1946-1952: The Last Glow of "Tsinghua University"
Our reporter/Song Chundan
Published in the 962th issue of China News Weekly on August 31, 2020
In July 1946, Southwest Associated University ceased operations, and Tsinghua University moved back to Beijing to resume school.
At that time, Zhang Wenpu, a first-year student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the School of Engineering and the son of Professor Zhang Xiruo of the Department of Politics at Tsinghua University, was taking a leave of absence from school due to illness and staying at the Xinlin Academy of Tsinghua Park.
During the leave of absence, he had listened to Chen Yinke's lecture twice on campus.
Chen Yinke, who was nearly blind, sat in a chair and recites "Twenty-Four History" in a large section, and the assistant professor Wang Yongxing wrote it on the blackboard.
Chen Yinke's ubiquitous memorization made Zhang Wenpu amazed.
At that time, he did not understand that Chen Yinke was once one of the "Four Mentors" of the prestigious Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies.
One year later, Zhang Wenpu, who had recovered from his illness, was transferred to the History Department of Tsinghua University of Literature, and witnessed its final glory.
"Purple Qi supported by Baiyun"
When Zhang Wenpu entered the Tsinghua University of Literature, the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies had become extremely popular.
Wang Guowei committed suicide in 1927, Liang Qichao died of illness in 1929, and Zhao Yuanren spent many years investigating. Chen Yinke remained the only four mentor.
In July 1929, after Tsinghua University closed the Institute of Chinese Studies, Chen Yinke entered the Department of History of Tsinghua University of Literature, and Wu Mi, who was in charge of the Institute of Chinese Studies, entered the Department of Foreign Languages.
Tsinghua School of Literature was established in 1928.
In August of that year, Tsinghua School was renamed "National Tsinghua University", and set up schools of liberal arts, law, science, and engineering.
Among them, the Faculty of Liberal Arts set up the Department of Chinese Literature, Department of Foreign Literature, Department of Philosophy, Department of History, and Department of Sociology (the Department of Sociology was later changed to the Faculty of Law), which ushered in an era of unsurpassed generations of masters.
In the first two years after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the three Southwest Associated University-Tsinghua University, Peking University and Nankai University still held joint admissions examinations.
In 1946, the English test subject was the composition "Anatomy of a Sparrow", and the Chinese test required an essay entitled "School and Society", and explained four idioms: just around the corner, change the cost intensified, watch the fire from the shore, and be closely related.
More than 30,000 candidates admitted a total of 1,000, but the admission scores of each school are different, and Tsinghua University has the highest.
Wen Jieruo was admitted by the first choice Tsinghua Department of Foreign Literature.
Ying Ruocheng, Wen Lihe and Wen Jieruo are in the same class.
She once heard Lihe say that when his father Wen Yiduo was killed, he pounced on his father to cover him, but he was also shot and survived the catastrophe.
In 1947, Zi Zhongjun graduated from Tianjin Yaohua Middle School. Due to his failure, he missed Tsinghua University and was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of Yanjing University.
But she was determined, and passed the transfer exam in her sophomore year to enter the Tsinghua Department of Foreign Languages.
Many of Zi Zhongyun's classmates were transferred from another school like her.
Feng Zhongpu, the daughter of Feng Youlan, the dean of Tsinghua College of Literature, passed the transfer exam after studying at Nankai University for two years. The daughter of Tsinghua President Mei Yiqi was admitted to Tsinghua after a one-year preparatory course.
In the first essay class, the teacher's essay title is "Why I Choose Foreign Languages Department".
Zi Zhongjun wrote down his heartfelt words: "I think every word is like a golden key, which can open doors to an endless treasure house of knowledge; I also deeply feel that the culture of our country is incomparably brilliant, but not It is known to the world that most of this golden key can also lead Chinese culture to the world." This article received the highest score.
Every day, Zi Zhongjun works at four o'clock in the dormitory, classroom, library and music room.
Wen Jieruo also spends all his extracurricular time in the library.
The floor of the reading room of the library is paved with precious cork, and walking silently.
Here, Wen Jieruo translated Guo Moruo's "Goddess" into English, and translated the representative work of British novelist Charlie Reed's "Monastery and Home Kitchen" into Chinese to practice writing.
