Chapter 11 Chapter 9 Hu Shi's general direction and small frame
Any thinker does not fall from the sky, his appearance has its background of time and space.Hu Dan is certainly no exception.Therefore, when we want to study Hu Shi, we must first review his position in the special long river of "history" (time) in "China" (space); only then can we discuss his role in this river of history.
Li Hongzhang once said before that the era of the late Qing Dynasty he lived in was China's "changes that have not been seen in two thousand years."Why is the "change" in modern China "unprecedented in two thousand years"?Let us try to comment on Li Yan. It can be roughly said as follows: In the history of more than 2,000 years since the Qin and Han Dynasties, our political system, social and economic operation methods, and even the cultural connotation and value standards have been inherited in one continuous line. Not much has changed.However, this unchanging state organization and social form, which lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty, suddenly "changed" and "changed".This "changing situation" shocked Li Hongzhang, the national decision-maker who was the first to bear the brunt, so he realized that this "changing situation" was unprecedented in China in the past two thousand years.As for the occurrence of this "changing situation", what is the nature of it?Not only our Li Zhongtang did not understand this point, but even Master Tonbee, who was praised by the academic circles as a master of history, was also at a loss.
Tornbee said that Chinese civilization has been "ossified" since the Qin and Han Dynasties, stagnant and no progress has been made.Why stand still?Tang only knew what it was, but not why, and even talked nonsense.As for Li Hongzhang, he didn't understand Marxism, and he didn't understand modern social science, so he was even more dumbfounded when he couldn't explain why.
Going back to the root, what is the nature of this "changing situation" in the late Qing Dynasty?To put it bluntly, this "change" was originally a social "transformation" change, and this "transformation" change has only occurred twice in China's nearly 2,000-year history—one occurred in ancient B.C. In the second and third centuries, another time happened in Li Hongzhang and the modern age we live in.
The social transformation period that took place in ancient my country actually began at the end of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and ended with the reign of Emperor Qin, Han and Wu.One "turn" for hundreds of years before another "stereotype" is produced.One "set" for two thousand years, and it was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that the second "transformation" began.Li Zhongtang didn't understand this way, so he was amazed by it.
To know how to "turn" the second time, we have to look at how the first time changed.
Then what happened in the first "transformation" that happened in ancient times?Long story short, there are three main ones:
One is to abolish feudalism and establish prefectures and counties. "Feudalism" is the origin of the "tribalism" of the early people. The "county system" is a higher level. The civil service system in the centralized empire - the central government's policy of "reforming the land and returning the natives" to the southwestern minorities in the middle of the Qing Dynasty was a sporadic part of this transformation. continuation.Ministers in the late Qing Dynasty also advocated the "countyization" of the vassal state of Korea, which in fact also fell into this category.Today's Beijing People's Government's policy toward Tibet and Inner Mongolia is also a disguised form of "abolishing feudalism and establishing prefectures and counties."
The "transformation" from feudalism to prefectures and counties was originally a great progress in human political management.
The second is to abandon well fields and open fields.Well fields are either public or state-owned land. "Kaiqianmo" is to open up state-owned land for people to buy and sell.Turn land from public to private.This evolution can be seen as early as the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.At the time of Qin Xiaogong, it was first implemented by Shang Yang.After Shang Jun, it continued for two thousand years, until the 1950s, it was reversed by Mao Jun's land reform.Wang Mang also tried to reverse the land reform in a similar way.Land reform failed, but he got his own head off.
Which is better, public land or private land?Let's all go and see each other!
On the third day, it changed from a hundred schools of thought contending to a single art.What Emperor Qin Shihuang only admired was Legalism; what Emperor Wudi of Han exclusively admired was Confucianism.The philosophies are different, but they are the same if they are alone.As for the merits and demerits between being a scholar, a hundred schools of thought contending, and dismissing a hundred schools of thought and advocating only one technique, I don't want to comment on it subjectively.This is only to explain the fact of this "transformation".
The country and society in ancient my country were "transformed" for these three small things.After one hundred years of transformation, tens of millions of people died, and then a unified imperial system was transformed, which is a unique "stereotype" in China.This fixed pattern has not changed for two thousand years.It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that it was transformed again. Faced with the unprecedented changes in the past two thousand years, Li Hongzhang was dumbfounded.
