Chapter 41 Part Thirteen: The Wandering Old Years-2

The Kuomintang government fled to Taiwan. Although there is only a tiny island left, it still maintains its old appearance in Nanjing, with all five courtyards and various departments.There is also a "Academia Sinica", which is regarded as the highest academic institution and is directly under the "Presidential Palace". In the autumn of 1957, Zhu Jiahua, the original president of Academia Sinica, resigned. On November 3, the council elected Hu Shi as the candidate for president. On the 4th, Chiang Kai-shek designated Hu Shi as the president of the Academia Sinica.Hu was determined to go back because of Taiwan's encirclement and suppression of "Free China". In addition, the situation in Taiwan had temporarily stabilized at that time, and he was old and sick. Gladly obliged.Soon, Hu Shi wrote to Chen Zhifan, saying that he had decided to go back to Taipei.The letter reads:

My plan to go back is because I am 66 years old this year, and I should settle down and use the collections of the Nangang Institute of History and Philology to write out several unfinished works. ① On April 6th of this year, Hu Shi flew out of the United States, ended his nine-year exile in the United States, and arrived at Taipei Airport on the afternoon of the 8th. Hu Shi was greeted at the airport that day by Chen Cheng, the "Vice President" of the Kuomintang government in Taiwan, officials from various agencies, friends, and young students. It is said that there were five or six hundred people.Even the 80-year-old Mr. Yu Youren was sitting and waiting at the entrance of the airport, leaning on crutches.Hu was surrounded by the gangway of the plane, shook hands with officials one by one, took pictures under the flags of some student associations, and talked to reporters, making a fuss.The next day, it was full of guests again, and it was overwhelming.Hu Shi, who is very lively by nature, was naturally very happy.

On April 10, Hu Shi took office as the dean of Academia Sinica and presided over the third academician meeting.On this day, Chiang Kai-shek took the title of "President" The honorable person came to give a speech and complimented the Hu family a lot.Hu Shi was busy shaking hands, giving a speech, and then electing a new academician. He was so busy that he was full of joy and smiling. Since then, during the nearly four years of Hu Shi's life in Taiwan, the authorities and friends have relied on him to embellish "democracy and freedom". He also sincerely hopes that the Taiwan authorities will implement more "democracy and freedom". It will continue one after another.For example: In November of this year, Hu Shi moved into the dean's residence in Nangang, which was specially allocated for him by the authorities. At the beginning of 1959, the "National Long-term Development Scientific Plan" drafted by Hu Shi was formally passed, and a long-term development scientific committee was established with him as the chairman.In July of this year, Hu Shi received an honorary doctorate in humanities from the University of Hawaii, which was the last of the 35 honorary degrees he received in his lifetime. In June 1960, the former President of Columbia University and the current US President Eisenhower, whom he admired, visited Taiwan. Hu Shi attended the welcome banquet and had a meeting with Eisen at the Grand Hotel. In October 1961, his wife Jiang Dongxiu finally bid farewell to her poker friends in New York and returned to Taiwan to reunite with her family.In four years, he presided over three academician elections, and elected 30 new academicians including Yang Zhenning, Li Zhengdao, Wu Jianxiong, Yuan Jialiu, Yang Liansheng, Ren Zhigong, and Mei Yiqi;

Many of his old books were reprinted in Taiwan, as well as a photocopy of his beloved book Jiaxu.In addition, there are frequent speeches, banquets, visits, and birthday celebrations, and many other lively events. There are also "lace news" about him in the newspapers. December 17, 1960 was Hu Shi's 70th birthday, and the birthday celebration was "I'll go on stage after you sing", which was lively for several days; Chiang Kai-shek also presented a pro-book "Shou" frame, and specially held a banquet in the official residence Happy birthday to Hu Shih. ②All of these things seem to be the result of Zhiyu Tron, and he should be satisfied.

However, Hu Shi's life journey in the last few years in Taiwan was not smooth; behind the knowledge and excitement, many unpleasant things were intertwined with each other and happened one after another. The first is that his health is getting worse.He had a heart attack; during the years in Taiwan, he was admitted to the Hospital affiliated to National Taiwan University four times, each time with a heart attack, each time getting worse.This is naturally unavoidable for the elderly; but some unpleasant events and circumstances are often the direct root cause of his old illnesses recurring one after another, and often lead to the deterioration of the condition.

