Chapter 82 Falling down in the "encirclement and suppression" party

In February 1961, Hu Shi had another heart attack and was hospitalized for two months.After gradually getting out of danger, he was reluctantly discharged from the hospital in April; because there was no hospital near Nangang, he had to temporarily borrow the National Taiwan University Guest House at No. 26 Fuzhou Street for two months of recuperation. In July, he suffered from acute enteritis again, causing watery diarrhea.It's really troublesome and sick, and it's getting old. ①In October, his wife Jiang Dongxiu came back from the United States, and the family was reunited. Hu Shi, who had been alone for three and a half years, had some comfort after all.However, in November, another "encirclement and suppression" like a storm was triggered because of a speech he delivered.

On November 6, the "Asia-East Science Education Conference" organized by the US Agency for International Development opened in Taipei.Hu Shi was not bothered by foreigners, so he was invited to the meeting and gave a 30-minute speech in English titled "Social changes necessary for the growth of science" ("Social changes necessary for the development of science"). The content of this speech is actually still his old tune decades ago, praising the modern civilization of the West, attacking the ancient civilization of China, and even harshly criticizing the inherent culture of our nation.He criticized:

There is not much spiritual content in these old civilizations in the East.How can a civilization tolerate a practice as inhumane as women's footbinding for more than a thousand years without a single protest? A civilization has tolerated "the caste system" for thousands of years How much spirit can we talk about? A civilization that regards life as suffering and not worth living, regards poverty and begging as virtues, and regards disease as a disaster, what spiritual value can it say? ... Now it is our It is high time that Orientals began to recognize the time when there was little or no spiritual value in those older civilizations. ②

Hu Shi denied the spiritual value of Eastern civilization, spirit, which was translated by someone at the time as having no "spirituality".Professor Xu Fuguan was the first to go out and accused this of being "a disgrace to the Chinese and Orientals", and scolded Hu Shi as "the most despicable Chinese who commits self-blasphemy". ③As a result, a debate on Chinese and Western cultures and a stormy siege of Hu Shi arose.Hu Shi also suffered a heart attack because of this, and was admitted to National Taiwan University Hospital for the last time on November 26. The debate was carried out successively in some newspapers and periodicals in Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as "Liberty Press", "Zhili Evening News", "Democratic Review", "Political Review", "China Magazine" and "Wenxing" magazines, etc., all published articles; He even raised a question in the Legislative Yuan of the Kuomintang government.

As the two camps of the debate, the main character on one side is Li Ao, a young scholar who claims to monopolize "the top three Chinese writing vernacular in the past fifty years and five hundred years."He first published a long article "Hu Shi the Sower" on "Wen Xing", ④ criticizing those who "swear" Hu Shi indiscriminately, just like those who "praise" Hu Shi, "can't scratch the itch".Li Ao highly praised Hu Shi, believing him to be the "seeder" of China's new culture and modernization, saying: This is Hu Shi's true spirit! Only by grasping and affirming this new spirit can we affirm Hu Shi's true value and contribution in modern Chinese history.We only need to affirm his contribution to the literary revolution, the New Culture Movement, democracy and constitutionalism, academic independence and long-term development of science, and we can "conclude"

He has contributed to the modernization of our country, and everything else is nothing else! At the end of the article, there are also some criticisms of Hu Shi, mainly accusing Hu Shi of being too conservative and not serious about "overall Westernization", and actually engaging in "reversing academics" like "organizing the national heritage", which cannot escape the "remnants of Qianjia" This trick has brought the style of literature and history to a pedantic state.Because of this "criticism and ridicule of Hu Shi's words", when Li Ao divided the six factions of "praising Hu" and "swearing Hu", he put himself beyond praise and scolding.In fact, he still basically belonged to the side he divided into "praising Hu", but "praising" Hu Shi himself was very unhappy. ⑥