What will be transferred out of the second "transformation"?
The first "transformation period" in ancient my country lasted roughly three hundred years before the "formulation" of a large agricultural empire came into being.According to this stereotype, if we make a second "transformation", what kind of "stereotype" can we turn out?The future "setting" will generally not exceed the three main principles.These three items should be:
First, turn the power of the monarchy into the power of the people.Li Hongzhang was unable to see this change, but we can see it very clearly today.Because this transformation of political power is layered.From the Manchu emperor and the old empress, the absolute power passed on from son to wife, through the different forms of power held by Yuan, Jiang and Mao, to Deng Xiaoping's "listening behind the curtain" today, to Lee Teng-hui's mutual system of three powers.It has been eighty years now.The poor Chinese people in the "transition period", although they have been "turned" to death by them, the phenomenon of diminishing monarchy is still very obvious.When will the stereotype of civil rights be "turned"? Although it is not yet predictable, the trend is very optimistic.
Second, transforming the agricultural economy into an industrial and commercial economy.The mode of production dominated by agricultural economy was finalized in the previous period.The future mode of production should be based on industry and commerce.As the social economy changes, PepsiCo changes accordingly.Since Li Hongzhang opened the mines and built foreign ships, my country's economy has changed to industrialization for more than a hundred years, but there have been no achievements.Today, this social "transformation" has achieved immediate results in Taiwan; while the mainland is still figuring it out.The economy on the mainland of China has basically not yet broken away from being dominated by agriculture, so its party and government system cannot get rid of the old-fashioned medieval ones.When it will be finalized, I don't know.Historians are just spectators, not performers.So you can only write a drama review after the big axis drama ends.
[Note] This article was written in 1991. It is expected that the mainland's economy will also "take off". I didn't know how fast it would take off. (Supplementary note by the author on January 24, 1998)
Third, in terms of cultural development, the idea of control is transformed into an open mind.The development of culture originally changed simultaneously with the social and economic system.When the social economy develops to a certain extent, the culture also undergoes equal changes.When we look through world history, we do not see anyone who is culturally advanced but economically backward; nor is there anyone who is economically backward but culturally superior.Therefore, if the economy takes off, the mind must be open; if the mind is open, the economy will also take off.It is impossible to distinguish between the chicken and the egg, and between the egg and the chicken.This is the connotation and prospect of our current cultural transformation.
During the "second transformation period" in the 2,000-year history of our country, we have "transformed" these three trivial matters for more than a hundred years, and hundreds of millions of people have died. —Although the emergence of this stereotype may be at present.
Readers who are reviewing this clumsy article may have to cover up a part of the paper: what does it have to do with "Hu Shi" after writing this big article?
Answer: This is the background of the thinker Hu Shi's "time" and "space".In this background, he saw the problem and came up with the answer.However, based on the same background, Hu Shi is not the only thinker in modern China who saw the problem and came up with the answer.Farther away are Wei Yuan, Wang Tao, Rong Hong, Hong Xiuquan, Hong Rengan, Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang and so on.Those who are closer include Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Sun Wen, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao... and even Liang Shuming, who boasted that "without our nation, the nation would perish and our culture would suffer"; Deng Xiaoping, the experimentalist philosopher of Maobaimao... Wei Jingsheng, Yan Jiaqi, Bao Zunxin, Su Xiaokang, Liu Binyan, etc. are also emerging from the younger generation.They are all smart people or pretend to be smart people; they have their own views and opinions on the future and direction of China's development during the "second transformation period", as well as the eternal model that will be finalized in the future.Yan Jiaqi said affirmatively that the stereotype of the future is a "federal system".It is true that the public says the public is right, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is right.Can't agree.Mr. Hu Shizhi is actually just one of these gossiping in-laws.But he is the only subject discussed in this article.
"Hu Shixue" has now become prominent again.We will carry forward even more in the future.In the future, the works of "commentators" may be ten or a hundred times more important than Hu Shi's own works.The author doesn't study, and I don't want to follow the sages at any time, and re-enter the forest of commentaries.It's just that I once followed Master Hu to organize his "autobiography".Before my husband was alive, Yu had already divided his glorious life into two parts.My humble opinion has not been changed in the past thirty years. Since the old friends in the grand meeting have never abandoned it, I would like to add the original theory to teach others.
