Chapter 53 Reorganization of the Crescent Society in Shanghai

On May 17, 1927, Hu Shi returned to Shanghai from Japan.He also received a long letter from Gu Jiegang.In the letter, Gu spoke to the teacher and tears, saying: With the qualifications I have followed for ten years, I sincerely advise Mr.: Do not go back to Beijing.In the current Beijing cabinet, you have many acquaintances. During the time of the National Revolution, they worked for Zhang Zuolin, and they knew they were counter-revolutionaries.Once Mr. Wen goes to Beijing, they may not refuse to win over him. The public is not tolerant, and Mr. Hu may be affected because of them. ... This is something I persuaded with tears, please listen to me, sir! ①There are circles under the words "Never go to Beijing", which shows that it is extremely important! Why? Front As I have already said, Hu Shi himself once advocated "good government doctrine", served as a member of the aftermath conference of Duan Qirui's government, and opposed the confiscation of the Qing Palace. These can be regarded as "counter-revolutionary" actions; Warlords and politicians.During the National Revolution, if Hu Shi went back to Beijing again, on the day when the Beiyang government collapsed, would he be able to escape the charge of "counter-revolutionary"? He waited and watched in Japan for more than 20 days, and this was what he thought about day and night. What was going on in his heart? Don't understand? Beijing, at this time, absolutely can't go back, so he decided to stay in Shanghai.

At that time, the Beiyang government was already in turmoil, and its financial resources had already been exhausted.Universities in Beijing can't even pay their salaries, and the life of teachers is very miserable; political oppression is getting worse day by day, and the "March 18" massacres and other massacres of petitioning students and people have occurred in succession.As a result, a large number of cultural people fled south to seek refuge, either longing to join the revolution, or seeking a new shelter.It turned out that a group of people from the New Moon Society and "Modern Review" also went south one after another. Xu Zhimo, Wen Yiduo, Liang Shiqiu, Rao Mengkan, Yu Shangyuan, Ding Xilin, Ye Gongchao, Pan Guangdan, Shao Xunmei and other new and old members all gathered in the Shanghai.Soon after Hu Shi returned to China, people from the Xinyue Society contacted and discussed, and everyone raised funds to set up a Xinyue Bookstore.They promoted Hu Shi as chairman and Zhang Yujiu as manager.Therefore, an advertisement was published in the "Shenbao" on June 30:

New Moon Bookstore Opening Announcement The store is located at No. 159, Merciertillo Road, near the French Park, Hualong Road, Shanghai. It is scheduled to officially open on July 1st. Refreshments are provided. All are welcome to visit. I hope that Xi Ben will come and give me advice. Sincerely, Xinyue Bookstore opened Xinyue Bookstore, because Xu Zhimo has many connections and familiar personnel, so he contributed the most.Hu Shi only has a share capital of 100 yuan, ② but in the name of the chairman, he is even more embarrassed not to fulfill the obligations of shareholders.He agreed to revise "History of Vernacular Literature" and publish it to Xinyue Bookstore.

This book was originally a lecture on the "History of Mandarin Literature" given by Hu Shi at the Third National Language Institute held by the Ministry of Education in the winter of 1921.The next year he went to Tianjin to give lectures. He stayed in a hotel and revised the manuscript of the "History of Chinese Literature".Later, the Beijing Cultural Society actually printed this handout, with the title of the book inscribed by Yi Gu Xuantong printed on the cover, and there was a "preface" written by Li Jinxi in front of the book, which seemed to be an official publication. ③ After Hu Shi learned about it, he felt that "this kind of view is immature and the materials are not complete, and the draft that was rushed out was published", and he felt "very embarrassed", so he decided to revise this book. ④ This modification is almost a rewrite;

Moreover, the scope of "vernacular literature" is enlarged, and it is actually writing a history of Chinese literature.Since the bookstore was just opened, the manuscripts were urgently rushed, and Hu Shi "printed as he wrote" was still in a hurry, and there were inevitably many omissions; Some of these insights may seem shallow and naive even today.However, this book can be said to be the first work to use modern scientific methods to study and sort out the history of ancient Chinese literature.It's a pity that the continuation has not been completed, and it is "half a book" again!

