Chapter 36 Part VIII: Trip to Europe and America

In May 1925, the British Parliament passed a bill on returning part of the Boxer indemnity.In order to deal with the returned compensation, a "Sino-British Geng Payment Advisory Committee" was organized, and Hu Shi was appointed as one of the three Chinese committee members. ① In March 1926, Hu Shi attended the Sino-British Geng Fund Advisory Committee in Shanghai.Immediately, he joined a delegation headed by the British Viscount Wellington, visited Hankou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Beijing, Tianjin and other places, and listened to the opinions of people from all walks of life. In May, the delegation unanimously advocated the establishment of a "Chinese-British Geng Payment Board" to fully manage part of the reparations returned by the UK. In July, Hu Shi left Beijing, via Harbin, and took the Trans-Siberian Railway to England to attend the plenary meeting of the Sino-British Fund Committee.This is the first time Hu Shi went abroad in nine years since he returned from studying abroad in 1917.

The train traveled day and night, passed through vast fields and forests, and finally entered Moscow.When he came to the capital of the Red Soviet Union for the first time, Hu Shi felt strange and novel.He wants to stay here, rest for a few days, and see this mysterious world that has shocked the whole world and is still being concerned and discussed by all countries. After a short rest, the next day, Hu Shi went to visit the Museum of Revolution.He carefully read the historical materials of the Russian revolutionary movement from 1890 to 1917 and was very moved.On the third day, he met two professors from the University of Chicago in the United States, and went with them to visit the prison in Moscow. The three of them were also very satisfied.I also discussed education in Soviet Russia with them, and after reading some statistical materials on education, I also had a good impression.Hu Shi felt that Soviet Russia "really tried hard to develop new education and tried hard to create a new era of socialism."He wrote to a friend in Moscow:

My feelings are different from Zhimo.The people here are exactly the politicians with ideals and idealism mentioned in my letter the day before yesterday; their ideals may not be fully approved of by us freedom-loving people, but their seriousness of purpose is something we cannot fully agree with. Not very admirable.They are here to conduct an unprecedented great new political experiment; they have ideals, plans, and absolute confidence, and these three alone are enough to make us ashamed. How can our drunken nation deserve to criticize Soviet Russia! ② In the last two days, Hu Shi read some statistical materials about Soviet Russia, and felt that his views were not bad.He thought that for such a big political experiment with ideals, plans, and methods, "at least the Soviet Union should be recognized as having the right to conduct such political experiments." This is the "minimum experimentalist attitude."It is a pity that Hu Shi could not live in Russia for a long time this time, and could not observe and investigate carefully.He planned to organize a Russian investigation group after returning to China in the future, and invite a group of political economists and educators to come to Soviet Russia for a longer-term investigation.

Although he only stayed in Moscow for three days, Hu Shi was deeply impressed by the red capital.When he arrived in London and Paris, he was still very excited. He wrote two letters to Xu Zhimo, still talking about the perception of Soviet Russia, and still praising "Lenin and his group are very knowledgeable and experienced people"; People in Moscow "really have a 'serious' and 'hardworking' atmosphere"; they are still praising the Soviet government's emphasis on education and science, and so on. ③ Hu Shi's letters were sent back to China, circulated among friends, and disclosed in newspapers, which aroused considerable repercussions.

