个读书会,研读进步书刊,讨论爱国学生运动形势,由此相识。 由于思想相投,接触频繁,感情日深。这一年暑假,因为D的家 在外地,受战火阻隔,即迁居到我家里。8月下旬,国民党为了 镇压爱国学生运动,成立了所谓的“特别刑事法庭”,并在报纸上 公布了北平各大院校共约 280余名学生的一份名单,声称这些人 都是“共匪学生”,准备进行大逮捕,D的名字也列人名单中。我 这时已转学到北京大学,尚未受到反动当局注意。D经常在我家, 她是否已被特务追踪?我住的地方特务是否调查清楚?一时尚无 法弄清。但是在我们看到报纸上公布的名单后,便立刻采取了对 策。为防万一,D必须隐蔽起来。离我住家不远的地方有一家私 人开设的医院——鼓楼医院。我同其中一位大夫相识,就把D带 去,假称她身体不适,要住院检查。这种私立医院,以赢利为目 的,对就诊病人,自然来者不拒。把D暂时安顿好以后,我立即 去找几个我深知同共产党地下组织有关系的同学,联系逃往解放 区的路子。
我首先到北大去找施和徐。施是教育系的一位女同学,她同 我及另一位从台湾来北大求学的学生经常会面——可以说是一个 松散的三人学习小组。每次在施的宿舍聚会,或者议论解放战争 发展形势,或者交换个人思想情况。施的年岁稍长,思想成熟, 偶然还会介绍我们阅读解放区出版的文件和小册子。有一次,她 无心又似有意地问我:如果有机会,你是否愿意到一片新天地里 锻炼自己。可惜我当时对书本——或许也对女友过分眷恋,未能 领承她的好意,叫她对我失望。这次我找她,说明来意,她的回 答也叫我感到失望。干革命不一定去解放区,她说。我完全理解 她:她怎么能介绍我带着一个她不知底细的女性,到那神圣的土 地去呢?我又去找徐。徐是我的同班同学,曾介绍我参加了一个 进步的文艺社团,还约我为一份学生刊物撰稿。有一段时间,我 迁人他的宿舍,同住一个寝室,夜间促膝谈心。更重要的一件事 是,我曾把一份国民党特务组织调查的进步学生黑名单转给他, 托他递交给地下组织。这份名单是我同D的一个共同朋友- 个为生计所迫投进国民党警察学校的青年人偷偷抄来的。徐也认 识D,我们曾一起郊游过,因为徐那次摘了不少酸枣,所以D取 笑他,叫他“酸枣”。徐很乐意帮我们的忙,只是因为这时国民党 正在全市进行大速捕,联络受到破坏,所以我们必须等待。徐嘱 咐我,暂时叫D隐蔽一下。
从北大出来,我走到当时位于西安门南面不远的私立华北学 院,在华北学院读书的」是与我和D关系最密切的一位“战友”, 也是我最有把握的通往解放区的一条路子。」的地下党员身份早已 不向我俩保密。就在这一年春天,我的进步思想的启蒙者、一位 多年在白区工作的老同志,就是经我介绍,由」安排投奔到冀中 解放区去的①。我是」在华北学院宿舍的常客。但是这次我去找他 却过于鲁莽一—差一点自投罗网,被国民党反动派的魔爪抓住。」 的两三个同屋看见我走进屋子,个个面露惊惶神色。一个平日我 较熟悉的同学低声说:“你怎么还往这里跑?没听说昨天夜里这里 出事了吗?他们带走了三四十个人。」因为拒捕还挨了打。你赶快 走吧!”我立刻转身出去。快走到校门的时候,发现有两三个身穿 便衣的人在附近徘徊,我进来的时候并没有注意到。我非常镇静 地径直走进校门内一侧的一处公厕,在里面待了两分钟,定了定 神。