Zhou Hexuan took the train straight to Oxford, and the next stop was Cambridge, because Cambridge University also gave him a doctorate in literature.

The two universities are connected by a railway, known as the "University Line", which passes through Bletchley Station, where Turing is now deciphering the code.

On the night Zhou Hexuan came to Oxford University, the president personally held a welcome dinner for him. On the morning of the next day, he officially presented his honorary doctorate certificate and honorary professorship letter of appointment, and hoped that Zhou Hexuan would stay as a professor of sinology at Oxford University.

Truth be told, the Sinology program at Oxford University was terrible at this time, with only a pitiful 5 students graduating in 10 years, from the official establishment of Sinology in 1939 to 1949.

Chen Yinke was originally invited to the position of professor of Sinology, but Chen Yinke did not make the trip for various reasons.

However, the University of Oxford clearly attaches great importance to Sinology, and has set aside funds to pay the salaries of professors of Sinology, and last year created a separate "Department of Sinology", which can obtain a bachelor's degree from Oxford University.

Unfortunately, very few British students are interested in Chinese culture, and few applicants, and even if they are interested, they are only considered electives.

Since Chen Yinke did not come, the position of professor of sinology is now vacant, and Xiu Zhongcheng, a lecturer in Chinese philosophy and religion, is acting as the presiding officer. Zhou Hexuan reluctantly agreed to be a visiting professor of sinology, and began to lecture the day after he was hired.

There are only 3 students who really belong to this major, and I heard that there were 7 last year, but the students couldn't stand it and ran away. But fortunately, Zhou Hexuan is famous, and more than 200 people came to the lecture, and even some professors came to cheer for face.

Xiu Zhongcheng is a tall and thin old man who can speak Chinese very fluently. As the host of this lecture, he walked up to the podium and said with a smile: "I am really happy that the students in the Chinese subject class have finally broken through the single digits. ”

"Hahaha......" The audience chuckled.

Xiu Zhongcheng continued: "Chinese culture is mysterious, Chinese is great, as long as you immerse yourself in research, you can find it. I hope that more and more students will study Sinology in the future, so that the cultural exchange between the East and the West will be brought closer...... Okay, I'm not going to talk nonsense anymore, let's give the podium to the great historian and writer Charles Zhou! ”

In the midst of a round of applause, Zhou Hexuan came to the podium and said, "I am very happy to accept the offer of Oxford University. As far as academics are concerned, I am not even as good as a freshman at Oxford, because I don't know Latin, and I will definitely not be able to pass the entrance examination to Oxford University. ”

The professors and students who came to listen to the lecture burst into laughter again because Zhou Hexuan said a meme that made them laugh. At this time, if you want to be admitted to Oxford University, you must know Latin, for example, Qian Zhongshu knows 100% Latin, otherwise he will not be admitted to Oxford University.

Many Oxford students abhorred it, especially those in science and engineering, who on more than one occasion proposed that Latin exams be abolished. The joke that Zhou Hexuan just said was regarded as a complaint by teachers and students, just like complaining that Chinese language majors must learn English.

Zhou Hexuan made a few jokes, and finally got to the point:

"Many Westerners cannot understand the Chinese way of thinking, nor can they understand the Chinese morality and aesthetics. To understand this topic, it is necessary to look at the root causes. Where is the source of Western cultural morality? In ancient Greek philosophy and the Bible. And where is the source of Chinese cultural morality? In the Book of Changes. ”

"In the Xia Dynasty, which was thousands of years away, there was the earliest "Book of Changes" in China, called "Lianshan", and later the Shang Dynasty had "Guizang". But these two "I Ching" have been lost, and what we are seeing now is the "Zhou Yi" of the Zhou Dynasty. Just like the Bible in the West, it is not the work of a single person, but a continuous addition and summary of generations. From the Xia Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, China has a cultural continuation for thousands of years, and I think the formation of the Book of Changes has also gone through thousands of years. ”

"What is Easy? The change is like also. In the evolution of the Book of Changes over the past thousand years, everything is summarized as an 'image'. 'The sage erects an image with all his heart', this sentence explains why China has not been able to develop modern science. The Chinese sages, or scholars, revered the 'standing image', or the so-called inductive method. Sun, daytime, man, strong...... These are summarized as yang attributes, which can all be included in the category of the five elements of yin and yang, in order to explain the laws of the world, that is, 'dedication'. ”

"The sage erects the image with all his intentions, and this sentence seems to me to mean that the Chinese like to summarize the appearances and not pay attention to the abstract theorems in them. Chinese like to do induction, while Westerners are willing to do deduction, this is the fundamental difference between East and West. ”

Therefore, in the Chinese inductive method, the laws of heaven, the laws of the earth, and the laws of man are all the same thing, and we equate the laws of nature and the laws of society, and thus form the idea of the unity of heaven and man. There is a very famous allusion in China called Wang Yangmingge bamboo, Wang Yangming observed bamboo, not to study the growth law of bamboo, but to mistake the truth of life from bamboo. This is clearly contrary to science. ”

"The Book of Changes not only affects Chinese's perception of science, but also affects Chinese's moral and aesthetic ......."

Zhou Hexuan spoke freely for two hours, and the sinologist Xiu Zhongcheng listened to it with fascination, but the other teachers and students were a little confused, and most of them couldn't even figure out what the "Book of Changes" was. However, the effect is still there, at least after listening to a lecture, these British people have a deeper understanding of China.

When it was time to ask questions, a professor suddenly raised his hand and said, "Mr. Zhou, I like to read your "Goddess" very much, and I am very interested in Chinese mythology and religion. The Chinese in "The Divine Woman" worship both Taoist and Buddhist gods, and even worship Jesus when they are sick. Do you Chinese have a true religion? ”

Zhou Hexuan felt that this person was a little familiar, and asked, "May I ask the name of this gentleman." ”

The professor said, "I'm the Anglo-Saxon professor at Pembroke College, John Ronald Tolkien. ”

Zhou Hexuan resisted the urge to roll his eyes: "Hello, Mr. Tolkien, I have read your "The Hobbit", and it is very interesting. ”

Tolkien said, "I'm writing a sequel to The Hobbit. ”

The sequel to The Hobbit is The Lord of the Rings, which Tolkien has been writing about for several years.

In 1937, Tolkien wrote to the publisher: "I am already writing the first chapter of the story of The New Hobbit. ”

In 1938, Tolkien finally finished the third chapter.

At the beginning of 1939, Tolkien wrote to the publisher: "I promise that I will finish it by the middle of June this year." ”

At the end of 1939, Tolkien wrote to the publisher: "The story is getting longer and longer because of the injury to tidying up the garden, and it may drag on until next spring." ”

In March 1940, Tolkien wrote to the publisher's urging: "I am sorry that the two of them are not in good health because the water pipe at home has burst, and the research work has been too laborious." ”

At this moment, "The Lord of the Rings" has completely stopped writing, presumably because Tolkien is in a bad mood, and it is more likely that the cancer has been delayed to an advanced stage.

In comparison, Zhou Hexuan's speed of serializing "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes" is fast enough.

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is .. The fastest website for mobile version update: m.