Chapter 178 International meeting

When Mao Zedong was an administrator of the Peking University library, when he was listening to Hu Shi's speech, he dared to ask Hu Shi a question, but when Hu Shi learned that he was an unregistered student, he refused to answer his question. Mao Zedong, Xiao San and others were introduced by Mr. Yang Huaizhong to make a special trip to visit Hu Shi, and discussed various issues with Hu Shi about the new trend of thought. In the name of members of the Xinmin Society in Beijing, Hu Shi was invited to give a report and answer questions. Mao Zedong once asked Hu Shi for advice on whether to study abroad. On March 14, 1920, in a letter to his friend Zhou Shizhao, Mao Zedong talked about why he did not go abroad: "I don't think there is any reason to study abroad. Some people are just a kind of "mystery". There are always tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people who have traveled abroad in China, and there are very few good ones. What about the majority? It is still "confused"; it is still "inexplicable". A specific piece of evidence. I once asked Hu Shi and Li Shaoxi (that is, Li Jinxi) about this. Don't go abroad for the time being, and study the outlines of various studies in China for the time being."

During the "May 4th" period, Mao Zedong once supported Hu Shi during the debate on "problems and doctrines". During the debate between "problems and doctrines", Mao Zedong organized a "problem research society" in Changsha, Hunan, and personally drafted the charter for this research society and the first batch of "problems" to be studied urgently, such as "Confucius problems", "East and West Convergence of Civilizations", "Economic Freedom", "League of Nations", etc., a total of 71 categories, of which education, women, labor, Chinese labor, industry, transportation, finance, and economy are listed in eight categories Eighty-one more specific issues, such as "how to implement Dewey's educational theory", "secondary education issues", "women's communication issues", "chastity issues", "national language issues", "judicial independence issues", "federal system issues" Should it be implemented", a total of 144 "problems" to be studied.

After Mao Zedong became a Marxist, he still had close contacts with Hu Shi. In his letter to Hu Shi, he mentioned: "Your student Mao Zedong..." "Westward Journey" records that in 1919, on the eve of returning to Hunan, Mao Zedong made a special trip to visit Hu Shi, with the purpose of "wanting him to support the struggle of Hunan students".Hu Shi readily accepted Mao Zedong's request and expressed that he would try his best to support him, and he did the same in the future.On July 14 of that year, Mao Zedong founded "Xiangjiang Review" in Changsha.When Mao Zedong published the article "The Great Unity of the People" in "Xiangjiang Review", Hu Shi immediately commented on Mao Zedong in the column "New Book Review" in the No. 36 "New Book Review" of "Weekly Review" on August 24 after reading it. The article and "Xiangjiang Review" made enthusiastic affirmations.Hu Shi wrote: "There are quite a few new weekly newspapers and small daily newspapers. From Beijing in the north, Guangzhou in the south, Shanghai and Suzhou in the east, and Sichuan in the west, there is almost no city without such new-style newspapers... Now we In particular, we would like to introduce our two new little brothers, one is "Xiangjiang Review" in Changsha, and the other is "Sunday" in Chengdu." Then he specifically spoke highly of "Xiangjiang Review" and Mao Zedong's articles.Hu Shi wrote: "The strength of the "Xiangjiang Review" seems to be on the one hand. The "Xiangjiang Review" in the second, third, and fourth issues of "The Great Unity of the People" is a big article with far-sighted vision and very happy discussions. , It is indeed an important text today. There is also a column of "Comments on Major Events in Xiangjiang", which records that the Hunan movement made us infinitely optimistic. The military ruled the world, and it is really our unexpected joy to have such a good brother like us."

On January 15, 1920, Mao Zedong visited Hu Shi again.Hu Shi wrote in his book: "Mao Zedong came to talk about Hunan affairs." Mao Zedong also mentioned the content of this visit to Hu Shi in his letter to Zhou Shizhao.At that time, Mao Zedong was planning to prepare the Hunan "Work-study Mutual Aid Group" in Beijing. In order to gain support, Mao Zedong visited Hu Shi and asked him for advice on the purpose and preliminary plan of running the school. "I think we want to create a new kind of life in Changsha. We can invite comrades, rent a house, and set up a self-study university (Mao Zedong also specifically explained here that the name of the self-study university was given by Mr. Hu Shi). A communist life is practiced in this university.” Hu Shi later recalled this event in his diary: “Mao Zedong drew up the charter of the first self-study university in Hunan based on my 1920 speech on ‘a self-study university’, and brought it to my home. He asked me to approve the correction. He said he was going back to Changsha and used the Chuanshan Institute as the address of the 'self-study university'. After a few days, he came home to pick up the revised draft of the articles of association. He went back soon."

