In 1924, Hu Xiaoshi left Wuchang Normal University and returned to Ning to serve as professor and director of the Chinese Language Department of Jinling University. He once built his own small building at No. 31 Jiangjun Lane and named it "Yuan Xia Lu". It was destroyed by a Japanese air raid in 1937. After returning from Shudong in 1946, he lived in the Central University campus and the small building on Tianzhu Road. Whether in "Yuan Xia Lu" or on Tianzhu Road, Hu Xiaoshi's house is always full of guests. Some of his students, such as Zeng Zhaoyu, Guan Bai'e, You Shou, Xu Fu, Jin Qihua, Sun Wang, etc., also often came to ask for advice. Hu Xiaoshi chatted and laughed with his disciples and enjoyed it endlessly. Every time it was meal time, the disciple stood up and said goodbye, but he always warmly entertained guests for dinner. His eldest daughter Hu Linghui still remembers that one year before liberation, when the nanny saw Hu Xiaoshi inviting guests for dinner again, she said with an embarrassed face: "Sir, there is no firewood at home for cooking." At that time, the market was tight for firewood, so the purchase of firewood was out of stock. Hu Xiaoshi responded enthusiastically: "It doesn't matter if you don't have firewood, just take the newspapers in my study and burn them."
Hu Xiaoshi loved his disciples. After teaching, he often invited students to attend meetings, or to Sample delicacies at several time-honored restaurants in the south and north of the city, or go to Qingliangshan Saoye Tower to drink tea, or go to the stalls along the Qinhuai River in Confucius Temple to eat "dried tofu in oil." As a "gourmet", Hu Xiaoshi valued "food culture" and was even more intoxicated with the atmosphere of drinking wine, writing poems, and writing about history with his disciples and friends. He once said more than once: "There are three good things in life, one is good at reading, the second is good at composing poems, and the third is good at Dongpo Pork." In the 1940s, he created a dish of his own, known as "Mr. Hu's Tofu", which is still recorded in "Mr. Hu's Tofu". "Jinling Recipe".
Hu Xiaoshi is very fond of Kun Opera, and taking his disciples to watch Kun Opera is another "enjoyable thing" for him. Before the Anti-Japanese War, the Suzhou Kun Opera Troupe came to Ningbo to perform. Because few people appreciated it, the ticket sales were sometimes less than 10%. Hu Xiaoshi would come to every performance. He and Professor Huang Jigang would always buy dozens of tickets together, invite students and disciples to watch, and also do their best to support the poor people of the Liyuan Garden. After liberation, Kun Opera was revived, and Beijing was full of people eager to watch "Fifteen Guan". Mr. Hu Xiaoshi was so excited that "one play revived a genre of opera" that he specially took his graduate students to watch Jiangsu Kun Opera Theater's "A Dream in the Garden" ” and expressed great admiration for Zhang Jiqing, a budding rookie at the time. Hu Xiaoshi is also very interested in other operas and folk arts. He once took his disciples to watch Yang Naizhen's Suzhou Pingtan, Chen Bohua's Han opera "Universe Peak", and Zhang Guixuan's Peking opera "Cuiping Mountain". Zhang Guixuan was 85 years old at the time. The desperate Saburo Shi Xiu in "Cuiping Mountain" he played was still able to hold a steel knife weighing dozens of kilograms on the stage, running like flying, which is amazing. Hu Xiaoshi once wrote two poems "Gift" "Zhang Guixuan", one of the poems says: The thin sea returns to the joyful spring, and the lonely flower blooms again even though it is haggard. Thousand feet of green screen and pine forest road, lamp shadow and knife light see you coming.