Secondly, his financial situation also made him worry.Mr. Yang Shuren, who worked next to Hu Shi at that time, wrote a memoir article, in which there is such a description: One night before he went to the United States for the last time in 49 years, I personally remember him saying to me: "I am not in the United States, and my wife alone plans to borrow a small piece of land in Southport to build a small house at his own expense. Immediately send it to the research institute. I think, when he spoke to me that night, the sum of money was gone. I heard that he had made the next best thing, intending to raise a small sum of money to support a small school in Taipei City. Mrs. Hu returned to China to live in the house. According to Mr. Wang Zhiwei (who was entrusted to handle Mr. Hu’s personal income and expenses), he told me that the income from a small amount of royalties (Mr. The rent deposits for the 15 stacked houses are not enough. I think there is no need to ask about the rest.

Later, Mrs. Hu returned to China, and I think Mr. Hu's financial situation has not improved much.Even the medical expenses of going to the hospital one after another feel difficult.The doctor always said that he needed to stay in the hospital for a few more days, and his friends also advised him, but he himself always insisted on leaving the hospital a few days earlier. ③ "People are afraid of getting old and poor." From this, it is probably not difficult for people to imagine the desolation of Hu Shi's late life. What bothered and embarrassed Hu Shi the most was the many ups and downs that involved him in society.

The first one is "Hu Shi and the Fortune of Nations". ④According to Mr. Yang Shuren's article, the day after Hu Shi returned to Taiwan, someone gave him a booklet "Hu Shi and the Fortune of China".This is an abuse of "academic research" In the name of Hu Shi, the book of insults and personal attacks against Hu Shi contains a total of four articles.Some said that Hu Shi himself wanted to be a leader, and his formula was: The ideal nonsense leader = ignorance + incompetence + inaction + foreign college students = Hu Shi. Some attacked Hu Shih's hole-in-the-wall store in the past, "breaking the fortress of the national spirit"; now he proposes the "three noes" president, "why not want to withdraw Taiwan's national defense today?" Obviously, these are in response to Hu Shih's birthday celebration for Chiang Kai-shek Wen's counterattack.Some said that Hu Shiwei was against Confucianism and classical Chinese in his youth, confused the hearts of the people in the mainland, paved the way for the Communist Party, and thus caused the Kuomintang to lose the mainland.And the author thinks——

Unexpectedly, someone said that Dr. Hu was going to give lectures in Taiwan, but I think the mainland has already told him about it.If he refuses to spare the lives of his compatriots who have taken refuge in Taiwan, and wants to tell Taiwan the base of revival, then our descendants of the Yellow Emperor will truly be doomed. This blamed Hu Shi for the failure of the Kuomintang in the mainland.At the end of the book, there are also a few copies of "Shoulian", which are said to be "reproduced by social public opinion", but they are all boring words of abuse. The article "Hu Shi and the Fortune of China" obviously has no academic theory at all, so Hu Shi didn't bother to pay attention to it.However, the publication and distribution of this pamphlet was very secretive, and it became a mysterious and strange book in the storm of Taiwan's real politics, which inevitably aroused Hu Shi's worries.This book appeared just before Hu Shi returned to Taiwan, apparently to give him a warning; and as soon as the book appeared, the Secretariat of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan immediately requested the public security organs to ban it, and Taiwan’s newspapers also unanimously condemned it. , to give Hu Shi a little face.But then things became more and more confused, and the Taipei City Government even avoided imposing a fine on the author of the book, and sent the case to the court, and there was no further action.On the day of "May 4th", the "banned book" "Hu Shi and the National Games" suddenly appeared on the newsstands all over Taipei! The next day, the first page of "United Daily News" published a large advertisement, by " "Student Publishing House" is famous, and it declares that "printing this book will avoid misinformation and damage the reputation of Dr. Hu Shi".They are actually sold to the public in large quantities, priced at five yuan per volume. ⑤ Isn't this a blow to Hu Shi?

