Chapter 172 to preach

"History of Chinese Philosophy" is an old class at Peking University. Before Hu Shi came to Peking University, Chen Hanzhang taught it. Chen started from Fuxi, and it took a year to talk about "Hong Fan".Hu Shi took over the class after he arrived at Peking University, and he was full of new ideas from the very beginning.Gu Jiegang, a student at the time, recalled: "He came, he ignored the previous lessons, and re-taught the lecture notes. The first chapter at the beginning was "The Age of the Termination of Chinese Philosophy", which was used as an explanation of the era, leaving aside Tang Yu, Xia, and Shang. It started from after King Xuan of Zhou. This change made us ordinary people full of the minds of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, and suddenly dealt a major blow, and we were so shocked that we couldn’t speak in the middle of the class.” After listening to several lectures, Gu Jie praised: "Mr. Hu's speech is indeed not bad. He has vision and courage. He is indeed a capable historian. His arguments are in line with my rationality. I want to say but don't know how to say it."

Peking University classrooms have always followed the tradition of "not rejecting those who come and not keeping those who go".At that time, there were many students who attended and "eavesdropped" at Peking University.Once when Mr. Hu Shi asked the students to leave their names, he said: "Which one of you is an eavesdropper? It doesn't matter. If you can come to eavesdrop, you are a studious person. If you listen to my class, you are my student. I hope you Leave me a name, it's a student in my class." Mr. Hu Shi's lecture-style teaching was very popular among the students, and he was often moved to the lecture hall of the Second Academy due to the overcrowding of the classrooms in the Red Building.He never gave out handouts for his lectures, and he didn't have any lecture notes.The content of the lectures also has some characteristics. For example, when talking about the history of Chinese literature (Song Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties), first introduce Wang Ruoxu's "Fu Nan Yi Lao Ji" from the perspective of literary criticism; Emperor's memorial.But what the students liked most was his speech.Mr. Liu Cunren wrote in his article "Remembering the Professor of Peking University": Mr. Hu's speech in a large audience is not because of the clear outline of his speech, but because he can give full play to the demeanor and posture of the speaker as much as possible. The Mandarin Chinese should be cadenced as much as possible.And because he is a person with a pure scholarly atmosphere, the tone of his speech is always very warm and sincere, with a natural air, so he can especially move people.

There was a lecturer in the Chinese Department of Peking University, surnamed Miao and surnamed Jin Yuan, who was extremely weird. Because he was appreciated by Hu Shi, he stayed at the school to teach freshman Chinese.Miao introduced the reference books to the students in the first class: first, "Hu Shi Wen Cun One Collection"; second, "Hu Shi Wen Cun Two Collections"; third, "Hu Shi Wen Cun Three Collections"; fourth, "Hu Shi The fourth level of document storage".Although he gave good lectures, the students were naturally dissatisfied with such a list of reference books, so he sent a representative to meet Hu Shi: "Mr. Miao's teaching is not good, his thinking is too backward, and he is still in the May Fourth era." The desk said: "What is the May Fourth era? What do you know? It's too arrogant! Mr. Miao is a good teacher and cannot be changed!" The students had to leave disappointed.

Essayist Zhang Zhongxing once talked about Hu Shi’s eloquence and sense of humor: In the early 1930s, he taught the history of Chinese philosophy, which he taught in his freshman year. to listen.Looking back now, the main reason why the students love to listen is not because the content is novel and profound, but because the words are beautifully spoken, not only does not hypnotize, but also makes sleepy people want to sleep. In "Mr. Hu Shizhi's Two Deepest Impressions on Me", Su Xuelin described the style of Hu Shi's lectures in a way that envelops the clouds and the moon: the classroom book of our Chinese Department is adjacent to our library, and there is a book in the middle that can be opened and closed freely. The door is divided into two.Whenever Mr. Hu comes to class, not only the students in this class are never absent, but students and teachers from other classes also come to listen.There is no room for one classroom, and the door of the library is opened to merge the two rooms into one.Even the two large classrooms couldn't accommodate them, and the corridors were crowded with people, the ground covered with heads. Everyone held their breath and listened to the master's explanation in silence.This impression remains in my mind and will never be wiped out.

In the autumn of 1934, when Hu Shi gave a lecture at Peking University, he talked about the advantages of vernacular Chinese, and those students who were obsessed with classical Chinese inevitably developed resistance.Just when Hu Shi was proud of his speech, a classmate suddenly stood up and protested sharply: "Mr. Hu, is there no defect in speaking vernacular?" Hu Shi smiled at him and said, "No." The classmate became even more furious. He quickly retorted: "The vernacular language is not refined, and the telegram uses too many words and costs a lot of money." Hu Shi adjusted his glasses and said softly: "Not necessarily! A few days ago, a friend of the Executive Yuan sent me a telegram to invite I am going to be the secretary of the Executive Yuan. I don’t want to go into politics, so I decided not to go. Because of this, I replied and refused. The reply is written in vernacular, and it seems to save words and money. Please students follow my wish Write a telegram in classical Chinese to see whether it is the province of vernacular Chinese or the province of classical Chinese?" Hu Shi asked students to draft a rejection telegram in class, and one of the simplest ones was: "I am afraid that I will not be able to do the job if I have little knowledge. "And Hu's vernacular draft is: "I can't do it, thank you." Hu Lun said: "The quality of writing does not lie in the vernacular, but in the appropriate rhetoric."

Hu Shih has his own opinions on academic papers. He once told a student at National Taiwan University not to expect easy answers to difficult questions.He said: "Make a big deal out of a molehill, don't make a big deal out of it."