At that time, the domestic Northern Expedition was developing rapidly, and the atmosphere of revolution was very strong. Mr. Sun Yat-sen advocated the three major policies of uniting Russia, uniting the Communist Party, and supporting farmers and workers.Hu Shi praised Soviet Russia at this time, and said that we are "unworthy of criticizing Soviet Russia", which naturally won the praise of many people.But most of Hu Shi's friends were astonished.Some questioned his "argument in favor of Soviet Russia"; some advised him not to express his position in a hurry, let alone "don't rush to propose a plan."Xu Zhimo had just married Lu Xiaoman at that time, and when he saw the letter from "Brother Hu" praising Soviet Russia, he didn't take it seriously;

Seeing that the photo he sent back looked a little thinner, he jokingly said that Hu Shi "looks like a Bao Xuewei (Bolshevik)!" ④ In fact, Hu Shi made a speech praising socialism more than a month before going abroad. Say: The new religious creed of the 18th century was liberty, equality and fraternity. The new religious creed after the mid-nineteenth century was socialism. ... Labor has always been despised; but the system of capital concentration has made it possible for labor to organize large-scale labor, and the propaganda of socialism and class consciousness have made labor aware of the need for unity. Then he became the most powerful element in society.In the past ten years, the leaders of the Labor Party have been able to take over the political power of the world's powerful countries, the general strike of the League has been able to subdue the most powerful government, and the working class of Russia has become the dictatorship class of the whole country.This great socialist movement is still going on.But his results have been impressive. ⑤

When people read these places, they often mistakenly think that Hu Shi was really in favor of socialism in Soviet Russia, and they feel strange: what is going on? Even his friends are puzzled.But Hu Shi himself made it very clear.He did not approve of the socialism of Soviet Russia, he was in favor of "liberal socialism".See what he said in the letter he wrote to Xu Zhimo at the time: Seriously speaking, I advocate the method of "that is more peaceful and less sacrificing".In my opinion, to put it simply, modern history points to two different methods: one is the method used in Soviet Russia today, where the dictatorship of the proletariat does not allow the existence of the propertied class.One is to avoid the method of "class struggle", adopt the tendency of "socializing" (Socializing) for three hundred years, and gradually expand the society that enjoys freedom and happiness.This method, I want to call him "New Liberalism" (New Liberalism) or "Liberal Socialism" (Liberal Socialism). ⑥

Hu Shi went on to criticize his friends in the Communist Party, saying that they thought that "liberalism is the political philosophy of capitalism", which cannot be established in history; and asked, "Why must liberalism be given to capitalism?" It has become an inevitable trend in the development of modern society and has formed a powerful world trend.Democracy and freedom are by no means the monopoly of capitalism, and the proletariat should be the natural supporters of democracy and freedom.Because of this, Marx and Engels clearly pointed out in the "Communist Manifesto" that in the communist society that replaced the old bourgeois society, "the free development of everyone is the condition for the free development of all people."Only the dogmatic autocratic and bad Communist Party will give freedom to capitalism.But what exactly does the "neo-liberalism" or "liberal socialism" that Hu Shi favored look like? Hu Shi said:

The United States has recently been quite inclined towards this.The dispute between labor and capital seems to have a relatively satisfactory solution; there are a few places, especially Detroit (Detroit), which can be envied by the British. ⑦ This makes it very clear that what Hu Shi approved of and envied was the American brand of "liberalism."When he returns to the United States, he still wants to inquire about it. ① In addition to Hu Shi, the other three Chinese members of the "Sino-British Geng Section Advisory Committee" are Ding Wenjiang (word Zaijun) , Wang Jingchun (word Zhaoxi).

② "Books sent in Ouyou Daozhong", see "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Wencun", Shanghai Yadong Library, June 1931, third edition, Volume 1, pp. 74-75.There were five letters in total, three of which were addressed to Zhang Weici and two to Xu Zhimo.The 1953 rearranged version of Taipei Far East Book Company was deleted. ③See "Books from Ou You Dao Zhong", Volume 1 of "Three Collections of Hu Shi Wen Cun", pages 77-90. ④Refer to the letters to Hu Shi by Qian Duansheng, Ren Shuyong, Xu Xinliu, Xu Zhimo, etc., contained in "Hu Shi's Correspondent Letters", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, May 1, 1979, volume 1, pp. 406-407, 411-412, 416-420 pages.

