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Nanxiu's Stories
Connected through Yale and Nanjing University
I met Qian Nanxiu when I was an undergraduate at Yale. She was a graduate student and facilitated the Chinese language table in my residential college. She impressed me with her erudition and patience. She shared her deep knowledge of Chinese literature, culture, and history with us novices with grace and patience. Later we reconnected through mutual friends at Nanjing University, service on an NEH committee, and a shared interest in literary eccentrics and women across Chinese history. Her book about Xue Shaohui is both learned and empathic and I will continue to treasure her insights as I teach Women and Modern Chinese History. Nanxiu was a born teacher and scholar, generous and collegial. She was also a poet and an artist--her holiday cards were always among the most beautiful, whether electronic (or in the past--material). She modeled what it meant to be an intellectual in the best sense--how live a life of the mind, but also how to be an ethical person in the world.
Tobie Meyer-Fong
April 10, 2023
人生無價珍藏——永懷摯友南秀
［人生無價珍藏——永懷摯友南秀］
/臺灣中正大學中國文學系 毛文芳
2013年12月，吳盛青教授曾為復旦大學召集一場「旅行的圖像」國際學術工作坊，筆者當時有機會與盛名遠播的錢南秀教授同臺發表論文，可惜南秀教授後因眼疾不克與會。之後，約莫於2015年末，時任台灣中正大學中文系主任的筆者，擬邀客座講學，透過最鍾愛的學生（曾在布拉格訪學受錢南秀教授溫暖照拂）張琬琳博士候選人引見，特前往臺北，首次拜會了於中研院開會而投宿於師大校友樓的錢南秀教授，很高興與平易近人的錢教授一見如故，相談甚歡。2016年夏末，筆者再度與錢南秀教授相會於俄羅斯聖彼得堡的歐洲漢學會議，期間一度相偕與會與參訪。
僅管種種主客觀因素致使先前的客座講學案未成，承蒙南秀教授慷慨盛意，折節下交，筆者為本系陸續籌辦之多項學術邀約，受惠於錢教授不遺餘力的全力支持：蒞臨會議、主題演講、系列講座、合作主編、賜文審稿、擔任智庫……。五年間（2017~2022），以本系作為學術平台，多方而密集展現錢南秀教授已達爐火純青之學術結晶，造福學界，嘉惠無數學人（請參見文末［附件〕）。
南秀教授早歲失依失怙，擁有強硬堅定的反霸權心志，此外，她更散發著溫婉優雅的人文氣息。憶及2016年於聖彼得堡挽著南秀教授走訪冬宮博物館、普希金故居等地之際，深刻體察南秀姊不僅擁有孜孜矻矻的學術本色、摩挲琴棋書畫的藝文性格，還始終保有一份悅讀俄國普希金小說的少女情懷。筆者能得這樣一位享譽國際、深可敬愛的才女學者折節下交，實乃三生有幸。
筆者有幸於2018-2019年訪問哈佛大學，曾於2019年3月間，蒙獲南秀教授邀訪萊斯大學與休斯敦美南僑界進行兩場學術講座。有幸投宿於南秀教授寬敞宜人的新居宅第，度過舒適的一周，不僅沐浴在錢家樓宅的書香品味裡，還有幸親炙其深具江南風味的佳餚廚藝。日常相偕於休斯敦四處參訪，迭有默契，如沐春風，篤情相待，她曾說著：「妳來美國，我的家就是妳的家。」他視我如親，我以姊暱稱。三年前，出於雅興，筆者擬為外子花甲編製壽慶文集，蒙南秀姊撰文賜下；2021年小女Angel Lu兩所美國頂尖大學醫學碩士留學申請，皆獲得南秀姊極力推薦而能成功。更別說她對我們各種學術合作的鼎力支持，是我們的恩貴之人。
以上這些點滴，伴隨著郵箱中無數往還的電郵，還有電腦豐盈成堆的各種照片合影與文檔，總成一個「錢南秀資料夾」，成為筆者人生無可抺滅的無價珍藏。
誠摯感謝萊斯大學藝術史研究名家黃士珊教授相告，2022年感恩節前一日凌晨3:45鬧鈴響起，筆者起身參加錢南秀教授的線上告別紀念會。實體告別式在美南時間2022年11月23日下午2:00、於休斯敦南秀宅邸舉行，由她的公子朱亮先生率領家屬、同事、朋友進行隆重的典禮。線上的紀念空間，南秀於耶魯大學的指導恩師孫康宜教授早已就座，由萊斯同事士珊教授主持並雙向口筆譯，南秀稱譽的才女——香港吳盛青教授同樣摸黑起身在座。透過螢幕，我還見到了筆者2019年休斯敦之行結識的美南寫作協會前後任石麗東會長、姚嘉為會長，兩位來自臺灣的華僑姊姊是南秀的近鄰摯友。四方湧入了南秀的手足、親族、同事、僑朋、知友、學生等，紛紛來到線上空間，將近百位的親友，共同緬懷這位可敬可愛的非凡學者、生命勇士與溫暖天使。
哲人日已遠，典型在夙昔。人生有涯，南秀教授留給包括我在內的世人厚實永恒的學術著作與黽勉不倦的學者風範，將隨同她溫婉和美的精神笑貌，永植世人心懷。
美國萊斯大學為表彰對南秀教授畢生奉獻研究與教學無數心力的敬意，將校園裡圖書館前的一棵大樹獻給南秀。她的名字被銘刻於一方石碑，置於大樹旁，永留萊斯，精神不朽。南秀教授的未完成遺編與幾部代表作，將由李皖蒙博士接手完成翻譯後出版，嘉惠學界，百代流傳。
筆者與任職的中正大學中文系曾受惠於南秀教授甚多，除代表本系撰寫一封感恩唁電外，能作的極為有限，僅以心香一瓣敬輓：彤管揚芬 懿範猷存 錢南秀教授千古
~~~~~~~~~~~
［附件］錢南秀教授獲邀參與臺灣中正大學中文系學術活動履跡（2017~2022）
*說明：錢南秀教授著作等身，活躍於國際漢學界。中正大學中文系何其榮幸，因善緣與良機邀得錢教授屢次蒞臨，密集展現其爐火純青之學術結晶。以下臚列2017～2022年間，透過筆者策劃邀約安排主持之點點學術履跡，誌念哀輓，永懷摯友。
