Twenty-eight years ago today, on November 6, 1997 (October 7, 1997 in the lunar calendar), Berlin, the most influential political philosopher of the 20th century, passed away. On November 6, 1997, Isaiah Berlin passed away, and major newspapers and periodicals in Europe and the United States published condolence messages. Sir Berlin was revered as the most famous philosopher after World War II during his lifetime, and naturally felt extremely sad after his death. Isaiah Berlin was born in Riga, Latvia in 1909 and moved to England in 1920. He has been educated in Oxford since then and has taught and lived in Oxford for the rest of his life. He even became an academic symbol at Oxford University. Dr. Harker of St. John's College recalled his life in Oxford in the 1960s and said,"Berlin's speech on the history of political thought now seems like a legend. He gave a speech in one of Oxford University's largest lecture halls, which was always crowded with college students eager to learn. He spoke eloquently and without taking notes, and introduced us with a full picture of European political and moral thought. His voice resounded through the lecture hall, and a great ideological drama was presented to us, reinforced from time to time by his infectious attitude, passionate and vibrant language." However, what is strange is that Berlin rarely writes large monographs to illustrate his ideas. He writes more long articles. These articles do not directly elaborate on theories, but provide extensive commentary on the history of philosophy, the history of ideas and various ideological figures. However, these articles became famous once they were published, profoundly affecting the thinking of ordinary scholars. His extremely insightful works, such as "Karl Marx","Vico and Held","Four Lectures on Freedom" and "Russian Thinkers", clarified many basic issues of modern concepts with thorough insight, and enabled people to rediscover Vico, Held, Haman and a large number of Russian thinkers. Herzen was especially his hero. His long papers "The Hedgehog and the Fox","Historical Inevitability","Churchill in 1940","Roosevelt", etc. have become popular among European and American intellectual circles, and have established his status as the most influential political philosopher in intellectual life in this century. His latest articles,"A Sense of Reality", were published in 1996, and his letters are still in the process of compilation. Berlin's life was extremely rich and colorful. He was the first dean of Wolfson College, Oxford, a professor at many Oxford colleges, as well as a visiting professor and researcher at famous universities in Europe and America; from 1974 to 1978, he served as President of the Royal Academy of Sciences. He has a wide range of interests and sharp words, and is a famous commentator in the intellectual world; his good friends include W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Stravinsky, Namir and others. What is even more legendary is that he served in the British government during World War II. He served as First Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington from 1942 to 1945, and transferred to First Secretary of the British Embassy in Moscow from 1945 to 1946; he recalled his year in Moscow, making special mention of the "cold" there and being unable to meet with friends who were not under official arrangements. However, he was still lucky that he finally met Akhmatova and Pasternak. Later, he vividly described the scene at that time in another famous article,"Gathering with Russian Poets." As a Russian-born Jew, Isaiah Berlin was in tune with Russian-American writers E. Wilson, Nabokov and others, and praised Russian poetry and literature throughout his life. In order to safeguard Pasternak's literary reputation, he even wrote a reader's letter to The Times, arguing with a critic who criticized Pasternak. Berlin's death has undoubtedly greatly reduced the vitality of the European and American intellectuals; many intellectuals in China who admired Berlin's thoughts and personality also deeply saddened. At the same time, Berlin's death also shows that one of the most exciting pages in intellectual life of this century is behind us.