Hu Shi lived to be seventy-two years old.In the first half of his life before forty.He is a young man who "has made a name for himself" (even the youngest in Chinese history) Enlightenment Master.He has no guns and no political power, but at the end of the year, he smashed the most populous, most comprehensive, and oldest civilization in the world today; .
What kind of "enlightenment" did the young Hu Shi "enlighten"?Let us pass it on in a few words: "Down with the Confucian family shop"; "Total Westernization";
These words come out of the mouth of a twenty-seven or eight-year-old youth. In the 3,000-year history of China, in any era, they are crazy words that are guilty of beheading and even killing nine clans!But in the first quarter of the 20th century, Hu Shi actually "gained a big name" by relying on these crazy words, and became famous all over the world;In a word, the young Hu Shi was speaking for his youth!He is the cultural spokesperson of that era, so he can sing a hundred harmony.But what kind of era was Hu Shi's youth?Readers, if you don't worry about trouble, let us search for the root of the development of the spirit of this age.
As mentioned earlier, in the 3,000-year history of our country, there have been only two periods of social transformation, but the formation of these two periods of transformation is qualitatively different.The "first transitional period" that occurred in ancient times was "spontaneous" and "active"—it was the result of our own social and economic development, and had nothing to do with foreigners.
But the "second transformation period" that happened in our modern times was "created by others" and "passive".We used to be quite satisfied with our own political system, social pattern, and way of life.We didn't want to "transform", but we finally transformed.It is indeed the result of foreign coercion.
How do foreigners force us?It's very simple.After the Opium War (1839-1842), Western imperialism continued to invade us, and we kept losing battles and cede territory to pay compensation.To deal with foreign barbarians, we must use their own methods to control their bodies.In this way, we produced Wei Yuan, the first barbarian expert.He advocated "teaching the skills of the barbarians to control the barbarians".In other words, it is to learn technology from foreigners.In the current language, it is the "four modernizations".
After Wei Yuan, the further development of Wei Yuan's thought was the "Chinese learning for the body and Western learning for application" advocated by Zhang Zhidong and his fellow Yi people.To use the current language again, it is "four modernizations" (use), plus "one persistence"—"persist in the way of Confucius and Mencius" (text).
It was my fellow villager Li Hongzhang who developed this learning of body and use to its peak.Before the Sino-Japanese War, some "altars and jars" (borrowed from Deng Xiaoping) created by Li Hongzhang were like a powerful "Northern Navy", which was really serious.Unexpectedly, the jars and jars written by Li Shi were wiped out by the Japanese brats in a few shots.
After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, those who engaged in the "four modernizations" were discouraged.They know that the development of "technology" alone cannot solve problems;The real solution to China's problems depends on the "fifth modernization" (political modernization).So all of a sudden, progressives across the country became Wei Jingsheng.The Wei Jingshengists are further divided into two factions, civil and military.The Wen school advocates slow progress and engages in a British-style "constitutional monarchy."Their leader is Kang Youwei.The Wu faction advocated radicalism and engaged in the "establishment of the Republic of China" in the style of the American Revolution.Their leader was Sun Yat-sen.As soon as the cannons fired in the Revolution of 1911, the two factions merged, and the Republic of China was really established.
However, Wei Jingsheng's "fifth modernization" failed completely in the early years of the Republic of China—failure to the point that "the Republic of China is not as good as the Qing Dynasty", "Yuan Shikai is not as good as Lord Guangxu"...the warlords were rampant.
We have been engaged in the "four modernizations" (modernization of science and technology) for half a century, which cannot save the country.Another 20 years of "political modernization" still cannot save the country, and it is getting worse. Why is this so?The upper and lower strata of the country were puzzled, and when they were outraged, an era of Hu Shi and Hu Shi was triggered.Seventy years have passed, and the same failure inspired another "Heshang faction" on the mainland.
Hu Shi (and today’s “Heshang School”) believed that only two old Western men, “Mr. Sai” (science) and “Mr. De” (democracy) could save China (the Chinese names of these two old men were given by Chen Duxiu).But why can't China produce its own Mr. Sai and Mr. De?That is an inherent death in our national culture.Our national culture has suffered from cancer and is facing death. "There is no reason for China to perish" (Hu Shi's words).It is better for people to promote their death than God wants them to die. Since the sick old man of "Chinese culture" must die, the oxygen tube on his sickbed should be removed so that he can die as soon as possible.The old man died, the Confucian family shop was smashed, and then the descendants were completely reborn-"fully westernized"!
This is the spirit of Hu Shi’s youth, the time before and after the May Fourth Movement; it is also the last stage of the “Westernization of transportation” in the “transition period” of modern China, which came one by one.Hu Shi, a young man who spoke "crazy words", was the spokesperson at this stage.The role of "enlightenment" he played at this stage was no different from that played by Wei Yuan, Zhang Zhidong, Kang Youwei, and (early) Sun Yat-sen in their respective stages.
"Westernization" was called "communicating barbarian affairs" in Wei Yuan's era; it was called "doing foreign affairs" in Li Hongzhang's era.Zhang Zhidong called it "learning from the West"; Hu Zhu called it "Westernization".It was renamed "Modernization" after World War II.In the mainland today, it is called "learning from advanced countries" or "keeping up with the international level", etc., but they are actually the same thing, it's just that the time is different, and the amount of learning is more or less.
Wei Yuan's communication of "barbarian affairs" (just like Deng Xiaoping's "four modernizations") refers to pure technology.What Zhang Zhidong advocated was only "half westernization".What Wei, Kang, and Sun Sangong mentioned above insisted on was "political Westernization."As for the communism that entered China in the 1920s, and the fascism that entered China in the 1930s, they were both "Westernized," or as they are called, "extreme Westernized."Engaging in "human rights" and "civil rights" were originally part of Westernization.Mao Zedong denied the concept of "human rights" and said that there are no "natural human rights", only "human rights endowed by people", which may be called "unreasonable Westernization".
Therefore, "Westernization" (currently known as "modernization") is also divided into categories and various patterns.Of course, if we specialize in "scientific and technological modernization" or "four modernizations," then there is only one "four modernizations" or "modernizations."But we have evolved into various departments of politics, economy, society, and ethics, so we can't finish talking about suits.The "Westernization" comes from the "West", and the "West" is not a whole.The author is trying to teach "Western cultural history" to "Western" students.There are similarities and differences between the cultural traditions of its various nationalities.For example, Hebrew is different from Aryan, Anglo-Saxon is different from Germanic, and Latin is different from Teutonic... So, looking back at my country's "Westernization Movement" in the past century, what should we do?
Take Mr. Sun Yat-sen as an example.Before 1911, Grandpa Sun was all engaged in the American model.After the second revolution, he gradually advocated dictatorship, and finally simply "taught Russia as a teacher".Superficially, it seems that Mr. Sun Yat-sen was frustrated and stimulated by the revolution. In order to seek quick results, he abandoned the moderate American method and adopted the drastic Russian method.But a more profound view is that Zhongshan's approach is to jump from Anglo-Saxon national cultural traditions to Slavic and Germanic national traditions.
It should be known that the history of Europe and North and South America in the four hundred years after the Renaissance was originally a history of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States of the white race. Bullying the weak, oppressing the crowd, and the merger of the five tyrants and the seven heroes, the biggest winner in the end is not the "Tiger and Wolf Qin", but the more gentle and polite Anglo-Saxon.Churchill expanded it to "English-speaking peoples".
Why can the English-speaking nation establish a great imperialist empire that never fades, and a democratic United States that is "super-developed"?There is nothing high about being humble, it is because they are good at solving their own internal problems.They practice "equal rich and noble, equal to poor and lowly", and there is no need for "class struggle".They did not need the "Xi'an Incident" to engage in "fighting against the outside world and securing the inside".They don't need "three decisive battles" and "bitter strikes" to drive the hated supreme leader out of Downing Street or the White House.Patriotic youth do not need to fly any "red flag" or wear any "brown shirt" or "blue shirt".Most of their political leaders are mediocre and muddy people.However, engaging in chaotic water, peace and mud can not only solve their own internal problems, but also expand outward, defeat the enemy and establish an unprecedented colonial empire. ——These skills are not only beyond our conceited descendants of the Yellow Emperor, but also beyond the reach of Latin, Germanic and Slavic nations with the same language and the same race as them.
