Chapter 141 Confucianism

Zhang Taiyan accepted modern Western mechanical materialism and biological evolution theory in his early years, and expounded new ideas and new content in Western philosophy, sociology and natural science in his works. ", "Its wisdom and considerations are not qi"; and declared that "if heaven and God exist, then there is nothing wrong with it", denying the doctrine of destiny.His thoughts were influenced by the Consciousness-Wei School of Buddhism and modern Western subjective idealism. When Zhang Taiyan was in Taiwan, he often published articles criticizing Japan's Taiwan policy.At first, because his writing was moderate, the authorities didn't go into it.Later, Zhang wrote an article saying that "most of the bureaucrats in the Governor-General's Office of Taiwan are domineering and oppressing the people." After seeing this, the Governor-General of Taiwan severely reprimanded Moriya Zenhei, the director of the "Taiwan Daily News" newspaper.After Moriya Zenhei returned to the newspaper office, he immediately sent someone to call Zhang Taiyan.Zhang Taiyan ignored him, and just wrote a note: "Why don't you call Shouwu? He doesn't know that the former is an acolyte, and the king is a trend?" Seeing this, the Shouwu Shanbingwei was furious and went to Zhang Taiyan's apartment. Roar cursed and ordered him to leave the newspaper office.After Zhang waited for the housekeeper Shanbingwei to leave, he said calmly: "If the manners are bad, then go, why chase?" Then he packed up and left.

Zhang Taiyan met Li Shu, a journalist in Taiwan. One day, the two were chatting. Zhang asked Li at what age he started to study. Li said that he did not start his studies until he was about 20 years old.After hearing this, Zhang shook his head repeatedly, thinking that he was too late in reading, and said that he started reading when he was six or seven years old, and he had almost finished reading when he was 20 years old.Li Shu was quite skeptical about how much Zhang could remember, so he randomly cited a few scriptures he remembered to ask. A few pages make it clear. Zhang Taiyan once issued a couplet to Liang Qichao and others: "Three Gengsheng in the present and ancient times, Zhonglei, Beijiang, and Nanhai." The first "Three Gengsheng" mentioned here is Liu Xiang of the Han Dynasty, whose real name was Gengsheng, and he was an official Zhonglei Xiaowei; The second is Hong Liangji in the Qing Dynasty, who wrote "The Complete Works of Beijiang", known as Mr. Beijiang, who was called "Reincarnation";No one can be right with the few people present. More than 20 years later, Qian Xuantong mentioned this couplet again, Fu Dingsheng pondered for a long time, and began to have a second couplet with the pairing of "the only thing in the world, Brother Kong, Brother Mo, and Folang".

In 1904, Zhang Taiyan's "Xi Shu" was published. He liked to use ancient characters and meanings, and the ancient and Austrian diction made many people daunted.Even Lu Xun said that he "reads constantly" and "doesn't understand". In 1906, Zhang Taiyan published the "Advertisement of the National Studies Promotion Society" in "Minbao", saying that the content of his lectures on Chinese studies was: "First, the study of philosophers; second, the study of literature and history; third, the study of institutions; fourth, the study of internal canon; Confucianism; six, Chinese history."

The phonetic alphabet drafted by the Ministry of Education of the Beiyang Government in 1913 was taken from Zhang Taiyan. Liu Yizheng criticized Zhang Taiyan's view of "slandering Confucianism" in "Zhu Zi Xue Lue Shuo". Zhang Taiyan publicly accepted the criticism and expressed regret for this view, saying that "the previous words have been let go, and we will not pursue the tongue." When Zhang Taiyan was in Chengdu, a guest told him that he was poor and asked him to recommend it to the Sichuan authorities.Zhang Taiyan was furious when he heard this, and said, "You have already been so poor, what will happen when you are poor?" Zhao Xi, an old friend of Zhang who was present here, thought Zhang Taiyan was wrong, and asked, "Is there a difference between poverty and poverty?" Zhang replied: "It's very different. The so-called poor people divide their shells (the shells were used as money in ancient times) among others, but they don't have nothing; if they are poor, they abandon their homes and have nothing. They are alone and hide in the cave. Is poverty the same?" Afterwards, Zhao Xi said to others: "I have been studying for decades, and I only understand the meaning of the word poverty today!"