From 1959 to 1960, Hu Shi was involved in the political whirlpool of the presidential re-election issue.Since Chiang Kai-shek was elected as the second "president" in 1954, he has grown older and his term of office is about to expire.Under the constitution, he cannot serve three consecutive terms.Chiang's eldest son, Jingguo, was quite capable and influential in the Kuomintang political circles, so there was public opinion that Jingguo should be promoted as the presidential candidate. In mid-January 1959, Hu Shi, Chen Cheng, Wang Shijie, Jiang Menglin and others traveled to Taichung and Tainan for six days. Some people said that they were the "Shangshan Sihao" and the wings of Jiang Jingguo.The so-called "Shangshan Sihao" words later caused a political turmoil in Taiwan for several months. ⑥ Hu Shi also did not approve of Chiang Kai-shek’s re-election. He asked Zhang Qun, the secretary of the presidential palace at the time, to convey his opinion to Jiang, mainly hoping that Chiang would “clearly express respect for the constitution and not be the third president”; Hu Shi expressed the same opinion many times. Tell Huang Jilu, Wang Yunwu and other friends and government dignitaries. ⑦ He also repeatedly expressed "opposition to constitutional revision" and "opposition to re-election for three times" to reporters, all of which were published in newspapers. ⑧However, because Chiang Kai-shek did not want to abdicate, at the end of 1959, someone proposed the case of "modifying the temporary clauses" to create public opinion for Chiang's third term.Hu Shi didn't take this very seriously. He once said that a leader should train a successor. When the time comes, he should be elected and supported with all his strength.This is the style of a great politician.He believes that Roosevelt in the United States did not train successors, and only he was elected again and again. This was Roosevelt's mistake.It can be seen that Hu Shi clearly disapproved of Chiang Kai-shek's re-election. ⑨At the beginning of 1960, the "National Assembly" was approaching, and the issue of "president" re-election or succession became more prominent. Taiwanese newspapers even reported that Hu Shi "may not attend the meeting as a passive protest." ⑩

On February 20, the third meeting of the "National Assembly" was held in Taipei. Hu Shi still attended and became the chairman of the presidium of the assembly.At the banquet hosted by Chiang Kai-shek for the Presidium of the National Congress, Hu Shi made a point of talking about the history and advantages of "secret ballot", saying that it can prevent voters from being threatened and guarantee the freedom of voting, showing a little unwillingness to be manipulated by others .But his words were refuted on the spot by members of the Kuomintang. They said that democratic politics is party politics, and party politics must maintain party discipline, so secret ballots are naturally not necessary;Being besieged by such ignorance and arrogance, Hu Shi was very angry. He once said to people: "Now I would like them to vote by secret ballot. To vote by secret ballot, I will definitely vote."However, he worried that "they might use a show of hands instead of a secret ballot."Later, the third reading of the amendment to the provisional clause was passed and published in the newspaper, completing the legal procedures for Chiang Kai-shek's third consecutive term.Someone came to ask Hu Shi what his opinion was. Did Chiang Kai-shek mean to be re-elected for three terms? Hu Shi replied: If it wasn't for his own intention, I don't think others would do this.The old man felt that his responsibility to the country was over, and he was in good health.Older people have his confidence, like Syngman Rhee of South Korea, who is ten years older than Mr. Chiang, like Aidenor of West Germany (according to, translated Adenauer), like Churchill before Britain, all of them are older over him.This is true of all the older generations