受邀人：錢南秀 / ［美國］萊斯大學亞洲研究中心中國文學教授
總策劃主持：毛文芳 / 中正大學中文系教授兼系主任
主辦單位：中正大學中文系
合作邀訪：臺灣各大學中文系
［壹、國際會議之主題演講］
❀第一場
「東亞經典詮釋新路向」國際學術工作坊
講題 /《世說新語》之歷代詮釋與東亞觀照
時間 / 2017年12月21日（周四）14:20~15:10
❀第二場
「性別、圖像、知識：東亞漢學新路向」國際學術研討會
講題 / 建構婦女道德空間：《列女傳》插圖在東亞漢文化圈的傳衍
時間 / 2019年11月14日（周四）9:00~10:30
［貳、系列講座］
❀第一場
講題 / 乳與香：兩部奇書《女世說》
時間 / 2017年12月25日（周一）16:10~17:30
❀第二場
講題 / 跨越閨門：近代才女薛紹徽的文化版圖
時間 / 2017年12月26日（周二）10:10~11:40
❀第三場
講題 / 近代才女薛紹徽及其戊戌詩史
時間 / 2017年12月26日（周二）15:30~17:00
（嘉義大學中文系 陳茂仁主任主持）
❀第四場
講題 / 婦女與庚子事變：以清末女詩人薛紹徽有關作品為中心
時間 / 2019年11月8日（周五）10:00~12:30
（中興大學中文系 羅秀美教授主持）
❀第五場
講題：在漢文化圈尋覓「賢媛」
時間：2019年11月11日（周一）下午13:00~15:00
（雲林科大漢學應用研究所 翁敏修所長主持）
❀第六場
講題 / 追尋賢媛：開拓東亞漢文圈的女典視域
時間 / 2019年11月12日（周四）10:00~12:30
［參、合作主編 專輯賜稿］
❀合作主編：《中正漢學研究》36、37，「性別、知識、圖像：東亞漢學新路向」專輯1、2，2020年12月、2021年6月。顧問：錢南秀 主編：毛文芳）
❀特約稿之一 / 建構婦女道德空間：《列女傳》圖像在東亞漢文化圈的傳衍（《中正漢學研究》36期，2020年12月，「性別、知識、圖像：東亞漢學新路向」專輯1 主編 / 毛文芳）
❀特約稿之二 / 東亞漢文化圈的「賢媛」書寫（《江蘇師大學報》（社會科學版）2022年第4期，7月號，「珍稀文獻研究」專欄 / 特約主編 毛文芳） *能為南秀教授生前最後一篇論文作學術服務，發刊出版，造福讀者，作為特約主編的筆者與江蘇師大學報呂靖波總編輯深感榮幸。
［肆、擔任海外專家智庫］
臺灣中正大學文學院於2022年4月間正式成立「東亞漢籍與儒學研究中心」，忝為副主任的筆者代為邀聘，承蒙錢南秀教授俯允擔任本研究中心海外專家智庫，就研究中心發展方針與策略，惠賜建言。
［伍、筆者獲南秀教授之邀約演講］
❀Title: Transmission and Transmutation of Literati Portraiture in the Sinosphere(明清的畫像文本與東亞視野)
“Transnational Asia Speaker Series (TASS), 2018-19”
Speaker: prof. Wen fang Mao
Time: 28th Mar. 2019(Thursday) p.m.2:00~4:00
Place: Chao Center for Asian Studies of Rice University
Host: Nanxiu Qian (錢南秀) / Professor of Chinese Literature
School of Humanities, Rice University
❀講題：美色之誘：明清文人畫像的焦慮觀看與抒情演繹
主辦：美南華文作家協會（in Houston）
主講：毛文芳（中正大學中文系教授 / 哈佛大學東亞語言文明系訪問教授）
時間：2019年03月30日（週六）2:00-4:00 pm
地點：休斯敦 華僑文教中心
邀請暨主持：石麗東女士（世界華文寫作協會前會長）
引言：錢南秀教授（萊斯大學趙氏亞洲研究中心）
毛文芳
April 7, 2023
Memorial 2023-04-07 Liang Zhu Speech
Thank you, Rice University, Department of Transnational Asian studies, for holding this service. Thank you all for coming today, to celebrate the life of a remarkable woman, my mother, Nanxiu Qian. She was a great scholar, with research in many areas. she was peerless in two of her specialties. She was a prize-winning novelist, teacher, and translator. She was the best Chinese chef in Houston. She was a mother, a grandmother, and a friend. As a playwright, her Yue opera, Li Qingzhao, had a public performance in Nanjing, China. Her other play, Guan Lin Sang, is about the life of a musician and scholar, JiKang, who lived about two thousand years ago. Alas, the story is too closely reflects the reality of modern-day China, and it was not produced. no one was daring enough to make the movie, because the movie would not pass political censorship.