⑤ "Our Attitude towards Modern Western Civilization", originally written for the Japanese monthly "Reformation" "China Special Issue", the Chinese manuscript was published in "Modern Review" Volume 4, Issue 83, published on July 10, 1926; later included "Three Collected Works of Hu Shi".For quotations, see Volume 1, Yadong 3rd Edition, pages 16-18. ⑥Same note as ②, Volume 1, p. 85. ⑦ Same note as ②, Volume 1, pp. 85-86. In early August 1926, Hu Shi arrived in London to attend the Sino-British Fund Committee.The main purpose of his trip to Europe this time was to attend the Geng Fund Meeting; but after a few meetings, the members of the committee dispersed.Hu Shi had nothing to do, so he stayed in London for about ten days, then crossed the English Channel and came to Paris, the capital of France.On the one hand, he wanted to have fun in Paris, and he also wanted to take a stroll in Switzerland, the "World Park"; on the other hand, he wanted to fulfill another plan of his trip to Europe, to go to the Paris library to read Chinese Dunhuang papers.What kind of precious thing is the Dunhuang scroll? And why did you go to Paris, which is far across the ocean, to read it? It turns out that these Dunhuang scrolls can really be said to be a batch of national treasures of our country. In 1899, a Taoist priest in the Dunhuang Thousand Buddha Cave accidentally discovered a secret room behind the wall in the cave, which contained many ancient scriptures. Except for a few oldest printed copies, they were all manuscripts. There are about 20,000 volumes in total. .The oldest one was written about 1,500 years ago, and the latest one is nearly a thousand years old.The Taoist had little knowledge and didn't understand the preciousness of these scrolls at all, so he sold them as talismans to the surrounding villagers for treatment, and burned some of them.Later, M.A. Stein, an Englishman, came to Dunhuang and learned of these ancient manuscripts. He bribed the Taoist priest with a small amount of money and transported more than 6,000 manuscripts.Not long after, a French sinologist, P. Pelliot, also came, and at a cost of only a little money, he selected and shipped more than 2,000 volumes.In this way, this batch of precious cultural relics from our country was stolen to Britain and France, and became the collections of the British Museum in London and the National Library in Paris.What is now stored in the Beijing Library is only a part of their selection. Before Hu Shi went abroad, he tried to write the first draft of "The History of Zen Buddhism in China". He wrote about the monk Shenhui and found that Shenhui played a very important role in the history of Zen Buddhism; but later people who studied the history of Zen Buddhism often ignored him and buried him.Hu Shi was determined to fight the injustice for the Shenhui.Therefore, he vigorously searched for historical materials in China, but the results were far from satisfactory. The only Shenhui works he could see were only 659 characters! Hu Shi made up his mind to take advantage of this European trip to Paris and London to read the Dunhuang scrolls. Some historical materials about the monk Shenhui can be found in the scriptures copied in the Tang Dynasty. On August 26, Hu Shi walked into the National Library of Paris and began to read the Dunhuang scrolls.At that time, Pelliot became famous because he won a large number of precious cultural relics in Dunhuang, my country, and wrote books such as "Dunhuang Thousand Buddha Caves".Hu Shi also visited him and got his help. "He introduced to me that I have to enter the 'Book Writing Room' to read various Dunhuang manuscripts." ① Sure enough, reading Dunhuang manuscripts in Paris was very rewarding.Hu Shi recorded himself: When I arrived in Paris, within a few days, I found an unnamed volume of Quotations, which was determined to be a fragment of the Quotations of Shenhui according to the content.Later, I got circumstantial evidence from other Dunhuang scrolls (such as "Dharma Treasures of the Past Dynasties"), and I can confirm that this is the quotation of Shenhui. (Paper No. Pelliot3488) A few days later, another long volume of quotations was found, one of which was called "Monk Heze", three times he called himself "Hui", and six times he called himself "Shenhui". It is undoubtedly the quotations of Shenhui.This volume is very long, and it is indeed a Tang Dynasty manuscript, which is the most precious. (No. P. 3047) Since then, two volumes of the ancient version of "Shenhui Quotations" have been restored. This is the most proud thing of my trip! ② Not only have I learned a lot from reading, but I also have admirers overseas.Ms. Yuan Changying, who specialized in French literature in Paris, wrote a letter to Hu Shi, saying: There are only two heroes in my mind these days (you know