who have been great leaders, and it cannot be said that they are wrong.The problem is that the constitution is being amended, especially for the purpose of re-election for three terms. This opens the door. Now the number of people present at the congress is legal, and anything can be done in the future.Since you amended the constitution for three consecutive terms, they have amended the constitution for issues such as the right to create and referee.The constitution is not unamendable. Once the door is opened to a group of people fighting for power to demand the creation of referendum, it cannot be closed again. After a few days, Hu Shi was admitted to the hospital due to a heart attack, but he still went to the "National Assembly" to participate in the election.Naturally, Chiang Kai-shek was re-elected as the third "president".This time, Hu Shi did not go to send Jiang Zhi the "certificate of election". Before and after the re-election of the president, there was another incident of organizing a new party; then there was the incident of Lei Zhen being arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison.The storm caused by this series of incidents, and the many small whirlpools indirectly caused by it, made an old Hu Shi who wanted to live a quiet life in Taiwan and pay off his debts in the remaining years, almost making him restless and breathless. up. The debt cannot be repaid, and "democracy and freedom" is also difficult to talk about, so Hu Shi had no choice but to "tolerate", talking about "tolerance is more important than freedom", "tolerance is the root of freedom"! Moreover, he said that his advocacy of tolerance "is not only against oppressive speech What the free man says, speaks to us who moderate our speech."In fact, his focus is to hope that "friends who write articles with a pen" will have a "tolerant attitude".According to him, although the person holding the pen is subjected to all kinds of "unreasonable oppression" and even "encirclement and suppression", he is still a "powerful person", so "absolutely must not abuse our rights."Talking about "freedom of speech" to such an extent, how desolate and sad Hu Shi's state of mind must be! So someone commented like this: In the past few years, don't think that there are so many people around him to stir up the excitement of presenting flowers and celebrating birthdays, and don't think that there are so many male and female reporters who regard him as the interviewee of "lace news", but I In the depths of Mr. Hu's heart, he has always been lonely! Always worried and angry!...In recent years, Mr. Hu is certainly a symbol of individual freedom, but he has increasingly become a sad figure of so-called "freedom and democracy" ! His reputation is gradually being embellished with this pitiful so-called "freedom and democracy", and it is in disarray! Don't you see many young people who embrace the ideal of freedom and democracy, in their conversations, fully reveal their "freedom and democracy" Disappointed with Hu Shi".Even so, the "encirclement and suppression of Hu Shi" issued by the "authoritarian leadership center" and its "cultural thugs" The waves are still coming wave after wave. ... How could Mr. Hu Shi not feel lonely and worried? Reviews are fairly objective.Behind the excitement, Hu Shi's heart was lonely and worried, which reached an unbearable level. ① This letter was written on January 11, 1958; the other said it was written in 1957.The original letter has not been seen, but it is quoted from Wei Zhengtong's "Hu Shi Biography" ("Modern Chinese Thinkers [7]", Taipei Giant Publishing House, 1978 edition, p. 7).In the same way, he also said in his letter to Li Ji that he wanted to borrow a piece of land in Nangang with his own money and build a small house in order to use the collection of books of the Institute of History and Philology to continue his research work. (Refer to Li Ji's "Preface to the Collection of Papers in