The Conscientious and Rigorous Ji Xianlin

The conscientiousness of Professor JI Xianlin is well-known. Once the magazine for which I work intended to carry a biographical sketch of him. When I asked him over the telephone about his current position, he took the matter very Seriously and told me not only his position but also his age, place of birth, and over a dozen of his titular positions. His attitude seemed to be: Since you have asked me, I have to make everything clear. Vagueness and ambiguity are not in keeping with proper scholarship.

Years ago I stayed in the Shao Yuan Residence of Peking University. As it was quite a long period of time, I thought of paying the eminent Professor Ji a visit. Since we were on the same campus, I didn't have to worry about the distance. In order not to intrude unannounced, I phoned him first and then borrowed a bicycle. Five minutes later I arrived at the bank of Weiming Lake and pressed Professor Ji's door bell.

The Ji family lived on the ground floor, the two flats opposite one another in the corridor both belonging to him. When I first heard of this I was rather surprised. With housing in such short supply in Beijing, he occupied tow flats! Later I was told that Professor Ji had so many books piled up in his rooms that there was hardly any space left to allow a visitor in. Since he was supervising postgraduate students from Japan and other countries who often had to go his home for supervision, the Peking University authorities allocated one extra flat to him in recognition of his academic achievement and international renown. He was the first staff member, and so far the only one, who had two flats in Peking University. Professor Ji ushered me into a room on the eastside. Facing me were shelf after shelf of books, like a library. Only after he moved the books and letters from an armchair did I have a place to sit. As if idly chatting, he asked me some questions about myself and then said modestly that he was "too old to write anything decent". But his new works were being published one after another. After a while, the telephone rang. After he answered the phone, someone knocked at the door notifying him that there would be a meeting that afternoon. In the midst of coping with all of this activity, he mistakenly worte an inscription for me on the back of an inscription by the famous old writer Xiao Qian. When I took it from him, I felt very embarrassed. These inscriptions were both meant to be mounted and framed. Now that the two great celebrities had written on both sides of the paper, how was I supposed to mount it? Hearing my worry, Professor Ji blamed himself again and again for his carelessness and said, "Xiao Qian wrote his inscription first. I should write on another piece of paper as a replacement. Let's do it this way. In a few days I'll use my brush to write a scroll for you. Is it all right?" I was not very sure about the sincerity of his remarks. However, shortly after I returned to Zhengzhou, I indeed received a letter from him. Enclosed with the letter was an inscription he had written with a brush, quoting two lines from a poem by the famous Song-dynasty scholar Zhu Xi: "Growing old is easy for a young person, but scholarship is difficult. Therefore one must treasure every moment of life." I was deeply touched.