Chapter 8 Chapter 8: Who Created the Cultural Dinosaur

Wang Shuo: Now there are a group of fierce young students who attack famous people. Not only do they give classes to Yu Qiuyu and Wang Meng, but the podium is moved to the door of respected and unanimous masters like Qian Zhongshu. In terms of feeling, Qian Zhongshu is very knowledgeable and quite noble. He who refuses this and that does not seem to be as kitsch as Yu Qiuyu or me. Old Xia: Qian Zhongshu is knowledgeable and noble. Judging from media reports, he loves so and so. He rejects the hype of the Chinese media, and the interview with "Son of the East" was also rejected.He even rejected invitations from famous foreign universities, regardless of whether you are Oxford or Harvard, it's useless.And it is precisely this kind of refusal that has turned into another kind of hype, "the big hermit hides in the city"

There are contemporary practitioners of this ancient motto, the more hidden it becomes, the more it refuses the reputation of being noble and pure.This kind of survival strategy has been traditional in China for thousands of years. As long as there is written history, the tradition of hermits becoming famous is as long as it is. I don’t know what this hermit culture is—all hermits are extremely famous , and they are all noble and clean like "pine and cypress in the cold season". Wang Shuo: Why do I feel like this is intentional. Old Xia: Qian Zhongshu’s refusal, I think, is a kind of blind spot in personality, that is, extreme arrogance, even transparency.Everyone inexplicably promoted him to the position of "Qian Xue", and he took it seriously, thinking that he was the biggest scholar in China and even the world, so arrogant that he couldn't even recruit universities like Oxford and Harvard.And I think that a scholar should always be in awe. Places like Oxford and Harvard have produced many great scholars who have influenced the course of human history.big thinker.Great scientist.A scholar going to this kind of academic temple is like a believer walking into a church.If you are still a scholar.And the reason for his refusal was that people could not understand his knowledge, and he went to Oxford and Harvard to give lectures to play the piano to cows.In the Chinese cultural tradition, the omnipotent personal God is respected. If a person is a sage, he can do anything. If he advances, he can level the world, and if he retreats, he can cultivate his family. All boundaries are gone.A writer can become an authority on painting or music, and a physicist can make a mess of economic decisions by making irresponsible remarks.

Wang Shuo: This is a bit over. Old Xia: The contempt for Qian seems to me that he is the only one in the world who can understand his knowledge, and the rest are arty literati or ruffians.I can't help asking, who are you, Qian Zhongshu?who do you think You Are?What do you really have that can make you so arrogant that you can go to the cliff of "seeing all the mountains and small mountains"?A scholar who does not have awe in his heart will never be able to write good things.This awe is self-imposed.When you write, you must always feel that a pair of discerning eyes are high above you, ordering you to maintain intellectual humility and honesty.

Wang Shuo: It seems that Confucius was so conceited, climbing Mount Tai and making the world small.I heard that Qian Zhongshu is really knowledgeable, he knows several foreign languages, and he knows all over the world. Old Xia: Qian is knowledgeable, but he has neither thought nor method originality.His "Guan Zhu Pian" is nothing but the epitaph of China's tradition of commentary on scriptures that began in the Han Dynasty. As the saying goes: There is no "zi" after the pre-Qin period.After the contention of a hundred schools of thought, the history of Chinese academics and ideology is a history of constantly consuming wisdom in commentary. After 1949, it changed from focusing on Confucius to focusing on Marxism.From the point of view of scripture annotation, Qian Zhongshu is a masterpiece, and he has to find foreign condiments from all corners of the world for a table of trivial matters.He claimed that others could not understand, and that his "Guan Zhu Pian" didn't want you to understand at all.It is said that graduate students who take the money test must know five foreign languages. I don't know whether this is to recruit graduate students or to show off their language talents.Does money have a way?No.Have an original idea?No more. The emergence of "Qian Xue" is ridiculous. I can't think of what those people who hold "Qian Xue" jobs study.Ridiculous to intellectuals, "Qian Xue" is the biggest mockery of Chinese academics. On the level of ideological discovery, the IQ of the research community of "Qian Xue" is equal to zero.It is a sweet and sour novel, but people praise it to the sky.

