Chapter 11 The Libertine Changes His Past

Hu Shi studied in China Public School for two years. Because of a big disturbance in the school, he withdrew from most of the students and transferred to the newly established China New Public School.More than a year later, the New Public School was disbanded.Hu Shi didn't want to go back to study with her husband.The financial situation of the family has deteriorated year after year. The store in Shanghai has been transferred to others to pay off the debts. The brothers have separated and the mother is supported by him.How could he go home? He had no choice but to stay in Shanghai, looking for a job to support his family.At this time when the future was uncertain and depressed, he met a group of "romantic friends" and fell with them.

Who are these "friends"? One is a German named He Demei (Ottomeir), who was originally a teacher at the New Public School in China.His father is German and his mother is Chinese.He can speak Shanghainese, Cantonese and Mandarin.He will discuss the eating, drinking and having fun in the upper class of China.Hu Shi moved out of the new public school and became neighbors with He Demei. The other few were students who had returned from studying in Japan, and they all had some relationship with the Revolutionary Party, and they were all Hu Shi's neighbors. At that time, the anti-Qing revolution suffered repeated setbacks and many people died. They were in a bad mood and often complained.He Demei often invites these people to play mahjong.Hu Shi followed suit.He wrote:

We don't gamble for money when playing cards, and whoever wins will be invited to Yashu Garden.All of us in this group can drink, and each of us puts a large jug in front of us, and drinks by ourselves.From playing cards to drinking, from drinking to bidding, from calling to eating flower wine, I learned it all in less than two months. Fortunately, neither of us has any money, so we can only play a little bit of fun: from gambling to eating restaurants, from visiting kilns to eating "rimmed" flower wine or playing a lot of cards.Sometimes, we also go to the theater together. ... During those few months, I really wandered around in the dark.Sometimes, playing cards all night; sometimes, getting drunk all day long. ①

Hu Shi followed He Demei and a group of drinking and meat friends to hang out, and learned the degenerate behavior of the old society-eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.This situation is also reflected in his diary.According to the rough statistics of the 59-day existing "Zanghuishi Diary"②, there are clear records: 15 times of playing cards, 17 times of drinking, 11 times of entering theaters, holding operas 11 times, visiting brothels and prostitutes 10 times, a total of 53 times.Almost every day is either playing cards, drinking, interacting with actors, or visiting brothels.Sometimes it is written in the diary that "playing cards for days on end", sometimes the game of cards "until dawn";Such a dissolute and decadent life naturally made his spirit extremely cold and decadent, and he often wrote some pessimistic and decadent poems.For example, "Sui Mo Miscellaneous Feelings" written by Jiyou New Year's Eve (February 9, 1910):

The guest is dying, and the severe cold sees through the painted curtain. The frost is thick and the sun is light, and the fur is bitter and sharp. The ambition dies with the years, and the homesickness increases with the years. Unbearable to look in the mirror frequently, he nods. ③ A young man who has just turned 18 has lost his aspirations, is more worried, and his beard is thinning. He dare not even look in the mirror: Lively draw the sour image of a decadent literati.Sometimes he also wrote some extremely boring poems, praised actors, and gave gifts to prostitutes. It's really a day and a night, whoring and gambling, falling into the abyss of debauchery.

Originally, Hu Shi also had some serious friends.For example, his teacher Wang Yunwu, who was still teaching at the Chinese Public School in Wusong at that time, visited Hu Shi many times and advised him to move away from the dirty place; he also found a serious job for him and introduced him to Huatong Public School. He taught Chinese and persuaded him to translate foreign novels in his spare time.On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month in Gengxu (1910), Hu Shi wrote in his diary: Yun Wu persuaded Yu to translate more novels in his spare time every day, and if he could translate a thousand characters a day, he would get fifty or sixty yuan a month and increase his knowledge.I strongly agree with this idea, and it should be implemented in the future. ⑤