然后一边系着裤子上的风纪扣,一边从容不迫地从那两个人 旁踱出大门。他们只是侧目看了我一眼,未加阻拦。就这样我平 ① 1945 年6月一7月,我以译员身份,在云南开远随美军援华一支特遣部队 受军事训练,准备空投敌后作战。已潜身国民党海军多年的共产党地下工作者关 国华(当时化名)也被派来研究美军新式武器。是他开导了我,叫我逐渐认识抗 战形梦和国共关系。从此我的思想发生变化,积极投入爱国学生运动,1946 年我 复员北上,经过南京,住在关的海军宿舍,关向我透露了他的身份。我回北京后, 一直与他有联系。1947 年秋(或 1948 年春),关需去解放区,一时与党联系中断, 是经我介绍,」在北京为他安排出走行程的。 安地逃出了鬼门关。
去解放区一时没有希望,在医院避风也不是长久之计,所以 这一天我约D来到景山公园僻静处商讨出路问题。D提出她可以 绕道先回冀东老家,然后设法出山海关,到解放区大连去找一位 女友(就是前文提到的那个在警察学校受训的青年人的姐姐)。我 认为这样走道路险阳。当时国共两军仍在铁路沿线对峙,封锁极 严。我决不放心叫她一个单身女性冒这种风险。想来想去,最后 只有一个办法,到南方江浙一带避避风头。抗战后期,我去浙江 大学上了三年学,有不少志同道合的朋友。战后浙大复员回杭州, 我的同学有不少已经毕业,在江浙一带工作,我同他们中个别人 一直保持着联系,只要找到其中任何一个,就能寻到一个避风港。 但是D不认识这些人,事出仓促,我也无法事先打招呼,我必须 同D一起走。万一到了那边联系不到熟人,我就同 D 暂时过一段 飘零生活吧!从大局看,东方已经显露曙光,反动派的黑暗统治 是维持不了多久的。
日近黄昏,D必须赶回医院,免人生疑。我俩在短短会晤后 又须分手。敌人正虎视耽耽地立在身旁。我同D每一次分开都可 能是长期阔别。这也是为什么我决心同她一起出走的原因。 她在公园外面上了一辆人力车回医院,我则沿着景山东街缓 步向家中走去。这时候一辆美制十轮大卡车从我身边风驰电掣地 驶过去。在匆匆一瞥中,我认出来立在车厢中的十几个青年男女 中有我认识的孙氏姐妹。她俩也是辅大的学生,家在北京。看来 反动派在搜捕完住校学生以后,正把魔掌伸向校外。我同D商定 好计划,必须立刻行动、不能再拖延了。
两天以后,从天津码头驶往上海的招商局致远号轮船上(这 是一艘货轮,但也搭乘了一部分旅客和溃散南逃的国民党士兵) 出现了一对年轻男女乘客。女客烫了头发,身穿一件不太合身的 华丽旗袍,男的身着长衫,提着两件简单行李。在杂沓的人群中 并没有人对这两个人十分注意,因为当时京津一带比较富有的人 正纷纷南下,躲避战火。在海上颠簸了两天两夜后,这两个逃亡 者终于踏上了上海外滩。
从天津码头登轮到次年 5月上海解放,头顶上阴霾廓清,我 和D重返家园,还有不少可以述说的故事,例如在上海阁楼中蛰 伏,在奉化县中两个月执教生活(想一想,“共匪学生”竟然潜伏 到蒋介石的老家教课,真是绝妙的讽刺!)。一个在陶行知创办的 育才学校工作的好友替D在他那里谋得一份教席。一个好心人对 我示警,叫我离开奉化。我丢弃行装潜往上海与D会合⋯⋯这些 故事如果一一写下来又要浪费许多宝贵篇幅。那就留待另一次再 写一篇《出亡记》下篇吧!