Wang Shuo: I don't understand the profoundness of learning.But my reading experience is very similar to that of Yu Qiuyu.It is always good to hear first, then read it, the words are charming, and give people the intuition that this person is knowledgeable. But when you read further and broaden your horizons a bit, you will feel that this person is just playing tricks. The superficial charm is so deep, but there is nothing inside.He was just showing off his taste and learning, he didn't want to say anything serious. Old Xia: The first time I read Qian Zhongshu was "Talking about Art". When I opened it, it was like a person wading in the water facing the sea, thinking that he would definitely not be able to swim, or that it would take his whole life to swim halfway without being drowned. Even if the fortune is great.But after reading it, it will not give you any enlightenment except rambling and stabbing people with horns.I searched Qian Zhongshu's writings again, and found that there was nothing that could be called a wake-up call.Wang Guowei's method of commentary and perception in traditional Chinese poetry is enough.Wang Guowei not only has knowledge, thoughts, but also true temperament. His knowledge is solid, but there is no ostentation; his spirituality is vigorous, but there is no shallowness;This reminds me of Lu Xun's famous saying:

The person who dares to help the corpse of the traitor and cry bitterly is the real backbone. Wang Shuo: Some praises about Qian Zhongshu, including Yang Jiang's memories, mostly talk about Qian Zhongshu's "Cultural Revolution" misfortune, but Qian's previous situation was still good, better than many people's fate, but these two are highly respected The interviewer never seems to mention that part. It feels like they have suffered a lot after four or nine years, and the suffering is great but the hatred is not deep. They are indifferent to fame and fortune. Old Xia: Money’s indifference to fame and fortune is for the society to see, and at the same time it is a survival strategy. It not only keeps silent about suffering and social injustice, but also molds oneself into a god-like personality.In China, facing so much suffering and shamelessness, silence seems to be a virtue, a kind of conscience.

And I think that silence, far from being a virtue, is a subtly shameless—a survival strategy.No matter how great a scholar is, once he cherishes his feathers too much, he will lose his conscience. Wang Shuo: I think of Lu Xun's famous saying, how to say it, it seems to be, silence, silence, if you don't explode in silence, you will die in silence.Especially for intellectuals, silence is death. Old Xia: In recent years, there has been an extremely unfair trend of thought in intellectual circles, exaggerating the dead and shaping new personal gods one by one, such as the hype about Chen Yinge.

Wang Shuo: There seems to be someone named Gu Zhun. Old Xia: Gu Zhun is very different from Chen Yinlao.At a symposium commemorating Gu Zhun, some young and middle-aged scholars did not buy Gu Zhun, saying that Gu Zhun's theory was out of date. Commemorating Gu Zhun is obviously not a theoretical issue, but a matter of persistence in an extremely harsh environment. Gu Zhun wrote those things under such a harsh environment.For some people, no matter how much knowledge, no matter how broad and profound theories are, they may not be able to write those things.Feng Youlan can be called a master, but if you look at what he wrote after 1949, especially during the "Cultural Revolution", it's all rubbish.Gu Zhun's tenacity and conscience, that kind of intellectual honesty, not only at that time, but also now, scholars and literati, big and small, did not have it.

These young and middle-aged scholars who disdain Gu Zhun are well-versed in both Chinese and Western knowledge, but they know nothing about life. It is too cold-blooded for them to belittle Gu Zhun with the knowledge of the open era.Zhu Xueqin wrote an article on this, which was very sad and indignant. Wang Shuo: In the 1980s, when he was the most intellectually active, there was very little honesty like Gu Zhun. Old Xia: Chen Yinke's fate is different.There is almost unanimous praise for Chen Yinke, and young and middle-aged scholars all regard Chen Yinke as arty. It seems that whoever does not praise Chen Yinke a few words is cruel-hearted.I have seen some young and middle-aged scholars write articles praising Chen Yinke's poems.Chen Yinke is knowledgeable and proud. His historical research has made a lot of achievements, but I really don't see how good his poetry is, and his "Liu Rushi's Biography" is by no means as good as it is said.

But some young and middle-aged scholars even boast about history, people and poems.Just like treating it, it feels like every well-known upper-level literati has written it. Liu Xinwu's words about it, I wish I could see the meaning of the words in the book, arty to this point, it is such a boast It is no longer a thing, it has been spoiled badly, and it has become a trash can.Arty and clinging to the rich and powerful in the Chinese intellectual circles have produced hypocrites one after another, but they have also created trash cans one after another.Praise people so that they are not human, and China has no gods, what do you think he has become, a trash can.Not so good that every word is perfect, Cao Xueqin likes to show off his literary talent, and he starts a poetry club or something, you have a poem, and I have a poem, there are not many poems that can be read, which takes up too much space.

