Who is Gu Hongming? He was born in Nanyang, studied in the West, married in the East and served as an official in Beiyang. Proficient in English, French, German, Latin, Greek, Malaya and other 9 languages, and obtained the doctorate of 13. He read English newspapers backwards and laughed at the British, saying that Americans have no culture. He was the first person to translate China's The Analects of Confucius and The Doctrine of the Mean into the West in English and German. He has a glib tongue, telling Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen about Confucius, and exchanging letters with literary master Leo Tolstoy to discuss the world cultural and political situation. He was called "the most outstanding China" by Indian Mahatma Gandhi.
Gu Hongming, the word Tang Sheng. 1July, 857 18 was born in a British rubber plantation in Penang, northwest of Nanyang Malay Peninsula. In his early years, his grandparents moved to Nanyang from Fujian, China, and accumulated rich wealth and prestige. His father, Gu Ziyun, was the manager of a rubber plantation run by the British at that time. He speaks fluent Minnan, English and Malay. His mother is a blonde westerner who can speak English and Portuguese. In this family environment, Gu Hongming has an amazing understanding and memory of language since childhood. Mr. Brown, a childless rubber gardener, liked him very much and adopted him as his adopted son. Let him read Shakespeare, Bacon and other works from an early age.
1840 British gunboats opened the door to China. Gu Hongming's adoptive father, Mr. Brown, said to him, "Do you know that your motherland, China, has been put on the chopping block, and vicious invaders are waving butcher knives to get a piece of the action? I hope you can learn from China and the West, take on the responsibility of enriching the country and governing the country, and educate Europe and the United States. " When the Browns returned to England in 1867, they brought 10-year-old Gu Hongming to the most powerful western empire at that time. Before leaving, my father burned incense in front of the ancestral tablet and warned him: "No matter where you go, no matter whether you are English, German or French, don't forget that you are from China."
In Britain, under the guidance of Brown, Gu Hongming started with the most classic western literary masterpieces and quickly mastered English, German, French, Latin and Greek by the simplest rote learning method, and was admitted to the famous Edinburgh University with excellent results, which was appreciated by the president, famous writer, historian and philosopher Carlyle. From 65438 to 0877, after receiving a master's degree in literature, Gu Hongming went to famous universities such as Leipzig University in Germany to study literature and philosophy. Later, when Cai Yuanpei went to Leipzig University to study, Gu Hongming was already a famous figure. And 40 years later, when Lin Yutang came to Leipzig University, Gu Hongming's works were already required reading. 14 years of studying abroad has made the talented young Gu Hongming a young scholar proficient in western culture.
After finishing his studies, Gu Hongming listened to the persuasion of Ma Jianzhong, a great Singaporean linguist at that time, buried himself in studying China culture and returned to Chinese mainland to continue studying China classics. He served in the shogunate of Zhang Zhidong, a powerful minister in the late Qing Dynasty, for 20 years, and his main responsibility was "interpretation". While helping Zhang Zhidong to co-ordinate the Westernization, he studied Chinese studies intensively and called himself "Hanbin Scholar".
Gu Hongming was proficient in various languages in Western Europe, and his reputation for quick speech soon spread among Europeans and Americans in China. He kowtowed to his ancestors, and foreigners laughed and said, so your ancestors can eat on the altar? Gu Hongming immediately retorted: If you put flowers in front of your ancestors' graves, can they smell the flowers? He read English newspapers and laughed at the British, saying that Americans were uneducated and satirized that the ship used pure German. Mao Mu, an English writer, came to China to visit Gu. My friend wrote a letter to Gu and invited him to come. But after waiting for a long time, Gu still didn't come. No choice but to find Gu's yard. On entering the room, Gu said rudely, "Your compatriots think that China people are either coolies or comprador. As long as we wave, we must come. " In a word, Mao Mu, who has traveled widely, is very embarrassed and doesn't know what to do.
At the same time, as a defender of oriental culture, Gu Hongming's reputation has gradually become prominent. 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, he still insisted on calling the West "a country of four foreigners". Because of this, many people just regard him as a joke maker, but ignore his inner pain, his positive thinking about oriental culture, his deep concern about the fate of this land, and his firm and desperate struggle.
Since 1883 published an article entitled "A Study of China" in the English newspaper North China Daily, he has embarked on the writing road of promoting China culture and mocking western learning. 1At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, he also translated The Analects of Confucius and The Doctrine of the Mean into English and published them overseas. Later, he translated the university. His works are creative, and the enlightening quips of Goethe, Schiller, Ruskin and joubert are added to the ancient oriental theory. Before him, there was never a good translation of China's ancient books.
From 190 1 to 1905, Gu Hongming published 172 notes on China in five times, repeatedly emphasizing the value of oriental civilization. 1909 published the English book "Oxford Movement in China" (translated in German as "Defending China's Anti-European Concept: A Critical Paper"), which had great influence in Europe, especially in Germany, and was regarded as a required reference book by some university philosophy series. 19 15 Justice in the Spring and Autumn Period (the famous spirit of China people) was published. He showed the world with idealistic enthusiasm that China culture is a panacea to save the world, and at the same time, his criticism of western civilization was sharp and profound. Soon, Justice in the Spring and Autumn Period was published in German, which caused a great sensation in Germany where the First World War was going on.
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 authorities of China civilization research" for "not really knowing the languages of China and China". He uniquely pointed out: "To understand the real China people and China civilization, that person must be deep, broad and simple", because "the three characteristics of China people's personality and China civilization, besides" sensitivity ",are deep, broad and simple.
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 that the overall impression of China people is "tenderness" and "that kind of unspeakable tenderness". Behind the gentle image of China people, their "innocent childlike innocence" and "adult wisdom" are hidden. Gu Hongming wrote that China people "live like children-a life with brains".
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 worries about China culture and his deep sigh for self-esteem in Zhang Wenxiang Shogunate Notes.
Gu Hongming's wild attitude is the expression of his tears. He used the wild to protect his strong self-esteem. At that time, when westerners saw the streets of China, they often said to Gu that "a child is innocent", which shows that China people are deceiving. Koo was suddenly speechless and unable to send himself. In fact, because his vision is much broader than that of his contemporaries, Gu Hongming understands that misfortune more clearly and deeply than anyone else. So he expressed his love for China culture with a paranoid attitude. He studied in the west, but he likes the feet of oriental girls, especially China girls. His wife Shu Gu has a pair of small feet. He fell in love at first sight and never left. After the founding of the Republic of China, he taught English literature in Peking University, and used extreme behaviors-braiding and wearing old clothes to justify concubinage and foot-binding, to counter the abnormal trend that the whole society abandoned China tradition. Gu Hongming advocated imperial power all his life, but he didn't kowtow when he met the memorial tablet. On the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, he blurted out a "congratulatory poem" in public: "The son of heaven lives forever, and the people spend money. Life is endless and the people suffer. " Yuan Shikai died, and the whole country mourned for three days, but Gu Hongming specially invited a troupe to hold a meeting at home, which was lively for three days.
Gu Hongming taught at Peking University and walked into the classroom with a braid. The students burst out laughing. Gu said calmly, "The braid on my head is visible, but the braid in your heart is invisible." Hearing this, the arrogant Peking University students were silent.