Niu Chunshan's Life Experience

After graduating from college, Niu Chunshan was determined to devote himself to education and cultivate talents for revitalizing forestry science in China. First, I worked as a technical assistant in the Institute of Botany of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and then as a teacher in Linyi Rural Normal School in Shandong and Xiaoxian Normal School in Jiangsu (now Anhui). 1in July, 933, under the slogan of "developing the northwest", Shao Lizi, chairman of Shaanxi Province, decided to revitalize Shaanxi and recruit talents. He wants to recruit teachers for Shaanxi No.1 Agricultural Vocational School from the graduates of Forestry Department of Agricultural College of Jinling University. Niu Chunshan was overjoyed to hear the news. He went to Shaanxi alone and was hired as the forestry teacher and farm director of the school. Since then, he officially boarded the Forestry Education Forum. 1934 so far, he has served as the teacher and director of the forestry teaching and research section of the senior agricultural vocational school affiliated to Northwest Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology College. 65438-0944: Commissioner of Northwest Highway Bureau in Tianshui, Gansu Province, and technical director of Tianshui Soil and Water Conservation Experimental Zone. 1945 Professor of Northwest Agricultural College of Lanzhou, Director of Forestry Department. 1950 has been a professor in the forestry department of Wugong Northwest Agricultural College (1980 was renamed Northwest Forestry College). From 1950 to 1967, he served as the head of forestry department of Northwest Agricultural College and presided over the department affairs for more than ten years. Combining teaching with scientific research, I compiled "Shaanxi Poplar"; Two other manuscripts, Shaanxi Tree Records and China Forest Geography, are being written in Fu Zi. At present, he is engaged in the compilation of "Characteristics of Important Tree Species in China".

In troubled times, Niu Chunshan abides by the creed of "Small Building Unifies" and works tirelessly. He firmly believes in the truth that "the master is nameless and the apprentice is clumsy". He thinks it is difficult for a teacher to teach his students well if he is ignorant. Therefore, he often praised his teacher, Chen Rong, as a great master, with profound knowledge, knowing both Chinese and Western cultures, and never slacking off his studies. As Lu Xun said, Chen Rong also spent all the time that others drank coffee on study. Niu Chunshan has a great legacy of learning from his predecessors. He reads widely, studies hard and is careful everywhere. Even in his busy schedule, he still takes time to learn foreign languages such as Latin. Niu Chunshan regards time as life, never idles away time, and never wastes other people's time for no reason, so his work efficiency is very high. He never tires of learning, and people call him a derogatory term "nerd". In fact, he is a bookworm who pursues learning. 1938, the situation changed suddenly. Most of the students of Grade 27 he taught went to Yan 'an, and then wrote to Niu Chunshan to publicize revolutionary ideas. However, all the letters were intercepted by the Kuomintang secret service in Wugong county at that time. Therefore, Niu Chunshan is regarded as a suspect of the producer of * * * and should be arrested. After repeated explanations and guarantees by Dean Qi Jingxin and General Manager Chen, he was spared.

Niu Chunshan said that human life is limited and new things emerge one after another. We should never be too old to learn, and we should not stop learning on the pretext of being old. Although he is 86 years old, he still sets himself a few hours of study time every day. The Geography of Flowering Plants, written by Englishman R. G0od, is a world famous book, with a length of more than 570,000 words. He listed it as an intensive reading bibliography and read it several times, with various symbols on it. Because there are many mistakes in the Chinese translation of this book and many charts are missing, he looks for someone to buy the English original everywhere. Niu Chunshan studied hard, was good at questioning, traced back to the source, and made everything clear. 1in September, 1986, the college leader asked him what his future plans were. He said, "People my age dare not say that they have any plans, and they can't achieve them in the future. Isn't that empty talk to the organization? I think I should sit down and read some books. I used to spend a lot of money teaching and writing books, and my income was low. Now I want to increase my income by reading more books. On the one hand, I can enrich myself and update my knowledge. On the other hand, I can check whether what I wrote in the past is correct. "

Niu Chunshan never tires of learning, in order to output more and teach students well. He said, "A teacher must have a bucket of water to give his students a bowl of water." Students feel that whenever you ask Niu Chunshan a question, you can get a satisfactory answer. Niu Chunshan would rather not answer any uncertain questions for the time being than waste a word on the students. After the students left, he looked for answers, got to the bottom of it, and then went to the students to answer.