that women always have heroes in their minds), one article and one weapon.It goes without saying that the literary hero is Hu Shi, and the military hero is also Chiang Kai-shek.These two heroes are the pillars of our nation's destiny! I don't have much time to meditate, but once I get one, I silently wish these two people good luck and success. ③ After reading such a letter, Hu Shi was naturally happy.However, when you are proud, you also encounter very unhappy things.One night, Hu Shi made an appointment with Fu Sinian, who was also in France at the time, to have dinner at Wanhualou.Hu Shi was a little late due to some business, so he ran into the owner of Wanhualou at the door, and he said in a low voice, "Someone upstairs scolded you with leaflets, so I stood waiting for you at the door, don't you go in?" He laughed and said, "It doesn't matter, I want to eat, and I also want to read the leaflets." He went upstairs, and Fu Sinian, Liang Zongdai and others were waiting for him, but there were no outsiders and no leaflets.We don't talk about leaflets.After eating, they walked to a coffee stand at the corner across the street, sat down and chatted, and Hu Shicai asked about the leaflets.It turned out that they were all put away for fear that Hu Shi would get angry.Hu Shi said: "I will never be angry", so he gave him a few.At first glance, it turned out that it was issued by the Paris branch of the Chinese Kuomintang in Europe, "Warning to Overseas Chinese in Europe, Please Pay Attention to the Actions of Dr. Hu Shi, Sun Chuanfang's Running Dog, in Europe". ", and he is also a member of the Sino-British Geng section, so he made such an inference.Hu Shi was busy reading Dunhuang papers from time to time, writing thousands of words of reading notes every day, and had no time to take care of such frivolous things. He only kept a leaflet in his diary, and then buried himself in reading again. In September of this year, Hu Shi went to London again, looked through the Dunhuang scriptures collected by the British Museum, and discovered Shenhui's "Xianzong Ji". December 17th is Hu Shiman's 35th birthday, and he also spent this day studying in the museum. On the same day, he read "Forbearance and Shangdao Ordinary Saint's Epiphany and Liberation School Mind Cultivation Essentials", copied the volume "Mahayana Northern School", and read seven kinds of papers.The electric lights in the museum are not clear, and copying school books is very laborious.That night, when Hu Shi recalled his birthday, he felt very emotional: Since leaving Beijing at the end of September last year, it has been too long since I broke up with my "book city", and I really miss him.For more than a year, I have been traveling here and there, but I have never written a well-behaved work. ... There is finally something wrong with the British Geng money matter.Besides, I just went out for a run, got a little fresh air, and got a little new stimulation, which was good for me, but I was so busy and tired that I never had a rest physically.Studying in Paris and London can be regarded as a big achievement this year.Today is my birthday, I spend all day in B． M．Reading the Dunhuang papers in Lijiao is finally the most satisfying celebration ceremony. ⑤ Altogether, in Paris and London, only three quotations from Shenhui were obtained. One volume of "Xianzong Ji" has about 20,000 words, which is 30 times that obtained in China! In addition, I also saw two volumes of "Langa Teacher Ji". Manuscripts, ⑥ and some other important Zen historical materials.The harvest is indeed rich. Hu Shi was really overjoyed that he could gain so much from reading Chinese Dunhuang papers overseas.As for why these Chinese things should be read in England and France, he didn't seem to think about it, and he didn't seem to want to think about it.Fast forward to the end of the year.Hu Shi left England for America.On the seagoing ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, he hurriedly wrote "Miscellaneous Notes on Overseas Reading", reporting to readers the several materials and gains he got.After returning to China, he compiled and finalized the posthumous writings of Shenhui brought back from Paris and London, and wrote a very detailed "Biography of Master Heze Shenhui", which was compiled into "Shenhui Monk's Posthumous Collection" by Shanghai Asia East Library is published. ⑦In the preface, it says: Shenhui is the seventh patriarch of the Southern Sect, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Sect's Northern Expedition, the founder of the new Zen, and the author of the "Tan Jing".In the history of Chinese Buddhism, there is no second person whose contribution and influence are as great as his.Such a great figure has been buried for a thousand years, and almost no one in later generations knows his name.Fortunately, his