Born in Fuyang, Zhejiang,1940,65438+1October 25th in Shanghai. 1962 graduated from Chinese Department of Peking University, and has been teaching since graduation. At present, he is a professor of Chinese Department in Peking University, a tutor of Peking University Institute of Chinese Studies, a professor of Tsinghua University Institute of Humanities, a doctoral tutor of China history, a national "expert with outstanding contributions" and a national famous teacher of teaching. He used to be the director of the Academic Committee of the Chinese Department of Peking University, the director of the Linguistics Research Center of China, Peking University, the director of the International Linguistics Society of China, and the member of the Chinese Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education. Monographs and papers include Dictionary of Common Words in Ancient Chinese (responsible for writing manuscripts), Vocabulary Outline of Ancient Chinese, Language Research of Tang Poetry, Survey of Modern Chinese Research, etc. He is the author of A Summary of Modern Chinese Grammar History (co-edited), A Collection of Modern Chinese Grammar Materials (co-edited) and Ancient Chinese (co-edited with Guo Xiliang). ), Wang Li's Dictionary of Ancient Chinese (co-edited) and Chinese (experimental textbook of compulsory education curriculum reform in Beijing, 1 ~ 65438+)

The relationship between literature and vernacular Chinese and the teaching of classical Chinese

Interview with Professor Jiang of Chinese Department in Peking University.

There are two main reasons that prompted me to visit Mr. Jiang: first, he is an expert in studying ancient Chinese; He is the grandson of Mr. Jiang, a famous scholar and educator in the Republic of China. In addition, there is another reason related to the fever of reading classics among primary and secondary school students. Under the background of "Sinology craze" and the promotion of excellent traditional culture education, we can often see such views: reciting ancient classics is beneficial and harmless, the benefits of learning classical Chinese are self-evident, and choosing classical Chinese in Chinese textbooks is not necessarily a good thing, and so on. However, Mr. Jiang did not pursue the craze of Chinese studies in his talk. He stressed the need to recognize our times and the task of Chinese education itself. On these two premises, let's discuss how much and how to learn classical Chinese. This view reminds me of the view expressed by Mr. Jiang in "Introduction to Chinese Teaching Method in Middle Schools": The reason for the low Chinese level of middle school students is not that the class system has replaced private schools, that the style of writing has replaced the whole ancient books, that many educational subjects in the school have taken up the time of Chinese learning, but that it lies in the teaching purpose, teachers' quality, speaking and reading in class, teaching materials and methods, and so on. In fact, there have been voices criticizing the low efficiency of Chinese teaching and the poor Chinese literacy of students. It is the theme of Chinese curriculum construction to learn from the ancients and inherit the excellent educational tradition. When reflecting on the educational value of traditional cultural classics, it is necessary to clarify the educational purpose of Chinese curriculum itself. On the basis of expounding the relationship between literature and vernacular Chinese, Mr. Jiang's rational attitude and the purpose and method of classical Chinese teaching are undoubtedly worthy of attention.

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Li Jie (hereinafter referred to as "Li"): Ancient Chinese is classical Chinese and modern Chinese is vernacular Chinese. Can you understand this? What is the relationship between ancient Chinese and modern Chinese, classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese?

Jiang (hereinafter referred to as "Jiang"): It cannot be simply said that ancient Chinese is classical Chinese and modern Chinese is vernacular Chinese. Both ancient Chinese and modern Chinese are based on people's oral use of language. From the Shang Dynasty to the present, people's oral communication languages are very different. In the past, people couldn't remember how to speak because there was no recording, so they had to rely on literature. Judging from the literature, there are indeed considerable differences between ancient spoken language and modern spoken language. As far as the language itself is concerned, the study of Chinese history generally divides the development of Chinese into several stages: one is the ancient Chinese, from the earliest language to the Western Han Dynasty; Second, Middle Chinese, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty; Third, modern Chinese, from the late Tang Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty; Fourth, modern Chinese. All languages from the early Qing Dynasty to the present are regarded as modern Chinese. Mr. Wang Li wrote a book "Modern Grammar in China", which is about modern Chinese grammar. The materials used in the book are all from A Dream of Red Mansions. Although A Dream of Red Mansions is a classical literature, it is very close to modern Chinese in terms of language.

Classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese refer to style, not written language. Written language has long-term stability and continuity. The Analects of Confucius, Zuo Zhuan and Historical Records are all written in classical Chinese. Articles by Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in the Tang Dynasty, Fang Bao and Yao Nai in the Qing Dynasty, and Pu Songling's novel Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio are also written in classical Chinese. The paper written by Zhang Taiyan in the Republic of China was also written in classical Chinese. Therefore, classical Chinese is not entirely divided by times, but a style. Pu Songling is not far from the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, but Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio belongs to classical Chinese and A Dream of Red Mansions belongs to vernacular Chinese. The classical Chinese is "What is it?" And the vernacular is "what is it?" As a style, the difference between vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese is obvious. The historical development of style and language itself cannot be equated.