Everyone stayed in the library every night before returning to the dormitory.
The lights in the dormitory are turned off at 10 o'clock in the evening, and many students keep on reading with oil lamps.
Bauhinia is planted in front of Tsinghua Library.
The school badge of Tsinghua University uses bauhinia as the background color and is engraved with two white characters "Tsinghua".
Wen Jieruo kept the school badge of the year, with her student number 350003 engraved on the back.
The Tsinghua school flag is also purple and white, and Wen Yiduo once interpreted it as "purple air supported by white clouds."
At that time, an English song was popular in the Department of Foreign Languages, which contained the lyrics: "O Tsinghua, fair Tsinghua, our college bright. May we be loyal to the purple and the white." (Ah, Tsinghua, the beautiful Tsinghua, our school is bright and lofty, My heart is loyal to the white clouds and purple air.)
The Department of Foreign Languages offers mostly literature courses, such as prose classes, English classics, English poetry, Greek mythology, and the Bible.
Mrs. Hughes's Victorian novels are the favorite of Zi Zhongjun and Wen Jieruo, and most of Dickens' novels have been read by Zi Zhongjun.
Lei Haizong lectured on Western History.
Liu Chonghong, professor of world history, once said to his students: "You should choose Lei Haizong's for the world history class. His class has a philosophical flavor, and I can't tell it." Lei Haizong will talk about Western history and Comparing Chinese history, for example, a year in AD is equivalent to a year in Gong Lu Ai, which is very inspiring for Zi Zhongyun.
At that time, Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang just returned to China, Qian Zhongshu taught the history of Western literature, and Yang Jiang taught Western novels.
Both Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang are graduates of Tsinghua Foreign Languages Department.
Yang Jiang once said that the couple believed that the best foreign language department in Chinese universities was Tsinghua, so they decided to accept Tsinghua's appointment.
Qian Zhongshu didn't need handouts in class, and he kept talking while standing on the podium. Students could only take notes desperately.
Whenever he talked about it, he wrote the reading bibliography on the blackboard.
There are no exams in each semester, and three book reports are handed in to determine grades.
Compared with Qian Zhongshu's sharpness, Yang Jiang has a mild personality and speaks softly in lectures. The students nicknamed her "young lady" using her name as a homophony.
There are also some foreign professors in the Faculty of Arts.
Wen De, an American professor who teaches English poetry and the history of English literature, was Yang Jiang's mentor when he was studying at Tsinghua University. He sympathized with the Communist Party. When the KMT arrested progressive students, many people escaped under his protection.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, foreign professors left school one after another, and Wen De, who had always been critical of US policy, stayed.
He holds concerts at home every weekend and plays records, mostly Western classical music.
In his large living room, there is only one set of sofas and no chairs. Many people sit and listen on the carpet.
Those who have not anticipated the trend are called inflow
When Zhang Wenpu was enrolled in the History Department in 1947, the teachers who taught Chinese history were all students of Chen Yinke, the founder of the Tsinghua Department of History, such as Professor Sun Yutang of Qin and Han History, Professor Zhou Yiliang of Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, Professor Ding Zeliang of Song History, Professor of Yuan History and Qing History Shao Xunzheng, Ming history professor Wu Han, lecturer Wang Yongxing who specializes in Tang history and also teaches modern history, and two assistants Chen Qinghua and Zhang Jiqian who specialize in modern history.
Among them, Zhou Yiliang, Wang Yongxing and Chen Qinghua are Chen Yinke's assistants.
From the time of Tsinghua Chinese Academy of Chinese Studies, Chen Yinque often opened more than ten courses including Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui History, Sui and Tang History, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties.
He understands Hindi, Pali, Xixia, Mongolian, Sanskrit and many other languages, and he can quote them at any time in class.
Each of his research has guiding ideology, and students must combine a lot of auxiliary materials to comprehend it.
He only guides students in research, never names and quizzes, only regular school exams, and never fails students.
Chen Yinke's thoughts and viewpoints laid the historical tradition for the Department of History of Tsinghua University.
In his view, "the unity of body, mind, family, and country" is the core of a person's academic life.
