Look at these articles first.
There is an article called "Madman". "When the court was stormy in the late Qing Dynasty, he was the first to jump out and cut his braid. In the Qing Dynasty, the principle of "leaving hair without hair, leaving hair without head" was followed, and cutting braids was tantamount to rebellion. Gu Hongming cut his braid very early, which is a shocking move, completely different. Later, everyone saw that the luck of the late Qing Dynasty was running out, and everyone cut braids one after another. Only Gu Hongming took a fake braid first, and then left a braid. "
Look at another article. Gu Hongming, the "monster", was the first person to cut braids in the Qing Dynasty. "Gu Hongming was one of the earliest people who cut braids in the Qing Dynasty. It was when he was studying in Scotland. He has a girlfriend who likes to play with his shiny black braid in her hand. In order to please her, Gu Hongming cut off her braid and gave it to her. "
There is also such an article, "Gu Hongming ―― The Last Braid of Qing Dynasty". "Gu Hongming is a freak, known as the last braid of the Qing Dynasty (1928 was still there when he died)."
After reading it, I was shocked. I found several articles describing Gu Hongming, but none of them said that he was the first person to cut braids in Qing Dynasty. I didn't say that my braid was the last one in the Qing Dynasty. I can only say that the author of the above article is very powerful and is an "inventor" who changed careers. The way, environment and place of braiding are different, and everyone has his own opinion. Who is not the same as who. The housekeeper had to look around, but she couldn't agree.
Men in the Qing Dynasty wore braids. Although Gu Hongming's braids were yellow hair, it was nothing unusual. Look at Gu Hongming, not his braid, his knowledge and his wild life.
Gu Hongming (1857-1928), originally from Tongan, Fujian (now Xiamen), was born in Penang, Malaysia. His father is a local overseas Chinese and his mother is a westerner. His high nose, deep eye socket and yellow hair became Gu Hongming's appearance characteristics. Gu Hongming is knowledgeable. He received 13 doctorates in his life. He is proficient in nine foreign languages, including English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Latin, Greek and Malaya. He worked as an interpreter for the envoys of the six countries and was called "China's first language genius" by Sun Yat-sen and Lin Yutang. Since the number "Han Bin studied in Yi Zhe", in his later years, he was named "East, West, North and South". He was "born in Nanyang, studied in the West and served in Beiyang".
At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a saying in the west: You can visit Gu Hongming instead of the Three Great Halls in China. Gu Hongming's thoughts influenced the east and west in the 20th century. He is a scholar who is well versed in Chinese and Western arts, and a pioneer in the history of modern middle school spreading to the west.
Gu Hongming's reputation in the West is far greater than that in China. He read English newspapers backwards, laughed at the British, said that Americans had no education, told Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen about Confucius, and talked to literary master Lev? Tolstoy wrote letters to discuss the world cultural and political situation, and was called "the most outstanding China man" by Indian Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson, a professor of philosophy at the University of G? ttingen in Germany, highly praised Gu. When he learned that Gu Hongming had a hard life, he even raised money for him. A German university professor solemnly declared, "If students don't know Gu Hongming, they are not allowed to participate in relevant discussions." Germans believe that apart from Gu Hongming, there are two other people who can represent the oriental culture, namely Tagore of India. He was also a scholar in modern China, and was hired by the Japanese to give lectures for four years, which was the longest time.
He creatively translated The Analects of Confucius, The Doctrine of the Mean and The University into the West in English and German. Promote oriental culture and spirit to westerners. At the same time, he translated foreign poems into Chinese. He was a pioneer in translating and introducing western poetry in modern China.
In the preface to the translation of The Analects of Confucius, he claimed: We just want to express a wish here. I hope that educated and thoughtful British people can reflect on their prejudice against China people after patiently reading our translation, so as to correct their wrong views and change their attitude towards the relations between the Chinese and British peoples and countries.
The Spirit of China People (namely Justice in the Spring and Autumn Period) is the most influential English masterpiece of Gu Hongming, and it is a collection of a series of papers centered on the spirit of China people. Facing the bullying of the Chinese nation and the discrimination against China culture by western powers at that time, the main purpose of Gu Hongming's exposition is to reveal the spiritual life of China people and expound the eternal value of China's traditional culture.
Gu Hongming believes that the evaluation of a civilization depends on what kind of people it can produce, men and women. He criticized those missionaries and sinologists who were "known as the authority of China civilization research" for "not really knowing the languages of China and China". He said: "To understand the real China people and China civilization, that person must be deep, broad and simple." Because "the character of China people and the three characteristics of China civilization are deep, broad and simple." In addition, there is "sensitivity".
From this unique perspective, Gu Hongming compared China people with Americans, British people, Germans and French people, highlighting the characteristics of China people. Americans are broad and simple, but not deep; The British are deep and simple, but not broad; Germans are profound, but not simple; The French are not as deep as the Germans, as broad-minded as the Americans, and as simple as the British, but they have the sensitivity that these three peoples lack; Only China people fully possess these four excellent spiritual qualities. It is precisely because of this that Gu Hongming said, "The overall impression left by China people is' that kind of unspeakable tenderness'."
When Gu Hongming gave a lecture at Peking University, he publicly said to the students, "Why should we learn English poetry? That's because after you learn English well, you should teach China people the truth of being a man and teach them gentle and sincere poems to explain those four foreign countries. " At that time, China was wantonly carved up by the great powers, and there was no wind in all directions. He said such a thing, which shows that he is struggling firmly and desperately, and what kind of pain he is suffering inside.