What Niu Chunshan is most interested in is discussing business with his classmates, and what he hates most is gossiping. So he not only teaches people knowledge, but also teaches people morality. He has a habit that anyone who comes to ask questions or talk about problems never tires of asking them, which can make you come on impulse and return satisfied. If you make irresponsible remarks in front of him, he immediately narrows his eyes and becomes listless, showing boredom that he doesn't want to listen any more.

In educational thought, Niu Chunshan has always advocated that verification is more important than teaching, combining theory with practice, and combining teaching with production. He teaches two courses, dendrology and forest geography, and attaches importance to both classroom teaching and experimental practice, with the goal of cultivating technical cadres with both ability and political integrity.

Dendrology is a practical course. From theory to theory, students not only sound boring, but also get little practical benefit. In order to solve this problem, Niu Chunshan suggested to the school to build a teaching experimental forest farm in Huoditang, ningshan county, Qinling Mountains, set up a specimen room and laboratory in the school, and set up a forestry experimental station and arboretum near the school (arboretum was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution). These positive suggestions were adopted by the school and put into practice. It was he who built the school's specimen room, thus solving various problems in teaching practice experiments. In order to update knowledge and supplement teaching materials, Niu Chunshan took advantage of school holidays to go to Gansu, Ningxia, Jiangsu, Guangdong and other provinces (regions) to conduct forest surveys and collect specimens. Only in Shaanxi, he went to Bashan Mountain on the second and Taibai Mountain on the fourth, and personally went to the sandstorm area in northern Shaanxi to investigate, collected a lot of information and updated the teaching content. He deeply realized that a teacher can't teach well if he only teaches and doesn't engage in actual investigation and research. At the same time of investigation, Niu Chunshan purposefully contacted production units to learn about graduates' work, including political and business aspects, and then used the feedback information to improve teaching. Therefore, he summed up the "three more" teaching experience of "collecting more, dissecting more and identifying more", which fundamentally changed the situation that teaching was divorced from reality.

Niu Chunshan's lectures are lively and interesting. For example, when teaching boring and difficult trees, vivid metaphors are often used to illustrate the biological characteristics of a certain tree species, which is informative and convenient for students to remember. Many students in Niu Chunshan recall the vivid images of their teachers' lectures decades ago, which are still fresh in their memories.

Niu Chunshan is diligent in practice, in-depth investigation and study, and has traveled all over the province and experienced hardships. As one of his poems wrote: "Throughout his life, he traveled all over the Qinling Mountains, collected Nanshan many times, climbed mountains and drilled jungles, and people in the mountains were called Taibai Tong."

Teachers' bounden duty is to teach and educate people, and their actions and words have an impact on students. Niu Chunshan gives students the impression that she is very strict with herself. Whenever he asks his students to do what he says, he says what they do first, and they are meticulous. The students said: "I don't know why, Teacher Niu is particularly respectable. After careful study, I'm afraid he can still keep his word and keep his word. He asked the students to recite the scientific name of the tree, and no one could escape, because he could recite the scientific name of the tree first. "

Niu Chunshan's work and life are very regular and will not be affected under normal circumstances. His route from home to the library to the office is fixed, even if he takes a walk after dinner. Because he often tramples, forming a fixed path. Teachers and students humorously call this path "Chunshan Road". Some students used Niu Chunshan's walking time to set their watches, saying that Mr. Niu passed by a place every day for a few minutes, which was not bad, showing that his life was like a clock. For decades, whether it is a hot winter or a storm, he has been to the office to clean the courtyard ten minutes in advance. When others come to work, he has been sitting in his seat and concentrating on his work.

