Chapter 66 Confucius' reassessment

"Punch hole home shop", this slogan embodies the spirit of the May Fourth era, once spread like wildfire and influenced the Chinese intellectual circles for decades.In his early years, Hu Shiwei also galloped on the battlefield of new culture as an anti-Confucian fighter. But the anti-Confucian fighters back then, no matter whether it was Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, Wu Yu or Hu Shi, what they pursued was the liberation of the mind, so they had to oppose the Confucianism that had been modified and processed by the autocratic ruling classes of the past dynasties, and they had to overthrow the religion that fooled and imprisoned the people's thinking. Confucius idol.They are not against Confucius himself, and naturally they are not comments on the history of science made by Confucius himself.For example, Chen Duxiu pointed out that Confucianism "is no longer suitable for modern life" ①, exposing the inseparable relationship between Confucianism and the imperial system; There is one school of learning, a hundred schools of thought are dethroned, and my family is smart, because of it, it has been poisoned so far, and it has not been solved; and the Confucian ancestors recounted the ethics of the Confucian class guidelines, and blocked Shenzhou: these two are in the new trend of freedom and equality in modern times. Contrary to each other, if it is not published in the newspapers, people's wisdom will be weakened, and the national power will be weakened. I fear that there will be only Confucius and no China." ②Wu Yu also said, "It is not common to say that Confucius was the one at that time. If a great man wants to persist in his learning, so as to cover the world and future generations, hinder the development of culture, and promote the lingering flames of autocracy, he has no choice but to attack him.” ③It can be seen that they did not completely negate Confucius, and their evaluation was quite objective rational.

As far as Hu Shi is concerned, he respected Confucius and Mencius very much; he respected Zhu Xi, the founder of Song dynasty learning, and even added a layer of Huizhou hometown friendship.He even regretted a little later, thinking that he should not go to the hole punch shop in general, but should give Confucius a correct evaluation. Between March and May 1934, Hu Shi wrote an article, ④ a 50,000-character imperial essay, which was to re-evaluate Confucius' history. In this paper, there are quite a few "bold assumptions", such as the assertion that Shang and Zhou are each a "nation", which is unavoidable; but it also has obvious advantages, which are beyond the reach of others. This is the historical point of view and the method of comparison. .Hu Shi placed Confucius in the background of the vast cultural history of the gradual mixing and assimilation of Yin and Zhou cultures in the five or six hundred years after the fall of Yin.He believed that Confucianism was originally a descendant of Yin, a priest who made mourning and ceremonies his profession:

This kind of survivors, who wear ancient sayings, constitute a special class of their own; they have the sour appearance of long robes and hats, and they are all polite survivors of the subjugated country, accustomed to the non-resistance principle of "offenders but not school", So he got the nickname of "Confucianism".Confucianism is a cowardly person, which not only refers to the well-dressed appearance, but also refers to the judo outlook on life of the subjugated people who endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens. ⑤ Their religion is a kind of old Confucianism of the Yin and Shang Dynasties who were submissive and accommodated by the survivors of the subjugated country.

Although the Yin Shang was conquered, their culture was higher than that of the Western conquerors, the Zhou tribe, and the Zhou Dynasty basically inherited the institutional culture of the Yin Shang.Confucius has a very penetrating historical vision. He realized that the historical fact that "Zhou Jian was in the second generation" and the "Zhou Ritual" that represents modern culture are the total achievements of the gradual accumulation and evolution of thousands of years of ancient culture. Inherited the elements of Xia Yin ancient culture.Therefore, in the process of national cultural integration, he was able to boldly break through the boundaries of tribes, and lead a new movement to reform Confucianism with the broad spirit of "I follow Zhou": break the barriers of Yin and Zhou cultures, and open up the Yin and Zhou tribes. to expand the scope of Yin "Confucianism", "choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones", abandon the conservatism and tribalism of traditional "Confucianism", and in the six hundred years of Yin and Zhou people's common On the new basis of life, Confucius' new Confucianism centered on "benevolence" was re-established.Hu Shi summed up the great contribution of Confucius as follows:

