Zhou Youguang, a native of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, a famous Chinese language and literatureian in China, has participated in the compilation of Hanyu Pinyin, is proficient in many Chinese dialects, and has experienced the four eras of the late Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang warlords, the Republic of China and the new China in his life, and he can see the epitome of the Chinese era in him.
This legendary figure, this centenarian, after a decade of turmoil, was sent down to the countryside to transform, lost his wife and children successively, and the tortuous life experience did not crush it, only because he remembered one thing in his heart.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > misplaced life</h1>
Zhou Youguang has been exposed to new cultures since childhood, communicating with people often used Chinese and vernacular, his father is a late Qing dynasty person, advocating dialects and literary languages, because of this matter, the two often quarrel, his father thinks that he is rebellious and discards the things of his ancestors.
At that time, Changzhou had not yet established a new-style school, when he was 10 years old, he moved to Suzhou with his mother to live in the local new-style school, and his mother was very supportive of his practice of going to the new-style school, and he lived a life of frugal food and clothing with his mother from an early age, studying hard in school, helping his mother share the housework after class, although life was very difficult, but still laughing at the ups and downs.
After graduating from middle school, he was admitted to Nanjing Normal University and Shanghai St. John's University at the same time, normal university does not have to pay tuition, St. John has to charge high teaching fees, his family is not rich, he prefers teacher training, but he is still very eager to go to St. John's in his heart.
Perhaps the role of the law of attraction, Zhou Youguang third sister and her colleagues talked about this matter, colleagues are very sympathetic to his suffering, decided to fund him to study in college, just like this, 17-year-old Zhou Youguang came to Shanghai alone, enrolled in the economics major, during the school, he knows the hardships of the road to study, hard study, in the field of economics has his own insights.
After the Occurrence of the May 30 Massacre, Zhou Youguang actively participated in the student movement, left the school after violating the school rules, and continued to complete his studies at Guanghua University.
Because of his admiration for the economist Kawakami Zhao, he went to Japan to study, did not want Kawakami to be arrested and imprisoned, Zhou Youguang's dream was shattered, so he had to turn around and study Japanese, and soon returned to China to continue his development and teach at Guanghua University.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he fled to Sichuan for refuge, during which he taught himself English, studied Chinese and Pinyin, taught at Fudan University after the victory of the Liberation War, immersed himself in the study of Chinese language and literature, participated in the text reform conference in the 1950s, formulated the Hanyu Pinyin program, and published many important papers and works during the period, which had a profound impact on both at home and abroad.
Zhou Youguang should have taken the economic road according to his own planned life, but he did not expect that the misplaced life would make him have other achievements in Chinese language and literature, and in the face of these unknown variables, Zhou Youguang was always very calm: life is difficult to move forward according to his own plan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > the love of my life</h1>
During this period, he became acquainted with his lifelong love Zhang Yunhe, the second eldest of the famous "Four Sisters of Hefei", born in Anhui and raised in Suzhou, his father was the famous educator Zhang Wuling, his mother was a Kunqu researcher, the eldest sister was married to the kunqu master Gu Chuanyue, the third sister Zhang Zhaohe was married to the great writer Shen Congwen, and the fourth sister was married to the sinologist Fu Hansi.
Even Ye Shengtao once said: Whoever marries the four sisters of the Zhang family will be happy for a lifetime, and Zhou Youguang is the happy person.
In fact, the two had met as early as when Zhang Yunhe was in middle school, and it coincided with the summer vacation, Zhang Yunhe followed his father to Zhou Youguang's home to play, and had a brief contact.
Zhou Youguang admired Zhang Zhaohe and the two of them who studied in Shanghai took care of each other on weekdays, exchanged letters privately, and leisurely went to the West Lake to admire the flowers and watch the moon, slowly cultivated feelings, and finally entered the palace of marriage.
Two years after marriage, he gave birth to his son Xiaoping and daughter Xiaohe, in the process of fleeing, Xiaohe died of death, which hit Zhou Youguang very hard, he fell into self-blame and remorse and could not extricate himself, once suffered from depression, Zhang Yunhe patiently comforted and enlightened, accompanied by him, Zhou Youguang slowly walked out.
In the years when he was sent to labor camp, Zhang Yunhe took care of a family while working, and he never complained about Zhou Youguang's good news and no worries. For him, Zhang Yunhe is a bright sunshine in life, as long as she is around, he is very at ease.
Zhou Youguang and Zhang Yunhe were in the same boat together, the two respected each other as guests, and drank black tea together in the morning and coffee together in the afternoon in the old age, which has not changed for decades.
Zhou Youguang's natural optimist coincides with Zhang Yunhe's enlightened generosity, and Zhang Yunhe often says: Don't blame yourself for other people's faults. The positive and optimistic attitude of the two helped them through one difficulty after another, Zhang Yunhe was frail and sickly since childhood, and the doctor once said that she could not live to be 60, but with Zhou Youguang, she lived to the age of 93 before she died.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > god forgotten people</h1>
Throughout the whole world, there are not many centenarians, some of the age has indeed arrived, but life can not take care of themselves, lying in bed needs the care of the family, but Zhou Youguang is different, the daily life is basically solved by themselves, and has been insisting on working until after the age of 100, which is really admirable.
People often ask Elder Zhou: What is the secret of your longevity? Whenever I hear this, Zhou Youguang will say: Where do I know, you should ask the doctor, it is God who has forgotten me for a while. He also said: I am different from others, I live one more day to earn one day.
People who have seen zhou lao, it is common for him to smile, the mentality is very good, living in the fast-paced moment of the 21st century, his advice to young people is: slow down, do not panic in case of emergencies, do not be depressed in the face of bad things, always maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, believe in the law of attraction, the more you work the luckier.
From the age of 81, he regarded himself as 1 year old and recalculated his age, which is worth learning from the younger generation.
According to Zhou Youguang's interview transcript, it can be seen that the optimist way of thinking he has had since he was a child is inseparable from his mother, although Zhou Youguang's mother was born in the old society and did not have a big culture, but she taught Zhou Youguang the way to deal with the world, that is, to look at things with a positive eye, and the more difficult he is, the more he cannot be negative.
Therefore, whenever Zhou Youguang is negative, his mother invisibly gives him great spiritual comfort, and with his mother's encouragement, he will soon adjust his state and smile back to life, and many things will be solved.
Zhou Lao's life is frugal, the house he lives in is full of wind and rain, and he doesn't care at all about the diet, the rules of life and rest, and the blessing of a good life mentality, which may be the secret of his longevity.
January 13, 2017, is Zhou Youguang's 112th birthday, accompanied by the old man neither a wife nor his own children, although there are relatives of the next generation, you can enjoy the joy of five generations of the same house, but the old man inevitably feels lonely in his heart, died on January 14, and was reunited with his close relatives.