He advocated the "preliminary theory": "Academics in an era must have new materials and new problems. The use of this material to research and solve problems is the new trend of the era of academics. Scholars can anticipate this trend. Those who are called preliminaries. Those who have not been preliminarily preliminaries are said to be inflows. This is the general meaning of ancient and modern academics."
One of the first-year compulsory courses in the History Department is "General History of China", taught by Wu Han.
Wu Han joined the China Democratic League during the Southwest Associated University, and has a close relationship with Zhang Xiruo. In Beijing, he often fished with Zhang Xiruo in the tube river behind Zhangjiawu.
Wu Han was politically anti-Chiang and believed in Marxism-Leninism, but he was a pure scholar in class, and he did not use the past to satirize the present.
His lectures are not divided according to dynasties, but choose official posts, social forms, economic conditions and other topics to be thoroughly discussed, especially socio-economic topics.
Some students often missed classes, but Wu Han never missed classes.
The selection of teaching materials for the Department of History of Tsinghua University is also unique.
At that time, most colleges and universities used textbooks or teacher handouts designated by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China to designate students to read related "academic classics", such as "Tang History" and designated students to read Chen Yinque's "Drafts of Political History of the Tang Dynasty" and "Ming History" Designate students to read Wu Han's "From Sangha to Emperor Power" and so on.
The Department of History of Tsinghua University insists on "refining the roots" and does not use "ministerial textbooks" and does not advocate reading "academic masterpieces". Instead, students directly read "Twenty-Four History", "Tongji of Zizhi" and other original works.
Zhang Wenpu remembered that Shao Xunzheng taught modern Chinese history, from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement.
He is an expert in Mongolian history, and he likes to share his research experience in lectures, which is fascinating.
His body is thin, and he has to sit for a while while speaking, and sometimes he has to take a cigarette.
"Education should pursue what it should be"
After the founding of New China, curriculum reforms began to be gradually implemented in colleges and universities.
In fact, when Beiping was liberated in January 1949, Tsinghua was taken over, and the transformation of personnel, courses, and ideology began.
After the curriculum reform, the development direction of the Department of History of Tsinghua University turned to modern Chinese history. The Department of Chinese Literature took the training of cultural, educational and artistic cadres as its main task.
The Department of Foreign Languages originally used English as the main foreign language, and Russian, French, German, and Japanese as the second foreign language, focusing on literary quality training.
After the teaching reform, the Department of Foreign Languages is divided into Russian, English, and French groups. The main task is to train interpreters or translators for diplomatic services.
Many students majoring in Western languages request to switch to the Russian major, seeing this as a transition from the bourgeoisie to the proletariat.
Later, the party organization arranged to study Stalin's discourse on language "language has no class nature", persuading them to stay in their original major with peace of mind.
A French interpreter professor was seconded to participate in the French translation work of high-level international conferences. After returning to school, the foreign language department should focus on training translators, especially interpreters. It was regarded as a joke by the teachers and students of the foreign language department, and it was also disdainful by other professors. Was ridiculed by Qian Zhongshu.
In September 1949, Feng Youlan resigned as the head of the philosophy department, and Lei Haizong resigned as the head of the history department, and were succeeded by Jin Yuelin and Wu Han respectively.
On September 26, Wu Han was appointed as the Dean of the College of Arts.
In January 1950, Wu Han was elected as the deputy mayor of Beijing, and Jin Yuelin succeeded as the dean of the Faculty of Arts.
During the 24 years of the Tsinghua School of Literature, Feng Youlan served as the dean for 18 years.
Zi Zhongjun has a good relationship with Feng Zhongpu and often goes to Feng's house.
In Zi Zhongyun's view, most of the professors of the Faculty of Arts have distinct personalities, each with a sharp edge, and even the literati are weak, and they often have conflicts. It is no easy task to be the dean.
She feels that Feng Youlan's knowledge can convince the public, and she is one of the few scholars who can truly be called Chinese and Western scholars. She is also decent, gentle and generous, inclusive, and has an old-school Confucian style, so that people in the liberal arts college can live together in harmony.