Niu Chunshan and his students go up the mountain to collect specimens, always taking the lead, regardless of personal safety. 1950, when Niu Chunshan and his students participated in the Qinling forest survey organized by the Agriculture and Forestry Department of Northwest Military and Political Committee, mines were buried along the road when Kuomintang troops fled south, and people often killed them by mistake. Niu Chunshan led a dozen people and resolutely went. In order to avoid casualties as much as possible, Niu Chunshan stipulated two points at that time: First, distance should be kept, even if you accidentally step on the thunder, the casualties will be small; Second, he walked ahead and walked carefully, letting the people behind him walk in his footprints. In this way, he slowly touched the top of the mountain, no casualties, and successfully completed the acquisition task.

When discussing academic thoughts, Niu Chunshan said, "I have always advocated going my own way. We can learn from foreign countries, but we must base ourselves on China and pay special attention to taking the road that no one has taken before. Scientific research should be innovative, not only innovative, but also follow the laws of nature; We must bravely climb the peak of science and not be afraid of difficulties and obstacles. This requires both a broad scientific foundation and a certain professional direction. Without a broad foundation, it is difficult for majors to grow. This is from comprehensive to professional. " Niu Chunshan came along this road. After decades of continuous struggle, he finally became a famous expert in the field of dendrology in China.

Everything is established in advance, and it is abolished if it is not foreseen. When Niu Chunshan first started working, he basically established his own main research direction, so he has been reading and collecting information extensively around the main research direction. He said: "Scientific research should be' prepared for a rainy day' and not' thirsty to dig wells'. Just like Lu Xun said,' I'm so anxious that I have nothing to say. I blame you for not thinking at ordinary times'. Therefore, a scientist must decide his research direction as soon as possible. With the research direction, he will know what information to collect and have a clear goal to study the business, so that he can take fewer detours or detours. " Niu Chunshan set himself the research direction of compiling China Forest Geography. Forest geography is a theoretical and comprehensive discipline in forestry science, involving dendrology, forestry, forest management, plant ecology, plant geography, historical plant geography and geology, climatology, pedology, geomorphology and other disciplines, which is why people seldom pay attention to it. Niu Chunshan is determined to overcome this difficulty. 1956- 196 1 year, he constantly supplemented and updated his own textbook "dendrology lecture notes", adding the content of forest geography. Elective courses were advocated at that time, and Niu Chunshan, as the head of the department, took the lead in setting up the course of "Forest Geography". After more than 30 years, China Forest Geography was finally published. It can be seen that he has been reading, accumulating and even writing a book around forest geography.

In order to complete this theoretical monograph, Niu Chunshan forgot to eat and sleep. In addition to extensive reading of books on related subjects, he also read all relevant periodicals at home and abroad before 1986, and made 5,309 abstract cards, including 2,620 classified trees, 368 forest geography/kloc-0, and archives of fruit trees, wild plant resources and ancient trees. Niu Chunshan kept them in 80 card boxes. During the Cultural Revolution, these cards were regarded as black materials. When he was dragged across the street, people strung cards with wire and hung them around his neck. After a street trip, Niu Chunshan didn't take a break to catch his breath. He hurried around looking for the lost cards and then treasured them again.

Niu Chunshan's biggest taboo is that theory is divorced from reality. Every time he does a job, he must examine its practical application value. His Taibai Mountain Forest Investigation Report, Shaanxi Arboretum Edition and Shaanxi Poplar are all closely related to the actual content, which has greatly promoted the forestry production in Shaanxi.

The forest investigation report of Taibai Mountain was published in 1938. At that time, scientific research had not been carried out, and Qinling Mountain and Taibai Mountain were still an uncultivated virgin land. Niu Chunshan spent more than 40 days crossing Linyue River, and found out the vertical distribution zone of plants in Taibai Mountain, which provided great convenience for forestry teaching, production and scientific research in Shaanxi.

The Brief Edition of Shaanxi Arboretum is actually a more detailed "key table" extracted from arboretum. 1950, when the Northwest Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry organized a forest survey on the northern slope of Qinling Mountains, these materials were urgently needed to solve the problem of tree identification, so they were copied. Niu Chunshan deleted the main alias features and only listed the key list and distribution. Its practical value and historical role are enormous.