On the other side of the debate, there are many characters.In addition to Xu Fuguan who was the first to appear in the battle, Hu Qiuyuan also published a long article "Beyond the Traditional School, the Westernization School, and the Russianization School Advance" in "Wen Xing". ⑦The article advertises "transcendence" and seems to criticize the traditional school, but in fact it focuses on criticizing the Westernization school and criticizing Hu Shi.Then Ye Qing (Ren Zhuoxuan) and Zheng Xuejia participated in the battle. In response to Li Ao's article, they wrote "Who is the sower of the new culture" and "Carefully verify the bold hypothesis of "the sower Hu Shi"". ⑧ On the one hand, they denied or belittled Hu Shi, saying that he "had never blown any wind on ideological movements in the 1910s" and was not a "sower"; while he insulted Chinese culture, he was "a cultural comprador to curry favor in front of foreigners." performance", so it is justified to criticize it.On the other hand, they highly praised Chen Duxiu and believed that Chen Duxiu was the seeder of the new culture.Naturally, they also grasped some one-sidedness of historical facts, which probably has something to do with their respective historical factors.

This storm of Chinese and Western cultural debates intensified after Hu Shi entered the hospital. Both sides wrote many articles, and the atmosphere was quite tense.Although Hu Shi has always been known as a good self-cultivation, after all, he also has seven emotions and six desires, and it is difficult to suppress the resentment and worries in his heart.He didn't even bother to take care of his illness. On December 17, he spent his 71st (exactly 70th) birthday in a hospital bed.On January 10 of the following year, he was discharged from the hospital, and he still lived at No. 26 Fuzhou Street, suffering from the stormy winter in his sick and old age.

According to Yang Shuren's recollection, one afternoon, Hu Shi asked him to go to No. 26 Fuzhou Street to discuss a business matter.After finishing the work, Hu Shi took down a magazine from the bookshelf, opened it for Yang to read, pointed to the article with a ballpoint pen and said: You see, what is this talking about, such frivolity and frivolity! Look at this again, it's just nonsense.This is still a compliment to me! While Hu Shi said, he used a pen to draw out his criticisms, which made him very unhappy.He opened another long story, talking more and more, drawing non-stop, his face pale, and his mood became more angry.At the end, he pointed to the article and said, "It's really obscene!" ⑨ After the Lunar New Year, he once again said angrily to the poplar man:

They want to encircle me, Hu Shi, what do you mean? I don’t understand, I, Hu Shih, live in Taipei, what’s wrong with them! ⑩How can Hu Shih, who is in his dying years and has not yet recovered from his heart disease, withstand such storms and such anger! On the morning of February 24, 1962, Hu Shi left Fuzhou Street to go to Nangang Academia Sinica to preside over the fifth academician meeting to be held in Cai Yuanpei Hall.Today, he is in a good mood.Because there are many academicians attending the meeting this time, Wu Dayou, Wu Jianxiong, Yuan Jialiu, etc. who are abroad have also arrived one after another.Ms. Wu was his student when he was the principal of a Chinese public school; Wu Dayou was a student of his student Rao Yutai when he was teaching at Nankai University, and academicians Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao were Wu Dayou's students.Although Hu Shi advocated "total Westernization", he himself was not free from the habits of Chinese scholar-bureaucrats.He has been teaching for decades, and has many peaches and plums all over the world. He also likes to make some connections with his teachers.Several well-known overseas scholars returned to Taiwan to participate in the academician meeting. One of the important reasons was to see Mr. Hu Shi and other friends; how could Hu Shi be unhappy?