Feng Youlan was pushed to the position of acting principal several times when faced with difficulties at Tsinghua University, maintained the situation and reversed the situation, but was never formally appointed as the principal.
On the eve of liberation, Tsinghua was in a dilemma that he could not pay his wages, and he was also in danger.
Zi Zhongjun said that Feng Youlan not only has outstanding administrative talents and can drive the development of the school, but is also an educator with complete educational thoughts.
She was deeply impressed by a viewpoint in "Feng Youlan on Education": "Politics is to deal with what is already done, and education must pursue what it should be."
In the summer of 1949, Zi Zhongjun, who returned to school after the summer vacation, felt the change in atmosphere strongly.
Of the 30 or so students in the Department of Foreign Languages, more than half of them joined the Southward Working Group and left the school.
"The Sky in the Liberated Area" was sung everywhere on campus, political studies increased, and league organizations had frequent meetings.
The economist Wang Yanan was invited to give a major course on political economy. Each department sent an assistant teacher to guide and the students discussed in groups. This was the first time Zi Zhongjun had come into contact with Marxist political economy.
Chen Yi also went to Tsinghua University to give a report, emphasizing the united front work of the People's Liberation Army after it entered the city. He said: "People say that we are right and we are right. What's wrong?"
In 1949, 17-year-old Han Jiaao was admitted to the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University.
In order to welcome the founding ceremony, his free time with his classmates was almost filled with various activities such as learning revolutionary songs and preparing for parades.
Zhao Shuhua was originally a history student and transferred to the Chinese Department in the second grade.
She recalled that at that time, educational resources had begun to tilt towards workers, peasants and soldiers.
Of the 20 classmates in her class, about one-third came from worker and peasant families.
The status of "old school" began to shake.
Few freshmen in the Chinese department are eager to learn ancient literature.
In response to the exam, Han Jiaao borrowed a thread-bound "Book of Songs" from the library. The engineering students who worked on the questions cast a strange look, which made him very uncomfortable.
The Chinese department is shining with stars.
Li Guangtian, Dean of the Chinese Department and Party Branch Secretary, teaches modern prose, Yu Guanying teaches The Book of Songs, Lu Shuxiang and Zhu Dexi teaches grammar and rhetoric, Wen Yiduo’s student Chen Meng teaches new poems, Wang Yao teaches the history of new Chinese literature, Ji Zhenhuai teaches Introduction to ancient books, Ma Hanlin lectures on phonology, Wu Zuxiang lectures on the history of modern novels, and Guo Liangfu takes the writing class.
There are also some part-time teachers, such as Ai Qing teaches modern poetry and He Qifang teaches literature and art.
In frequently held special lectures, Han Jiaao heard Hu Feng talk about Lu Xun and Guo Moruo recite his own poems.
Li Guangtian is a poet and writer, and his lectures are not limited to theory and are fascinating.
There are always 70 or 80 students from the department and foreign departments to listen to his classes, which is rare in the freshman liberal arts.
Also in 1949, Yang Di students were admitted to the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University.
The Department of Philosophy developed rapidly after its establishment in 1929, and by the 1930s it was already a gathering of famous teachers.
Jin Yuelin, Feng Youlan, Zhang Shenfu, Zhang Dainian, etc. are called the "new realism" school, that is, the Tsinghua school.
Yang Disheng said that their common characteristic is that they emphasize logical analysis, and they all have feelings of family and country.
Feng Youlan and Jin Yuelin, deans of the Faculty of Arts, served as the heads of the philosophy department successively, and they were closely related.
In the early days of liberation, a group of old intellectuals, especially members of the Democratic League such as Feng Youlan and Pan Guangdan, were required to conduct inspections, and young teachers and students reviewed and gave their opinions. Feng Youlan and Pan Guangdan could not do so many times.
Jin Yuelin Wenzhi and Feng Youlan cried.
Jin Yuelin teaches formal logic and teaches students to read English original works. Few students take elective courses.
Every Saturday, he would change into a suit, polish his shoes brightly, and head straight to Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin's home.
In the early 1950s, under the influence of the Soviet Union's ultra-left trend, formal logic was criticized.
Tsinghua University invited Marxist-Leninist expert Ai Siqi to give lectures on politics to all students, chaired by Jin Yuelin.