“A wise man enjoys mountains, and a benevolent man enjoys water.” Hu Xiaoshi loves mountains and rivers by nature, and taking his students and disciples to climb high places, nostalgic for the past, and outings in search of victory is his third “pleasant thing.” His female disciple Zeng Zhaoyu, who was the former director of the Nanjing Museum, once wrote in the article "Remembering Master Hu Xiaoshi":
On good days in spring and autumn, he often invites two or three of his disciples to go out, and I will accompany him. Attendant. Climb the cow's head with you, climb the rosy clouds, explore the ruins of the Stone City, and take in the beautiful scenery of Mochou Lake. In the summer when the lotus flowers were blooming, the genius was twilight, so I went to Xuanwu Lake, took a small boat, broke through the confusing morning fog, and swayed into the depths of the lotus flowers. The breeze blew over the Buddha's face, and the fragrance was refreshing. I thought it was not easy to go to the south of Sile. I also visited Xiaoling Mausoleum and Meihua Mountain when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I sat under the flowers and sang quatrains from the Tang Dynasty. "Smart people use stupid skills", this is what Mr. Hu Xiaoshi warned his student Wang Jisi. Wang Jisi was taught by Mr. Hu at Southeast University in his early years. Once he sent one of his papers to Mr. Hu for review. The paper comments on Yuan Haowen's "Thirty Poems". Wang Jisi uses Zhang Hua's words that "in the battle of Pingguan, the advantage lies in winning two heroes." sentence. Hu Xiaoshi thought that this allusion only explained the first sentence, but did not explain the second sentence, so he suggested that he look up the book "Guoyu". Mr. Ji Si followed his instructions and looked it up, only to find out that the last sentence was an allusion to Gou Jian's use of gold to cast an elephant for Fan Li in "Yue Yu". Decades later, Professor Wang Jisi, who has become a well-known scholar at home and abroad, always remembers his teacher's sincere teachings. When he talks about his academic experience to young teachers, he also uses these words to warn future students and commemorate his teacher's teachings. .
"Smart people should use stupid skills", which is not only teaching, but also self-discipline. Although Mr. Hu Xiaoshi has an amazing memory and a wealth of knowledge, he is always rigorous in his studies. Whether he is preparing lessons or writing articles, he checks the original texts one by one and never relies on memory alone. Even for those lessons that he had taught several times and were already familiar by heart, he still prepared them seriously from scratch. And dedicate the night before class to preparing lessons, and never go out to socialize or entertain guests at home. His disciple Zhou Xunchu once wrote an article recalling: "Nanjing is known as one of the three great furnaces of the Yangtze River, and the sultry heat of summer nights is even more unbearable. I have seen my husband many times sitting at his desk preparing for lessons on summer nights... that kind of moving thing where he is sweating and writing fast. The scene will be unforgettable for a lifetime."
Hu Xiaoshi is a leading figure in the Jinling calligraphy circle. When he teaches, he also pays great attention to the use of pen, structure, layout and strokes, and is known as ancient and powerful. "One must". While listening to the lecture, the students admired the master's superb calligraphy art. When giving an academic report on the school anniversary in May 1961, Mr. Hu Xiaoshi indicated that he would change the writing on the blackboard.
A classmate stepped forward to help wipe the blackboard, and suddenly there was a shout of "No! Don't wipe!" from the audience. For a moment, the student was stunned on the stage holding the blackboard and was at a loss. It turned out that the teachers and students who came to listen to the lecture couldn't bear to erase such exquisite writing on the blackboard. Mr. Hu Xiaoshi couldn't help but smile when he saw this scene.
Mr. Hu Xiaoshi’s teaching art is also unparalleled because of his complete form and spirit, and his freedom of movement. He is knowledgeable and memorized, specializing in agricultural science, literature and history, and good at painting. He not only cited scriptures and classics to verify their origins, but also painted on the spot to explain them graphically. For example, when explaining the sentence in "Li Sao" "I have nine beds of orchids, and hundreds of acres of cypress trees", I quoted Wu Renjie's "Li Sao Grass and Trees" in the Southern Song Dynasty, pointing out that orchids belong to the Lamiaceae family, and one stem and one flower are "Orchid", numbering flowers on one stem is called "Hui", and draw the shapes of different varieties on the blackboard. He also pointed out that the "lan" in "Len Qiulan is Pei" is Zelan, and the "Mulan" in "Drinking Mulan in the Morning" is Mulan. He told students that there are two magnolias on the NTU campus, and Zelan You can go to Jiming Temple Incense Market to identify it.
