# Chen Yinke's half bowl of porridge at Hong Kong Chinese New Year

By [loquat](https://paragraph.com/@loquat) · 2022-08-30

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As for the biographical text, I read Zhou Zuoren and Chen Yinke as well. After reading it, I was filled with emotion. I like Zhou's prose, but I feel a little disgusted by his "cartilage". Comparing the two, the "professor among professors" Mr. Chen Yinke was even more awe-inspiring as a Chinese during the Anti-Japanese War.

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4480057b406b7c65aa307ead81df5df62f72ba6a89ddddff4a72bd66a1f28592.png)

In September 1940, Chen Yinke's family went to Hong Kong to prepare their passports for the United Kingdom, but ended up trapped on Hong Kong Island due to the outbreak of the European War.

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Immediately after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong with tens of thousands of people. Chen Yinque was unable to squeeze into the flight, so he was stranded in Hong Kong. After the Japanese army occupied Hong Kong, Chen Yinke left the University of Hong Kong, where he temporarily taught, and stayed at home for half a year. The whole family was suddenly in trouble. The youngest daughter Meiyan once recalled the hard life at this time: "Life was hard on the isolated island. The people were in constant fear all day long, there was no rice at home, and the rations were even more nervous. The sweet potato roots and skins were well eaten, and they were half-dried after steaming blisters. Thin rice, which was called "fairy rice" at the time, was very good.

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On New Year's Day in 1942, Chen Yinke was filled with emotion. He once wrote a poem "New Year's Day Feelings", at the end of which he said: "The ashes of the robbery are full of sorrow, and it is even more sad to sit in the ashes of the cold."

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[https://i03piccdn.sogoucdn.com/97a9b4bbf1380bd0](https://i03piccdn.sogoucdn.com/97a9b4bbf1380bd0)

Seeing the Spring Festival approaching, the head of the Japanese gendarmerie stationed in Hong Kong learned that Chen Yinke was a world-renowned scholar, and tried his best to win over the world-renowned scholar. Just as Peiping tried to pull Zhou Zuoren into a high-ranking pseudo-official, it wanted them to use their popularity at home and abroad to serve Japan.

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The gendarmerie sent flour to the Chen family who had been out of food for many days, but Chen Yinke categorically refused. According to his student Chen Zhesan: "Some Japanese scholars wrote to the military department, asking them not to trouble Professor Chen. The military department wrote the Hong Kong commander. The commander sent the military police to take care of the Chen family and sent many bags of flour, but the military police went to the house. Moving in, Mr. Chen and Mrs. Chen dragging out, just don't eat the flour of the enemy."

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/24e937e1a8f917b86fb78b8fe2888beb9748c4899d3849b8f6a27654041e01c3.png)

It will definitely remember that in 1942, on New Year's Eve, the family of Chen Yinke, a Chinese scholar who was trapped in Hong Kong, only drank half a bowl of porridge, and the whole family shared a duck egg. It was an unforgettable experience. Spring Festival.

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*Originally published on [loquat](https://paragraph.com/@loquat/chen-yinke-s-half-bowl-of-porridge-at-hong-kong-chinese-new-year)*