Not long after the opening of the New Moon Bookstore, the "Modern Review", which was originally published in Beijing, was also moved to Shanghai for editing and publishing; they also started to create a "New Moon" magazine.There have been some twists and turns in the creation of this publication.According to Liang Shiqiu in the article "Before and After the New Moon": At first, Mr. Hu, Zhimo and Shang Yuan were in charge of planning the magazine. After an agreement was reached, Shang Yuan went to Pan Guangdan's house on Scott Road, Zhabei, and announced that Mr. Hu would be the president and Zhimo would be the editor.Wen Yiduo and Rao Mengkan, who gathered at Guangdan’s house at that time, expressed their dissent. On the surface, it was because the president and editor-in-chief had not been elected by colleagues, and the procedures were inconsistent. In fact, Xinyue’s group of people were all strong individualists. , No one wants to follow others.What a tactful person Zhimo is, he immediately advocated changing to a collective system, and Brother Hu was not among them at all.

Probably because of this disturbance in the Pan family, Hu Shi, who is known for his self-cultivation, was also a little angry. He wrote a letter to Xu Zhimo, saying that he "determined to leave Xinyue Bookstore" and proposed five conditions to the board of directors: 1. Please allow me to resign as a director. 2. Please allow me to resign as a member of the Manuscript Review Committee. 3. The three stocks I recruited last time—Jiang Dongxiu, Zhang Weici, and Hu Sidu—please return them to me, and I will return them to their original owners. 4. My own share, please allow me to return it... 5. My "History of Vernacular Literature" has 350 pages, and it has not been finished yet, so it has not been printed. Please allow me to take back the hard copy. It will be published separately, and I will pay the cost of typesetting and paper printing. ... ⑤Hu Shi asked to resign from his position, take away his share capital, and withdraw his manuscript.

The ultimatum letter was not made public at the time.After all, Xu Zhimo is "really the loveliest cloud" among fellow members of the New Moon Club, ⑥ or "what a smooth guy".The storm finally passed, and the "New Moon" finally rose in March 1928.The inaugural issue published a masterpiece of Hu Shi's "New Materials for Textual Research on "Dream of Red Mansions". The Xinyue Club, which was reorganized in Shanghai, opened a bookstore, published a weekly magazine, and created a new monthly magazine "New Moon" and "Poetry Magazine" (quarterly magazine), publishing political, economic, and cultural articles mainly written by members of the New Moon School. Many works, such as literature and translation, can be called the heyday of the Crescent Society.

① Gu Jiegang sent a letter to Hu Shi on April 28, 1927, see "Selected Letters from Hu Shi", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, May 1, 1979, Volume 1, p. 428. ②Hu Shi said in "Preface to the History of Vernacular Literature" that he "only had a share capital of 100 yuan"; but in his letter to Xu Zhimo on January 28, 1928, he said that he also recruited Jiang Dongxiu, Zhang Weici, and Hu Sidu One share for each, and Hu Shi himself has another share.According to this, excluding Zhang's shares, the Hu family's share capital is not only one hundred yuan, but three hundred yuan.

③The History of Chinese Language and Literature published by Beijing Culture Society was published in April 1927.Li Jinxi made a "preface" on February 16, in which he explained the compilation and revision of the book, saying: His (press, referring to Hu Shi)'s first draft was compiled for the third Mandarin lecture of the Ministry of Education in the 10th year of the Republic of China. ... In April of the following year (1922), I gave a lecture at the Zhili Mandarin Institute in Tianjin. Mr. Hu also came, and he moved the order of the chapters of this lecture in the hotel.In December of that year, the Ministry of Education organized the 4th National Language Institute, and he changed it a few more places—this is the current printed version. (the beginning of the book)

This "History of Chinese Literature" is divided into three volumes, the first volume is the common people's literature of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, the second volume is the vernacularization of Tang Dynasty literature, and the third volume is the vernacular literature of the Song and Song Dynasties.Appendix "Chinese Literature in the Past Fifty Years". ④ See "History of Vernacular Literature? Preface", Shanghai Crescent Bookstore, June 1928 edition, front volume.Later, it was included in "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Essays", which was published by Shanghai Yadong Library in September 1930. ⑤ See "Hu Shi's Correspondence and Selected Letters", Volume 1, pp. 457-458. ⑥ This phrase comes from Hu Shi's article "Remembrance of Zhimo", which was published in the first issue of Volume 4 of "New Moon" magazine "Zhimo Memorial".