In the morning, Hu Shi presided over the meeting of academicians, finished all the agenda, and elected seven new academicians.At noon, he entertained the academicians for lunch.At 5:00 p.m., a reception was held to welcome new and old academicians. Hu Shi was originally scheduled to not attend.But he is very interested, likes to be lively, and is willing to entertain guests himself.He arrived early, busy chatting with academicians and guests, joking with reporters, and everyone took the opportunity to take a photo with him.Some people joked with him because of this, saying that the dean has become a "star".Hu Shi also laughed happily.At the reception, he gave a relaxed and cheerful speech, saying: A few years ago, I told my friends that although I knew nothing about physics, there were two students who were physicists, one was Wu Jianxiong and the other was Rao Yutai.Although I didn't teach them physics, they made their own efforts to become famous.However, when several overseas academicians gathered at noon today, the two Dr. Wu talked about rankings. Wu Jianxiong said: "I am a senior, so I should be called Shishu." Students, in this way, my second and third generations are three physicists, and my fourth generation has won the Nobel Prize.Although I don't understand physics, I am very proud of it. When Hu Shi was speaking, people saw that he seemed a little tired; but he was so happy, with a smile on his lips all the time, that they forgot that he was an old man suffering from heart disease who had just been discharged from the hospital! Then, Hu Shi invited the academicians to speak.Some people are concerned about whether science can take root in China, some are pessimistic, some are optimistic.The pessimists mentioned by the way that Hu Shi's speech "Social Reform Necessary for Scientific Development" caused the encirclement and suppression, which made the cheerful reception suddenly shrouded in an invisible haze.Hu Shi was in favor of optimism; however, he was inevitably angry about the "encirclement and suppression", but he tried his best to restrain his emotions and said: What I said for 25 minutes last year caused the "encirclement and suppression", don't worry about it, it's a trivial matter, a trivial matter.I have been scolded for 40 years, and I have never been angry, and I welcome it, because it represents freedom of speech and freedom of thought in a free China. Hu Shi looked very excited when he said this.Already feeling unwell, he barely supported until the end of the reception. He was walking to the outside of the venue, and exchanged greetings with guests and reporters.When he walked to the middle of the venue, his face suddenly changed, and he fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, unconscious.Doctor first aid was also ineffective.At the end of this happy reception, Hu Shi died of a heart attack.There are two in seventy all the year round. ① Hu Shi sent a letter to Li Shuhua on September 3, 1961, describing his illness in detail this year, saying: I was carried into the car on the night of February 25 and carried into the emergency department of National Taiwan University Hospital.I stayed in the hospital for 56 days, and I borrowed a house in Taipei for two months after I was discharged (because there is no hospital near Nangang).At the beginning of July, due to enteritis, I had a lot of watery diarrhea. The water in the diarrhea dried up and affected my heart. My blood pressure was as low as 74, and I couldn't go up for half a day. ...In short, we are all old, and the parts are not perfect. It can be seen that he already feels that his physical health has become a problem.See Li Shuhua's "Mr. Hu Shizhi's Life and Contributions", published in Taipei's "Mainland Magazine", Volume 24, Issue 10. ② There is an English version of Hu Shi's speech, but I haven't seen it.At that time, the translations of various newspapers in Taiwan had not been reviewed by Hu, so it was inevitable that there were omissions and discrepancies.It was later translated into Chinese by Xu Gaoruan, proofread by Hu Shih, and published in Volume 9, Issue 2 of Taipei's "Wenxing" magazine, published in December 1961. ③ See Xu Fuguan's article "The Shame of the Chinese, the Shame of the Orientals", published in Hong Kong's "Democracy Review", Volume 12, Issue 24. ④ Li Ao's "Hu Shi the Sower", published in Taipei's "Wenxing" magazine, Volume 9, Issue 3, published in January 1962; Later, it was included in his book "Hu Shi Research", which was first published in March 1964 by Wenxing Bookstore in Taipei. ⑤ Li Ao said in the article "Returning the Old Accounts for "Hu Shi the Sower"": When it comes to those who praise and scold Hu, there are six factions: Among those who praise Hu, there are (1) the Wenwen faction, which is Maozishui; (2) Poetry school, that is true of labor; (3) Action school, that