Guangzhou, November 12, 2009 (Xinhua Net): The former residence of world-renowned historian Tschen Yin Koh(Chen Yinke) in Sun Yat-sen University(SYSU), which had witnessed the last 20 years of his life, has been repaired and open to public.
The former residence of Tschen Yin Koh is a small two-storey villa, and the furnishings on the second story have been meticulously restored to the original state as in the old days when Tschen Yin Koh lived. The photo of the 23rd anniversary commemoration of Mr. and Mrs. Tschen’s marriage, old-fashioned gramophone, the yellowed historical manuscripts and the simple furniture embody the living traces of the late owner of the residence.
According to the recall of Tschen Yin Koh’s daughter, Tschen had lived in the residence for the longest period of his life time. When Tschen moved into SYSU in 1952, he was already in his later years, and blind, but he still went all out to finish one of his important writings “Liu Rushi Bie Zhuan”(Alternative Biography of Liu Rushi). “When my father broke his leg and was confined to bed, he still kept on thinking, and sometimes when he came up with some ideas, he just couldn’t fall asleep until someone had helped him write them down.”
Tschen Yin Koh is the most distinguished and reputable historian, researcher of classical literature, linguist in modern China. On the eve of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he was teaching at LingNanUniversity in Guangzhou. Tschen shifted his teaching post to SYSU after LingNanUniversity was merged into it in the national college institutions adjustment. Tschen Yin Koh had taught and lived at SYSU for 20 years and cultivated a large number of historical scholars.
According to SYSU, the renovation of Tschen Yin Koh’s former residence had begun since 2007. In Sep. 2007, Hong Kong Liu Luanxiong Charity Foundation signed an agreement with the Education Development Foundation of SYSU, and funded 2 million H.K. dollars for the repair and construction of the former residence of Tschen Yin Koh. “Tschen Yin Koh’s Former Residence Repair Project” was completed and successfully went through the renovation check in 28 Oct. 2009.
Tschen Yin Koh’s former residence has been repaired to the original state based on the principle of “Xiu Jiu Ru Jiu” (repairing the old buildings like the original ones). The plague of the residence was inscribed by Yao Zongyi. The furnishings on the second story of the residence has been arranged accordingly so as to revive the live of the former historian. The life photos of famous scholars like Wang Qi, Xie Zhiguang and Rong Geng are displayed on the first story where they had stayed.
Translated by Eric Shi