Another example is Xu Yisun, a good friend from Jixi's hometown, who also came to persuade Hu Shi when he saw that he was wandering with others like this.But Xu Yisun was also studying at Fudan Public School in Wusong at that time, so he couldn't come here often.But the group of wine and meat friends around me meet every day.As the saying goes, "the one who is close to vermilion is red, and the one who is close to ink is black".Hu Shi became more and more addicted, and finally made trouble. On the night of February 12th ⑥, their group of drinking and meat friends drank a lot of wine in one "tangzi", and then went to another "chawei"; they fooled around until midnight and played cards.Hu Shi was already drunk, but the next day he was going to teach at Huatong Public School, so he hired a rickshaw and left alone.That night, it was pouring rain.As soon as Hu Shi got into the car, the cold wind blew and the alcohol surged, so he was as drunk as mud and fell asleep.When I woke up the next morning, I was sleeping on the floor of the patrol room in the concession.The clothes on his body were soaked and covered with a lot of mud, and the leather shoe on one foot was missing.

His face was also stained with mud, and it was a little painful.Hu Shi felt a little strange, not knowing where it was.Asking the person outside the door, the person laughed and said that he stayed in a "foreign hotel" last night! Later, he saw that there was an iron fence outside the door, and there were patrol guards, so he knew that it was the prison of the patrol room.Hu Shizheng was puzzled, so someone came and asked him to interrogate him.His own account of the situation is: At a writing table, a patrol chief sat, and a muddy patrol stood and answered.The patrol head asked:

"Is this the person?" "it's him." "Go on." The muddy patrol said: "Last night at about twelve o'clock, I was working on Haining Road, and it was raining heavily. Suddenly (he pointed at me) he came, holding a leather shoe in his hand, and knocked on the wall, and the sound of Dito Dito .I took a police light to shine on him, and he cursed at me." "What are you scolding?" "He called 'foreign slave'! I thought he was drunk, and I was afraid that he would cause trouble, so I wanted to bring him to the police station. He beat me with his leather shoes. I had a lamp in my hand, so I couldn't catch him, so I was beaten several times by him. .Later I hugged him and snatched his shoes, and he started fighting with me...the two rolled in the muddy water. My lamp was also broken, and he hit me on the face. His face The wound was scratched on the stone. I blew my whistle and called an empty carriage, and two horses helped me catch him and lock him in the carriage before he could be sent in....⑦Interrogation in the tribunal As a result, Hu Shi made a fuss by drinking too much, beat and injured the police officers, was imprisoned overnight, and was fined five yuan.

What a shame! This is the retribution of making friends carelessly and fooling around with a group of drinking and meat friends! After this embarrassing incident happened, Hu Shi was extremely remorseful.Looking at the scars on his face in the mirror, he couldn't help sighing.He has degenerated to such a degree that he has become a prodigal son! How can he be worthy of the loving mother who always misses his son at home? He remembered Li Bai's famous sentence "I am born to be useful", and made up my mind to change my past and break away from this class. Wine and meat friends, end his "dark age in personal history"! ⑧Hu Shi is determined to go to Beijing to apply for the "Official Fee for Compensation for Studying in the United States".This "indemnity" is Boxer indemnity.Boxer (1900)