Wang Shuo: This kind of exaggeration in academia has no emotion and no temperament. Everyone is playing word games with arty style, and in the end it makes people look hateful.Lu Xun, after four or nine years, was praised as a god, a big trash can, and all kinds of garbage were piled on Lu Xun. The research on Lu Xun for so many years was mostly garbage.Of course, there are ideological reasons for this, but looking at it now, artyness cannot escape the blame.Toxic so far.People like me, who have nothing to do with learning, feel disgusted with Lu Xun because of this rubbish.Many young people feel similar to me.Back then Lu Xun said that there was nothing worse than "praising and killing", and the fate of his own death was exactly in line with his spell back then. Old Xia: But those true believers are mostly forgotten and treated indifferently.Lin Zhao. In 1954, he entered the Journalism Department of Peking University. In 1957, he became a rightist and was sent to a labor camp.She is more than 500,000 people who refuse to plead guilty. In 1960, she was imprisoned for participating in the so-called "anti-Party and counter-revolutionary clique". In 1962, she was "released on bail". He was shot dead on April 29, 1968.She once questioned Peking University: "When Cai Yuanpei was teaching at Peking University, he generously went to the Beiyang warlord government to bail out the students arrested on May 4th. What about you?" She wrote confidently before she died: "Wipe it! Wipe it! This is blood!" But she didn't know that the blood of the martyrs was easily wiped away. Wang Shuo: The obsequiousness of Chinese cultured people can be seen and heard from a young age. It is rooted in the roots and has a long history from generation to generation, not only to the powerful and powerful.Throwing glances at the public, the mutual admiration among cultural people is more affectionate.magnificent. Old Xia: There is such a plot in your novel, a scholar, or a poet or a cultural celebrity, a group of strange young people meet him for the first time, they knock on the door respectfully, and when they enter, they are confused After boasting indiscriminately, the teacher fainted and couldn't find the way.You just said that Lu Xun was ruined by the "praise and murder" he cursed. Before the reform and opening up, the trash can of Lu Xun was full of revolutionary bones.As soon as the reform and opening up, there is something valuable in this bucket.Soda cans, chewing gum, maybe a refrigerator, color TV and computer.In the era when you can't wear pants, you praise people with your selfless heart, and in the well-off era, you praise people with the extravagance of the nouveau riche. I often read letters from Brother Ba Jin to Sister Bing Xin and Xiao Qian from the newspapers. The kind of mutual caress is almost similar to that of Brother Bao and Sister Lin, but I have never seen such a simple and true temperament in such correspondence. Writing greetings to each other is just to appear in the media and show off to the society.Among the older generation, Wang Yuanhua has some genuine temperament.He talked about the life in Tsinghua University in his early years. The transparent, free and free breathing was the most cherished time in his life.His parents, who teach at Tsinghua University, are both Christians and never interfered with his life.There is also the old man Li Shenzhi, who is a rare person with a conscience among the century old people who are still alive. From his words, he can read his true temperament and passionate thoughts... If you want to talk about the relationship between Bing Xin and Ba Jin That kind of sympathy still has a bit of the legacy of scholar-bureaucrats between talented women and talented scholars.In the generation of Liu Xinwu and Wang Meng, the compliments between each other are naked mutual flattery. Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House once published a book on famous scholars. A large number of popular literati, you say I am good, I say you are better, it is so shameless. Wang Shuo: Some of the boasting is not entirely the responsibility of the elders themselves. Many articles about "cultural dinosaurs" are instigated by their family members behind the scenes.Writing biographies requires the consent of the family members.This kind of check is sometimes stricter and harsher than ideological censorship, and only praise is allowed and criticism is not allowed. Old Xia: This kind of protection is a relationship of interests.Strictly speaking, many so-called biographies of celebrities are no longer biographies, but their sons, daughters and family members, for their own vested interests, instructed how to write the "antiques" of their families. Wang Shuo: It is just such a valuable "antique" handed down from the ancestors.There are still a few cracks, which must be carefully cared for and must not be smashed.I think these family members are very stupid. They insist on turning their "antiques" into great figures, and they are not afraid of getting tired.I don't know why they think this way, it seems that this way they can live forever.For example, Shu Yi, who eats his father (Lao She) all day long, is simply an empty-headed writer. Old Xia: Not only is it short, but it is also very greedy. It eats the bone marrow. On December 3rd, "Southern Weekend" had an article about Ba Jin, which was about Ba Jin being treated in a hospital.But the title is very big and scary, it is called "A Pure Soul - Ba Jin in Memory".I don't know why the author didn't directly use "Ba Jin in Memorizing Disease" as the