The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Tsinghua University, history class.

Zhou Hexuan threw away the chalk and began to talk eloquently:

"From today onwards, we start talking about the decline of civilizations. This issue is very easy to understand. Among the 28 civilizations we mentioned before, at least 18 have died and disappeared, and the remaining 10 civilizations are: Chinese civilization The main part of China - China, Japan, a branch of Chinese civilization, Western civilization in Europe and the United States, and the Orthodox main body of Western civilization in the Near East, the branch of Western civilization in Russia, and Islamic civilization, Indian civilization, Pollini Subcivilization, Eskimo civilization and nomadic civilization.

If we carefully examine these 10 existing civilizations, we will find that the Polynian civilization and the nomadic civilization are already in the dying stage. The remaining 7 civilizations, including Chinese civilization, are being eliminated or assimilated by Western civilization. By the way, the Eskimo civilization is a special case. This civilization stopped growing in its infancy, and it didn't mature at all, let alone decline..."

Qian Zhongshu sat in the classroom, instead of taking notes, he opened a novel and listened to the lecture.

When Zhou Hexuan mentioned that the seven major civilizations, including the Chinese civilization, were being eliminated and assimilated by Western civilization, and were gradually declining, Qian Zhongshu couldn't help frowning. He finally closed his novel and listened carefully to Zhou Hexuan's lecture.

The point of view that Zhou Hexuan elaborated next is very different from Toynbee's original work.

According to Toynbee, the symptom of the decline of civilization is the emergence of unified states. He used Roman civilization as an example. The great unification of Rome used force to prolong the life of civilization, and the same is true for other civilizations. For example, the Chinese civilization has declined since the great unification. Its performance is that the contention of a hundred schools of thought no longer exists, social thinking tends to solidify, civilization no longer grows and rises, and the rest of the time is spent continuing to live.

As for Western civilization, Toynbee believes that Western civilization has not been unified and has always been on the rise. Therefore, except for Western civilization, all other existing civilizations are in a state of decline.

Zhou Hexuan only partly agrees with these views. He feels that Chinese civilization is uniquely inclusive. The great unification has indeed slowed down the development of Chinese civilization, but it has continuously absorbed foreign civilizations in the process. Today, if Chinese civilization wants to continue, it must retain the core of civilization, tolerate and absorb the advantages of Western civilization, so that Chinese civilization can break down the old and establish the new, and radiate new vitality.

Finally, Qian Zhongshu couldn't help raising his hand, and asked, "Teacher, what is the core of Chinese civilization?"

Zhou Hexuan laughed and said, "One word—and!"

"And?" Qian Zhongshu was a little puzzled.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Harmony is not peace, nor harmony, and it is not the idea of ​​the mean. To put it bluntly, it is inclusiveness. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, when Bo Yang's father discussed the political situation with Zheng Huangong, he proposed that "harmony is the same as life." I think the point of view of not following is very subtle. And, it represents tolerance; same, it represents exclusion. In my course of "Human History and Civilization", Professor Toynbee believes that the great unification means the decline of civilization. His grand unification theory cannot When explaining Chinese civilization, he confuses 'tong' with 'harmony'. Many people think that Confucianism is the same as 'tong', which means assimilating ideas and rejecting heresies. And other thoughts are included in it, and later it is absorbed into the thoughts of Taoism and Buddhism, and now it can naturally absorb Western civilization. "Being equal to him is what he calls harmony, so it can be rich and long and return to it. If you benefit from the same, it is all Abandon it.' To put it more bluntly, Chinese civilization can be 'new day by day, day by day, and day by day'. Confucius also had a saying, 'Gentlemen are harmonious but different, and villains are united but not harmonious'. Personally As well as the country and civilization, it is to pursue a kind of diversification, allowing different ideas, different views, and different civilizations to merge together to realize the self-evolution and renewal of Chinese civilization.”

Qian Zhongshu asked again: "Chinese civilization can indeed absorb foreign civilizations, but if this foreign civilization, such as the current Western civilization, is far stronger than Chinese culture, what should we do? If it absorbs too much, China will 'change itself with barbarians'." It's summer, and the Chinese civilization is also completely westernized, and it is still heading for decline and extinction."