He expanded the tribal Yin Confucianism to the new Confucianism who "takes benevolence as his own responsibility";This is really a great cause of "reviving the decline and rising the cowardly". ⑥ Hu Shi then placed Confucius on the historical background of the comparison between Chinese and Western cultures.In the development of human society, although each nation has a different history, they generally have experienced roughly the same several historical forms.And human activities, social organizations, thoughts and feelings are all similar and similar.It was under this premise that Hu Shi compared the subjugated Confucianism of the Yin people with the non-resistance Christianity of the Jewish nation, and believed that there seemed to be the same historical reason between the two; Compared with Jesus, it is considered to be the prophecy of the "saint who saved the world" dreamed of by the subjugated people.Hu Shi said:

The prophecy after the Jewish nation's subjugation also expected a national hero to come out and "be the king and commander of all peoples" …But in the end, a Jesus came out of David’s descendants. His wisdom and love won the support of the people. The people recognized him as the “Messiah” prophesied by the ancient prophets, and called him the “King of the Jews.” ... The story of Confucius is also very similar to this.After the subjugation of the Yin and Shang peoples, they also hoped that there would be an invincible "King of Wu" among the "Grandchildren of Wu Ding". saint.This great man soon won the reverence of many people, and they recognized him as the sage they were looking forward to;...he became the unscrupulous suzerain of the revived "Confucianism";...⑦Hu Shi's Chinese and Western Some people praise the cultural comparison method, while others think it is not without controversy.But in any case, it is still a kind of original idea of ​​Hu.His evaluation of Confucius is an image of a great innovator with a very imaginative pen and ink.

It is indeed an imperial article that respects Confucius.Later, Hu Shi used this to say that he "did not knock down the Confucian shop" during the May 4th Movement; ⑧ some Hu supporters in Taiwan also used this to deny Hu Shi's punching of the Kong's shop, or that his anti-Confucian remarks were compared with Nothing to worry about! In short, it is denying Hu Shi against Confucianism.As a result, they couldn't justify themselves, and Hu Shi himself was in the embarrassing situation of contradicting himself.The reason for this is that they confuse an objective historical evaluation of a historical figure, Confucius, with knocking down that "Confucian shop" as an idol.

In fact, Hu Shi himself did not have this contradiction back then.Before and after writing, while making a historical evaluation of Confucius, he still confessed the performance of his punching shop.For example, in the article "The New Culture Movement and the Kuomintang", Hu Shi said confidently: One of the major undertakings of the New Culture Movement was the emancipation of the mind.Back then we criticized Confucius and Mencius, impeached Cheng Zhu, opposed Confucianism, and denied God, all for the purpose of overthrowing the sect of God, liberating Chinese thought, and advocating a skeptical attitude and a spirit of criticism. ⑨

This clearly explains the meaning of the "Punch Kongjiadian" during the May 4th Movement. Not only is it not a mistake that needs to be covered up, but it is also a great achievement in opposing idols and emancipating the mind.Without the "punching shop" of the day, where would today's new culture come from? Later, in the article "On the Insufficiency of the Six Classics as a Source of Leader Talents", Hu Shi also said: "The lack of talents did not start from today, and the downfall of the Confucian family shop did not start from today.  … Kong’s shop, and looking back on it now, it is true that killing a tiger can neither be credited nor a crime!” ⑩He also did not deny the matter of “punching Kong’s shop”.

Soon after Hu Shi wrote the essay, the Kuomintang government explicitly stipulated that August 27, Confucius' birthday, would be the "National Memorial Day", and the whole country was ordered to hold a large-scale "Confucius Birthday Memorial".People in the government said, "This is advocating the cultivation of spiritual personality among the citizens", thinking that this can "raise the spirit of the people and restore the self-confidence of the nation."Hu Shi was very disgusted with this government measure. He specially wrote a big article "Written after the Commemoration of Confucius's Birthday", denouncing the leader of the Kuomintang in power as "a bodhisattva who can't play a show". "act.

