Due to family background, Zheng Zhang Shangfang was unable to enter university. However, with his love for linguistics, he immersed himself in self-study in Wenzhou Library for a long time. Later, he repeatedly claimed to have graduated from "Wenzhou Library University".
Although he was mainly self-taught, he later became a master of phonology and was closely related to the tradition of phonology.
This knowledge is too unpopular, so once a good talent like Zhou Zhi appears, all the big guys will take care of it. At that time, Zheng Zhang Shangfang also received help and care from many people .
Although Zhou Zhi did not know Zheng Zhang Shangfang before, the two of them had done almost the same thing.
Zhou Zhi relied on two books, "Jiachuan Dialect Field Investigation Report" and "Jiachuan Dialect Exegesis", to completely dispel Gu Youwen's doubts and included them in the door wall.
More than thirty years ago, 27-year-old Zheng Zhang Shangfang, who was not afraid of tigers, wrote a more than 100,000-word "Wenzhou Dialect Notes Compilation Plan and Syllable Outline" and sent it to the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Unexpectedly, Lu Shuxiang, the famous linguist and director of the Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, personally reviewed and approved his writing plan. Even considering that Zheng Zhang Shangfang did not have a fixed career at the time, the Institute of Linguistics also specially Approval, remit him one hundred yuan for paper and pen fees.
In 1962, one hundred yuan was a very generous remuneration.
This is not over yet. Mr. Lu also remitted him ten yuan a month from his personal salary to help solve his life problems.
At that time, Zheng Zhang Shangfang was still a temporary teacher, and Mr. Lu was an internationally renowned expert. The two of them did not even meet Mr. Lu for the first time until eighteen years later, when Zheng Zhang Shangfang went to the capital to revise his manuscript. Meet!
There is also a very legendary story about Zheng Zhang Shangfang’s acquaintance with Teacher Wang Li. At that time, Mr. Wang Li wrote the phonetic part of the "Manuscript of the History of Chinese Language". Zheng Zhang Shangfang had the opportunity to see it, so he wrote to Wang Li with some opinions and suggestions for changes.
Who is Wang Li? Chinese linguist, educator, translator, essayist, and poet. He graduated from Tsinghua University and studied at Peking University in France. He taught at Peking University for five or six years and was appointed as a member of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the founder of modern Chinese linguistics.
At that time, Zheng Zhang Shangfang was just a teacher in a private middle school in a remote county, a real nobody. However, the great scholar actually attached great importance to the opinions of the nobody, and appreciated them very much. He wrote back in his own hand: "I think you are very interested in phonology." It is very rare to be self-taught without a teacher. You have many good suggestions. The song part should be changed to [ai]. You are right."
This is how the two sides established a friendship.
Similarly, there is the great scholar Wang Fushi. Wang Fushi started by investigating the Xuanhua dialect, and then mainly engaged in the investigation and research of minority languages. He is an expert in Miao Yao language research, and has also contributed to the study of Chinese dialects. At that time, he was a researcher at the Institute of Ethnology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
In order to study ancient phonology, Zheng Zhang Shangfang also deliberately taught himself basic vocabulary materials of Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Japanese and Tibetan, Miao, Zhuang and other ethnic minority languages in my country, because many of my country's neighboring countries were promoting Sinology in ancient times Chinese characters, Korea, Nanyue, and island countries all use Chinese characters for education. Their current pronunciation generally maintains the pronunciation of the Tang Dynasty, and some words are from the Han Dynasty.
During the research process, Zheng Zhang Shangfang encountered some problems, so he wrote to Mr. Wang Fushi for advice. Mr. Wang Fushi wrote him a nineteen-page letter, which showed his love for talents.
Later, many seniors, such as Yuan Jiahua, Li Rong and other famous linguistic experts, also repeatedly answered his questions. In the end, a master of linguistics was created.
After talking about this, Zhou Zhi felt dumbfounded. He thought he was actually quite enlightened in terms of knowledge. However, the things he had done seemed to have been accomplished by his predecessors. .
What’s even funnier is that he once showed off in front of Mr. Gu, but Mr. Gu just smiled and then moved on to other topics. Looking back now, Mr. Gu actually knew all this a long time ago, but he silently watched his performance and never said anything about it.
"Grandpa Shi, I find that you are a bit unreasonable sometimes." Zhou Zhi complained: "You just let me wander around on my own without telling me the experience of my predecessors."
< br>"What you see on paper is only shallow in the end, but you know that you have to put it into practice." The old man smiled and said: "These are all your own ideas. Although they can no longer be regarded as the first, they can be regarded as what heroes have seen. Their yesterdays, It's your day, and they Your today may not be your tomorrow.”
It’s amazing that after understanding the research methods of these two seniors who are as impressive as mountains, Zhou Zhi actually felt that Grandpa Shi’s statement was not without certainty. The master has also worked hard and studied step by step. As long as the method is right and the person is not stupid, he has persevered. After forty or fifty years of accumulation, the achievements should be extraordinary.
However, although he no longer admires the achievements of his predecessors like gods, Zhou Zhi still cannot imagine achieving that level. The reason is very simple, that is, he cannot be as focused as his predecessors. One of them can rule the world."
He had too many distractions.
Fortunately, he is not without any advantages. The first is the new methods and technologies, especially the application of information technology, which is incomparable to his predecessors.
Secondly, with the help of the times, the humanities and social sciences have not been valued by the country and society for a long time, and have even been suppressed for a long time. This is no longer the case.
Although the country still pays more attention to science, with the growth of national power, at least in some humanities and social sciences within its capabilities, the country has also continued to make big moves.
For example, the largest tome at present is "Ru Zang", "Tao Zang" and "Shi Zang".
The academic environment is still completely different.
There is also financial resources, the financial resources of the country, the financial resources of the school, and the most important thing is Zhou Zhi’s own financial resources.
For Zhou Zhi now, learning is a hobby, and he is happy doing it by paying for it. With such financial strength, even if he wanted to do learning back then, he would have to go fishing in the sea and hold the capital in a month. The ten yuan sent by Lu Shuxiang to subsidize Zheng Zhang Shangfang's life could not be compared.
The so-called poor in literature and rich in martial arts refers to personal learning. In ancient times, this sentence meant that the poor could not even get enough to eat. To get ahead, you could not rely on your physical strength. You could only use your brain power. stand up.
Only wealthy people can afford to raise horses, purchase weapons, and hire instructors. These are the foundation for learning martial arts.
But it's different when it comes to cultural projects. They often need to be completed during the heyday of the dynasty, such as Emperor Yongle's "Yongle Dadian", Kangxi Yongzheng's "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books", and Qianlong's "Sikuquanshu" , that is not "poor literature", you must be rich, and you must be so rich that the dynasty is at its peak. (End of this chapter)