The mountains are high and the people are the peaks
▓ Zhang Daokang
At 10 p.m. on May 27, 2022, we learned from the alumni group that the next day, our alma mater held the second Alumni Festival of the Faculty of Arts of Nanjing Normal University to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Chinese and the 110th anniversary of the birth of Professor Sun Wang. As a student who has been out of school for nearly 40 years, I immediately decided to put aside the chores I had arranged and go to my alma mater of Nanjing Normal University to participate in the Alumni Festival.
Early the next morning, I came to my alma mater in high spirits, only to see the colorful flags in the school, the voices of the people, and the neat and clean campus environment was more beautiful than when we were studying. As far as the eye can see, most of them are energetic young faces, and they can't see a single acquaintance for a while.
Suddenly, I saw a group of master's students in the Faculty of Arts taking graduation photos, wearing doctoral hats and black robes, and they were lining up for men and women. I stopped and admired. They happily snuggled up to the center and took photos again and again, and I couldn't help but take out my phone and take a picture of them.
I took a family portrait of the graduates
To be honest, I would love to stand next to them and take a picture with them to get back to how I felt when I was younger. I was afraid that an old comrade I didn't know would ruin their youthful picture, so I just stood on tiptoe to the side, watching with envy in my heart.
Statue of Mr. Sun Wang
At this time, in the center of the front row of the large team of more than 100 people, stood a middle-aged man with a strong body, ruddy complexion, and slightly gray hair, who was Professor Gao Feng, the current dean of the School of Arts and Humanities of Nanjing Normal University. He walked up to me, shook my hand cordially, and asked, "May I ask who you are, are you here for the meeting?" I said in a whisper that I was an old graduate of the previous year, and I heard that my alma mater held an alumni festival, so I was uninvited. I don't have any letters that I've been invited to...... He smiled at me and waved his hand, "It's all old alumni, we are all welcome, come, I'll take you to the venue right away." He asked me to wait for a few minutes, and after taking photos with my classmates, he personally accompanied me, a stranger, to visit the campus, the middle building, the statue of Sun Wang and other campus landscapes along the way, and took a group photo with me in front of the Faculty of Arts. (See image below)
Dean Gao and the author of this article took a group photo
Later, he took me to his office, chatted with me, and found two books he compiled from the bookcase and gave them to me, one "Tangmen Lexicology" and one "Reading the Legend of the West Chamber", which surprised me and warmed my heart, and once again I personally felt the spirit of diligence, hard work, and persuasion of the teachers of my alma mater of Nanjing Normal University. Dean Gao, he accompanied me, an uninvited old alumnus, for more than half an hour.
Dean Gao gave me two books
The meeting time is about to arrive, and he is busy in front of the building of the Faculty of Arts to greet the guests, Wang Zhan, an expert from the Ministry of Education, and several retired old professors, etc., he all stepped forward to greet them one by one, and the keynote speaker of the CCTV 100 Forum, Professor Mo Lifeng of Nanjing University, also came, and he and Dean Gao Feng clasped hands tightly. Witnessing and witnessing the meeting and conversation between the two leading figures in the field of literature, two institutions of higher learning and Nanjing Normal University, I quickly took out my mobile phone and took pictures of this precious scene.
Dean Gao had a very pleasant conversation with Professor Mo Lifeng
The meeting was very successful. Based on what I saw and heard at the venue and what I felt in my heart, I rushed to write an article in memory of Mr. Sun Wang overnight. It was published in the supplement of "Jinling Evening News", expressing the respect, admiration and nostalgia of my teachers as a student of Southern Normal University.
The article I wrote in memory of Professor Sun Wang was published in the newspaper
Dean Gao Feng presided over the advocacy and personal practice, and the School of Liberal Arts of Nanjing Normal University recently launched a continuation activity of "voluntarily holding literature lectures for previous students from time to time". After learning of this news, all the students who graduated from the Chinese Department of Nanjing Normal University rushed to attend the lecture of Dean Gaofeng. Sitting in the class classroom of a few decades ago, and listening to Dean Gaofeng's recitation of Tang and Song poems taught by Dean Gao Feng himself, these courses, which are listed as classics of Chinese culture, are all soaked in the hard work of Dean Gao Feng and many old professors such as Hao Jin for many years, and let us feel that the leaders of our alma mater and the Faculty of Arts have such deep affection for us, the former graduates, and care for our lifelong learning.
Dean Gao Feng is knowledgeable but kind, humble and energetic. While presiding over the tedious administrative work of the Faculty of Letters, he compiled a complete set of monographs on classical literature, which were listed as "Key Textbooks for Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province during the 13th Five-Year Plan", and published more than 10 academic monographs and key textbooks, with fruitful academic achievements.
"The sea is boundless and the sky is the shore, and the mountain is the peak!"
Dean Gao Feng's academic specialization continues to climb, his appearance is talented, and he is versatile, and he sings very well. Every time everyone listens to him sing, singing a new song that has been particularly popular recently, the listener can't help but beat the song, and there are bursts of warm applause.
I once wrote in the United States:
Sun Wang founded the Department of Chinese, and famous teachers gathered together.
The academic origins are passed down and inherited, and the Faculty of Arts reaches new heights!
Written in Nanjing on May 18, 2024
【Profile of Dean Gaofeng】
Gao Feng, male, born in 1969, is from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Nanjing Normal University, Professor of Ancient Chinese Literature, and Doctoral Supervisor. He is the executive director of the Chinese Lexicology Research Association, the vice president of the Jiangsu Ancient Literature Society, the vice president of the Chinese Poetics Research Association of Jiangsu Province, the vice chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Humanities Graduate Education and Teaching Steering Committee of Colleges and Universities, the president of the Jiangsu Poetry Research Institute, the leader of the expert working group of the Ministry of Education's "National Reading Guidance Catalogue for Primary and Secondary School Students", and the main lecturer of the "876" training for leading cadres of provincial organs in Jiangsu Province and the training of leading cadres in Nanjing. He has been engaged in the research of Tang and Song poetry and regional culture and literature for many years, presided over a number of national, provincial and ministerial scientific research projects, published more than 10 academic monographs and textbooks such as "Research on Words between Flowers", "History of Jiangsu Ci Culture", "Elegance in Troubled Times-Southern Tang Dynasty Literature Research", "Nanjing Ancient Cultural Changes and Literary Evolution", "Biography of Li Yu", "Introduction to Tang Poetry" and "Introduction to Song Ci", published more than 100 papers in important academic journals such as "Literary Review" and "Literary Heritage", and won many provincial scientific research awards.
【About the author of this article】
Zhang Daokang, male, graduated from the Chinese Department of Nanjing Normal University in the 80s. He is a member of the Nanjing Writers Association, a director of the Nanjing Music and Literature Society, and has published poetry, prose and other literary works in newspapers and magazines across the country.