Yu Yingshi pointed out in particular that there are two key factors for Hu Shizhi to become an important figure in the period of cultural transformation in China: he has long-term mental and ideological preparation, and made extremely rich attempts on this basis. He wrote the history of vernacular literature, the history of China's philosophy, the textual research of novels and the scientific methods, all in order to open up new academic opportunities in China.
In Hu Shi's eyes, "biographical literature" is the most lacking and underdeveloped literature in China in recent 2500 years. The reason is that in the preface of Biography of Mr. Zhang Jizhi in Nantong, he said: "Biography is the least developed subject in China literature. There are probably three reasons for this: first, there is no atmosphere of worshipping great men; Second, it is more taboo; The third is the obstacle of words. "
Hu Shi constantly advised his friends to write autobiographies, and he wrote them himself, because he believed that biographies were helpful to the education of personality. Therefore, in the speech of 1953 65438+ 10/2, he talked about his feelings about reading western biographies: "The biography of Pastout, the founder of modern new medicine, was written by his son-in-law, which is also the most touching one. Pasteur was a French chemist in the15th century ... The greatest contribution of his life was the discovery of microorganisms ... The biography of this scientist kept me a layman until three or four o'clock at night, which made my tears wet the pages. I think biography can help the education of personality. China is not without sages; It's just that biographical literature is underdeveloped and cannot be carried forward. This is our great loss. " Because Hu Shi has another idea, that is, he advocates promoting hero worship through biography. Hu Shi specifically mentioned that there are several important figures in China's modern history, which can be used as the material for a new biography. Farther away, such as Hong Xiuquan, Hu Linyi, Zeng Guofan, Guo Songtao, Li Hongzhang and Yu Yue; Get to the point, such as Sun Wen, Yuan Shikai, Yan Fu, Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Jian, Sheng Xuanhuai, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. These people are related to the life of a country. They should be recorded with vivid sketches, and their facts should be searched and verified with meticulous efforts like embroidery needles, and their position in history should be judged with bold and far-reaching insights.
Hu Shi must know that he is a person who can be handed down from generation to generation, so he pays great attention to preserving historical materials, and the diary is therefore considered to be written for others, just like Li Ciming's Diary of Yue Mantang. But in my opinion, keeping a diary is a good habit. I only bought Shi Wencun by Hu, but I bought a full set of Hu Shi's diaries. I think this is more important than some of his academic achievements, because his diary records his usual thoughts in detail, which contains many details. A lot of data he usually collects will be recorded in his diary from time to time, plus his own analysis. In his diary. It is not easy to see the ups and downs of emotions, which is where his career lies. For example, China's new culture movement needs to be carried out from what aspects, what knowledge and actions are needed, how to cultivate and train, all kinds of details, and the funds needed ... During the Anti-Japanese War, he even wrote down many aspects of Japanese armaments, such as the caliber of artillery on Japanese warships. ...
From the perspective of new literature, Hu Shi has many propositions, such as adding a black bar next to a person's name or place name. Once he wrote to Zhang Taiyan and added a barbell next to Zhang Taiyan's name. Taiyan was very angry and wondered how Hu Shi could add a barbell to his name. But when he saw a barbell next to Hu Shi's name, he felt a little relieved, saying that it turned out that his name had also added a barbell. In this regard, Zhang Ailing still has memories: "When it comes to adding a thick stick, punctuation marks in the 1920s and 1930s originally drew a straight line to the left of a person's place name. I don't know why it was abolished later, and I have always regretted it. Unlike other countries, words can be capitalized. This letter is still the fragrance of the moon. The title of the book is a curve on the left, followed by general quotation marks. Mr. Yizhi used quotation marks, but later forgot, he still used a curve of a line. In my opinion, they are all traces of the' May 4th' era, and they can't be lower. "
Hu Shi is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in academic circles in the 20th century. His student Tang Degang gave him a statistic, saying that he is almost decathlon in sports, with only one difference. These nine items are: 1. Philosophical thoughts, 2. Political thoughts, 3. Historical viewpoint, 4. Literary thoughts, 5. Viewpoint of philosophy history, 6. Viewpoint of literary history, 7. Textual research, 8. The artistry of redology, 9. The people's nature of redology.
No matter whether the evaluation of Hu Shi is high or low, it cannot be said that Hu Shi is an important figure in the modern academic history of China. Anyone who has met him will have some admiration. When Zhang Ailing bid farewell to Hu Shi, she wrote: "I walked to the gate and stood on the steps to talk. It's cold and windy, blowing from Hezhen River across the street. A gentleman looked at the gray river, and an empty pound was exposed at the corner of the street. There is fog on the river. I don't know how to keep smiling. I'm shocked. His scarf is tightly wrapped, his neck is shrunk in a semi-old black coat, his shoulders are thick, his face is quite big, and his whole body is condensed into a bronze bust. I immediately stood in awe, thinking: It really is like what people say.