Commemoration of the Former President Mr. Hu Shi" and "Mr. Hu's Contribution and Influence to the Academia Sinica", see Taipei "Biographical Literature" Volume 2, Issue 3, Volume 28, Volume 5 Expect) ②See Hu Songping's "Mr. Hu Shizhi's Chronicle Long-Edited First Draft", published by Taipei Lianjing Publishing Company in 1984, Volume 9, pp. 3402-3420. ③Mr. Yang Shuren was the secretary of the Academia Sinica and the executive secretary of the Long-term Development Science Committee; he wrote "Recalling the Fall of a Great Star—Recording the Last Three Years of Mr. Hu Shizhi", published in Taipei's "Wenxing" magazine No. 13 Volume No. 4 (76 issues in total), published on February 1, 1964. ④ "Hu Shi and the National Games", published by "Student Bookstore" in Taipei in 1958.Accepted four articles: (1) "Hu Shi's Desire for Leadership", author Zhu Xin, a pseudonym; (2) "Please See the Unprecedented Dr. Hu and Why I Admire Him", author Zhu Guanghan; (3) "Respect "Inaction" is Mr. Hu Shizhi's birthday", author Li Boai, probably also a pseudonym; (4) "Chinese translation of Byron's mourning Greek poems", author Wang Aiwei.Whether the author is alone or not, and his real name is unknown.One said that after investigation by the government, the book was written by several people, one of whom was Xu Ziming, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin and was a colleague of Hu Shi when he was at Peking University. ⑤ See Du Heng's "Human Nature and Freedom——Re-discussing Hu Shi and Taiwan", published in Hong Kong's "Free Man" on May 14, 1958. ⑥Refer to Hu Songping's "Mr. Hu Shizhi's Conversations in His Later Years", Taipei Lianjing Publishing Company, 1984 edition, page 56, March 15, 1960". Shangshan Sihao originally refers to four elders in their 80s who lived in seclusion in Shangshan at the end of the Qin Dynasty, including Dongyuangong, Mr. Li, Qiliji, and Xiahuanggong.It is said that in the early Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang went to hire them, but they refused to come out.And Empress Lu used Zhang Liang's strategy to make the prince humiliate the car and invite the four elders.When Liu Bang saw him, he thought that the prince's wings were complete, so he gave up his attempt to change Zhao Wang Ruyi as the prince.Taiwan's political circles refer to Chen Cheng, Hu Shi and other four as Chiang Ching-kuo's wings, and naturally regard Ching-kuo as the "prince". ⑦Refer to the manuscript of "Hu Shi's Diary", Taipei Yuanliu Publishing Co., Ltd., December 1990 edition, Volume 18, November 15 and 23, 1959. (Third Edition Note) ⑧Refer to Volume 18 of the above book, attached newspaper clippings on December 25, 1958 and February 21, 1960. (Third Edition Note) ⑨ Same Note ⑥ Page 37. ⑩See Hu Shi’s talk recorded in the article “Before and Behind the Scenes of the National Assembly” in the “Weekly Column” of Taiwan’s Zili Evening News on February 7, 1960. See also note ⑥ written on March 14 on page 53. See Note ⑥ written on March 5 on page 52. Note ⑥ written on March 12, page 53. See "Tolerance and Freedom" (speech at the 10th anniversary of "Free China"), originally published in "Free China" Vol. Published in June. The postscript of Hu Xuyi's translation of "Two Concepts of Democratic Politics" was published in Taipei's "Democracy Tide" Volume 12, Issue 6, published on March 16, 1962.There is a subtitle under the title of the translation: "Respect for Mr. Hu Shizhi". In Hu Shi's lonely situation in his later years, a peddler who sold sesame cakes became his friend, bringing him unexpected comfort and happiness. The peddler was named Yuan Tiao, a native of Qingjiang, Jiangsu, who had been a sophomore in a private middle school in Shanghai. Living in Taipei in 1949, he sold tofu and worked as a shop assistant, and later made a living selling sesame cakes.In addition to making and selling cakes, he also likes to read a little, and likes to discuss the political systems of Britain and the United States