As a Student at the National Chekiang University During the War of Resistance

《抗日战争中的浙大学生》中文版:
https://history.ncku1897.net/2017/10/28/214/

As a Student at the National Chekiang University During the War of Resistance
Kan Chia-ming
Chinese Studies in HistoryVolume 14, 1980 – Issue 1
Published Online: 08 Dec 2014 | Views: 1

Abstract
During the War of Resistance against Japan, I was studying at the National Chekiang University. To mention National Chekiang for many seems to bring to mind the beautiful Western Lake, its lovely hills and clear waters, a paradise tapestry of fishing and rice-growing villages. However, during the terrible War of Resistance, as we moved from place to place, National Chekiang matured, becoming not only one among the best known universities in China so that the eminence of her reputation was known far and wide, but even today when her name is mentioned, people all nod their heads and recall that especially during those years of the War of Resistance, to the accompaniment of cannon fire and bursting bombs National Chekiang was brilliant in many ways.

Across a Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Rivers into Kweichow Province

During the War of Resistance against Japan, I was studying at the National Chekiang University. To mention National Chekiang for many seems to bring to mind the beautiful Western Lake, its lovely hills and clear waters, a paradise tapestry of fishing and rice-growing villages. However, during the terrible War of Resistance, as we moved from place to place, National Chekiang matured, becoming not only one among the best known universities in China so that the eminence of her reputation was known far and wide, but even today when her name is mentioned, people all nod their heads and recall that especially during those years of the War of Resistance, to the accompaniment of cannon fire and bursting bombe National
Chekiang was brilliant in many ways. When he visited China the English scholar Joseph Needham observed the painstaking Spirit and conditions of study, and once said that this was the Cambridge of China,
The predecessors of the National Chekiang University were the Search for Truth Institute [Ch’iu-shih shu-yüan 求是書院 and the Chekiang Higher Academy [Che-chiang Kao-teng hsieh-tan 浙江高等學堂]. The Institute was founded in the year 1897, and after a number of later changes, in 1927, that is the 16th year of the Republic, it became the National Chekiang University, with three schools of sciences and arts, engineering, and agriculture, comprising a total of nineteen departments.
In 1937, the military actions of the Resistance brought many kinds of hardship for National Chekiang, among them five migrations, one bombing, a great fire, but from the midst of a thousand disasters and hardships, the school grew to maturity, prospered and became firmly established, till it became a lighthouse in the storm, shining its beacon in all directions across the troubled seas.
In the winter of 1937, the city of Hangchow was invaded by the Japanese, and the students of National Chekiang rose up to join the Resistance, many of them joining with the army. Later as the storm intensified, National Chekiang was ordered to move west. The first-year students went to Hsi-t’ien-mu- shan西天目山 [about 75 km west of Hangchow] and the others went to Chien-te 建德[about 100 km southwest from Hangchow]. A few months later in a major migration, the university moved
from Chien-te to Chi-an 吉安 in Kiangsi Province [about 200 km south-southwest of Nanch’ang on the Kan Riverl, little expecting that within a matter of days the situation would become so tense that we would be forced to move from Chi-an to T’ai-ho 泰和[about 30 km up the Kan River from Chi-anl. At T’ai-ho the situation was stable and peaceful for a while, but before very long we were again forced to move farther west again, to Yi-shan 宜山 in Kwangsi Province [some 180 km southwest of
of Kueilin]. At Yi-shan the school increased in size, adding eral departments, at the Same time setting up an eastern branch the university at Lung-ch’üan 龍泉 in Chekiang Isome 250 km south- southwest of Hangchow]. At this point we thought that we were out of trouble and that we could breathe a sigh of relief.
Who would have guessed that Yi-shan was an area in which both the land and the people were impoverished, so much so that many of our fellow students were not able to find adequate nourishment, and some of the women students because of 2 lack of iodine even developed goiter. The hardships became sO Severe
that among the students a phrase circulated that Yi-shan [“suitable mountain”] was “suitable for mountains and suitable for rivers, but not Suitable for man.” Later, for Some unknown reason, we attracted the attention of the Japanese, who targeted 2 large-scale bombing raid against the main campus of National Chekiang. Fortunately, although the school suffered heavy losses, no one was killed, neither students nor faculty. On the contrary, one of the students who had been suffering from severe mental or emotional shock, because he had been closed inside a room unable to flee at the sound of the alarm, regained full consciousness following the reverberating concussions of the explosions. Everyone dubbed this great bombing raid a “glorious cleansing.”
After more than a year at Yi-shan we moved once more, first sending the first-year students to Ch’ing -yen 青岩 in Kueichow Province 「30 km south of Kueiyang city], while the main part of the university, and the schools of the arts, engineering, and the nor ral school moved to Tsun-yi遵義 [also in Kueichow, some 120 km north of Kueiyangl, while tie agriculture and science schools and the attached middle school
went to Mei-t’an湄潭 [60 km east of Tsun-yi]. A year later the first-year students also move to Yung-hsing-ckh’ang 永兴场 far from Mei-t’an 「20 km northeast of Mei-t’an], and after this we did not move again. In all, beginning in 1937, until a year after the conclusion of the War of Resistance, the university underwent five or six major moves. Not until 1946 did we make the great return to Hangchow, one after the other.
I am afraid that National Chekiang University must be accounted the university that made the most moves and suffered the greatest hardships during the War of Resistance.

