Tomb of Cao Chengying

　　Cao Chengying was a renowned talented woman of the Republican era. Naturally beautiful, intelligent, and eager to learn, she was born in the wrong time—her acquired knowledge could not be fully utilized. At that time, domestic academia was heavily influenced by politics. The biological community followed Michurin-Lysenko's cellular genetics, while Weismann-Morgan genetics was denounced as idealism and anti-Darwinism. The genetics Cao Chengying studied in the United States belonged to the latter school, so she shifted her research to potatoes and sorghum. She achieved remarkable success in the study and improvement of potato cell genetics, cultivating a high-yield potato variety widely planted in the northeastern region. Cao Chengying had a natural affinity for literature. While studying in Hangzhou, Wang Jingzhi, Feng Xuefeng, Wei Jinzhi, and Rou Shi organized the Morning Light Society in Hangzhou, which she joined. She also received support and help from Hu Shi. Throughout her life, she wrote a large number of poems and lyrics, some of which were published in the Women’s Monthly.

　　Cao Chengying was one of the four bridesmaids at Hu Shi’s wedding. Later, she had a deep and unforgettable love affair with Hu Shi in Hangzhou. Perhaps due to the sentiment that "having seen the vast ocean, no other water can compare," she never married after that. In 1937, she returned to China from Cornell University in the United States with a master’s degree in genetics and breeding. She subsequently taught at several universities across the country. In 1969, during the height of the Cultural Revolution, she was sent back to her ancestral home in Jixi as a "bourgeois reactionary academic authority." On January 18, 1973, 71-year-old Cao Chengying passed away in Shanghai due to illness.

　　After her death, Cao Chengying was buried in Xuancheng, Anhui. Nowadays, her tomb has become a site of reverence for many literati. It is said that according to the female agronomist’s will, her grave was built beside the road east of Wangchuan Village in Jixi. Perhaps Cao Chengying wanted to wait quietly here, patiently keeping watch—if one day Hu Shi returned to his hometown Shangzhuang Village, he would surely pass by here, and she would be willing to open her arms and welcome him… Cao Chengying once expressed her feelings with such words: “The fish sinks and the wild geese vanish, long gone, I know not if you are well.” She admitted that “my youthful beauty has faded, only my lovesick heart remains.” Cao Chengying died without ever knowing that Hu Shi had passed away 11 years before her, on the other side of “that shallow strait”... This perhaps marks another memorable coincidence: Cao Chengying was 11 years younger than Hu Shi, and Hu Shi passed away 11 years before her.

　　The tombstone is inscribed with the words “Tomb of Mr. Cao Chengying.” Behind the tombstone lies a “Cao Chengying Epitaph,” which reads: “Milk name Lijuan, courtesy name Peisheng. Master’s graduate from Cornell University. Former professor at Anhui University, Sichuan University, Fudan University, and Shenyang Agricultural College. Member of the Jiusan Society. Poet, and China’s first-generation female agronomist.” Simple and unadorned—yet who can fathom the boundless affection hidden within this simplicity?

　　Not far away, over a small river, there is an arched stone bridge called Yanglin Bridge. Some say Cao Chengying donated money to build it after returning to her hometown. Did Cao Chengying build the bridge in her later years hoping to gaze at Hu Shi across the water and sky, or did it symbolize the lifelong separation between them? There are no answers to these questions. But Hu Shi once quoted a line from Yang Wanli’s poem to praise the scenery of Yanglin Water Mouth: “A thousand mountains forbid a stream to run, / Blocking its gurgling night and day. / But when it reaches where the mountain ends, / Out it comes boldly into the plain.” Thus, “Yanglin Water Mouth” and “Yanglin Bridge” carry extraordinary significance between Hu Shi and Cao Chengying.

　　Perhaps in this world, not all who love can become life partners. Perhaps it is precisely because of such fruitless love and the bitter journey of emotion that countless stories of missed opportunities arise, and that ripples of love splash in the river of affection.

　　

　　Cao Chengying (1902~1973)　　Cao Chengying (1902–1973), courtesy name Peisheng, was from Wangchuan Village, Jixi. She was the first female professor in China’s agricultural field, a member of the Jiusan Society, and a former member of the CPPCC Committee of Shenyang. Several generations of the Cao family had run businesses in tea, calligraphy, paintings, and the four treasures of the study in Wuhan’s three towns, making them a well-known Huizhou merchant family at the time. The Huizhou merchants’ tradition of “being merchants yet valuing Confucian scholarship” meant they placed great emphasis on educating their children. Her father, Cao Qirui, once hired a scholar to set up a “private school” to educate their children. As a child, Cao Chengying was intelligent and beautiful but physically frail. From an early age, she was engaged to Hu Guanying of Zhaitan Village through a prenatal betrothal. In 1918,... Details+