That year, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China and entered Beijing, forcing the Qing government to conclude another "Xin Chou Treaty" that forfeited power and humiliated the country. For the item of "reparation" alone, based on the total population of China at that time, it was one tael of silver per person, totaling 450 million taels, with interest calculated at 4%, and the principal and interest were paid off in 39 years, totaling more than 980 million taels.Later, countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States announced that they would "return" the unpaid part of the indemnity, and use it to set up schools, libraries, hospitals in China, set up various academic bonuses, or send funds for overseas students.In the first year of Xuantong (1909), the U.S. began to refund the Geng’s money, and the first batch of official students studying in the U.S. were selected and dispatched that year.Hu Shi is planning to apply for the second batch this year.But Hu Shi had nothing to do at that time, he was so poor that he couldn’t even afford a mosquito net, and he owed some debts. How could he have the money to go to Beijing to take the exam? Even if he passed the exam, how could he have money to support his mother when he went abroad? It was really difficult! At this time, his good friend Xu Yisun came and urged Hu Shi to get rid of everything and apply for the exam, and promised to raise funds for him. ⑨ Another good friend of his, Cheng Leting, also came and gave Hu Shi 200 silver dollars as travel expenses to support him going north to take the exam. ⑩His clan uncle Hu Jiefu also agreed to raise funds for him and take care of the family life.It was under the persuasion and support of these friends that Hu Shi was able to read the book for two months with peace of mind, and then went north smoothly to take the exam for studying in the United States. There are two exams.Hu Shi had good luck in the first test of Chinese and English.The Chinese test question is "If you don't follow the rules, you can't make a square circle." He wrote an article talking about textual research, and he said at the beginning: The work of the moment is also untestable.As for the regular work, is it at the end of the Zhou Dynasty? This is actually Hu Shi's whimsical textual research. Unexpectedly, it happened that the teacher who read the paper was very fond of textual research. He especially appreciated Hu Shi's article and gave it 100 points.I got 60 points in the English test.Averaged 80 points in the first game.But in the second test of various sciences, I did not do well in the test.In the end, the total average was only 59 points, which was still a little bit short of passing.Fortunately, there were 70 places to go abroad in this exam, and not many did well in the exam. Hu Shi finally got lucky and got the 55th place in the exam. On the day the list was released, Hu Shi went to see the list, and there was another interesting story: In July of the second year of Xuantong (1910), I went to Beijing to study for the official fee for studying in the United States.On that day, someone came and announced the list.I took a rickshaw to see the list, and when I arrived at Shijia Hutong, it was already dark.I took the light on the car and looked from the bottom of the list. (Because I am confident that I did not do well in the exam) After reading a list, I am disappointed that my name is not there.After looking at the top, I realized that it was the "reserve" list.I took the lamp to read the "positive acquisition" list again, but I still read it backwards.See my name! Look carefully, it is "Hu Da", not "Hu Shi".I looked again, and it was very close, and it was my name.I took a deep breath, put down the light, and went back in the original car, but I thought to myself, "I don't know who that Huda is, and it almost made me happy!" This Hu Da was Hu Mingfu, who later sailed to the United States with Hu Shi, entered Cornell University together, and became Hu Shi's good friend. The time for overseas travel to the United States is stipulated by the government.Hu Shi didn't have time to go back to Jixi to say goodbye to his mother. On August 16, he boarded the ocean-going ship bound for the United States at the Huangpu River Wharf. Standing on the deck of this ocean-going ship, looking at the rushing water of the Huangpu River, Hu Shi couldn't help but feel emotional: Attachment, melancholy, longing, pursuit,... intertwined and mixed into an indescribable taste.With a wave of his hand, he bid farewell to his relatives, teachers and friends who saw him off, and also bid farewell to the big Shanghai where he had studied and lived for six years.The metropolis of this ten-mile foreign market is so fresh, yet so dirty;Have you planted joy, or trouble, in this young man's heart? Now, all that is gone.The giant ship under his feet will take him to the blue sea, the vast Pacific Ocean, and the new country on the other side of the ocean.What will be waiting for him there? He is hesitant and confused.However, one thing is certain: he will start a new life journey officially marked by "Hu Shi". ① "Forty Self-Reports", "How I Go to a Foreign Country", Shanghai Yadong Library Edition, p. 82. ② "Diary of Zanghui Room", included in "Hu Shi's Diary", Volume 1, Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, January 1985 edition.It was originally a custom-made rough-edged paper copy, and on the cover was "The Diary of Zanghui Room Jiyou, Volume 5, and Volume 1 of Gengxu" inscribed by Hu Shi himself on the cover.The diary kept starts from the 14th day of December 1910 (January 24, 1910) to the 13th day of February 1910 (March 23, 1910). There is an error in the initial version of the statistics below.At that time, I rushed to write the manuscript, acted in a hurry, and wrote on paper while counting, and then corrected it after careful statistics. (Supplementary notes to the third edition) ③See "Zanghui Room Diary" collected in "Hu Shi's Diary", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company Edition, Volume 1, p. 8. ④Refer to Book 1, Volume 1, pages 1, 8-10. ⑤See Book 1, Volume 1, p. 13. ⑥ "Zanghui Room Diary" Gengxu February 12th, it is recorded that "it was the night Tang Jun Guohua had a drink at Yingchunfang. He was very drunk and returned by car alone. He was unconscious on the way home." This day is 1910 in the Gregorian calendar. March 22.The next day, there was another record of being interrogated in the patrol room and the interrogation court, which seems to be incomplete. ⑦ Same note as ①, pp. 84-85. ⑧ "My Faith", originally in English, published in the January and February 1931 issues of the American "Forum".For the quotations here, see the Chinese translation attached to the second volume of "Selected Correspondence of Hu Shi", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, August 1980 edition, page 560. ⑨Xu Yisun, whose name is Dichang, was a native of the 15th Capital of Jixi County, Anhui Province.Hu Shi said in "The Biography of Xu Yisun": I did many unconscious things in Shanghai in the two years of Jiyou, Gengxu, and then I was so drunk that I almost died.Fortunately, Yisun tried my best to persuade me to take the exam in the United States, and helped me raise money for travel expenses.After I arrived in the United States, his first letter to me said: "This trip, in addition to learning, must cleanse the old stains, sharpen the corners, and devote ourselves to the merits of self-examination and self-cultivation. You must stick to it Su, the common people will be involved in the world in the future, so that they will not be swept away by customs, and they are allowed to be the son of a famous father." (Letter on November 17th, Gengxu.) Since then, in the nine years, there has been almost no letter that did not contain words of advice and encouragement to me. ... (See "Hu Shi Wencun", Shanghai Yadong Library, August 9, 1926, Volume 4, p. 205.) ⑩Cheng Leting, named Qianfeng, was born in Jixi County, Anhui Province, and was the son of Cheng Songtang, a rich man in Renli, the eleven capital. "Its ancestors became rich by serving Jia, and Jia was in Yiyi." (Hu Shi's "Cheng Leting Biography". Contained in "Zanghui Room Notes" Volume 1, diary on July 12, 1911, Shanghai Yadong Edition, pp. 56-58) Lao Ting died of illness on March 26, 1911.Hu Shi was studying in the United States at that time, and wrote the poem "The Overseas Crying Pavilion in May of 1911" (published in the third year of the "Annual Report of Students Studying in America", that is, the first year of the Republic of China, "New Continental Poems"), which said: Today, last year, we are suffering.The restaurants are vying for money, and there is no mantle in midsummer.It has been divided into long and fallen, lonely and always scolded Yan.You are sympathetic to each other alone, and you can help me with your luggage.If you want me to go to Jingguo, I will travel and sweat. Mr. Zhu Kezhen once kept the "Second Entrance to the Boxer Indemnity Study Abroad List of American Students (Xuantong Second Year)", which is mimeographed.Later, Hu Shi obtained a copy of the list from Zhu Kezhen, and Zhao Yuanren kept the photos of the list in Hu Shi's collection.There are 70 people on the same list, Zhao is the second, Zhu is the 28th, and Hu Shi is the 55th.At the beginning of the volume of Li Ao's "Hu Shi's Commentary on Biography", there are five photos of Zhao Zangbang. On the fourth to fifth sheets, there is a handwritten postscript written by Hu Shi on March 27, 1934. The opening paragraph says: In February of the 23rd year of the Republic of China, I saw this mimeographed list written by Mr. Zhu Kezhen in Nanjing at his home, and I asked him to copy a copy and send it to me.After it was sent, I asked Mr. Zhang Xilu to make a copy and keep it in my diary.The names and resumes of the first four groups of students sent by the Chinese government to study in the United States are kept in Xu Yuzhi's chronology.I hope that this list can also be preserved for a long time, as an educational historical material for future generations. "Recalling Mingfu", originally published in Issue 6, Volume 13 of "Science", published in June 1928; it was later included in "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Wencun", and the title was changed to "Reminiscing about Hu Mingfu".For the citation here, see Shanghai Yadong Library, June 1931, Edition 3, Volume 9, p. 1211.According to the photos collected by Zhao Yuanren in the "Second Entrance Examination of Gengzi Indemnity Study Abroad Students in the United States", Hu Da is the 57th, only one name away from Hu Shi.