Chapter 95 scholarship

Wang Guowei pointed out in the "Preface to the Series of Chinese Studies": "The meaning of learning has not been understood by the world for a long time! Today's scholars of speech have disputes between the old and the new, between China and the West, and between useful learning and useless learning. Yu Zheng told the world: Learning is neither new nor old, neither Chinese nor Western, neither useful nor useful. Anyone who makes this name is an ignorant student, that is, learning but not knowing learning.” Wang Naiyu, Wang Guowei's father, was a scholar who loved painting and could copy Qian Shumei's works. During the Taiping Rebellion, he abandoned Confucianism and went into business.He once wrote in his diary his training plan for Wang Guowei: read scriptures, test talents, become a Jinshi, practice the world and practice, and honor the ancestors.Wang Guowei was talented and intelligent, and he lived up to his father's expectations. He was selected as a scholar at the age of 16, and then went to Hangzhou Fuwen Academy to study and prepare for the exam.Wang Guowei himself chose to study when he was 16 years old. He bought the first four volumes of "Hanshu" with his pocket money in Hangzhou. He couldn't put it down. Heart.

Wang Guowei is proficient in English and Japanese, and can read original works of philosophy in German. He is a pioneer of Chinese scholars studying modern Western philosophy such as Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche; It is still regarded as a classic masterpiece; and his oracle bone studies, "new proofs of ancient history", the study of text phonology and exegesis, and the research results of ancient artifacts are an insurmountable academic space in the contemporary history circle-from the perspective of knowledge structure, Wang Guowei has truly achieved the combination of Chinese and Western, through the past and present.In his daily life, he is strict and self-restraining everywhere, does not make a living, does not seek to enjoy himself, and devotes himself to studying knowledge.Although he was well-known all over the world in his later years, he still had no distractions, willing to be a clean and poor man.

Regardless of the early Western studies and philosophy research, the middle literature and opera exploration, or the late history and geography, oracle bones, and Dunhuang studies, Wang Guowei tried to reveal the purpose and meaning of life by starting with academic issues, combining unconscious learning with conscious learning. Combining traditional academic research with scientific research methods. Methods such as "study without old and new", "dual evidence method", and "combination of Chinese and Western" have played a pivotal role in the construction of modern Chinese academic thought and the development of national culture. Chen Hongxiang said that Wang Guowei "takes academics as his life, And he sacrificed his life for academics."

Although Sun Yirang's "Example of Qi Wen" was written as early as 1904, it was kept in the study and was not published until 1913 when it was discovered by Wang Guowei in Shanghai.When Wang Guowei returned to China and lived in Shanghai, he began to conduct independent research on oracle bone inscriptions.At that time, Hartung, a British Jew and a big capitalist who collected a lot of oracle bone inscriptions in Shanghai, not only bought a lot of oracle bone inscriptions in order to please his wife, but also established Cangsheng Zhizhi University in his Hartung garden.In order to have the opportunity to study the oracle bone inscriptions collected by Mrs. Hartung, Wang Guowei became a professor at Cangsheng Mingzhi University.In 1917, in the name of Ji Buddha (named Juemi), Wang Guowei rubbed Luo Zhenyu's materials into the book "Yinxu Characters in the Jian Shoutang Collection", and at the same time made a textual research and interpretation of the inscriptions on each piece.

Through research and interpretation of oracle bone inscriptions, Wang Guowei obtained physical evidence of the kings of the Shang Dynasty passed down in "Historical Records·Yin Benji", which proved that Sima Qian was a serious historian.In addition to detailed textual research on this, Wang Guowei also corrected the errors recorded in "Historical Records of Yin Benji" one by one based on oracle bone inscriptions.After Wang Guowei's demonstration and revision, not only the "Historical Records of Yin Benji" on the lineage order of the ancestors and kings of the Shang Dynasty has been reliably proved, but also corrected and clarified some confused understandings since Sima Qian's more than two thousand years. The in-depth study of Nian Bone Inscriptions and the history of the Shang Dynasty has laid a solid foundation.

Wang Guowei sighed and said: Geniuses come out once in decades or hundreds of years, and they must be aided with knowledge and handsome with virtue to produce truly great literature. Yuanming, Zimei, Zizhan, etc. are so unique in the world that they never meet. Jiang Ruzao, a famous bibliophile in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is famous at home and abroad for his "Chuanshutang Collection". In 1919, Jiang Ruzao was introduced by Luo Zhenyu and invited Wang Guowei to compile "Chuanshutang Collection". In 1922, Jiang Ruzao asked Wang Guowei to print "Guantang Jilin".When Wang Guowei left Shanghai, more than half of the first draft of "Chuanshutang Bibliographies" had been completed, and he continued to edit and revise it in Beijing.Unfortunately, Jiang Ruzao stopped the project because of his bad business.It was not until 1974 that Jiang Zuyi's proof copy "Chuanshutang Bibliographies" was photocopied and published by Taiwan Arts and Culture Press.This book has not been published in mainland China.Wang Liang, Wang Guowei's great-grandson, took over the task after knowing about it. After three years of punctuation and collation, the collated edition was finally published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House.

Wang Guowei believes that the "jade" in the book is about desire, and he thinks it is a book of liberation. At the beginning of his "A Dream of Red Mansions Commentary", he spends one-third of the space talking about human desire, and finally regards the whole story as a story of Baoyu's birth and return. Jade (desire) process: "The so-called 'jade' is nothing more than a representative of the desire for life." But this is the discovery of desire. This shows that our depravity is based on our desires and the evil of free will. The dull ones are unfortunate enough to be stoned by this, and fortunately they are useless, so why not swim in the wilderness of the vast, There is no such thing as a land of existence, so that you will want to enter this world of suffering and toil in order to be comfortable with yourself? It cannot be said that this stone made a big mistake. From this mistake in one thought, nineteen years of history and one hundred and twenty years of history have been created. The facts of the ten chapters...the way of liberation lies in birth, not in suicide." According to this theory, "Baoyu" seems to be a homonym for "full desire", and "Daiyu" is a homonym for "waiting for desire".