Hu Xiaoshi also once illustrated "Tai Sui Zai Yin said to photograph Tige" and calculated Qu Yuan's birth year based on this. He also drew pictures of Qu Yuan's three exiles and eastward journey on the blackboard to help students gain a deeper understanding of Qu Yuan's ups and downs. Hu Xiaoshi once gave his hand-drawn draft of Qu Yuan's exile map to his female disciple Wu Cuifen. Professor Wu Cuifen has treasured and cared for this drawing on white paper the size of an exercise book to this day.
According to Professor Zhou Xunchu’s recollection, when Hu Xiaoshi taught graduate students in his later years, he often “wrapped a thick stack of books in an old baggage and placed them in front of the left side of the seat. Whenever he talked about something specific, If you have any questions, just open the bag, take out the relevant books, check out the materials according to the pre-folded slips of paper, and let everyone share them." These materials include art journals, archaeological excavation reports, "Li Yang Cultural History Series"; including ancient calligraphy and painting works, such as "Nu Shi Zhen", "Nine Songs Picture", "Gao Yi Picture", "Wenyuan Picture", etc. He required students to accurately understand ancient utensils and costumes, and avoid being specious, making people laugh and mislead others. He once ridiculed the famous "Qu Zi Xing Tu". He made a joke due to his lack of understanding of ancient crowns: "Qu Yuan looked like he was holding a matchbox on his head." Hu Xiaoshi was knowledgeable and humorous. He is full of witty remarks when teaching, and he often makes humorous remarks in daily life, which makes people laugh. Once when he was talking about the story of "incarnation" that often existed in ancient mythology, Hu Xiaoshi cited the example of Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who fabricated the idea that his mother had sex with a dragon in a storm and became pregnant in order to increase his own worth. After telling the story, he pretended to be puzzled. : "I didn't expect that this emperor, regardless of his father's embarrassment, would be willing to be a person who was not raised by others!"
In May 1961, Hu Xiaoshi, who was over seventy years old, fell ill and participated in the academic lecture of the school anniversary and gave a lecture. Due to the characteristics of Du Fu's poems, the large classroom was packed with seats. Principal Guo Yingqiu and many professors (including Professor Duan Xizhong of the Chinese Department of Nanjing Normal University) came specially to listen. Hu Xiaoshi used walking as a metaphor to analyze the evolution and development of writing in the Tang Dynasty - the literature of the early Tang Dynasty was walking in Changmenlu Alley; the literature of the prosperous Tang Dynasty was riding high carriages and horses running on the thoroughfares, as if there was no one around, and was magnificent (especially Li and Du Ergong); some of the literature of the Mid-Tang Dynasty rested in garden pavilions (such as the Ten Talents of Dali), some climbed mountains and walked on steep paths (such as Han, Meng, and Jia), and some were walking in circles on the plains (such as Yuanhe Zhugong); the literature of the late Tang Dynasty left the land and took the waterway, abandoning the car and taking a boat (Xiao Linghe Ci came into being).
Students asked about the similarities and differences between "ge" and "law". Hu Xiaoshi gave an example: "The pattern is changeable, but the law cannot be changed. It's like everyone has two eyes, one nose and one mouth on their face. It is an unchanging law. But everyone’s eyes, mouth, and nose are different in length, height, and size. This is a variable pattern.”
During the three-year natural disaster period, the life of university professors was also relatively complicated. Due to poverty, Hu Xiaoshi's family did not taste meat for many days. Once, the nanny Xia Ma managed to buy some meat, chopped it into pieces, and cooked it into minced meat porridge. Hu Xiaoshi smelled the aroma and came over. He was surprised and excited and said: "Brother Pig, Brother Pig, long time no see, long time no see." This joke later came to light. When word spread outside, some people actually made a big fuss during the "Cultural Revolution", which they considered to be "anti-Party and anti-socialist remarks" and wanted to criticize the late Mr. Hu Xiaoshi.