In April 1920, when Mao Zedong led the "Expelling Zhang" (Expelling Hunan Governor Zhang Jingyao) campaign to victory, he returned to Hunan.As soon as Mao Zedong returned to Hunan, he wrote to Hu Shi to report the situation after Hunan's "expelling Zhang".The letter wrote: "Mr. Shizhi: I wrote a letter in Shanghai, have you reached it? I returned to Hunan the day before yesterday. Hunan has gone from Zhang to Zhang. The atmosphere has changed, and the education sector is quite prosperous. In the future, Hunan has many things to rely on Mr. , when the time comes, I will give you details. I won’t repeat it for the time being.”

In 1936, when Mao Zedong visited Snow in Yan’an, he said: “New Youth is a well-known magazine of the New Culture Movement, edited by Chen Duxiu. I started reading this magazine when I was studying in a normal school. I admire the articles of Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu very much. They replaced Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei, who had been abandoned by me, and became my role models for a while.” When the Anti-Japanese War was just won in August 1945, Hu Shi, who was far away in the United States, sent a telegram to Mao Zedong, to the effect that: Now that Japan has surrendered, the Communist Party has no legitimate reason to continue to maintain a large private army. We should learn from the good example of the British Labor Party.This Labor Party did not have a single soldier, but in the last election, it won a landslide victory.It is a pity that Dr. Hu has never heard back.

After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Zedong sent Dong Biwu to win over Hu Shi, and later, through Hu Shi's student Fu Si Nian, he greeted his teacher Hu Shi.Not only did Hu Shi refuse to buy it, but he also persuaded the Communist Party to capitulate, writing a letter to Mao Zedong himself, asking the Communist Party to become the second largest party that does not rely on force, which Mao Zedong ignored.During the siege of Beijing, Mao Zedong once said: "As long as Hu Shi doesn't leave, he can be the director of the Beijing Library." After hearing this, Hu Shi sneered: "Don't believe the Communist Party!" After he left, the Chinese Communist Party immediately announced that Hu Shi is a war criminal.

When Hu Shi ate at Chen Cunren's house, whether drinking or telling jokes, he often avoided talking about the current situation.At that time, more than half of his hometown in Anhui had changed color. He only talked about the change of his hometown, Zhexi Longjing Township, to Shizhi Village, with a total of more than 500 household registrations. There were eight large characters written on the door of his house. Hu Shi’s house, don’t mess with it.” His family’s ancestral hall has been converted into a permanent venue for the May Fourth Movement Exhibition.When Hu Shi talked about this, he thought that the Peking University librarian would not make things difficult for him.

After 1949, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China carried out united front work against Hu Shi many times, but Hu Shi was unmoved. In February 1956, when entertaining representatives of the intellectuals of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing's Huairen Hall, Mao Zedong said when talking about criticizing Hu Shi: "Hu Shi is really stubborn. We asked someone to bring him a letter and persuade him to come back. What are you lusting after?" In 1957, Mao Zedong said to Hu Shi: "... To be honest, he has made contributions to the New Culture Movement, which cannot be wiped out. We should seek truth from facts. In the 21st century, let's restore his reputation at that time."

On December 26, 1959, it was Mao Zedong's birthday. At noon, Hu Shi had dinner with his secretary Hu Songping at his home in Taipei, and talked about Mao Zedong's father-in-law, Yang Changji.Hu Songping then asked: "Is Mao Zedong brought in by his father-in-law to work in the library of Peking University?" Hu Shi replied, "No. After Mao Zedong graduated from Hunan Normal University, he came to Peking. He and five young people wrote to me—— I gave this letter to Zhu Miaosheng’s younger brother Zhusheng for safekeeping. During the Anti-Japanese War, it was placed in Shanghai. Zhusheng was afraid of causing trouble, so he burned it. ——At that time, there was a work-study auxiliary association in Beijing. Work-study is very hard." On that day, Hu Songping specifically raised a question in his mind, he asked Hu Shi: "Did your husband introduce him to the library?" Hu Shi said: "No, Zhang Xingyan (Zhang Shizhao) was a Peking University librarian at that time. Li Dazhao is the director of the library. Zhang Xingyan is from Hunan, probably Zhang and Li Dazhao introduced him.” However, Mao Zedong said that he was introduced by Mr. Yang Changji.

Hu Shi despised Mao Zedong's poems.He Bingdi once translated Mao Zedong's two poems "Qinyuanchun" into English and published them. One was "Independent Cold Autumn, Xiangjiang River Going North..." written in 1925, and the other was "Northern Landscape, Thousands of miles of ice... ".After Hu Shi saw it, he said to He: "It's very uncomfortable to read it, because you still praised him as a poet; in fact, he was not worthy of my Chinese literature history class at Peking University!" Hu Shi once said to Tang Degang: "The one who writes the best vernacular in the Communist Party is Mao Zedong!"