The Total Lack of Food, Clothing, Housing, and Transportation

To speak of the food, clothing, housing, and transportation for the students of National Chekiang during the War of Resistance is a joke. Even today, I often think that it was really a miracle that we did not starve to death, or freeze to death, or die from illness Or disease.
As for clothing, forget about styles or fabrics; if we had anything to wrap around our bodies it was considered highly fortunate. Most of the male students usually wore & plain shirt and trousers, and 计 he could wrap an old cotton quilt around
his body i winter he would attract sidelong glances. Most
popular among the women was a straight dress of blue cotton,
long and wide, covering them totally like a water pail. However, it was somewhat easier for the girls because they could
sew and mend, so such phenomena as “raising a sleeve and
seeing an elbow” having a hole in the sleeve of your clothes
your elbow showed through] or “empty in front and torn
in back” (when the front and back of cloth shoes and socks were
worn through) were quite rare. But for some the circumstances
were quite fascinating. After wearing a pair of socks, mending
them and mending them again, they would finally reach the point
where there was no way to mend them again, and then they
would cut off the bottoms of the socks and sew a piece of cloth
for new bottoms which would last for a while longer. For those
who were not so good at sewing there was still another method,
which was to pull your socks forward and just fold them over
SO that there were no longer “holes in front and empty in back.”
But this way your socks or stockings got shorter and shorter
until finally your ankle was nO longer covered and you had to
throw them out. In those days, not only the girls could handle
needle and thread, there were even some of the boys who could
sew, and no one laughed at them for being strange.
As for eating, the girls again had it somewhat easier. At
Tsun-yi, the women students volunteered to Supervise the
meals, while at Mei-t’an and Yung-hsing the men and women
students cooperated together. tt seemed that the only thing of
which there was ever enough was rice; vegetables and meats
were frightfully scarce and there were never enough. Those
who ate more than the others ended up eating rice alone. The women students’ eating manner was comparatively better. They were polite and generally understood in their hearts the portion of food due to each, holding to the rules such as “Like a
dragonfly sipping water,” and “eating six to one.” They managed to consume somewhat equally the vegetables and meats. “Like a dragonfly sipping water” meant that when the vegetables and meats arrived you must not take one big mouthful after the other, that it was only proper to eat like a dragonfly sipping water. For example, when the fermented bean curd was served, you must only take a little bit with the tips of your chopsticks.
“Eating six to one,” meant that you should take six mouthfuls of rice before one of vegetables and meats, and the six mouthfuls of rice must be divided into two sizes of helpings, one large mouthful and five small, only after which could you take a bite
of vegetables and meats. In this way sometimes there would even be a little bit of soup or broth left over, which as soon as the girls at that table had left, would always be stolen clean by
the boys. As for a table of eight male students, how those two
small plates of vegetables and meats were distributed was a
situation beyond the imagination. It was said that once one of
the male students really could not endure it any longer, and at
breakiast while eating soybeans sauteed in oil he finally had the
nerve to start “eating one to one thus provoking the anger of
another of the students at the table who deliberately took the
plate of soybeans and placed it in front of him, at which the two
started to fight so fiercely it was practically a war . One male fellow student once told me that other than the corpse of a dead man or of a fly, he would eat anything, that when he saw a side of pork in the food market he wanted to gO
raw, so pitiful was his situation: From this we can see what
times.
take a bite out of it
the conditions of the “people’s livelihood” were during those
National Chekiang had three locations in northern Kueichow,
and except for a few new dormitories at Mei-t’an, the school
buildings at Tsun-yi and Yung-hsing for the most part were
borrowed temples and shrines and houses of impoverished
families of former high position, the conditions of which were
absurd. As for classrooms and laboratories, some classrooms
were made of boards the backs of which contained the angry
faces and round eyes of the images of fierce gods, while in
others there were two pillars as if there were a volleyball



court in the r00m. In Mei-t’ an two of the classrooms were
next to the street, and across the street lived some poor
ilies. One day just as we were about to start class, two women
fam-
from across the street started to shout and curse at each other.
At the time the weather was hot so the doors and windows were
wide open, so their shouting made it impossible for us to start
class, whereupon our teacher, Mr. Liu, who was about to start
lecturing, yelled over at them to stop fighting; but they were at
the peak of their shouting and going at it with a11 their might,
and what did they care whether you
held class or not? They
paid no attention. After a while the fighting had still not stopped,
so Mr . Liu stuck his head out of the window and shouted loudly
at them, “Hey, you two had better stop fighting, if you don’t I 11
call the military police to take you in.”
muzzles of their
At these words, the two women stopped fighting, turned the
guns out their windows, and with a deafening
roar shook their fists and stamped their feet cursing Mr. Liu,
startling him so much that he hurriedly drew his head back in
and slammed the window shut. By this point we could not help
breaking out into laughter, and I immediately took out a piece
next to me saying:
of paper and dashed off a note that T gave to the student sitting
Mr . Liu’s shouts aren’t worth a penny.”

“Women Wang curses the street and disrupts the school, but
Downloaded
When she read my two lines, she immediately covered her
mouth with her hand but still could not help bursting out laughing.
The dormitories were also fun. In order to save
had upper and lower bunks, with wooden plank beds, and plank
Space, all
desks, but we managed to get along. The most annoying thing
at that time was that at night the airplanes, cannons, and tanks
would come to disturb us. The airplanes were the mosquitoes,
the cannons were the fleas, and the tanks were the bedbugs.
Among these, the mosquitoes were the easiest to deal with
since a mosquito net could stop their devastating invasion. The
most annoying were the bedbugs which could hide anywhere and
you could never get rid of them. The most common way of kill-
ing the bedbugs was to carry the bed planks outside to sun, Or else to Soak them with boiling water. Then you could get Some
peace for a few days, but after a little while when you lifted up
your bedding, there on the bedboards would again be a number
of wriggling, crawling, stinking bedbugs. One year Mr. Fei
Kung 龍型 became dean of students and he had three important
injunctions, one of which was to kill bedbugs with boiling water,
from which you can see that although bedbugs are small they
can do a lot of harm, SO much so that they had already come
to the attention of the school authorities. Fleas are also very
annoying. These guys are very alert and quick, unlike the stu-
pid crawling bedbugs, and are thus very hard to catch. In the
middle of the night after you are fast asleep, you feel an itch
on your leg; immediately you sit
up in bed, but there is already
nothing to see. I had a friend who had a real talent for catching
fleas. She could hold the oil lantern in her left hand and swat
at a flea with her right. She would swat the led with her palm,
pull her hand back, and when she lifted it up between her thumb
and her middle finger there was always a flea. In one night ghe
could catch ten or more and would frequently catch them for uS.
Later we all called her “Lady Flea,” at which she got mad,
washed her hands of this task and would not heip us any more.
As for transportation, the female students had the most dif-