is the wife of a principal; there are also three schools among those who scold Hu, (4) scolding school, that is also Xu Fuguan; (5) planting school, "Hu Shi The author of "And the National Games" is also; (6) the school of overturning the verdict, the two gentlemen who are to be answered in this article are also. "(Press, referring to Ye Qing [Ren Zhuoxuan] and Zheng Xuejia) published in Taipei "Wenxing" Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 5, published in March 1962. ⑥ Li Ao himself said in "Hu Shi's Research Preface": "I know that my "Hu Shi the Sower" will be unpopular on three sides: those who scold Hu will say that I praise Hu, and those who praise Hu will say that I scold Hu, and Hu Shi I will also be unhappy with me, and there is nothing I can do about it." See the March 1964 edition of this book, Taipei Wenxing Bookstore; also published in the 13th issue of "Wenxing" magazine, Volume 13, Issue 5, published in March 1964. ⑦ Hu Qiuyuan's article was published in Taipei's "Wenxing" magazine, Volume 9, Issue 3, published in January 1962. ⑧ Ye Qing's "Who is the Sower of the New Culture", published in Taipei "Political Review", Volume 7, Issue 10, published on January 25, 1962.Zheng Xuejia's "Carefully Prove the Bold Hypothesis of "The Sower Hu Shi"", published in Taipei's "Wenxing" Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 4, published on February 1, 1962. ⑨ See Yang Shuren's "Recalling the Fall of a Great Star—Recording the Last Three Years of Mr. Hu Shizhi", published in Taipei's "Wenxing" magazine, Volume 13, Issue 4 (76 issues in total), published on February 1, 1964.Yang Wen did not specify which magazine or article Hu Shi was criticizing.However, in the article "Preface to "Hu Shi's Research"" published in the 77th issue of "Wen Xing", Li Ao admitted that Yang Wen "has a paragraph in it about Mr. Hu Shi's displeasure with "Hu Shi the Sower"" , admitted that what Hu Shi referred to as "frivolous and frivolous" was his article by Li Ao.It can be seen that Hu Shi also thought that Li Ao was "praising" Hu, but he was not right, so he also said that he was "frivolous" and "nonsense", and his terms were quite severe! According to this, we can know that Hu Shi refers to "dirty" novels, It is Hu Qiuyuan's article. ⑩ same note ⑨. See Mr. Wu Dayou's speech and postscript at the Welcome Academician Meeting of Academia Sinica on February 24, 1962, published in Taipei "New Times" Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 3; the title of the speech is "Mr. Hu Shizhi and the Development of Chinese Science" , added by the editor of the journal. There are several records of Hu Shi's speech at this reception, none of which can be corrected by Hu Shi.The quotation here is based on the record of the article "The Last Reception, the End of Glory—Record of the Last Reception of Academicians hosted by President Hu Shi" written by the reporter of "Taiwan Xinsheng Daily", published in the newspaper on February 25, 1962.This record may inevitably be wrong, and it is not as perfect as the later compilation, but it is closer to spoken language, with few traces of modification and processing, and it is the earliest record, which may be closer to the truth. In addition, this speech of Hu Shi recorded in Wu Xiangxiang's "Hu Shi "But Opening up the Ethos and Not Being a Teacher" (Volume 1 of "Biography of a Hundred People in the Republic of China") has obvious traces of modification, and it does not resemble the tone of the speech.It has been quoted in Note 10 to Chapter 9 of this book, and readers can refer to it.In addition, this speech by Hu Shi quoted in the book "The First Draft of Mr. Hu Shizhi's Chronicle" edited by Hu Songping, although it has been modified, is relatively complete. The quotation is as follows for reference: I can still tell a story today.I often tell people that I am a person who knows nothing about physics, but I have two students who are physicists: one is Rao Yutai, the director of the Physics Department of Peking University, and the other is who has collaborated with Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning to prove the "equality" Ms. Wu Jianxiong of the Unreliability of the Law.But Wu Dayou is Rao Yutai's student, and Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao are Wu Dayou's students.In terms of ranking, Rao Yutai and Wu Jianxiong are the second generation, Wu Dayou is the third generation, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao are the fourth generation.During the noon dinner, Wu Jianxiong also said to Wu Dayou: "I am a senior, you should call me Shishu!" This incident, I think it is the most proud of my life, and it is also the most proud. (Taipei Lianjing Publishing Company, 1984 edition, volume 10, pages 3898-3899) See Hu Songping's "Mr. Hu Shizhi's Chronicle Long Editing Draft", Volume 10, p. 3901.