title, but insisted on putting "Pure Soul" on it, as if this could save the sick old man.If you have something to say, don't say it well, but talk empty words.This kind of praise is a set of stylized things, which has become the fixed thinking of Chinese people. Once the program is started, you can’t control it. Even if the person being praised blushes and heartbeats, and drinks loudly to stop the praise machine, it will not work. To complete the established program, output all the input words of immortality and sanctification, otherwise the machine will not stop. Wang Shuo: This is called "boasting in the face of death".Bring the dead back to life, and resurrect the dead.Praise the living to death, and the monument will last forever. Old Xia: Don't talk about "conscience" and "nobleness". The minimum honesty of being a human being is a very luxurious thing for Chinese people, and we can't afford to squander it.This bottom line is too difficult to stick to.Lying is a mental cancer for many people.Not being able to tell lies means not being able to survive, lying is safe, lying is profitable, empty-handed is a white wolf. Learning other things is harder than going to heaven. There is no need to teach lying and shamelessness. It is a kind of shamelessness in the blood of the mother's womb. During the Great Leap Forward, a certain scientist actually wanted to demonstrate from a scientific point of view that high-yield grains could reach tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of catties. This intellectual dishonesty is the greatest shame.Popper discussed Hegel's philosophy in the book "The Open Society and Its Enemies". He said that Hegel's success was the beginning of "the age of dishonesty" and the age of irresponsibility. Dishonesty, and later as one of its consequences, was moral irresponsibility; until a new age came to be ruled by a magic of exaggeration and the power of lingo. "Popper quoted some expositions about natural science in Hegel's philosophy, and concluded that Hegel could construct a huge system of natural philosophy without even knowing the basics of natural science. And Hegel clearly knew He falsified natural knowledge, but he still wanted to elevate this illusion to the level of dialectics and ontology. This kind of rational shamelessness is also the reason why Hegel has a good market in China. Wang Shuo: Intellectual honesty and moral responsibility are the boundaries of a writer. The boundaries are here. Old Xia: Not half a step.Even a slight movement of the heels may cause the whole line to collapse.The key to Chinese intellectual circles is not a question of theory, but a question of honesty.Here's the bottom line.Moral courage is understandable, but intellectual honesty is lost and God cannot save us.Really stick to your own desk, let a pair of sharp eyes look down on your pen, this kind of self-discipline is conscience.Sadly, such people are nearly extinct.Many years ago, at a symposium at Peking University, a graduate student mentioned Feng Youlan, who stood on the bank of Weiming Lake with a cane every morning, facing the east, waiting for the sunrise or something.The student was moved by Feng Youlan's solemn and reverent back.In fact, this form is just a gesture made for others to see. He knows that this gesture can confuse some people. If he really had awe in his heart, even if it was the awe of the sunrise and nature, he would not deliberately avoid his old classmates and friends when he went to India in the 1950s, and he would not write so many philosophies Garbage will not enter the writing team during the "Cultural Revolution".In his own philosophy, the realm of life proposed has been sanctified and godlike, but in reality there is no persistence. The Chinese are extremely tolerant of such scholars, just as they are tolerant of those who are silent.In fact, this kind of tolerance is by no means true tolerance, but a kind of mutual shelter of sympathy for the sick. I admire Zong Baihua even more. This old gentleman is only interested in art, and he is the most indifferent to fame and fortune among the well-known professors at Peking University.His favorite thing to do is to go to a good art exhibition. As long as there is one, he will never ask the school to send a car. He carries a bag and crutches, squeezes into the bus and goes.His understanding of the characteristics of Chinese art is unmatched by any existing aesthetician.Li Zehou's "Aesthetic History" discusses the most exciting passages about Chinese art, all of which come from Zong Baihua. After Zong Baihua, Yu Qiuyu has the audacity to go on a "cultural journey".He must have never read Zong Baihua's stuff, or did not take it seriously. Wang Shuo: But some people in the academy party are very strict, like a kind of alliance of cowards. They dare not bump their heads against the real wall, but stab the paper wall with a knife.Over time, the sense of justice in the Chinese intellectual circles has all been vented on sheep or pigs. Facing the awe-inspiring righteousness of a group of ants and the wretchedness of a tiger, I don’t know where so much knowledge has gone. If there are too many, people become narrow-minded.When they opened their mouths, God laughed. Old Xia: God doesn't laugh blindly. Some people in the Chinese intellectual circle can't even play games worth laughing well.There are only scholars in China, but no intellectuals.After nearly a hundred years of enlightenment and opening up, it is still not as good as Sima Qian and Zhuangzi in history.These two people are rare sober people among Chinese scholars.