fieulty. Tsun-yi was divided between the new city and the old

city. The women’s dormitory was in the old city, while the
classrooms and library were in the new city, and a part of the
laboratory was outside the city. Running back and forth
day was practically impossible unless
every
the hundred meter dash. The most difficult thing to cope with
you were really good at
was the fact that the classrooms on Ho-chia Street had no
women’s toilet, and in the middle of the winter, to get up in the
morning, put three bowls of thin rice gruel into your belly and
impossible for anyone.
then try to sit through three classes in succession was virtually
Getting around in Mei-t’an seemed even more difficult. The
dining room was next to the men’s dormitory, and when you
walked out from the women’s dor mitory for a meal, you had
to CrOsS & small mountain slope traversed by a narrow winding


trail, then thread your way past the men’s dormitory before
arriving at the dining hall. This whole stretch was a muddy
unkept path which after successive rains became slippery and
treacherous. One careless misstep and you found yourself on
your back, both legs pointing skyward, or else both
and muddy and you
were buried in the mud. In either case your clothes got wet
your hands
had no choice but return to the dormitory.
There were always a few of the male students totally lacking
in sympathy and any sense of decency, who, when the weather
got like that, would stand at the windows watching from a safe
vantage point, and when one of the women students happened to
put on a particularly colorful performance by falling into the
mud, would clap and shout, raising a ruckus in the dormitory,
as a way of response. At that point you would neither cry nor
curse them.
laugh, but would really want to storm into their dormitory and
All in all, during the War of Resistance, the food, clothing,
shelter, and transportation for the students of National Chekiang
were really miserable, but somehow everyone managed, which
was probably due simply to the victory of mind over matter!
“You’ re All a Bunch of Country Hicks.”
One time when I was at a friend’s house for a dinner party,
one friend who had come out of a Christian school said:
of country hicks! “
“Boy, you National Chekiang students are really all a bunch
At that time, I simply laughed and replied:
“You’re absolutely right. Did you know that I was Once com-
mander of the country hick brigade ?”
In speaking of the students of National Chekiang, you really
Can Say that we possessed the essence of “rusticity,” of which
we were quite proud. Under those conditions, a student with
a so-called foreign air had a hard time maintaining his position.
I remember that there was one student named John x who was
from Shanghai. Two students from my hometown despised hiim
him they would say:
and made a special point of picking on him. Whenever they saw
“Say, John X, how come your hair is black?”
“Hey, John X, here’s a bottle of blue color ink, why don’t
you take it and dye your eyes
with 计?”