quotations were buried in the Dunhuang Grottoes. After 900 years of obscurity, there are still 20,000 words preserved. Today, after returning from overseas, they have been rediscovered. Knowing in detail his great achievements in fighting for the legal system of Zen, we have to overthrow the false history of Zen made by Daoyuan Qisong and others, and rewrite the early history of Nanzong: Isn’t this the most important thing for us to rule the history of Chinese Buddhism? Should I feel relieved? ⑧① See the manuscript of "Hu Shi's Diary", Taipei Yuanliu Publishing Co., Ltd., December 1990, Volume 6, August 26, 1926 (Supplementary note to the third edition); Hu Shi in " The Preface to the Collection of Monk Shenhui also said: "I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to many friends. I am most grateful to: Dr. Lionel Giles from the British Museum in London, and Professor Paul Pelliot from Paris. Without their enthusiastic assistance, I won't get these materials." See "Recent Works on Hu Shi's Studies", Volume 1, Shanghai Commercial Press, April 3, 1937, Volume 2, pp. 292-293. ② "Overseas Reading Miscellaneous Notes".This article was originally written for the magazine of the British Student Union, and was later compiled into "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Essays".For the citation, see the third edition of the book, Shanghai Yadong Library, June 1931, Volume 4, p. 539. ③ Yuan Changying wrote a letter to Hu Shi on December 18, 1926, see "Selected Letters from Hu Shi", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, May 1, 1979, Volume 1, p. 412. (Third Edition Note) ④ See the manuscript of "Hu Shi's Diary", Volume 5, the leaflets attached after September 18, 1926, and the supplementary notes on December 30, 1940. (Third Edition Note) ⑤ Ibid., Volume 6, December 17, 1926. (Third Edition Note) ⑥The two manuscripts of "Langa Teachers' Records" were photocopied by Hu Shishi from time to time, and brought back to China. He wanted to sort them out and print them, but they were never printed. In 1931, North Korea's Jin Jiujing was borrowed, proofread and printed as a final version, and Hu Shi wrote "The Preface to the Records of the Teachers of Langa".This preface is included in Volume 1, Volume 2 of "Recent Works on Hu Shi's Studies". ⑦ "The Collection of Monk Shenhui", published by Shanghai Yadong Library in December 1930, also known as "The Collection of Master Heze Shenhui".Among them, there are four volumes of posthumous collections and four postscripts, and a volume of "Master Heze's Shenhuiyu" collected in Volume 28 of "Jingde Biography of Lantern Records" is appended; "The Biography of Heze Master's Shenhui" written by Hu Shi is printed at the beginning of the volume. ⑧ "Preface to the Collection of Monk Shenhui", see "Recent Works on Hu Shi's Studies", Volume 1, Volume 2, p. 292. Hu Shi's textual research and evaluation of the monk Shenhui, as well as other works on the history of Zen, naturally inevitably contain errors and arbitrariness; people also have different opinions on Hu Shi's theory of Zen, and their evaluations are very different.Generally speaking, those who focus on the study of "Zen", such as the Japanese Suzuki Dazhuo, said that "Hu Shi didn't understand Zen at all"; while those who focused on the "history" of Zen mostly affirmed Hu Shi's textual research.For example, in Mr. Fan Wenlan's "Compendium of General History of China", he described the dispute between the north and the south of Zen in the Tang Dynasty, which is quite consistent with Hu Shi's views.Readers can refer to. ("Compendium of General History of China", revised edition, Volume 2 of Part 3, Section 2 of Chapter 7, People's Publishing House, November 1, 1965, pp. 601-640) At the beginning of his trip to Europe, Hu Shi planned to go west, to the United States! When he was still in Moscow, he heard that General Feng Yuxiang was also living in Moscow at that time. He admired Soviet Russia very much and often painted portraits of Lenin.Hu Shi then told Feng's secretary that he hoped that General Feng would go west from Russia, and even if he couldn't see the United States, he should at least see Germany. ①When he arrived in Paris, he wrote to domestic friends to praise Soviet Russia, and also revealed his yearning for the liberal ideology of the United States.When discussing politics with Fu Sinian, he said more clearly: Germany can be learned, and the United States can be learned. Their foundation depends on knowledge and learning.Although this road is circuitous and slow, it is really the only road. ② Of course, Hu Shi wanted to go to the United States to see his "second hometown" he had been away from for ten years. ③ On New Year's Eve in 1926, Hu Shi boarded the ship "American Banker", crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived in New York at 7 am on January 11, 1927.This is the metropolis where Hu Shi studied and lived.Familiar streets, squares and schools seem so familiar, but they are a little strange! After parting for ten years, New York has changed, and what impressed Hu Shi most is the motorcycle! That is, the car.On the streets of New York, and even in the countryside, cars are constantly running like running water. He saw such a statistic in The Nation in New York on January 16: There are 27.5 million motorcycles in the world. There are 22,330,000 motorcycles in the United States. The number of motorcycles in the United States accounts for 81% of the world. On average, there is one car for every five people in the U.S. population. Last year (1926), 4.5 million motorcycles were manufactured in the United States, and 500,000 were exported. ④ Readers please note that this is the statistic 60 years ago, no wonder Hu is sometimes surprised and praises that the United States is "really a country of motorcycles"! After arriving in the United States, Hu Shi was busy receiving guests all day long, and was also busy giving speeches everywhere.Once, when Hu Shi was giving a lecture in Philadelphia, a friend invited him to live in the countryside for a day.He and the friend drove to a place and saw one or two hundred motorcycles parked in the field.Hu Shi was very surprised, thinking, why are there so many cars in the village? He asked, "Is there a car race here?" The friend laughed, pointed to the construction site over there, and said, "Aren't houses being built over there? These are the cars that carpenters and plasterers use to work." In the United States, what Hu Shi saw was that carpenters and plasterers went to work in cars, university teachers drove their own cars to class, children in the countryside were picked up by buses to school, and eggs and milk produced by farmers were also sent to the city by car every day. .In some families, the whole family takes their own car to travel to distant places on Sundays.Hu Shi said, this is the civilization of the United States, the "motorcycle civilization"! And what about our China? At that time, it was still in the stage of "sedan chair civilization and rickshaw civilization".How can Hu Shi not admire and envy the American motorcycle civilization! This time he lived in the United States for three months, and Hu Shi witnessed and heard the rapid progress of all aspects of American society.The "monthly payment" method popularized by automobile companies enables ordinary people to buy cars; the implementation of income tax has become a large part of national tax revenue; employees and workers buy stocks and become shareholders of enterprises and companies.All these, Hu Shi talked with great relish, full of praise. He was invited to participate in a "Fortnightly Forum" in New York, where the topic of discussion was "What should our era be called?" A labor representative at the meeting praised his era as "the best in the history of mankind". era".His speech made Hu Shi applaud from amazement, and finally admired him.All these facts in the United States left a deep impression on Hu Shi.He concluded that there would be no social revolution in America, saying: I can say arbitrarily: there will be no social revolution in the United States, because the United States is in the process of social revolution every day.This kind of revolution is gradual, and progress is made every day, so every day is a revolution. ⑤ The American "gradual" social revolution theory that Hu Shi referred to is the "neoliberalism" or "liberal socialism" that he favors and admires.He believes that this is the "third way" between pure Marxist socialism and pure capitalism, and it is a challenge to Marxism.He said: In the past, Marxist economists said that the more concentrated the capital, the more concentrated the property ownership will be, and the capital must be in the hands of a very small number of people.But the change in the United States in recent years is that capital is concentrated and ownership is dispersed among the people.A company can have a capital of 10 million yuan, and the shares can be bought by employees and workers, so a capital of 10 million yuan can have 10,000 shareholders. …Workers earn a lot of money and have a lot of savings. They often buy stocks and gradually become small capitalists. ...Everyone can be a propertied class, so the instigation of class wars will not be effective. ⑥ Hu Shi's meaning is very clear. He believes that the Marxist economic theory and class struggle theory are not effective in the United States, and are not suitable for the modern American society of advanced capitalism.This is indeed a very real and very acute challenge.Hu Shi didn’t know much about economic theories, but he asked Marxist economists a question