with others.Which one is better, the British and American political systems? He is more inclined to worship the United States, but he can't explain it theoretically, and he has not been able to get a satisfactory answer.So, he rashly wrote a long letter and asked the great scholar Hu Shi for advice.This happened in October 1959. When Hu Shi received this letter, he saw the name and address of the sender, but he had never met him before. After reading the letter, he realized that it was a peddler who sold sesame cakes. The British and American political issues that I am most passionate about made me feel very happy, so I wrote a reply letter in my own handwriting, the full text of which is as follows: Mr. Yuan Tiao: Thank you for your long letter of October 23rd. I have read your letter carefully, and I sincerely thank you for writing this long letter of two thousand characters in the life of hard-working cakes, baked cakes, and selling cakes. Mentioned" and write it out and send it to me. The question you raised is too big, and I am ashamed. I cannot give you an answer that satisfies me. I can only say that there is actually no big difference between the British system and the American system you mentioned.The story of "Truman took no one" in your letter is exactly the same as Churchill left No. 10 Dunning Street in 1945. It is the same. I can also say that in our country, there is a cake seller who sells sesame cakes on the street every day with a lead bucket on his back, rain or shine, let alone the scorching sun, but he is still willing to sneak in and care about the country's plans. Concerned about the political systems of the United Kingdom and the United States, and hoping that the country can embark on a road of long-term peace and stability-this single miracle is enough to make me optimistic and happy. If there is anything I can do for you, such as giving you a book that you can't find, I will be very willing to do it. best wishes. Hu Shi.Forty-eight, ten, twenty-five nights. ① From then on, the peddler Yuan Tiao became Dr. Hu Shi's "my friend". One day, Hu Shi invited Yuan Tiao to visit the Academia Sinica in Nangang.When they met, Hu Shi took Yuan Tiao's hand and said happily: "You are so young, which is beyond my expectation. From your letter, it depends on you being over 40 years old!" Yuan Yu opened a towel bag he brought with him, and inside were 10 sesame cakes, which were bright yellow and exuded the fragrance of freshly roasted sesame seeds.He held it in front of Hu Shi and said, "Sir, I made this with my own hands, and I gave it to you to show my respect to you." Hu Shi took the sesame cake with a smile on his face, picked up one and ate it, chewing hard, with a joy rarely seen in recent years on his face. They, one old and one young, talked happily for nearly two hours.Hu Shi still did not forget to preach Dewey's philosophy and reformism to his young friends. He repeated the old saying of decades ago: Social improvement is accumulated bit by bit. There can only be retail, not wholesale. Only the communist regime believes that social improvement can be wholesale.Many people do things with passionate goals and blind methods... The reason why many of us failed in the past was also the fault of having ambitions but no methods. ② Then they talked about their childhood.Hu Shi said that when he was a child, he liked to play games with other children. Later, he went to the United States to study at Cornell University and liked swimming. However, he had a tumor in his nostril, which made it difficult to breathe in water.After hearing this, Yuan Tiao thought it was a coincidence, and told Hu Shi that he also had a small tumor in his nostril, which might be nasal cancer.Yuan Tiao heard that a new batch of cobalt 60 had arrived at the National Taiwan University Hospital, but it was too expensive to afford diagnosis and treatment! Hu Shih immediately wrote a letter to President Gao Tiancheng of the National