Because of the political environment in the 50s, 60s, and 70s in China, my grandparents unjustly passed away early. At age 19, my mother raised and supported her three sisters and two brothers. When my mother was 6 months pregnant, she was arrested on suspicion of involvement with an anti-government movement. They had a policy of guilty until proven innocent, so she was placed in a maximum-security prison with 14 other women in a single jail cell, the room was so crowded, they all slept up right. Three months later she was found innocent. But before her release, the government forced her to watch the execution of a young woman who was my mother’s age, that poor girl just gave birth. My mother was publicly criticized and denounced in front of 10 thousand people, in Nanjing’s biggest sports arena, as an anti-revolutionary. She also did four years of forced labor.
She has been to hell and back, but she never lost her energy, optimism, and zest for life. My mother was a fighter. She had just two settings: full throttle, and sleep. Everything was ok after 8 hours of sleep.
In 1978, she finished second in the Nanjing University graduate school entrance exam, with the first-place finisher only having a better grade in Communist ideologies. She was the only high school graduate to take the exam, while everybody else had a college degree. Besides my mother, I do not know anybody else who can skip that many grades, having gone directly from high school to graduate school. Later, my mother was the first person after 1949 from mainland China to be accepted into Yale’s department of East Asian Languages and Literatures.
The cancer did not scare my mother. She still wants to help others, In April, when she was discharging from the Anderson medical center, one of the medical workers who pushing her wheel chair out the hospital was 27 years old, does not have college degree, have very low self esteem, and fear that she may failed again when she goes back to college, my mother spent about half hour with her, and told her that to be brave and be a fighter, fight through every life obstacle. Also, two days after mom discharged from the hospital, she got right back to her teaching and research.
She was a mother-figure to a lot of people. Baobao. I found that that my mother did not limit that term of endearment to just her family. She called her students, and even some of the younger scholars, Baobao. There are young scholars who sent their gratitude for my mother’s mentorship and nurturing.
My mother was a good mother and grandmother. She taught me many things, especially how to be a fighter when times get tough. Like she had done for me when I was a child, my mother spent numerous hours teaching Emma, her granddaughter, to enjoy art and literature. Like every proud grandmother, she loved to brag about Emma’s every achievement. My uncle joked that when my mother started talking about Emma, he would cancel the rest of his day; the conversation would last a while.
My mother is a great mother and grandmother her son and granddaughter can ask for, in our grief, we smile knowing that she is in her mother’s arms and holding the hands of her three sisters again.
Liang Zhu
April 7, 2023
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