Poplar in Shaanxi was written after the Cultural Revolution. At that time, domestic academic thought was chaotic. In foreign countries, poplar classification is still a long-standing problem, because people who engage in plant classification do not engage in cultivation or cross breeding, and many people who engage in poplar production do not engage in classification. Because of hybridization, the names of trees are confusing. Although they are similar in shape, they are different and difficult to identify. At this time, a large number of foreign hybrid poplars were introduced to China. You call my name, and I call your name. No one can agree on who is right or wrong, which has caused a major problem in production. In order to clarify the thinking and trace back to the source, Niu Chunshan presided over the compilation of Shaanxi Poplar, which solved a big problem of poplar classification. In the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and other advanced countries, such a systematic and comprehensive work on the classification of hybrid poplar has not been seen.

The writing process of China Forest Geography embodies Niu Chunshan's academic thought of integrating theory with practice. In order to make this book more valuable, he considered all aspects in practice: (1) What methods can be taken to play a theoretical guiding role in forestry production. Therefore, in the process of compiling, in addition to strengthening the narrative of theory and practice, a section on "afforestation direction" was also opened in each area. On the one hand, we implement the central government's policies and regulations on forestry, and on the other hand, we implement the policy of guiding production by theory in light of the actual situation in the region. (2) What is urgently needed in teaching and scientific research and what problems are urgently needed to be solved. For example, there are no teaching materials, especially for cultivating graduate students; Engaged in scientific research, struggling to find information; Insufficient understanding of tree characteristics in forestry production. Therefore, the references used in Niu Chunshan are listed by region (* * * is divided into 7 regions, 10 sub-region), which is very convenient to find; In order to meet the needs of forestry production, in addition to introducing the characteristics of 64 kinds of trees, we also try to find out the regular things in the content, and put forward the problems and opinions of each family, as well as his personal views and how to solve them, so that readers can easily identify and analyze them. (3) the needs and convenience of readers. Niu Chunshan quoted many materials in his book, such as the scientific names of 6,020 kinds of trees, covering a wide range. In order to save the time for teachers to prepare lessons or do scientific research to find information, when encountering difficult or uncommon nouns in the writing process, they always add "editor's note" as much as possible to explain clearly.

During his decades of teaching career, Niu Chunshan has developed a good style of rigorous scholarship. In his study, he has always advocated seeking truth from facts, being uncompromising, being ignorant and boastful, being good at questioning, daring to put forward different opinions and never echoing others' opinions.

When he edited the book Poplar in Shaanxi, he spent a lot of time and energy to find out the ins and outs of 15A poplar, took relevant personnel to many places in the country for field trips and collected extensive information, but he still didn't find out. At that time, some people advocated drawing a conclusion, saying that others were not sure anyway, and others would follow what we said. Niu Chunshan disagrees with this statement. He said: "If you don't know, you can't know. We can ask questions for others' reference while studying. We must never say silly things to make people laugh. "Later, someone published a paper and clearly defined 15A poplar in the absence of sufficient basis. Some comrades complained that Niu Chunshan was too cautious to arrive first. Niu Chunshan said: "No matter what others say, we should stick to our own reasons and be reasonable. In science, don't ramble. "

Niu Chunshan's rigorous scholarship is also manifested in his firm attitude of upholding the truth. He is not only above, but also in name, whoever is right will obey him. In the book "Forest Geography of China", several famous national experts and a Japanese expert expressed their opinions on the division of northeast China, and there were great differences. After careful analysis, Niu Chunshan boldly adopted the opinion of an unknown young man named Zhao from Northeast Forestry College. The young man disagreed with the views of several famous artists and drew a clear line with his own actual investigation of plant distribution. Niu Chunshan thought that the young man's opinion was correct, in line with the laws of nature, and consistent with his own point of view, so he adopted it.

These poems can be used as a portrayal of Niu Chunshan's image: "An old man is riding a horse, aiming at a thousand miles, and a martyr is full of courage in his twilight years." . At present, regardless of his old age and infirmity, he is racing against time to sort out the long-term collected data, striving to complete his other monograph, Characteristics of Important Tree Species in China, and continue to make contributions to the progress of forestry science in China.