And I have always believed that all idols have' mud feet', otherwise they are untenable and unreliable. "This description, how nice! Zhang Ailing also said that when she went to see Hu Shi, one of her friends named Yan Ying felt that Hu Shi was not as famous as Lin Yutang. So Zhang Ailing said with emotion, "I often find that when foreigners don't understand modern China, it is often because they don't know the influence of the May 4th Movement. Because the May 4th Movement is internal, the external world is limited to imports. I think it is not only our generation and the previous generation, but also the next generation in mainland China. Although many young people don't know what they are fighting when they are fighting Hu Shi, I think as long as there is something called national memory by psychologist Jung, experiences like the May 4th Movement cannot be forgotten, no matter whether colonization is lost or not, whether in ideological background. Rong is on par with Freud. I can't help thinking of Freud's study that Moses was killed by Israel. They confessed afterwards, and they believed him after a long time. "This is far-sighted.
I have different feelings when I read Modern Scholars. When I read Hu Shi, my heart was clear and plain, not only because of his writing style, but also because of his literal back. People usually call him "Brother Hu", which shows that he is approachable. For example, his care for Xu Zhimo and others is completely big brother style. Once, a reporter from the Chinese world visited Hu Shi, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he said, "Brother Hu! Hello! Nonsense: Why are you so rude? I am not the boss of the underworld. How can you call me a cell phone? The reporter said: Aren't you Dr. Hu? Nonsense: yes! I got 36 doctorates in my life. The reporter said: Dr. Hu's transliteration of English DoctorHu is not "Brother Hu" nonsense: it is! The reporter said: Is it just right for me to call you "Brother Hu"? Hu suddenly said: Yes, yes; Rude and rude It turns out that they have different understandings of the meaning of "mobile phone", which leads to such misunderstanding.
Hu Shi was gentle and honest all his life until his death, and his attitude was not different because of his position. In the 1950s, rickshaw drivers who often pulled rickshaws for him said that they had never seen such an approachable scholar.
But there are exceptions Lu Xun has been wary of Hu Shi since he knew him. He thinks that when running New Youth magazine, Chen Duxiu is like an open room, saying that there are weapons in it, and knives, forks and halberds can be seen clearly, but like a closed room, there are no weapons on the door, which always makes people suspicious. Anyone who knows Hu will almost praise Hu Shi, but it is strange why Lu Xun said this.
On the other hand, Hu Shi praised Lu Xun. Hu Shi wrote in his diary: "The Zhou brothers are the cutest and have high genius. Cai Yu has both appreciation and creativity, while Qi Ming has good appreciation and less creativity. " Hu Shi appreciated Lu Xun's early essays very much. For example, Lu Xun wrote profound words such as "learning from the sea", "getting rid of air conditioning" and "having a little heat and emitting a little light" in Random Thoughts 4 1. Hu Shi said that after reading this passage, he was moved to "sleep well all night and always think of this article." In addition, when Hu Shi saw the publication of Lu Xun's A Brief History of Chinese Fiction, he could not help but enthusiastically praise: "This is a pioneering creation, which is collected very diligently, structured very carefully and made strict decisions, and can save countless energy for us who study the history of literature."
The reason why Lu Xun treated Hu Shi like that is probably because Hu Shi and Zhou Brothers had differences of opinion when running New Youth, but it can only be regarded as differences of opinion, not as hatred of the rich. 1May, 926, in the morning paper, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren and Chen Yuan (Xiying) launched a fierce pen battle. Xu Zhimo edited the newspaper supplement, and after several persuasion, he stopped publishing articles on both sides. As a good friend of all parties, Hu Shi wrote an exhortation letter to the Zhou brothers out of kindness, earnestly demanding that both sides stop this meaningless pen battle. As soon as this letter came out, the Zhou brothers broke up with Hu Shi, and Lu Xun no longer interacted with Hu Shi. The moderate Zhou Zuoren took the initiative to make up with Hu Shi on 1929. Hu Shi wrote in a letter to Zhou Zuoren: "I have only the most sincere love, all kinds of alienation and personnel changes in my life, and this intention has never weakened." Although they are far apart, they are inseparable. This time, I came to this book with a warm feeling. I am very happy, but I am sad and sour. It's true. I want to read that letter. "
Lu Xun can't make up with Hu Shi. Since the early 1930s, Lu Xun has satirized Hu Shi in his articles from time to time. 193 1 year, Lu Xun wrote in the article "To overcome difficulties": "China has always had an old habit. When the emperor is determined to be unlucky, he always wants to be with literati. When it is fixed, it is' Yanwu's revision', whitewashing and whitewashing; When I was unlucky, I thought they really had the avenue of "ruling the country and leveling the world" ... When Emperor Xuan Tong abdicated and became bored, our Dr. Hu Shizhi once did such a task. After seeing them, it is strange that people somehow ask their names, and the doctor says,' He calls me sir, and I call him emperor.' Hu Shi and Pu Yi met in May 1922. As soon as Puyi Palace answered the phone, he called Hu Shi's house and summoned Hu Shi. Hu Shi wrote in the article "Xuan Tong and Hu Shi" written in July 1922: "In May of Gregorian calendar 17, the Qing emperor Xuan Tong called me to talk in the palace.
