怀念父亲

本文作者回忆父亲袁复礼教授献身地质事业的执着精神和他为人坦诚宽厚、公而忘私的几个片断。

IN MEMORY OF OUR FATHER

Although our father spent most of his lifetime in teaching geosciences, he also achieved fruitful and outstanding results in field geology. He scored achievements after overcoming a lot of difficulties and hardships and did plenty of pioneering researches in many areas of geosciences. In 1921, he and the Swedish geologist J. G. Andersson carried out archaeological excavation in Yangshao Village, Mianchi County, Henan Province, thus marking a new page in systematic archaeological excavations in China, since previously archaeolosical studies were made mainly on the basis of stone and metal artifacts collected here and there among the people. The cultural site at Yangshao proved that the previous assertion that there was no Neolithic Culture in China was wrong. The Yangshao culture has become known as one of the monuments showing that the Yellow River Basin is the cradle of Chinese civilization. In 1926, our father and Dr. Li Ji carried out excavation at the prehistorical site in Xiyin Village, Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province. This was the first archaeological excavation made with modern methods by Chinese scientists themselves, and important finds were also made at the site. From 1923 to 1924 our father studied Carboniferous strata in Gansu Province and confirmed the existence of Early Carboniferous Visean stage in China. Among the specimens collected may be mentioned such coral fossils as Yuanophyllum. During the northwest scientific expedition (1927—1932), he led a geological group to venture far into the desert areas several times, braving wind and sand storms and being threatened by mountain torrents, melted ice and snow from the glaciers, rough weather and the danger of being pillaged by bandits and being harrassed by local soldiers. Sometimes the supply of water and food grain fell short and they were menaced by starvation. The five-year Journey was entirely made on camel-and horse-back. There was no topographical map to depend upon and they used astronomical observation and compasses to accertain the direction and distance of travel in the wilderness. The difficulties they encountered can hardly be imagined today. Father discovered, in the Fukang—Qitai area north of the Tianshan Mountain Range, 72 skeletons of fossil reptiles in 1928. Among them were the earliest dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles. Despite the severe winter cold (sub-zero weather) he and other members of his group excavated fossil reptiles and his foot was severe- ly frost bitten. After the completion of the survey, he did not return via the Siberian Railway, which was a much easier way to go but he followed instead a new route near the Sino-Mongolian border and continued to make surveys on his return journey, finding another dinosaur locality in Ningxia. When he arrived in Beijing, his eldest daughter, who was born soon after he had set out for the expedition, was already five years old. Earlier, on August 5, 1927, he discovered an iron mine in Ketoke west of Baiyun Obo. China was then a semi-colonial country. In order to prevent the mine from being prospected and exploited by foreign powers, he only made simple records and a mark on the map of his travel route. He again went back to study the mine on his return journey in 1932. After China's liberation, the country started largescale economic construction. The China Geological Planning and Guidance Commission (the predecessor of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources) decided that the Baiyun Obo Mine was one of the mines to be prospected. At a meeting father told officials of the commission about the mine he had found in 1927 west of Baiyun Obo in Ketoke. At the invitation of Tan Xichou, he and Zhao Xinchai, Yan Kunyuan went to inspect the mine and named it the west mine of Baiyun Obo. During the inspection tour, he also discovered an eastern mine. Although this was not recorded in the history of study of the Baiyun Obo, he never argued about it. As a geology professor, father taught subsequently in Peking University, Tsinghua University, Changsha Provisional University, Southwest Associated University, and the China University of Geosciences. He worked with perseverance and trainer generations of students with his broad and profound knowledge. When the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1938, he abandoned the opportunity to go to the United States as a visiting scholar and moved with other teachers and students to Changsha. From there he joined with teachers of Beijing and Nankai Universities and led with them a group of more than 200 students to go on foot from Changsha, Hunan to Kunming, Yunnan far inland covering a total distance of 1600km. During the journey, he explained to students geological structures along the route, collected specimens and charted maps. At the same time, he left his wife and-six children in Beijing. Our mother had to lead the six children aged 1 to 12 from Beijing to Kunming, via Tianjin, Hong Kong and Hanoi. This is another proof of his dedication to science and education. Even in his eighties, father joined in compiling a number of English-Chinese Dictionaries including a dictionary of geological terminology. On hearing that the China University of Geosciences had been set up in his final days, he wrote a short article in congratulation. Under the influence of our father, three members of our family studied geology. We have respectively become a mountaineer (later an official in the State Sports and Physical Culture Commission), a teacher of geology and a geologist who carried out surveys for many years in Xinjiang and Xizang (Tibet). We regard our jobs as a continuation of our father's work.