Ai Siqi criticized formal logic. Jin Yuelin concluded: "Ai Siqi speaks very well, but fortunately, what he said is in line with formal logic." Yang Disheng heard that Ai Siqi did not sleep well after a few days. Later, Jin and Ai became friends.
At that time, some teachers talked about the history of Western philosophy. Whenever they talked about a philosopher, they would put a label on him, stating which class he represented.
Wang Xianjun mentioned the famous "half-cost litigation" in the history of logic when he talked about "dilemma reasoning".
A pair of teachers and students sign a contract, and the teacher teaches the students legal knowledge. The students pay half of the tuition first. If the first lawsuit is won, the other half of the tuition will be paid.
After graduation, the student has not been litigated. The teacher cannot get the other half of the tuition fee and intends to sue the student.
The students told the teacher that if you win, I don’t have to pay the other half of the tuition according to the contract; if you lose, I don’t have to pay the other half according to the ruling.
So whether you win or lose the lawsuit, you won't get the other half of the tuition.
In the 1980s, Yang Disheng, who taught an elective course of formal logic at Tsinghua University, went to Peking University to find Wang Xianjun.
For the "half-fee lawsuit" dilemma, he has a solution: if the student does not pay the tuition after the first lawsuit, the teacher can sue him again.
Because the student has won the lawsuit, he should pay the other half of the tuition.
"Looking at a university without liberal arts is not enough now"
When the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out in 1950, Zi Zhongjun was working on his graduation thesis and his tutor was Qian Zhongshu.
Her original title was "Comparison of Chinese and Western Novels". Because the framework was too large, Qian Zhongshu was changed to "Chinese Novels from the Perspective of Western Literary Criticism".
Qian Zhongshu did not list references for her, only suggested that she read her writings in this area.
At that time, the military enthusiasm in Tsinghua Park was soaring, and the school hall held a meeting almost a day, calling for joining the army.
Zi Zhongjun was deeply infected and decided to give up all enrollment in the army, but was not approved.
More than 95% of Tsinghua students have signed up, but only 50 have been approved.
According to national regulations, students in the third and fourth grade engineering colleges and foreign language departments shall not be transferred to reserve for national construction.
In addition, teachers and students of the Department of Foreign Languages are the focus of the movement to "clean up the influence of imperialism."
As the “director general” of the graduating class of the Foreign Languages Department, Zi Zhongjun was elected by the students. On behalf of the whole department, he petitioned Wu Dayuan, the dean of the department, to cancel his graduation thesis so that the students could spend more time in social activities, but was rejected.
Wu Dayuan said: "Tsinghua is doing graduation thesis. If you don't want to do it, you can transfer to the School of Foreign Languages."
In 1951, the state began to implement uniform employment distribution, and all college graduates gathered for unified training and listened to reports in the Zhongshan Park Concert Hall.
Tsinghua graduates are led by the chairman of the student union Zhu Zhiji, and Peking University graduates are led by the chairman of the student union Hu Qili. They live with the graduates of Beijing Normal University on the campus of the former Fu Jen Catholic University. They listen to reports during the day and come back to engage in recreational activities at night.
Zhou Enlai and ministers of various ministries made more than a dozen reports for these graduates, introducing the country's construction in various fields.
Zi Zhongjun remembers that the report said that the hard work of 400 farmers can train a college student. Each student is a valuable asset of the country. Therefore, everyone must obey the unified distribution of the country and contribute to national construction.
In the end, more than ten graduates of the Tsinghua Foreign Languages Department were assigned to the People’s Publishing House, Foreign Languages Publishing Bureau, Public Security Bureau and other units, and Zi Zhongyun and Feng Zhongpu were assigned to the Religious Affairs Committee of the State Council.
The accepted ideal place for foreign language students is the Institute of Literature, but almost no one wants it.
Soon after, Zi Zhongjun was transferred to the Chinese People's Committee for the Defense of the World Peace, and Feng Zhongpu was transferred to the Research Department of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
The two have since embarked on different career paths. Zi Zhongjun became an expert and translator in international politics and American studies, and Feng Zhongpu became a famous writer under the pen name Zong Pu.
