Choosing simple digs over mansion and leisure

By Wang Yong | 2009-11-5 | NEWSPAPER EDITION

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AN illustrious, world-famous scientist lived in a simple apartment of less than 100 square meters for almost half a century, turning down offers to move him to a splendid residence - befitting his fame.

Few Chinese knew of Qian Xuesen's frugal life before he passed away in Beijing last Saturday (October 31) at the age of 98. If they thought of him at all, they would have assumed he had a grand residence.

Qian was the father of Chinese space and rocket science. For almost all his life he shied away from the media spotlight, choosing instead to lead a humble life, not distracted by worldly pursuit of material things.

"His apartment (in Beijing) was so dilapidated that I would call it a humble nest," wrote Tu Yuanji in a memorial article published in the People's Daily on Tuesday. Tu was Qian's secretary and academic aide since 1983.

"On the walls of his apartment there are still clear cracks from the great earthquake of Tangshan (Hebei Province) in 1976," he added. A city close to Beijing, Tangshan was struck by a devastating earthquake in which 240,000 lives were lost.

After Qian became a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a top advisory body, the government suggested many times that he move to a better residence, a stand-alone building with a garden.

Qian declined. He didn't want to live a life too different from that of ordinary scientists, Tu recalled.

Rare bird

"In Qian's mind, the state comes before one's own home and science comes before fame," Tu told reporters last Sunday. "His heart was burning with worry when he observed corruption in our society."

In today's world of money worship and conspicuous consumption, Qian was really a rare bird, but Chinese culture, spanning thousands of years, has never been short of this species.

Unfortunately, many media, especially entertainment media in China today, have sung too loudly the praises of material wealth.

Even many Chinese economists who are in a position to influence policy have been talking up the ridiculous notion that owning at least two apartments is the benchmark of a better life. It's a hoax.

I recently have come to love "Hou Han Shu", a book written in the 5th century about the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). It was one of China's greatest dynasties in which benevolent emperors paid great respect to Confucian scholars for their dedication to moral progress and frugal living.

"Hou Han Shu" (literally meaning a book about Eastern Han) tells of Wang Liang, a Confucian scholar who eventually became an assistant to a prime minister. Author Fan Ye says of Wang: "His quilts were made of ordinary cloth and his utensils of ordinary earthenware."

One day a colleague of Wang's visited his home for the first time and saw a woman in a plain skirt coming in from the farm field, carrying firewood. Assuming she was a servant, he asked her if he could see Wang's wife.

"It is me," the woman answered. The man was so awed that he immediately dropped to his knee to show respect to her.

Frugal life

Simple life at that time also meant distancing oneself from sexual desire. Song Hong, a great Confucian scholar and one of the highest-ranking officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty, once attended a party given by Liu Xiu, the founding emperor. He caught the emperor darting glances at a decorative screen painted with the pictures of beautiful women. He chided the emperor with a Confucian quote: "I haven't seen anyone who loves virtue more than beauty." Ashamed, the emperor had the screen removed immediately.

In "Hou Han Shu," many queens also chose a frugal life. One of the greatest queens, surnamed Ma, had this to say: "As the mother of the country, I want to set an example of simple living. I wear plain cloth without fancy decorations and I do not eat sumptuous food."