Thoughts on Reading Han Shishan's Scholar Character in the Republic of China
With their personality and knowledge, the literati of the Republic of China changed the saying that "once a scholar, there was no satisfaction" and wrote their own character and responsibility with their fortitude of "preferring death to surrender, preferring life to be silent". Mr. Han Shishan, the author of The Character of Scholars in the Republic of China, devoted himself to studying modern culture and was familiar with the experiences and anecdotes of scholars in the Republic of China. He wrote the literati of the Republic of China, analyzed the characters' personalities from detailed historical facts and trivial matters and details in life, and showed the whole picture of the characters. Many scholars of the Republic of China were told by him, which was meticulous, vivid and interesting. Respectable, admirable, amiable and sensible, they will only feel that they are not living in history, but one of us. This book introduces fourteen literati in the Republic of China, and the author skillfully chooses one aspect of the characters to elaborate. For example, Liang Shiqiu's personal behavior, Ye Gongchao's temper, Pan Guangdan's literary talent, Zhu Ziqing and the woman in his eyes. ...
Although there are full and accurate historical materials as evidence, it is inevitable that anyone who writes character comments will be mixed with his own subjective feelings, and Mr. Han is no exception, although many of his views are the same as mine. For example, in the chapter "Xu Zhimo and Yu Dafu-a pair of treasures in the history of modern literature in China", Mr. Han wrote: "In the present history of China literature, when it comes to literature, it is ridiculous for me to read it. I can only say that this is written by people now, by people who only know politics but not literature. In the future history of modern literature, I don't care who writes and who doesn't, but if we don't put Xu Zhimo and Yu Dafu in an important position, then this history of literature will definitely be unqualified. To put it mildly, it is ignorance, and the focus is on indecent history. " Another example is his view on "family status": "China's history has experienced wars for thousands of years, but it has developed steadily, and China's culture has been devastated for thousands of years, but it has a lot to do with attaching importance to family fertility. It is these so-called aristocratic families that have preserved the seeds of China culture. The ancients said, "the kindness of a gentleman will be cut after five generations." "Many people say that this shows that the world is changing rapidly and there are no famous families who have stayed for a long time. I don't think it all means this, but it also means slow. The whole sentence means that it takes five generations for a moral person's demeanor to slowly decline. It means that a good family is long-lasting, not short-lived. If he really meant that, he wouldn't have said so. He will say that the power of a gentleman died in the third world and exhausted in the next world. "
However, there is an obvious preference for talented women's forests, and the chapters about forests account for almost one-third of the book. The author named this chapter "Blue Sea and Blue Sky Lin Yinhui": an outstanding intellectual woman in China, walking slowly towards us in the blue sea and blue sky. However, no matter how she goes, no matter how we go to see her, we will never find her. This is not only because of the time distance between us and her, but also because of the cultural distance between us and her. ? This song is well written, but for Mr. Lin, I think Mr. Han likes it too much, and his praise for her is beyond words. Even if there have been some shortcomings, it is considered human nature, and even a large section of historical materials is used to prove the accuracy of their views. I'm not questioning Mr. Lin's contribution to China, but whenever I talk about Lin, I don't quite agree with Liang Sicheng, Jin and Xu Zhimo. Although Mr. Lin's achievements are inseparable from their influence, when evaluating his merits and demerits, it is more important for Mr. Lin himself than her emotional history (although modern people may be more interested in the latter).
The title of this book is "The Character of Scholars in the Republic of China". Fourteen books, the heroic spirit of writers in the Republic of China, were born in Ningming and died in silence, but they were rarely reflected, only three or four at best. Most of them are about the emotional entanglements of literati in the Republic of China. Although harmless, they are all based on respect for literati and textual research on facts, and have no influence on their personality, but they always feel that some articles are irrelevant. Secondly, the praise and criticism of these literati writers is too much. I don't know if it is because his words will give readers a negative impression on the literati of the Republic of China, or because most of them are used to such gentle judgments, which makes the whole book feel sore. This is exactly what many literati of the Republic of China have in their bones: frankness, recklessness, clear love and hate, cursing when cursing, and dripping with joy. The "temperament middleman" mentioned by predecessors probably needs old-school literati to act as pacesetters. Their "temperament" is not only manifested in laughing and cursing, but also in the great storms of society. Even if you go upstream, you still go your own way. I have always felt that intellectuals in the Republic of China can only be compared with the seven sages of bamboo forest in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. They have the same political turbidity and social unrest, but they have the lovely achievements of "true celebrities, self-love" in culture. In contrast, our current intellectuals lack this true temperament, and their writing is less attractive.
? Apart from some minor flaws, we can still get a glimpse of the romance and elegance of literati and celebrities in the Republic of China through this book. They are intellectual elites who are proficient in China and the West. They are innocent children. They are respectable literati who still have dignity when dealing with power violence. Their shocking actions make them more "fun" and "interesting" and make people feel real and lovely. Unfortunately, I'm happy about it. It's a thing of the past between pitches, so I still have to be happy about it. For the space-time interval of nearly a hundred years, the spiritual time distance between us and them seems even more incalculable. Unfortunately, romance is always blown away by rain and wind. The demeanor, temperament, mind, knowledge and interest of the literati in the Republic of China have all become history, but now we can only remember the past through books. ?
? In China, the integrity of scholars is used to maintain Confucian orthodoxy. Only when scholars maintain integrity can the normal order of society be maintained. Wen Tianxiang once said: "Confucius said that we should be benevolent, and Mencius said that we should take justice, but benevolence and righteousness have been exhausted, so we should be benevolent. What have you learned from reading the books of sages? Occasionally, you have no conscience. " Let's be scholars. How many people can tell the true meaning of honesty now? Since you can't be a scholar, you can still make money without conscience.