based on reality, but he needed an answer, which was scientific! The United States is so advanced, but why is China so backward? This is a question that no Chinese descendant who travels overseas will not think of. On the evening of January 25, when Hu Shi was discussing historical issues with his friends, he asked, "Why is China's progress in the past two hundred years far less than that of the West?" Hu Shi wrote his answer in his diary: I propose several answers: (1) Under China's unified empire, there is no need for competition or "political colonial policy", so every kind of progress stops when it can be barely applied.The great powers in Europe competed fiercely, and they deliberately increased international trade, developed industries, and promoted colonial policies, all of which were factors that China lacked. (2) The harm of opium.China took two kinds of narcotics from India: first took a spiritual opium—Buddhism; then took a material narcotic—opium.For more than three hundred years, opium turned China into a country of sick men. (3) At the beginning of the 19th century, Jiadao's style of study was still there, and Ruan Yuanlin Zexu had not yet shown any major weaknesses. The Hongyang Rebellion in the middle of the 19th century destroyed the richest and most cultured provinces in the country.This is also a big reason. ⑦ Hu Shi's answer is naturally not historical materialism, but it is his almost consistent view for decades. Isn't there some truth in him? ① See the fourth chapter of "Wandering Thoughts" "Go West!" "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Essays", Shanghai Yadong Library, June 1931, 3rd Edition, Volume 1, p. 61. ② "Hu Shi's Diary" manuscript, Taipei Yuanliu Publishing Co., Ltd., December 1990 edition, volume 5, September 18, 1926. (Third Edition Note) ③ In his study abroad diary, Hu Shi once wrote: Yu went to Qisejia on June 16, and went here for eight months.Returning this time is like a wanderer returning to his hometown, and I feel a lot of emotion.It is said that returning to Qi Sejia this time is a "little return", and returning to China next year can be called a "big return".Small returnees return to their second hometown.Those who return home will return to their first hometown. ("Notes of the Canghui Room", Shanghai Yadong Library, 1936 edition, Volume 13 "February 1 is like a wanderer returning to his hometown", postscript on July 5, 1916.) ④ See the quote from the second chapter of "Motorcycle Civilization" in "Thoughts on Roaming", "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Essays", Volume 1, p. 54. ⑤ The third chapter of "Roaming Thoughts", "A Labor Representative", Ibid., Volume 1, p. 58. ⑥ Ibid., Volume 1, pp. 58-59. ⑦ Note ② Volume Six, January 25, 1927. (Third Edition Note) In the spring of 1927, the Northern Expedition jointly launched by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party successfully developed. In late March, Shanghai and Nanjing recovered one after another. The Beiyang warlord government is about to collapse.At this moment, Wu Zhihui proposed a motion to impeach the Communist Party in his capacity as a supervisory member of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang; Chiang Kai-shek abandoned Mr. Sun Yat-sen's behest and launched the "April 12" coup to "purge the party" against the Communist Party and establish the Nanjing National Government in a pool of blood.Hu Shi was boarding a ship from Seattle at this time, leaving the United States and returning to China.When boarding the ship, he heard the news that Shanghai and Guangzhou had begun to "clean up the party". On April 24, the ship arrived in Yokohama.When Hu Shi set foot on Japanese territory, he sent a telegram to his good friend Gao Mengdan in Shanghai to inquire about the domestic situation.Mr. Gao immediately called back and said: The current situation is extremely chaotic, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are in a tripartite relationship with the North, and the army is destroying the party and prisons. It is almost a world of terror, and speech is especially not free.My brother is good at expressing opinions, and in this situation, it is very easy to avoid it. If there is an opportunity to give lectures or study materials on the history of philosophy in Japan, it is actually the best thing to stay for a few months. I think twice. ① Another friend of Hu Shi's, Ding Wenjiang, who worked under Sun Chuanfang for several months as the general office of the Songhu Commercial Port, also sent a letter to Hu Shi, describing the situation after the Northern Expedition. He was "not very optimistic" about the future; he resigned soon , went back to the north.Hu Shi's student Gu Jiegang wrote a letter, advising him not to engage in political activities after returning to China; "If you want to