"It is indeed possible," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "It depends on whether the Chinese civilization can persist. Perhaps in a few decades, Chinese people will wear western suits, eat Western food, see Western doctors, and imitate Western customs in weddings and funerals. But There is one thing that cannot be changed, and that is Chinese characters. Losing Chinese characters means losing Chinese history, losing civilization inheritance, and losing the bond of national unity.”

Another student raised his hand and said: "But now many scholars call for the abolition of Chinese characters, because Chinese characters have not kept up with the development of the times. Western Latin characters can be easily typed with a typewriter, but the output efficiency of Chinese characters is very low. This is not true. Conducive to the dissemination of cultural science."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Technology is advancing, maybe in the future, new machines will be invented that can output Chinese characters perfectly and conveniently and typesetting and printing?"

This sentence is not convincing, and the students attending the class are not time travelers, so how could they have expected the emergence of electronic computers.

After a lecture, some students were convinced, while others were skeptical of Zhou Hexuan's point of view.

Zhou Hexuan finished his handouts and was about to leave when suddenly a young man came from below and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhou, my name is Qian Mu. I am very inspired by your courses."

"It turned out to be Professor Qian. Your "Chronology of Liu Xiangxin's Father and Son" also benefited me a lot." Zhou Hexuan shook hands with him.

Qian Mu is a newly rising star in the field of Chinese historiography. He published "Chronology of Liu Xiangxin and His Son" earlier this year, which solved a major mystery in modern academic history. This article clarified the 2,000-year-old dispute between modern and ancient prose through just one "Book of Han", and slapped Kang Youwei in the face, pointing out 28 mistakes in Kang Youwei's "Xin Xue Pseudo-Classical Test".

Qian Mu also became famous because of this article, and was invited to be a Chinese lecturer at Yenching University, and also gave part-time lectures at Tsinghua University and other universities. He came to Tsinghua University today to finish his lecture, and came to listen to Zhou Hexuan's "History of Human Civilization" out of admiration.

Zhou Hexuan looked at Qian Zhongshu who was leaving the classroom, and then at Qian Mu in front of him, feeling extremely funny.

Now that Qian Mu has written his masterpiece "Introduction to Chinese Studies", he is going to find his good friend Qian Jibo to write the preface. Qian Jibo fully agreed, but asked his son Qian Zhongshu to write it as a ghostwriter. Qian Zhongshu, who was less than 20 years old, wrote this preface with great proficiency, as if it was written by a master of Chinese studies and historiography.

It wasn't until a few years later that Qian Mu found out that the preface to his work was actually written by a brat, and since then he has been alienated from Qian Zhongshu and his son. Later, when "Introduction to Chinese Studies" was republished, the preface was simply deleted, obviously very dissatisfied.

"Mr. Zhou, I still have some questions about the historical research theory you proposed." Qian Mu said.

"It's not enough to ask for advice, but to communicate with each other," Zhou Hexuan said, "Let's talk while walking."

Qian Mu took out a thin booklet called "Modern History Research Method". This is the content of Zhou Hexuan's first lecture at Tsinghua University. He divides the content of historical research into seven major elements: politics, history, economy, nationality, diplomacy, culture and personal, and also studies the cause, process, result and influence of history. element.

This book has recently been sorted out and published by Peking University Publishing House. The sales volume is not very good, barely selling more than 1,000 copies. However, it aroused great repercussions in the Chinese historian circle. Some historians began to study history according to the method proposed by Zhou Hexuan. These historians were later classified as the "Zhou School".

Although Qian Mu did not conduct historical research completely according to this method, he borrowed part of the content, and he could barely be regarded as a member of the "Zhou School".

Zhou Hexuan and Qian Mu chatted all the way, and finally went to the pavilion in Tsinghua Garden to talk in detail, and they didn't end the discussion until it was getting dark.

"Listening to what you have to say is better than reading ten years of books. Goodbye Mr. Zhou!" Qian Mu smiled and shook hands.

"Where is it, I just proposed some novel methods, and my attainments in Chinese history are far inferior to Mr. Qian's." Zhou Hexuan said sincerely.

Many people have read "Hanshu", but only one "Hanshu" can solve the outstanding case of "controversy between modern and ancient Chinese". For more than 2,000 years, only Qian Mu can do it. He is a proper super historian.

After leaving Tsinghua University, Zhou Hexuan did not go to live in Peking University, but went to Meng Xiaodong's natal home for dinner, and accompanied Meng Xiaodong to visit Yu Shuyan the next day.