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It has become a common sight in Chinese universities: poor professors cycling to classes on Flying Pigeon bicycles, while their higher-paid colleagues arrive in stylish BMWs. The disparity is a symbol of the large income gap which now exists on campuses across China.
“穷教授骑飞鸽，副教授开宝马”，这样的场景在中国大学校园已是屡见不鲜了。如此迥异的境遇表明，教授们的收入差距正逐渐拉大。
Such a situation is unimaginable to those who taught at Chinese universities in the past. One 81-year-old former university president, who refused to disclose his name, commented that he found the present day situation unbelievable.
那些在大学校园搞了一辈子教育的老教师根本无法想象这几十年里高校发生的变化。一位不愿透露姓名的81岁老校长表示，他不敢相信眼前发生的这一切。
He stated that, before China's policy of reform and opening-up, professors could barely feed themselves. A simple bicycle would cost them six months' salary.
老校长说，改革开放前，教授们的生活基本属于温饱型，买一辆自行车，需要攒上半年工资。
In general, there was no real income difference among professors at the same level or with the same title; the rules were transparent and simple: a higher title meant a larger apartment and a ten-yuan (US$1.57) increase on the monthly salary.
在当时，同一级别职称的教授收入基本没有差别。所有人享受的待遇规则透明而简约：职称长一级，住的房子会大一点，每个月比别人多上10元钱。
The former university president said that, even as university president, he had no extra income apart from the extra monthly duty allowance.
他那时候任一所大学的校长，除了职务津贴之外，也没有过额外的收入。
Despite these issues, he became involved in the independent research and development of China's first diesel engine in Dalian in 1958. As it was not a national research project, the project received no funding. However, his department won the support of Dalian Shipyard.
就是在这样的背景下，1958年，他在大连参与主持了全国第一台柴油机的自主研发。当时，这并不是国家的课题，没有经费预算，但老校长所在的院系与大连造船厂一拍即合。
For more than a year, a group of teachers, along with a class of students, worked on numerous experiments before finally achieving success. At no point during the project did anyone mention money, the former president insisted. "We just wanted to prove that we could achieve our aim, as there was no diesel engine in China at that time," he said.
一批老师带着一个班的学生，苦干了一年多，各方想尽办法提供试验条件，终于研制成功，其间根本没人提过钱的事情，“就是想要争口气，因为国内没有呀！”老校长感慨说。
According to the former president, the income disparity among professors dates back to the late 1990s, and was attributed to program commissions and the so-called "gray income" earned from concurrent off-campus jobs.
在老校长的记忆里，教授收入差距的拉大，大约是在上个世纪90年代末以后，而且主要拉开差距的恰恰是项目提成以及校外兼职的灰色收入。