In 1951, Shao Xunzheng, the head of the History Department, intentionally asked Zhang Wenpu to stay in school as a teaching assistant, but the unified allocation made his academic dream of staying in school shattered and he was assigned to the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Education.
Later, Zhang Wenpu entered the diplomatic field and served as Director of the Department of American and Oceanic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese Ambassador to Canada.
This year, Wen Jieruo entered the People's Publishing House, where she met her husband Xiao Qian.
This famous translator and wife translated "Ulysses" in their later years, which is regarded as a literary event.
In early 1951, nearly half of the dozens of students in Han Jiaao's class ended their studies early.
Some were transferred to the "Beijing Daily" that was being prepared, some were transferred to the China-Soviet Friendship Association, which was in short supply, and some joined the army. Han Jiaao was transferred to the Tsinghua Workers and Peasants' Express Affiliated Middle School to teach.
It was not until the reconstruction of Tsinghua's liberal arts that he served as a professor of Chinese at Tsinghua University.
In 1952, the national adjustment of faculties officially kicked off.
Except for more than 20 people, Tsinghua's original literary, law, and science departments have all been adjusted to Peking University and other units.
The engineering schools of Peking University and Yanjing University were adjusted to Tsinghua University.
The adjusted Tsinghua University has become a multidisciplinary engineering university.
Before the faculty adjustment, Zhao Shuhua was transferred to work in the Chinese Language Specialty Class for Eastern European Exchange Students. After the adjustment, he moved to Peking University with this class. Her dream of returning to school was broken.
This specialized course changed all the way, and later became the Beijing Language and Culture University, where she also retired as a professor.
In 1952, Yang Disheng went south to participate in the land reform and returned to school, and was left to work in the Tsinghua Party Committee.
At this time, most of his 13 classmates have been transferred or merged into Peking University.
In the national adjustment of faculties, all the philosophy departments of domestic universities were abolished and merged into Peking University, with Jin Yuelin as the head of the department.
Yang Disheng said that this is actually a concentrated reform of thinking.
Jin Yuelin once said that this department head didn't know what to do. He went to work every day and no one came to look for him in the office.
Soon after, Jin Yuelin led Shen Youding and a group of people to the Academy of Social Sciences.
In 1982, Professor Jiang Tianshu of the Chinese Department of Fudan University, who had studied under Chen Yinke and Wang Guowei at the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, wrote to Chen Yun, then vice chairman of the CPC Central Committee, suggesting that Tsinghua University be built into a truly comprehensive university.
Chen Yun forwarded this letter to relevant departments.
In March 1983, the Tsinghua Party Committee submitted a report to the Party Group of the Ministry of Education, suggesting that Tsinghua should be added to the liberal arts, and Tsinghua should be gradually turned into a comprehensive university focusing on engineering.
Upon approval, Tsinghua University established a liberal arts preparatory group.
Yang Disheng was transferred to the preparatory team to prepare for the establishment of the Institute of Chinese Ideology and Culture, and later served as deputy director.
Once, Yang Disheng had a meal with Gao Jingde, then president of Tsinghua University, and students of Jin Yuelin and Wang Xianjun, and Wang Hao, a tenured professor of Rockefeller University.
Gao Jingde said: “There was the truth at the time when the faculties were adjusted. Now it’s impossible to look at a university without liberal arts.” Wang Hao said unceremoniously, “I don’t know if you had any reason at the time. Anyway, according to the Russian method. Do it. The two schools have their own characteristics, why do they have to merge?"
Tsinghua University gradually rebuilt the Department of Foreign Languages, Social Sciences, and Chinese Language and Literature. The Department of History was restored at the end of 1993 and the Department of Philosophy was restored in 2000.
Tsinghua University now has a School of Humanities and a School of Social Sciences.
Tsinghua’s long-standing liberal arts education was reborn.
After the reconstruction of Tsinghua's liberal arts, it proposed to uphold the academic paradigm of "integration of Chinese and Western, integration of ancient and modern, penetration of arts and science, and comprehensive innovation".
Yang Disheng said that this is the inheritance and development of the Tsinghua school tradition.
China News Weekly, Issue 32, 2020
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing