The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

The Republic of China was an interesting and helpless era. Take the quarreling people in front of you as an example, and the confusion of thought can be seen.

Both Wu Zhihui and Qian Xuantong actually belonged to the "School of Abolishing Chinese Characters". They also know that the abolition of Chinese characters cannot be achieved overnight, and it needs to be done slowly, such as simplifying characters first and transitioning to the Latin alphabet step by step.

This idea is exactly the same as in the early days of New China. Our party is also preparing to simplify Chinese characters first, and finally make Chinese characters completely alphabetized.

After the meeting, Qian Xuantong took the initiative to approach Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, are you interested in chatting about simplified characters?"

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "My foundation in Chinese studies is very bad, and I don't have much research in language and writing."

"No, no," Qian Xuantong waved his hand and said, "Mr. Taiyan has read your novel manuscript, and he said that it is full of simplified characters, and some of them have been simplified too much. From this point of view, you and I are fellows. people."

Qian Xuantong was also a student of Zhang Taiyan. Together with Lu Xun, he studied phonology, exegesis and "Shuowen Jiezi" with Zhang Taiyan. Qian Xuantong used to be the editor of "New Youth" and actively promoted the vernacular movement. It was because of his invitation to Lu Xun that the novel "Diary of a Madman" was born.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Mr. Yigu, we are not of the same kind. I hope that Chinese characters can be simplified appropriately, but I firmly oppose the abolition of Chinese characters. Our starting point is completely different."

"I don't want to abolish Chinese characters," Qian Xuantong said with emotion, "but with the development of the times, Chinese characters have gradually become outdated. Whether it is the expression and application of natural science or the dissemination of knowledge information, Chinese characters are extremely inconvenient to use. The alphabetization of Chinese characters is the general trend of history, and our generation is just a promoter, and I hope that future generations can benefit from it.”

Zhou Hexuan was silent, he didn't want to argue anymore, because it was impossible to convince the other party.

Zhou Hexuan took the initiative to change the subject and asked, "I heard that Mr. Ling is studying at Peking University?"

"You mean the third child?" Qian Xuantong laughed, "He is studying the preparatory course of Peking University, and he is also taking undergraduate courses. Young people think differently. I originally wanted to train him into a talent of Chinese studies, but he is more interested in physics. .”

Zhou Hexuan said: "If you are good at studying physics, the country needs science and engineering talents the most."

Qian Xuantong said: "I hope he can learn something famous."

The "oldest" they discussed was Mr. Qian Sanqiang, the hero of the two bombs.

The "Qian family" in the Republic of China produced too many capable people, such as Qian Xuantong, Qian Mu, Qian Weichang, Qian Zhongshu, Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Qian Zhonghan... there are more than 10 academicians from both sides of the strait.

Zhou Hexuan and Qian Xuantong were chatting along the way, and before they left the Central University, Duan Xipeng, the deputy minister of education, caught up and shouted: "Mr. Zhou, please wait a moment!"

Zhou Hexuan turned around and asked, "What advice does Minister Duan have?"

Duan Xipeng said with a smile: "It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Education. Now, as the president of Central University, I am sending an invitation to Mr. Zhou. I hope that Mr. Zhou can serve as a visiting professor of history at Central University."

"I'm very honored, but I'm afraid I don't have much time to come here to give lectures." Zhou Hexuan said.

"It doesn't matter," Duan Xipeng said, "as long as there is an opportunity, Central University welcomes Mr. Zhou to give lectures at any time. The end of the semester is coming soon, and Mr. Zhou happens to be in Nanjing. Why don't you tell the students about history in these few days."

Zhou Hexuan thought for a while and said, "No problem, Principal Duan will arrange the time."

"How about tomorrow afternoon?" Duan Xipeng asked.

"Yes." Zhou Hexuan said.

"That's great," Duan Xipeng said happily, "Central University is short of a scholar who is proficient in Western history like Mr. Zhou, and the students have been looking forward to it for a long time."

During the period of the Republic of China, the National Central University, because of the strong support of the Ministry of Education, this school has extremely strong faculty. Take the history major as an example, Central University is no weaker than Tsinghua University and Peking University, and has invited many masters of Chinese studies to teach.

It is a pity that in terms of world history, Central University has not yet recruited top talents due to the short period of its establishment. It was not until Shen Gangbo and others joined that Central University made up for its shortcomings in the field of world history.

Duan Xipeng immediately invited Zhou Hexuan to visit the History Department of Central University, and introduced Xu Ziming, Miao Fenglin and other professors of history.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou, I have admired you for a long time!" Xu Ziming is the head of the history department of Central University, responsible for teaching Western history. He was quite excited after seeing Zhou Hexuan.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "Hi, Professor Xu."

Although Xu Ziming is proficient in Western history, he advocates preserving the quintessence of the country just like Gu Hongming, and actively opposes the May 4th Movement and the Vernacular Movement. At that time, he and Hu Shi had a very happy writing battle, and wrote an article "Hu Shi Cong Tan", denouncing Hu Shi's May 4th Movement as a disaster that destroyed traditional culture.

Several people walked into a classroom talking and laughing, and the students inside heard that Zhou Hexuan was coming, and immediately surrounded them frantically. Just like meeting a celebrity, all kinds of handshakes and autographs, twittering Zhou Hexuan non-stop.

Zhou Hexuan was dealing with many students, and picked up a textbook on the desk. This book is called "Western History", which was translated and compiled from many Western history books. Zhou Hexuan took a quick look at the catalog and found that the content was really rough.

"Is this the Western History textbook of Central University?" Zhou Hexuan asked with a frown.

Xu Ziming explained: "It was edited at Southeast University (the predecessor of Central University), and it was edited very hastily, and there were some mistakes and omissions. When I teach students, I have to add and correct some content by myself, otherwise I will mislead my students. "

The textbooks of Central University are so perfunctory, which shows how bad the overall situation is.

In the early and middle period of the Republic of China, the textbooks of domestic universities were all solved by themselves. The schools that are good are carefully compiled, and the ones that are not good are just messed up. Especially for foreign-related subjects, most of them are pirated translations.

The best Western history textbook during the Republic of China was Mr. Yu Xiezhong's "General History of the West", but that book will have to wait for several years to be published.

Zhou Hexuan turned to Duan Xipeng and said, "Principal Duan, I want to compile a textbook of Western history. I wonder if Central University is interested?"

"Of course I'm interested," Duan Xipeng said with a smile, "Mr. Zhou is a master of world history. The textbook you edited yourself must be an authoritative work. As long as this book is compiled, Central University will immediately adopt it!"

Zhou Hexuan's goal is not just the Central University. He hopes that all universities in the Republic of China will adopt the Western history textbooks he compiled.

Textbooks are the easiest thing to carry private goods and subtly transmit one's own thoughts to students.

Zhou Hexuan plans to use Stavrianos' "Global History" as a blueprint this time, delete the advanced parts, and add some patriotic ideas.

Putting "General History of the World" in the 1930s is definitely another shocking work, which will not only affect school students, but also world-renowned historians will probably regard it as a treasure. Later generations of scholars spoke highly of "Global History", calling it "a new starting point for the compilation of contemporary world history, one of the 10 books that have influenced world history, and a classic work in the history of the development of human civilization."

By the 21st century, many universities in the United States have adopted "Global History" as a basic course textbook, and even some military academies have selected it as a textbook.