The prosperity, happiness, and splendid culture of the English-speaking countries not only conquered Hu Shi, but also Sun Yat-sen.Therefore, the "total Westernization" advocated by Hu Shi in the May Fourth era (later revised to "full Westernization") should be more correctly said to be "total Anglo-Americanization" or "full Anglo-Americanization".The "experimentalism" of the philosopher John Duqi was originally a conceptualization of the experience of the "Anglo-American tradition".Therefore, Hu Shizhi became the first generation ancestor of Du Xuedong's biography, and he will never change his life.
Before the "Second Revolution" (1913), Sun Yat-sen was originally full of Anglo-Americanization.But Mr. Sun is a revolutionary in action.He wants to compete with Yuan Shikai for power and for the presidency.In order to pursue immediate political results, the "Sun Wen Doctrine" has undergone a change of revision and subordination. ——He has changed from a relatively high-end and durable Anglo-American tradition that lacks special effects to the extreme tradition of Germany, Italy and Russia with special effects that cannot last. ——Sun Yat-sen cultivated the Communist Party.
But in the "Spring and Autumn and Warring States" of the past four hundred years, the Anglo-American tradition was the final victor.After the Second World War, the three defeated countries of Deyi and Japan were revived by "Anglo-beautifying" their politics.Don't you see that in the world of the 1990s, Eastern European countries and even the communist "motherland" the Soviet Union were all Anglo-Americanized!
The biggest characteristic of Hu Shi's thinking is that it will never change.Teacher Shizhi must call America the United States, and he has never changed his words in his life.
Before he was forty years old, he was the most influential youth "Master of Enlightenment". The effect of his enlightenment was to introduce America——introduce American philosophy, political system and way of life.
His lifelong study is "revolving around the word method".His "method" of sorting out "national heritage" and "recreating civilization" is only the "method" of writing master's and doctoral theses in American university research institutes.
After 40, Hu Shi is the "God of Freedom" of our Chinese nation.Although he is a male god and the "Statue of Liberty" standing in the port of New York, USA, although they have different genders and skin colors, their images and functions are exactly the same.
But in the past hundred years, China has fluctuated, and even changed every ten years.Either the east wind overwhelms the west wind, or the west wind overwhelms the east wind.Therefore, the abstract noun "America", which has not changed for a hundred years, is also fragrant and smelly in China; therefore, another abstract noun "Hu Shi", which represents the abstract noun of "America", is also fragrant and smelly.
Hu Shi in the May Fourth era was fragrant, while Hu Shi in the 1930s was "notorious" (this is what his most proud Communist student, Mr. Qian Jiaju, who is now aspiring to become a monk, said to his teacher).Indeed, by this time his colonies were all independent.The literary and ideological circles were usurped by the "Left Alliance"; the political circles were abandoned by Jiang Tingfu, Jiang Zhongzheng, and Zhang Xueliang.Hu Shi became a loner, "Professor Yangchun".In the 1940s, he smelled good and bad.In the 1950s, when the author was his Xiaodao boy, he was really ashamed—the right side called him "poisonous" in his thinking; the left side called him a "comprador scholar". ——Hu Shizhi, a white-faced scholar who is always smiling, never admits his mistakes, and dies.
After Hu Shi's death, "Hu Shi's ghost" (Mr. Hu's self-excusement speech) appeared and disappeared from time to time, and his experience was the same as before his life-a thinker, who sublimated to the level of "Hu Shi", did not care about "life and death" . ——For the issue of "foreign parties", the Kuomintang actually forced Mr. Hu's number one believer, Lei Zhen, to death.And who knows that the current report is now being cornered by an unreasonable alien party, and even the old lady who brought some valuables to go abroad will be ridiculed by the alien party to be extremely embarrassing? ——If you knew this earlier, why did you do it in the first place?
The most ridiculous thing is the Communist Party. After "my student Mao Zedong" betrayed the teacher, he cut off the teacher and classmates, old and young, by "taking off their pants and cutting off their tails" for ten years.Unexpectedly, after Mao died, his bones were cold, and Hu Shi's ghost split his noble party in two.When Mr. Hu wanted to divide the teachable KMT into two, I used to laugh at him as a "trick".Who knew that he hadn't succeeded in dissecting the country, but now he split the unteachable Communist Party in two, so cleanly!