do it, you'd better join the Kuomintang."Gu Xin had an analysis which was quite pertinent. He said: After returning to China (according to, referring to Hu Shi’s return to the United States in 1917), his reputation was too high, so a group of outdated new figures and new bureaucrats with old ideas tried to win him over, which was a burden to his reputation.Now in the Kuomintang, when it comes to Mr., they all regret it, and they often criticize Mr. Ding Zaijun (according to, Ding Wenjiang) as Sun Chuanfang's subordinate for the failure of good governmentism.The people can't tolerate it: Mr. first sang the literary revolution and advocated the ideological revolution, they may not remember it; but he was a member of the aftermath conference of the Duan government and opposed the confiscation of the Qing palace, but they often said it verbally.If the Northern Expedition was victorious, and Mr. Wang continued to express his political opinions after returning to China, there must be someone who would accuse Mr. Zhang of being a "counter-revolutionary".However, during this trip to Russia, my husband advocated that we have no right to oppose Russification. This sentence is often praised by the population.The people are against different parties. If you can join the Kuomintang, they will definitely welcome you warmly. ② These reasons, summed up in one sentence, are that the Kuomintang may also charge Hu Shi with a "counter-revolutionary" charge! This is actually the reason why some people such as Gao Mengdan persuaded Hu Shi not to return to the country for the time being.Hu Shi also naturally understood in his heart, how dare he return home rashly? So he temporarily stayed in Japan to observe the changes in the current situation and consider how to deal with the changed situation. When he was in Europe, he also paid close attention to the domestic situation, talked with people about the leaders in the South, and had a good impression of Chiang Kai-shek and others, and he placed his hopes on them.He said: I have a little idea of ​​the leaders in Guangzhou.Only Jieshi and Borodin I haven't seen. ... There is no doubt that Jieshi can make military achievements.But does he have the foresight to do big political careers? I am very concerned about this matter. I deeply hope that he can have political skills and insights. ③ During this time, Hu Shi carefully read the newspapers of those months in Japan to understand the domestic situation. According to his own recollection, he understood that a group of literati such as Wu Zhihui came out to advocate "cleaning the party and anti-communism" and important "historical meaning”; and Hu Shi’s sympathy was already on Chiang Kai-shek’s side.He once recounted a story in Tokyo, saying that he met Mr. Manly O. Hudson, a Harvard University professor who had just come from Shanghai, in the Imperial Hotel.During the conversation, Hezhen said that he had talked with Song Ziwen in Shanghai and thought that "the recent coup in China is a big reaction!" Hu Shi disagreed with them and defended Chiang Kai-shek, saying: I have been in Europe and America for ten months, so I don't know the detailed situation in China.But I think the recent coup d'etat seems not as simple as what Mr. Song Ziwen said? General Chiang Kai-shek's move to purge the party and oppose the Communist Party can win the support of a group of elders. You foreign friends may not know who Wu Jingheng (by name, Wu Zhihui) and Cai Yuanpei are, but I know these people and admire their insight and personality.This new government can gain the support of this group of veterans, and it is tenable. ④ These words were written 26 years later when Hu Shi fled to the United States.Although his support for Chiang Kai-shek and anti-communist attitude was not necessarily as clear as it was later, his basic tendency was undoubtedly consistent. After wandering around in Japan for more than 20 days, Hu Shi had a general understanding of the ever-changing political situation in the country, and he had a little confidence in his heart, and felt that nothing would happen.He booked a boat ticket to return to his motherland, which has undergone great changes for less than a year. ①See "Selected Correspondence of Hu Shi", Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, May 1, 1979, Volume 1, p. 427. ②Ibid., Volume 1, p. 426. ③ "Hu Shi's Diary" manuscript, Taipei Yuanliu Publishing Co., Ltd. December 1990 edition, volume 5, October 15, 1926. (Third Edition Note) ④Refer to "In Memory of Mr. Wu Zhihui", originally published in Taipei's "Free China" magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1, published in January 1954.It was later included in the "Character" volume of "Hu Shi's Selected Works", published in June 1966 by Taipei Wenxing Bookstore.See pages 167-168 of the book for citations.