Taiwan University Hospital, saying: This is my friend Yuan Tiao, and all medical expenses will be borne by me. ③ Although Hu Shi was not that rich financially, he was often discharged early even when he was in the hospital; but he sincerely helped a studious young man, which was an excellent comfort to his soul. On that day, Hu Shi wanted to keep Yuan Tiao to have a good time.But there happened to be foreign guests visiting, and Yuan Tiao left for fear of delaying Hu Shi's official business.Before leaving, Hu Shi presented him with five books, each of which was autographed as a souvenir, and said: "You take it and read it first. If you need any books in the future, feel free to come and get them." Later, Yuan Tiao went to the hospital for an examination and was relieved that it was not cancer, but he was very grateful to Hu Shi for his concern and help. As for Hu Shi, he often remembered this peddler friend.Once he had a heart attack and was admitted to National Taiwan University Hospital.His friend Mei Yiqi is also in the hospital, in a ward next door.One day, Mrs. Mei brought a sesame cake to Hu Shi's ward and said, "I'll give you something. I believe you have never eaten something like this." Hu Shi took it over and saw that it was a sesame cake, so he smiled and said, "I have eaten it a long time ago. This is made by a friend of mine." Old Hu Shi was naive enough, thinking that the big city of Taipei, sesame cake "My friend" Yuan Tiao did it all by himself! ①This letter is quoted from "Mr. Hu Shizhi's Chronicle Long-Edited First Draft" edited by Hu Songping, Taipei Lianjing Publishing Company, 1984 edition, volume 8, pages 3006-3007. ②The quotation here is quoted from Wu Xiangxiang's "Hu Shi's "But he is not a teacher"", see "Biography of Hundreds of People in the Republic of China", Volume 1, p. 206. ③Refer to "Hu Shi This Man" written by He Suo, see "The Lonely Lion", Taipei Vanilla Mountain Bookstore, 1977 edition, pp. 31-35. 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 growth 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.What kind of spiritual civilization can a civilization tolerate 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 say? 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 us Orientals It is time to start acknowledging that 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.见李书华作《胡适之先生生平及其贡献》，载台北《大陆杂志》第24卷第10期。 ②胡适的这次演说，有自写的英文稿，未见。当时台湾各报的译文，未经胡氏校阅，难免挂漏和歧异。后经徐高阮译为中文，经胡适校过，载台北《文星》杂志第9卷第2期，1961年12月出版。 ③见徐复观的《中国人的耻辱，东方人的耻辱》一文，载香港《民主评论》第12卷第24期。 ④李敖的《播种者胡适》，载台北《文星》杂志第9卷第3期，1962年1月出版； 后收入他的《胡适研究》一书，台北文星书店1964年3月初版。 ⑤李敖在《为“播种者胡适”翻旧账》一文中说： 谈到目前捧胡和骂胡的人，可分六派：在捧胡的人中有(1)文章派，毛子水是也； (2)诗歌派，劳干是也；(3)行动派，某校长夫人是也；骂胡的人中也有三派，(4)叫骂派，徐复观是也；(5)栽赃派，《胡适与国运》作者是也；(6)翻案派，本文所拟答复的两位先生是也。”(按，指叶青［任卓宣］与郑学稼)载台北《文星》杂志第9卷第5期，1962年3月出版。 ⑥李敖自己在《胡适研究前记》中说：“我知道我这篇《播种者胡适》会三面不讨好：骂胡的人会说我捧胡，捧胡的人会说我骂胡，胡适本人也会对我不开心，这都是无可奈何的事。”见该书台北文星书店1964年3月版；又载《文星》杂志第13卷5期，1964年3月出版。 ⑦胡秋原的文章载台北《文星》杂志第9卷第3期，1962年1月出版。 ⑧叶青的《谁是新文化的播种者》，载台北《政治评论》第7卷第10期，1962年1月25日出版。郑学稼的《小心求证“播种者胡适”的大胆假设》，载台北《文星》杂志第9卷第4期，1962年2月1日出版。 ⑨参看杨树人《回忆一颗大星的陨落——记胡适之先生最后的三年》，载台北《文星》杂志第13卷第4期(总76期)，1964年2月1日出版。杨文并未指明胡适所批评的是何种杂志，何人文章。而李敖在《文星》第77期刊登的《“胡适研究”前记》一文里，却承认杨文“里面有一段写胡适先生对《播种者胡适》的不高兴” ，承认胡适指为“轻佻浮薄”的一篇是他李敖的文章。可见胡适也认为李敖是“捧”胡的，但捧而不得其道，故又说他“轻佻浮薄”，“瞎闹”，用语相当严厉!据此，则可知胡适指为“下流”的长篇，便是胡秋原的文章了。 ⑩ same note ⑨. 参看吴大猷先生1962年2月24日在台北中研院欢迎院士会中的讲词及后记，载台北《新时代》杂志第2卷第3期；讲词题为“胡适之先生和中国科学的发展”，系该刊编者加上的。 胡适在这次酒会上的讲词，有几种记录，均不及经胡氏校正了。此处引文是根据《台湾新生报》记者所采写的《最后的酒会，光辉的终结——记胡适院长最后主持的院士欢聚酒会》一文的记录，载该报1962年2月25日。这个纪录也许难免有误，不及后来整理的完善，但较接近口语，很少修饰加工的痕迹，又是最早的记载，可能更接近真实一些。 另有吴相湘作《胡适“但开风气不为师”》(《民国百人传》第1册)所录胡适的这段讲词，修改痕迹较明显，也不像讲话的语气了。已引录在本书第9章47则注⑩里，读者可以参看。另有胡颂平编《胡适之先生年谱长编初稿》一书所引胡适的这段讲词，虽经修饰，还比较完善，引录如下，以供参校： 我今天还可以讲一个故事。我常向人说，我是一个对物理学一窍不通的人，但我却有两个学生是物理学家：一个是北京大学物理系主任饶毓泰，一个是曾与李政道、杨振宁合作证验“对等律之不可靠性”的吴健雄女士。而吴大猷却是饶毓泰的学生，杨振宁、李政道又是吴大猷的学生。排行起来，饶毓泰、吴健雄是第二代，吴大猷是第三代，杨振宁、李政道是第四代了。中午聚餐时，吴健雄还对吴大猷说：“我高一辈，你该叫我师叔呢!”这一件事，我认为生平最得意，也是最值得自豪的。(台北联经出版事业公司1984年版，第10册，第3898～3899页) 见胡颂平编《胡适之先生年谱长编初稿》，第10册，第3901页。