Poor John x. He took a lot of insults. T Actually I knew him
quite weil. He was a kind person and a conscientious scholar.
Unfortunately he had a foreign name, and thus was always in-
sulted by others.
Perhaps this was a consequence of the atmosphere of those
times, especially of my generation which was born in worry
and grew up in war, Our heads full of nationalism that created
2 kind of atmosphere at National Chekiang. For example, if
someone should be in a happy mood thinking about something
foreign and seeing you in the morning should call out a cheery
“Good Morning” [in Englishl, that person would be likely to be
greeted with eyes askance, and,
IAi! Eat Chinese rice. Why the foreign farts ?”
In this way, anyone with a “foreign air ” was attacked.
But National Chekiang was not the Boxers. What National
Chekiang students would not tolerate was “reverence for all
things foreign, ” or: “obsequiousness to foreigners.” On the
contrary, the new learning absorbed at National Chekiang was
not less than that at any school. Many of our textbooks were
in English. Among the courses I took, there were two in which
the practice books and experiment books were entirely in En-
$
glish. In the biology department there were two Indian students
who could not pronounce Chinese, and sometimes one of the stu-
dents would speak to them in English, and if he could not under-
stand them, someone else would try, and at times like this no
one would dare ridicule someone for foreign farts. National
Chekiang also had one Jewish women teacher who taught Ger-
man, and when she took her little dog out for 2 walk along the
river, no one ever said anything about her blond hair and blue
eyes, and everyone greeted her with smiles.
When you say something is “local” or Irustic’ I am afraid
that is only relative, not absolute. During the War of Resis-
tance I expect most of the national universities were like that.
However, National Chekiang had its own quota.
To say that National Chekiang did not stress English is not
necessarily true, but it did place special emphasis On our own
native born, native grown Chinese language. The Geography
and History Department had a student who put out announce-
ments or communications only in four or six character coup-
lets, which everyone really appreciated. One of the female students received two invitation cards to parties; one was written with a fountain pen, giving the date and address, while the
other was written in for mal characters with a brush, at the
very end of which was written, “respectfully await the pleasure
of your arrival.” This student declined the former invitation,
her reason being, “‘Anyone who writes such awfully distorted
characters must be like that himself. Who would want to spend
tiime with them?’ This of course was preiudiced, but it alsol
displayed a charming “rustic” quality.
The ” rustic’ quality of the women students at National
Chekiang had already become a custom. No matter how wealthy
a family she came from, no matter how important her father
was, once she entered the gates of National Chekiang, she put
On a plain blue Chinese dress and became another person from
head to toe. A number of the girls had trunks fulled with beau-
tiful dresses and high heeled shoes, but most of the time they
never wore them, until sometimes, in the evening when there
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was nothing to do, someone would suggest:
“‘Let’s get dressed up.”
At that a few good friends would laugh and giggle, put on red
lipstick and new dresses, and have fun within the confines of
their room.
Once when quite a few of us women students were just pass-
ing time in the dormitory, discussing the problems of life, one
question asked was: “What kind of a person would you like to
marry?” Among all the students, not one said, “I would like
to marry someone with money or position,” Or “I want to marry
2 foreigner .” When 计 came my turn, I said,”T want to marry
someone who is like a knight of old, who can ride a horse and
shoot a bow.” They all stared and laughed wildly, replying,
“Quick, gO
find yourself a nomadic herds man!w (Heaven knows,
my husband, now, cannot even pull a bow, and he jumps when
he sees a snake.
Returning to the male students, they were charmingly “‘rus –
tic. You do not have to gO any further than to ask how many
of them, at that time, could dance? How many could tie a tie?
How many of them would dare cock their heads and whistle?
How many could use a knife and fork?
But none of them cared.
They would reply that these are insignificant. Who wouid deny
that this group of people were “‘country hicks”?
Strolling Along the River’s Edge,
Waiting for Someone in the Lobby Of the three locations of National Chekiang University in northern Kueichow, that at Mei-t’an had the most beautiful
scenery. There the mountains were bright and the water clear,
a landscape fitting for man. This was especially true in the
vicinity of the Mei River Bridge where the landscape was ex-
quisite, the Kiangnan of northern Kueichow. Most of the school
buildings, the dormitories and dining rooms, except for those
which were in older buildings, were newly built two-story build-
ings. In particular, the women’s dormitory, which was built
On the side of the mountain, surrounded by a bamboo fence, had
a certain charm.
The town of Mei-t’an was very small; it was neither a mar-
ket center nor a vital communications line. Ordinarily it was
very quiet and peaceful, SO the students had nowhere to go, and
besides reading, the only form of recreation was walking. Ev-
ery evening after dinner, in groups of three or five, one of boys,
another of girls, they would stroll down to the bankg of the Mei
River. This was an ideal time for everyone to run into each
other. Some of the male students were usually unwilling to
stand around outside the fence of the girls’ dormitory, not
wanting to run the risk of being given a hard time, so they took
advantage of these walks to look the girls over and get ac-
quainted. Usually, when we went out for a walk, once we
reached the Mei River Bridge, we would run into a certain
fellow student, nod and exchange greetings, continue walking
down to the bend in the river, run into that fellow student again,
and again nod and exchange a greeting, and who would believe
it, by the time we had walked around and were circling back toward the dormitory, we would run into that same fellow student yet again, and nod and exchange greetings for the third time. To meet thus three times in one evening, and to nod to
each other each time, the kind of friendship that was mutually
understood without being spoken, had a lingering charm. The
great majority of both the male and female students at National
Chekiang had such sentiments. I have heard it said that some
of the boys who were more shy would use this opportunity to
indulge their fantasy, by making the stroll along the Mei River
Some seven Or eight times in an evening. I don’t know whether
i is true Or not.
The atmosphere at Mei-t’an was comparatively open, which was not true at Tsun-yi. The girls dormitory On Willow Lane had double doors and a deep courtyard, SO you
could not enter directly from the street. When a male student came to visit,
he first had to relay his request to Old Chao, after which Old
Chao would go to the back of the courtyard and yell out:
“Miss so-and-so. You have a guest.”
The windows of the guest room directly faced the dormitory
behind, SO a lot of people soon knew who it was that had come
to visit this time, and he simply had to stiffen his neck until
the reply came back down, which sometimes was the voice of
someone calling down:
“‘So-and -so isn’t in.” Horrors! Hopes dashed, the dejected
victim could only lower his head and walk out.
gave
For a period of time, the office of dean of students apparently
the male students 2 hard time by making those who came
to visit sign their full names on something like a register, then
state whom they were visiting, after which Old Chao would
take the slip of paper to gO look for the person, and thus the
dean’s office would apparently be infor med and there would be
a record. At this point, some of the boys, waiting until Old
Chao had disappeared into the rear building to find the girl be-


