Chapter 54 fourth quarter

In a short period of time, the New Culture Movement made great progress, and the vernacular language gained an authentic status.The new literary theories of Hu Shi, Zhou Zuoren and others showed the prospect of vernacular literature, and the vernacular literature works of Lu Xun and others showed the actual achievements of the literary revolution. In 1920, the Ministry of Education of the Beiyang Government officially adopted the vernacular language in textbooks. Lin Shu suffered a disastrous defeat. "Stubborn old school" became his face, and "against vernacular" became a joke in cultural history.In that radical era, there was no time to explore the reasonable part of Lin Shu's views. What he wanted was change. Those who opposed change, or even favored moderate reform, would be called "clowns" by the victors.

We can't bear Lin Shu being called a "clown".He is profoundly knowledgeable, not very conservative in thinking, and has excellent personal morality (isn't this also cultivated by the old culture?), and he has become a "representative of the old school", at least half of which is the result of the successful strategy of the new culture camp. What is especially unfair is that Lin Shu was not against vernacular writing! Not only did he not object to vernacular writing, but he was also one of the first to write in vernacular! In 1897, Lin Shu's collection of poems "Minzhong Xinyuefu" was published. The book contained 32 vernacular poems in nursery rhyme style, which was 23 years earlier than Hu Shi's "Experimental Collection", which is considered to be the first collection of vernacular poems in China. The earliest batch of vernacular poems in modern times!

The fact that the earliest writers of vernacular poetry were shaped by radical times into old-fashioned "clowns" who "oppose vernacular" is astonishing. The difference between Lin Shu and the new school figures during the New Culture Movement was not actually whether he wanted classical Chinese or vernacular Chinese, but whether he wanted vernacular Chinese at the same time—he wanted vernacular Chinese, but the New Culture camp firmly refused classical Chinese. Lin Shu really couldn't figure out why he had to kill classical Chinese while advocating vernacular Chinese.Does the rise of new literature mean that traditional literature is worthless?

Lin Shu became angry before the aggressive attitude of the new school figures who attacked the classical Chinese to the point of incompleteness. He instinctively defended the classical Chinese that he had studied all his life and obtained endless nourishment and enjoyment from it.At the same time, he was not an ordinary literati who had been influenced by tradition. He was a famous master of ancient prose at that time. His knowledge of ancient prose was the value of his life. Basically, he can't tolerate classical Chinese being discarded like shoes! In the final analysis, Lin Shu, who was not opposed to vernacular writing and had personally written vernacular poems, stood up as a representative of traditional culture and stood on the cusp of the trend of the times. In fact, he was forced to go against it by the radical attitude of the new school figures!

Lin Shu didn't realize that the complete negation of classical Chinese was just a strategy of the new school: overcorrecting must be overcorrected.Traditional culture has lasted too long and its roots are too deep. To innovate it, we must emphasize its disadvantages to the extreme and make people shocking. Only in this way can we clear the way for the development of new literature. The views and attitudes of the radicals promoted the rise of the vernacular, and their contributions were enormous.However, in the evaluation of traditional literature, how can it be fair to say that "choose to learn evildoers, Tongcheng fallacies"?Isn't this a personal attack and insult?What's the difference between "Jingsheng" and "Demon Dream"?Lin Shu apologized for cursing others, but who in the new culture camp apologized for calling people "monsters" and "absurds"?

The tragic character Lin Shu, with his talent, learning and conduct throughout his life, should not be either a "legend" who became a great translator without knowing a foreign language, or a clown who went against the trend of history.