At that time, it was agreed to visit him on May 30th (the day before the Dragon Boat Festival). On the morning of the 30th, he sent a eunuch to meet me at my house. We entered the palace from Shenwumen and met the Qing Emperor in hall of mental cultivation. I bowed to him, he asked me to sit down, and I sat down ... He called me "sir" and I called him "emperor". We may be talking about literature ... he said he was in favor of vernacular Chinese, he wrote old poems and recently tried to write new ones. "
However, the meeting between Puyi and Hu Shi caused a lot of discussion. Some people say that "Hu Shi wants to be emperor", and Hu Shi has to explain: "This 17-year-old boy is in a lonely and pitiful situation! When he is lonely, he wants to talk to a young man, which is also a very common thing in human feelings. Unexpectedly, the emperor's thoughts have not been washed clean in China's brain, so what was originally very human has become strange news in the reporter's pen. " A few years later, this matter was dug up by Lu Xun. In fact, what's more, Lu Xun made an untrue news report, saying that Hu Shi made suggestions for the Japanese invaders. Lu Xun said in his book Pseudo-Freedom: "Dr. Hu Shi is worthy of being a militarist of Japanese imperialism. However, from the perspective of the people of China, this is the only secret of selling the soul. "
But Hu Shi did not give Lu Xun a tooth for a tooth. 1936 After Lu Xun's death, Su wrote a long letter to Cai Yuanpei and Hu Shi to reprimand Lu Xun. Hu Shi said in his reply: "No one should be equal. Love knows its evil, and evil knows its beauty, which is flat. Lu Xun has his own strengths. For example, his early literary works, such as his research on the history of novels, are excellent works. " This is not because Hu Shi didn't know that Lu Xun had scolded him, but he didn't respond. Lu Xun said before he died, "I don't forgive anyone." If there is an afterlife, will he forgive Hu Shi?
However, Zhou Zuoren had many feelings for Hu Shi. Hu Shi died in Taiwan Province Province on 1962. The troubled Zhou Zuoren wrote an article entitled "Memories of Hu Shizhi". In the article, Zhou Zuoren didn't say a good word about Hu Shi, only counted how many books and articles Hu Shi helped him publish and how much money he took. Among them, he specifically mentioned the third publication of Qufu in Greek: "This is the only Greek translation I had at that time, with a total of only 40,000 words. I sold the manuscript to the Compilation Committee of the Board of Directors of Cultural Fund, and got a reward of 10 yuan 1000 words, which is really the highest price I got. At the end of the preface, I said,' Although these translations are only pamphlets, they are really my serious works. I have translated some articles before, but it didn't take so much effort and time this time. There is always a flurry in the middle, and I am afraid of rubbing against the yellow fat man's rice cake and not contributing. Without the encouragement of the right gentleman, I would have put my pen in the middle. I'm glad that the translation is finally finished now. Personally, I like the fork in the road for 30 years. The original work is worth introducing, although it is only too little.
There is a proverb in Tiakledos that small gifts carry great favors. There is a saying in a rural song that goose feathers are sent thousands of miles away, and things are light and people are heavy. Just draw a joke. There is such a resonance about this translation. I explained it in advance before handing in the manuscript. Some words violated the rules, and I asked to keep them ... I smiled and agreed, so I printed them. "At the end of the article, Zhou Zuoren specifically said:" I benefited a lot from 400 yuan's contribution fee for Qufu, that is, I bought a cemetery in Banjing Village in the western suburbs. There are only two acres of land, because there are three tile-roofed houses in the back, which were bought by 360 yuan, and then collapsed because no one lived there. More than 30 years have passed, and the newly planted cypress has become a forest. Don't bury our second daughter Ruozi, my nephew Fenger and finally my mother, Mrs. Lu. The place still exists well, but my efforts have not been in vain. This is a very lucky thing for me. "At this point, I can't help but stop thinking for a long time.
Hu Shi was gentle all his life, believed in liberalism and emphasized tolerance. This attitude can be handed down as a beautiful talk between friends, and it can also be remembered by our descendants. However, he obviously has no clear understanding of China's politics. We just need to watch a paragraph, and it will be clear. He said: 19 19, Peking University expelled Chen Duxiu, which was his saddest thing, because Chen's departure caused the left deviation of China thought; The split of New Youth weakened the liberalism of Peking University. He even naively thought that if Chen Duxiu was still in Peking University and influenced by Hu Shi and Tao Menghe, he would not be very left-leaning. Whether this is true or not, what we see is Hu Shi's mind. Also, at the end of 1948, Nanjing sent a plane to Beiping to meet Hu Shi, accompanied by Chen Yinque. After Hu Shi arrived in Nanjing, he persuaded the government to send a plane to Beiping to meet his academic friends. When the plane returned, the cabin door opened, and only a few people stepped down, Hu Shi could not help crying-from the beginning of the New Culture Movement in 19 19 to 1948, 30 years is not long, but it is the difference between the old and the new world.