Gu Hongming's French friend and scholar Francis? In an article commemorating the national saint Gu Hongming, Polly called him a "China freak" and a "crazy old man", and was deeply impressed by his unique personality of "staying in an outdated era" and "liking absurdity": "He wore a China robe. At the moment when Beijingers cut off their pigtails, he kept the symbolic pigtails. Our conversation lasted for over an hour. I can't get in a word because I talk so much. In fact, this is just a long monologue, and I will never forget it, because I have never seen such a persistent person, sticking to his own opinions and sticking to his true beliefs. "
Zhou Zuoren described Gu Hongming in "Old Records of Love in Peking University", "A foreigner with deep eyes and a high nose looks like a pinch of yellow hair on his head, but it is braided into a pigtail. In winter, he wears a big sleeve coat with jujube red and a small hat with melon skin; Don't say that Beijing around the decade of the Republic of China was the early Qing Dynasty. We met such a well-dressed and priest-like figure in a small town on the road, and everyone couldn't help staring. It is indeed a landscape of Wangfujing Street in the Republic of China, and this landscape is real, not copied. "
Lin Yutang sincerely praised Gu Hongming with the heart of an 80-year-old man: "Gu Hongming is a hard piece of meat that can't be absorbed by a weak stomach. To westerners, his works are like porcupines full of thorns. But he is deep and knowledgeable, which makes people forgive him for many mistakes, because there are very few people who are really knowledgeable. " Lin Yutang also said, "Koo is a loner, and the more he helps, the more he scolds. If you lend him money to get him out of poverty, you must slap him in the face. If you don't do this, you won't see his stubbornness. "
Wen, a professor of contemporary English in Peking University, said: "Gu Hongming had become a legend before his death; I'm afraid he will become a mythical figure after his death. In fact, he is not much different from many people you meet every day. He is just a born rebel. "
Wang Chonghui, Premier of the Republic of China, said: "Gu Hongming has brought honor to our country and won an international reputation. Since ancient times, he has made great contributions to cultural exchanges between China and the West. "
Guo Moruo said, "Before his new sharp remarks, almost all old ideas and habits were like fallen leaves in a strong wind, completely losing their luster. Twenty years ago, no teenager-in other words, a bourgeois child at that time-was not baptized by his thoughts or remarks, whether for or against them. "
Gu Hongming lived in an unfortunate era. In such an era, as long as they are from China, they can only get sick and lose their lives. If you are sober, you will pay a particularly painful price if you want to fight. Facing the motherland at that time, Gu Hongming was worried about the fracture of China tradition and the smearing of Chinese civilization. He expressed his self-esteem and deep sigh for China culture in Zhang Wenxiang Shogunate Notes.
There is a note in Notes called Forgetting Eight Eggs. The assistant minister of the household department said to Gu, "What you said is king, but why can't it be implemented today?" Gu Hongming replied: "There are only two ways in the world, either the king or the bastard. Mencius said, "In the second way, different people have different opinions, and the wise have different opinions." Gu is satirizing the so-called "king way", which is actually a strategy of governing the country that has never been realized on paper. "Bastard's Way" is the way that China hooligans have been practicing since ancient times to seize and govern the world.
Gu Hongming insisted on his "symbolic braid". He said: "I have a braid, which is a symbol." I am the representative of the boss and the last one in China. " Gu Hongming also called all people who cut braids "animals without braids, animals!" In the early years of the Republic of China, when people cut their braids and put on their hats, he called names: "Take a monkey to be crowned!" " "
Gu Hongming has a deep belief in China's moral culture, and regards himself as "the dry city of virtue and the muduo of warning". In his life, he hated that China people spurned the old school and despised the national customs, but his kindness with compassion was not appreciated. He has insight into ancient and modern wisdom, which no one can understand. His untimely words only get ridicule and condemnation, and he always scolds the other person's life, so he is demoted as a "monster" and a "fanatic". He deliberately pursues being different, and he opposes everything that others agree with; He despises what others worship. When braiding was popular, he insisted on braiding; When * * * was popular, he insisted on advocating monarchism. Because of his outstanding intelligence, he can speak loudly and defend everything. There have been different opinions about his comments for a hundred years. Praised people go to heaven, and degraded people go to hell.
After Gu Hongming died, a foreign writer said, "Gu died, but Europeans who can write China's poems have not yet been born!"
Look at the world now, what is shocking, and what is shocking dare to say and do. It can only show that this kind of person's idea of "endless accidents" is at work.
Looking at Gu Hongming again, he tried to save the decline of the Qing Empire with his own energy when the country was in danger, showing an awe-inspiring national pride; He defended the destroyed traditional culture of China in the most paranoid way, so as to keep it unchanged and cope with all kinds of changes. Defend traditional culture for life, make unremitting efforts and conquer the world with your own strength; It is really helpless to protect his strong national pride with his wild attitude. His arrogance and unusual performance were just misunderstood. He is a born rebel.
Gu Hongming is a wonderful book, with a wide range of implications and food for thought. Reading articles about him sometimes makes you laugh, sometimes makes you high-five for his humor and eloquence, and sometimes shakes your head helplessly. But when you smile, clap your hands and shake your head, you will have the idea of thinking about the culture, tradition, national dignity and future of life in Gu Hongming's era, and understand and reflect on that stormy historical era of conflict between China and the West in your own way.
Those who love narcissism, relish Gu Hongming's anecdotes about concubinage, foot binding and fetishism, talk early and late, and talk about "yellow" around braids, thinking that they have discovered the new continent, are really unconventional, grandstanding and annoying.