ing called, would then reach down on the table and tear off the
file stub they had signed, thinking that after they had talked
and left, there would be no entry in the register and no trace
of their having visited. Little did they know that Old Chao was
a clever old fox, and that after they had left, he would quietly
fill in the two names again. I heard that later, it was too much
bother for Old Chao, and this system was simply eliminated.
8
Such phenomena as these occurred reaily because there were
too few women students, and since that which is scarce becomes
highly valued, of course they could become arrogant.
There was a female student who because she had had small-
Dox when little, unfortunately one eye had lost its Sight and her
whole face was pockmarked. I do not know who it was who
cleverly gave her the nickname, “the sky studded with stars,
and one round bright moon. (This nickna me was indeed a work
of superb skill: One could say it contained the qualities of
truth, expressivity, and refinement.) While she was at National
Chekiang, she received a love letter, and once someone asked
her for a rendezvous under the moon. Many years later sone-
One brought this up, stating with a Sigh:
“The male students at National Chekiang were really n0 good.
Even such a ‘surplus product’ as “the sky studded with stars,
and one round bright moon, was wanted by Someone’+’

In fact it was not a case of being no good, but simply that the
demand was much greater than the supply, so that the value of
the women students was increased by some ten-fold.
Some of the girls were really lacking in virtue. When they
received a letter from one of the boys, i they were unhappy
for any reason, they would send it back unopened. Others
would parade their reiections in public, and some would even
add comments in red ink, all of which was really unbearable.
One of the boys who considered himself highly talented was
good at writing love letters. He thought he had read a lot of
foreign things, and to show off filled the page with quotes from
Tolstoi, Maupassant, ete. Unfortunately for him he had mis-
calculated his recipient. When this girl received his letter,
she picked up her pen and wrote the following comment: A whole page covered with Maupassant, how sad.
You have not read all the Four Books and the Five Clas –
sics, the “classic’ of Kropotkin is empty madness.
Foreign things are difficult to appreciate, better to read Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu in your leisure.
No matter how great foreign authors are, if you forget your roots and ancestors, you go astray.
would have been better than this.
This tease was really embarrassing and excessive, but demonstrated the general situation of the times.

Shortly after entering
Seek Truth from Facts, Work for the Nation National Chekiang University, the first
time I heard the university president, Cha k’o-chen 竺可桢, give us a talk, I, along with many of the other students, could not really understand what he was talking about. He spoke rapidly and hurriedly with a kind of patter like a hundred birds returning to nest, so that my only impression was that on the stage he continuously lifted his heels off the floor, and he seemed to be always repeating something that sounded like:
“Zots’azay, zots’azay, we’t Chaychang, sezh’e true .. .”
At the time, it was really a mystery. Only much later, after a year and a halt, did 1 realize that “zots’ azay” was President Chu’s Shao-hsing dialect pronunciation of “that is to say, which he must have used some thirty to sixty times each time
he lectured to us. ” Sezh’e true” was also a phrase that never
left his lips, a basic doctrine of National Chekiang, “seek truth
from facts. In this way, after four years at National Chekiang,
there was not a student into whose mind the instruction ”seek
truth from facts”” was not deeply engraved, who was not im-
pressed with the principle that in all things One must seek the
truth, deal with concrete matters, and be earnest and down-to-
earth in work, throughout life.
For those who say that the students of National Chekiang were
rustic, this can be traced to the success of the transforming
spirit of “‘seek truth.” During the War of Resistance, no rich
dandy who was stingy in making a contribution to his eountry,
Or nO fair young lady who could not keep up with her studies,
ever made it at National Chekiang. During my first year, saw one male student, a good talker, and quite dashing, who
frequently wore a brown leather jacket (at the whole school I
probably saw only one or two), black leather shoes, who strutted
2bout all day carrying books lack and forth. By my second
year I seldom ran into him. By the year we graduated his
leather jacket was old and worn, his head was lowered, and you
never saw him in public. It was said that every school term he
failed one or two classes and had to make them up.
As for our classes, hard work always came first at National
Chekiang. The professors were very pressing about our work,
serious in teaching, and strict in giving grades. All these were
seldom found elsewhere. A great many students were weeded
Out between the first and second years. In fact, under the
physical conditions of those times, many students could not
even afford paper and pens, and the demand for perseverence