In 1930, Zhang Taiyan called this book in "Spring and Autumn Zuo's Doubts and Answers", "a book that has been concentrated for more than 30 years, and I have to say a lot of words, and I have nothing but these 40,000 words." In July 1935, Zhang Taiyan made a will and said: "Ordinary people always regard standing as the most important thing, and learning is second. Don't be arrogant because of wealth, and be humble because of poverty. He may go abroad to study, but anyone with capital can do it. Why? If you are proud of yourself, you will not be my son. You must be cautious when entering an official. If a foreign race enters the lord, you must be clean. All the other books, although not exquisite, are also sufficient for backup. Among them, there are more than ten Ming version books If two men can read it, read it, and if they can’t read it, don’t allow it to be destroyed. You should know that today, it is worth only a few thousand gold, and if the children and grandchildren want it to be a book, even if you spend ten thousand gold, it is not enough. ..."

Zhang Taiyan once wrote an article "Refuting China's Use of the New Language of the World" to criticize the pencils and pens used by Europeans, and cited "Wei Shu" and "Yang Xiong's Answer to Liu Xin Shu" to prove that pencils were known to be used in ancient China, and then brushes were used later.He said: "Through the development and transformation, the manufacture of fine hair became better and better, while the lead and iron became obsolete. In Europe, it has not changed. In terms of writing, it can also be seen that the use of Han and soil has evolved, while the use of Europe has not evolved." Said: "Nowadays, the sheep and rabbits in the Han Dynasty are easy to transfer. The thin paper is made of bamboo, and the thick one is made of mulberry. They are all light and better than Europe. When you are in Paris, you can say that the pencil is good. When red and black people get along, it doesn't mean that aloe vera leaves are better than bamboo paper!"

Zhang Taiyan hated vernacular prose, and also satirized vernacular poetry a lot. When he gave a lecture on Chinese culture at the Jiangsu Provincial Education Association, he said: "Anything called poetry must have rhyme, and rhyme can convey emotions; now vernacular poems do not use rhyme. Even if there is a sense of beauty, it should only be classified as prose, not poetry. Just like Japanese monks who marry wives and eat meat, I once said that they can be called lay Buddhists, why should they be called monks?" Zhang Taiyan once gave lectures in the lecture hall of Zhaoqing Temple in Hangzhou. At that time, the abbot set up a platform for him, and dozens of futons were lined up on the ground.After Zhang Taiyan arrived, he ordered people to remove the pulpit and sat on the futon, saying that this was the way of giving lectures in the Han Dynasty, and there was no pulpit at that time.The first day: Lecture on "The Origin and Development of Confucian Classics", criticizing Kang Youwei's "false classics", the listeners were elated.On the second day, I talked about "Chinese Studies of the Qing Dynasty", and the audience was even more.On the third day, most of the listeners did not understand the lecture on "Primary School <Phoneology of Chinese Characters>".But the number of students increased day by day, and on the third day there were more than a hundred.Three days after Zhang gave lectures, he contracted a cold and developed stomach problems, so he stopped giving lectures.

Tian Junliang returned from studying in Japan, visited Zhang Taiyan, and asked Zhang: "Please tell me, what should I do in life to live up to me?" What he does is beneficial to the people, so he will not let me down." Zhang Taiyan is jealous of evil, he always reprimands people when they do something wrong, without leaving any room for it.In his later years, he never saw anyone he didn't like, and even if he did, he didn't talk too much.He once said in a book: "Young people are full of energy, and they like to talk to different people. From today's perspective, if you drill too much, you can get five ears. If I leave it for a few years, I may not have a big mistake."