A Liberal Soul in a Simple Life

    Late at the night of Dec 3, 2004, I was doodling on the net when the characters “Shiing-shen Chern” flashed across the screen. Then, I found out the photo I'd made taken with Mr. Chern when interviewing him two years ago, and put it right in the middle on the bookshelf. In the photo, the hands of the round quartz clock hung on the wall behind us accurately recorded the time of that moment: 01:13:04 p.m., Apr. 5, 2002.

    The rain on that day started when I was still in a dream and kept pouring till noon, turning the earth into a vast expanse of whiteness, with the streets, vehicles, trees, roadside buildings, and unfolded umbrellas all drenched. Apparently it washed off the spreading poplar catkins, as well as the just as light hullabaloo and hastiness saturating the bazaar.

    It was about 20 or 30 minutes’ride from Tianjin Western Station to Nankai University. The middle-aged taxi driver, rough-looking but vivid in facial expressions, was ardent in chatting with us all the way in a high and loud voice with his pure Tianjin accent. At our mention of Mr. Chern, he proceeded immediately, “Shiing-shen Chern? Yeah, I’ve heard of him, a great mathematician! He is so gorgeous! All the Tianjingers who are a little informed know about him. Come to think of it, Shiing-shen Chern is really a genius.” While priding himself on that, the driver kept looking right and left at the both sides of the road, busy in locating a flower shop for us to buy flowers for Mr. Chern.

    No sooner had we seated ourselves after arriving at his home than Mr, Chen claimed, taking us by quite a surprise, “You should congratulate me today.” Noticing our puzzled look, he paused for a little while before explaining, “I had suffered from venous thrombosis and was even hospitalized for about two months not so long ago. But this morning after I went through a medical examination, I found, to my joy, the thrombosis has gone.” Catching on, we immediately hastened to express our congratulations: “We’re glad to hear that. It’s good news!” Exultant like a child, Mr. Chern boasted again and again: “Yeah, it sure is! good news! Good news!”