"Written After the Birthday of Confucius" can be said to be an imperial discourse against respecting Confucius.Hu Shi first cites the history of three to five hundred years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to testify, "In those times, Confucius was sacrificed every year, "Book of Filial Piety" and "Great Learning" were read by everyone from village school children, and scholar-bureaucrats lectured on Confucianism. It’s very popular!” However, worshiping Confucius, after all, “how can it help the cruel society and corrupt politics at that time?” Then, he cited those who were more brilliant and progressive than those who worshiped Confucius in the past 20 to 30 years. Facts, such as "the abolition of eunuchs for 3,000 years, small feet for 1,000 years, stereotypes for 600 years, male prostitution for 400 or 500 years, and torture for 5,000 years" The reform of social customs, the new experiment of political organization and other five major achievements.These are all "great progress that have not been borrowed from Confucius."Hu Shi pointed out, "The little progress in the past 20 years is not a gift from Confucius, but the result of everyone's hard work in revolution, and the result of everyone's acceptance of a new world and new civilization." Instead, he sighed, thinking about the past, regretting that the present is not as good as the past, and dreaming of carrying out the sage Confucius from the Dacheng Hall "overgrown with thorns and sloping eaves" to "defend our clan and protect our race"! Isn't this the world's ancient and modern? The most ridiculously stupid? Two articles written in the same period, and "Written After the Birthday of Confucius", one respects the historical figure Confucius and gives an objective historical evaluation of Confucius' ideological career; Ji Kong's reversing behavior.Although the two articles are not beyond dispute, they are both written by the same Hu Shi, and they are not contradictory understandings; moreover, it may be more practical and beneficial to treat the Confucius of history and the Confucius of idols separately in this way! ①Chen Duxiu's "Reply to the Youth with the Sword" (March 1, 1917), see "Duxiu Wencun", Anhui People's Publishing House, December 1, 1987, p. 660. (Third Edition Note) ②Chen Duxiu's "Answer to Chang Naide Again" (February 1, 1917), see page 649 of the same book. (Third Edition Note) ③Wu Yu's "To Chen Duxiu", contained in "New Youth", Volume 2, No. 5, published on February 1, 1917. (Third Edition Note) ④ Originally published in 1934, "The Journal of the Institute of Historical and Linguistic Studies of the National Academia Sinica", No. 4, No. 3, later included in the first volume of "Recent Works on Hu Shi's Studies", published by Shanghai Commercial Press in December 1935; The quotation is based on the 3rd edition of April 1937. Regarding the article, Hu Shi said in a letter to Chen Zhifan: "I have never advocated contempt or arbitrarily obliterating the 'Kongjiadian'. Have you seen my article? It attaches great importance to the historical status of Confucius." (See "Selected Correspondence of Hu Shi", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, August 1980 edition, Volume 2, p. 352. ) (Supplementary note to the third edition) ⑤ Ibid., pages 18-19. ⑥ Ibid., page 66. ⑦See pages 38-52 of the above book. ⑧ See "Hu Shi's Oral Autobiography" (translated and annotated by Tang Degang), the section "Don't knock down the Kongjiadian" in Chapter 12, Taipei Biographical Literature Publishing House, 1984 edition, pp. 258-263. ⑨ "New Culture Movement and the Kuomintang", written on November 29, 1929.See "Human Rights Essays", Shanghai Xinyue Bookstore, August 4, 1931, page 124 for the quotation. ⑩ This article was written on September 7, 1932.For citations, see "Recent Works on Hu Shi's Studies", Volume 1, p. 522. According to the "Declaration" on August 30, 1934: "On the 27th, all walks of life in the city held a commemorative meeting for Confucianism's birthday in the Confucian Temple, and more than a thousand representatives from party and government agencies and all walks of life. In order to increase the volume of the musical instruments used, regardless of ancient and modern, all national musical instruments are included, a total of 40 kinds. The spectrum is still consistent and has not changed. Listening to its rhythm, it is solemn and extraordinary, which makes people feel relaxed. Respect, if you have loved the Taiping Yasong for more than three generations, it is also the expression of our national love for peace.  …” This article was written on September 3, 1934, only three and a half months after it was written.Contained in "Independent Review" No. 117, and later included in the first episode of "Recent Works on Hu Shi's Studies", pages 506-512.