The specter of Hu Shi not only divided the CCP into two, but it even divided Deng Xiaoping into "three or seven points"—Deng Xiaoping today is "seven points to Hu Shi and three points to Lenin." "Three points of Lenin" are for political power, face, job, and foolishness. Those who are "seven-point Hu Shi" are the current situation, the truth, modernization, and the future.
Deng Gong is like this, and so is the party.
We only see Xu Jiatun, Qian Jiaju, Yan Jiaqi, Su Xiaokang... living overseas, desperate.But you are only the tip of the iceberg.The three-point zombie faction wants to melt the seven-point iceberg, and I know it's a camel going through the eye of a needle. ——This is the key point why the Germanic, Latin, and Slavic nations cannot compete politically with the Anglo-Saxons—they cannot solve their internal problems by peaceful means.
"There are parties outside the party, and factions within the party," Mao Gong said a long time ago.In the Communist Party and even in China, with Hu Shi and Lenin as the boundary, one is divided into two, and the division is so clean and neat, which is beyond the expectation of my audience.
As for how the two of them continue to entangle, let's read the script on a donkey and wait and see.There are so many good things to do!
I know the remaining prestige of Lenin.But Hu Shi's ghost has such power, which is unexpected.
In fact, freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law were originally the spirit of the times, so how can they be attributed to one person.It's just that Hu Shizhi is the most powerful enlightenment master of this foreign thought.After the May 4th Movement, he was the only one among masters and junior masters, who persisted to the end regardless of reputation, success or failure.Today, "Hu Shi" and "freedom and democracy" are inseparable. The specific name of "Hu Shi" is enough to replace the "abstract" concept of "freedom and democracy", so he has enough power to compete with Lenin and enough to influence the future of China.
Mr. Hu told me that in traditional Chinese thought, he is most convinced by Lao Tzu.Laozi is "older" than Confucius.He is the teacher of Confucius.Confucius' thoughts were influenced by Lao Tzu—my friend Professor Cheng Zhongying, who used Western logic and reasoning to rule the history of Chinese thought, said the same thing.Mr. Hu said that his mature period of thought was in the days of Cornell University.One morning, he was on the chain bridge on the campus, overlooking the Qiserjia Grand Canyon, and saw the signs of rocks being washed into streams by water, and suddenly realized Lao Tzu's philosophy of "to overcome rigidity with extreme softness".
In fact, Hu Shi's thinking is like flowing water in the mountains.It detours, it swirls, it stagnates, it drills gaps... No matter what obstacles it passes through, it flows forever.The stream rushes over the rock, and for thousands of years, the rock will always be eroded into a grand canyon. ——This is the general direction of Hu Shi; the direction of a trend; the direction of China's future.
One of Mr. Hu's favorite Song poems is roughly: Qianyan does not allow a spring to run, blocking the sound of the stream everywhere.This is really the self-confidence of the master, and it is also the reason why Hu Shi's thought can eventually become popular all over the country.
Of course, there is no perfect saint in the world.We follow Teacher Shizhi down the river, but it does not mean that all the dogmas of Mr. Shizhi are golden rules.Hu Shi is the same as Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The conditions for him to become a sage are his master image and the general direction of his academic thought.If a great master talks about specific small issues, he is often devastated like other scholars.
As a young man in his twenties, when Hu Shi returned from overseas one day, he talked about the advantages and disadvantages of its 5,000-year civilization and wanted to reform it with wishful thinking, such as banning the reading of classical Chinese, destroying Fangkuiyu, etc. Reckless.As for his "scholarly method" of "bold assumptions and careful verification", it is only a supplementary technology in the early stage of social science, and it is not a real "scholarly method".But these are a few irrelevant small frames, and the flaws are not concealed.The author has said a lot about these small frames, and I don't want to repeat them.Let the cloud hold the moon, and hope that the commentators in the future will continue to play!I still feel that the readers are virtuous, and I will not hesitate to teach them.
* Made to commemorate Mr. Shizhi's centenary birthday