was really great. In the evening, each student had an oil lamp
and three wicks, by which he could read deep into the night.
五 KarsreArunl Aq papeorunod
It is often said that “filial sons come from poor
families.” I
would say that “times of hardship make great men.” Today,
have not quite a few hardworking persons of superior diligence
both at home and abroad come out of National Chekiang?
While we were at school, we did not know whether our level
of achievement was high or low. Only after graduation did we
make comparisons with others, the results of which made us
feel proud. For example, of those who received government
fellowships to study abroad, if a comparison were made on the
basis of the total numbers of students in the school and in each
department, National Chekiang would take first or second place.
For those who studied abroad the students of National Chekiang
had a real advantage over those from other schools. Nor have
those graduates of Chekiang National who have taken up academic or technical professions at home fallen behind.
It cannot necessarily be said that the students of National
Chekiang University only buried their heads in their books.
During the eight years of the War of Resistance, both teachers
and students of Chekiang National gave their money and energies, their sweat and blood, for who knows how many things
worth Our praise and tears: Not counting those who joined the
years army directly, such activities as fund raising sales for the
army and others took place almost every year. During those
the students had practically nothing of value except their
own bodies, but whenever there was a fund raising sale, every-
one donated without fail. In my fourth year, one time a fellow
student came again to me for a donation to the fund raising sale.
The only things I still had were one precious inkstone handed
down from my ancestors and two sticks of ink. That inkstone
was small and light and very finely engraved. It had been given

to my great grandfather lby the emperor upon passing the chin-
shih degree. This heirloom had followed me over a thousand
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mountains and across ten thousand rivers to Kueichow, but T
had nothing else, so I had no choice but to restrain my feelings
and donate this inkstone. Unfortunately, those running the sale,
not knowing its value, put a low price on it, and it was bought
by another girl student. Even today I stilltell my children proudly,
“During the Second World War, I too made a contribution:M
At Yi-shan, one comic, very interesting little drama occurred.
At that time a group of students followed the army onto a battle-
field, heedless of life or death. Later the Japanese attacked,
forcing this group to scatter, and they had no choice but to flee
back to the school. After 2 count was made, they found that
one student named Tai was missing. Later some were sent
back to the battlefield to look for him. Among the disarray of
corpses they found one youth wearing a yellow uniform (the
school uniform of National Chekiang). The corpse was already
decayed beyond recognition, but everyone judged that Tai had
already become a martyr, and many held their heads and wept.
We had a memorial service for him and everyone came to
mourn a fellow student’s loss. Who could have guessed that
more than a year later someone said that he thought he had
seen Tai on the street. Later someone else said he had seen
him too. At this everyone hastened to report that the ghost of
fellow student Tai had appeared, until finally we discovered
that it was indeed Tai himself, in person. He had not died.
Originally, after being captured by the Japanese, he had been
sent to Shanghai, and later had secretly returned behina the
lines, and thus returned to National Chekiang to resume his
studies. Only then was this comic-tragedy finally concluded.
This too was a small entre’acte of the efforts of the students
of National Chekiang for their country.
In 1944, in response to the call of that time for “one hun-
dred thousand youth to join the army,” several hundred stu-
dents from National Chekiang replied, though later, because
triotic wish.
there were too many, Some were not able to fulfill their pa –
Nothing was more moving than our support for the army that
year. At that time, the Japanese army had maneuvered an in-
vasion of southern Kueichow. The area around Kuei-yang was
very tense, and the Central Government sent a large detach-
ment of troops south. When they passed through Tsun-yi, the
students of National Chekiang organized their greatest welcome

of enthusiastic support, which boosted the morale of the sol-
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diers greatly, who then went bravely forward and attacked the
Japanese troops so courageously that the Japanese were forced to
retreat; thus a foundation for the later victory was established.
That really was a very moving event. When carload after
carload of military cars carrying a large number of battle
troops passed through the Tsun-yi bus station, the National
Chekiang students went crazy, Surging like a great flood to the
side of the buses, fighting to give support to the soldiers, shak-
ing their hands, offering flowers and gifts, singing and shouting.
That sight shook the heart of every soldier. You only needed
to see the warm tears i their eyes, and hear their words as
they grasped the hands of the students: “We shall definitely beat down those Japanese devils'”
Once in a heavy downpour of rain, 2 lot of soldiers under the car awning were getting soaked, and when those students who had umbrellas noticed this they pushed forward and gave the soldiers their umbrellas, paying no heed to the fact that they themselves were standing in the rain. At this the soldiers shouted out “Defeat Japanese imperialism.” and on everyone’s faces, who knows how many tears mingled with the raindrops.
After ward one of the high ranking officers said that this had provided a big boost to the morale of the soldiers, and the Japanese could not be underestimated.
merit of the National Chekiang students for the defeat of the Finally the War of Resistance was won: For these eight years, we endured hardship and suffering. From this National Chekiang emerged strong and mature, and that spirit of “seek truth from facts” would remain forever with us.