More than 2,400 years ago, Confucius, tireless in teaching, accepted a large number of students and disciples, and the common people thereby were provided with opportunity to pursue knowledge. This was an event of tremendous importance in the development of Chinese culture.
Some would say that Confucius' educational efforts provided the most effective instrumentality in the gradual destruction of China's governing aristocracy. Whether or not this is so, it must be submitted that Confucius has exerted more powerful influences culturally than politically. He brought the people of China farther away from the laws and ways of the jungle, and provided a more civilized and reasoned outlook on life. Confucius has been accepted as China's first sage and must be ranked among the greatest known to the world.
Sagelike personalities have been found in every age. If we are to single out one from our time whose academic and moral influence in China can be compared with greats of the past, I believe we must elect Hu Shih as the first name to be considered.
It is common practice to ignore one's contemporaries. But a person such as Hu Shih can stand comparison with most intellectual giants of history. Further, his generous heart and almost perfect way of life qualify him to sit with the saintly.
Dr. Hu was born on December 17, 1891. Since his father was working in Taiwan, the child and his mother were also there from February, 1893, to January, 1895. In June, 1895, Hu the elder fell ill and was taken to Amoy. He died there the following month. In his will, written two months before, he remarked on his son's excellent mind and advised that he should study. In spite of his family's relative poverty, Hu Shih became a student. In 1910 he won a government scholarship to study in the United States. In the autumn of 1917 he returned to China to teach at Peking University, where Tsai Yuan-pei was then president.
Vernacular Movement
The most spectacular of Dr. Hu's cultural contributions was initiation of the vernacular movement. While still in America, he wrote "Suggestions Concerning the Improvement of Literature," published in the Shanghai periodical New Youth (Vol. II, No.5, January 1, 1917). This article marks the beginning of the literary revolution in China.
Dr. Hu proposed eight rules for the new literature: (1) write with substance, (2) do not imitate the ancients, (3) emphasize grammar, (4) reject sentimentality, (5) eliminate old cliches (6) do not use allusions, (7) do not use couplets and parallelism and (8) do not avoid popular expressions or popular forms of characters.
Dr. Hu said, "With the point of view of modern historical evolution, it can be definitely stated that vernacular literature is Chinese literature proper and will be necessarily used, and a sharp tool to boot, in the writings to come."
Dr. Hu's promotion campaign for the vernacular and his personal writing in that medium made it nationally popular within three years. The Ministry of Education even declared that the vernacular would be the language for primary school compositions.
The vernacular movement originally was aimed at improving literary output, but its earliest and richest harvest was reaped in the field of education. Once the vernacular was accepted, students found themselves more capable of expressing their thoughts and of comprehending their texts. The intellectual capacity of individuals has improved along with the quality of literature. Dr. Hu's vernacular contribution to the modernizing of China cannot be overestimated. His parallel might be found in Geoffrey Chaucer for England or Dante for Italy.
His Re-evaluations
Without doubt, Dr. Hu's greatest academic contributions are to be found in his researches into Chinese philosophy and his evolutionary study of Chinese literature.
In his early career at Peking University, his principal course was the History of Chinese Philosophy. At the end of the first year he had completed the first volume of History of Chinese Philosophy. The diligence of his effort was such that despite the brief time, he read all the necessary reference books and processed all the required materials to make his book what it became—an unchallenged landmark of its field. Upon its publication in February, 1919, the book became a bestseller.
It was not that histories of philosophy were lacking, but that previous writers had no conception of how to select materials and did not show they had read the ancient texts with understanding. Dr. Hu was capable of separating the spurious from the genuine. His language gave his reader no difficulty and his meaning was unmistakable. It is no wonder that the book instantly made him the best known of China's young scholars.
In the "Introduction," Dr. Hu gives a clear explanation of his research method in philosophy and the history of philosophy. Readers learn not only the philosophies of ancient China but also the ways and means of undertaking a study of China's ancient society and culture. Later writers of Chinese philosophical histories have followed his example.
Other Volumes
Dr. Hu's original project included two more volumes covering the middle ages and modern period. But in the following 40 years, Dr. Hu completed only fragmentary portions of these projected works. All who have studied the history of Chinese philosophy will regret the project's incompletion. However, a serious student can use the wisdom of the first volume as a guide in mastering the material which Dr. Hu did not cover. The weakness would be the impact and inspiration of Dr. Hu himself.
I know Dr. Hu did not really forget his philosophical history. All his life "the history of ideas" was the greatest concern of his scholarship. Not long before he died, he pointed out to this writer a remark made by a scholar of the Chin dynasty (or was it of the Yuan?) and said it was worthy of our attention. But he cared for the thoughts of men today as well as those of yesterday. Last February 22, he mentioned to me that a magazine article was well written because not one word was hastily put and every statement had its basis. This undoubtedly was the high criterion by which he judged writing.
Toward Understanding
One of his greatest contributions to scholarship is his new interpretation of old literature. Take, for example, the Book of Odes, which was recognized as one of the "five classics" as early as 2,000 years ago. Since they are "Bibles," later scholars who tried to interpret them found themselves handicapped. This conscious restraint on the part of Han scholars rendered ridiculous some of their interpretations of certain passages in the Book of Odes. Chu Hsi, a great Sung scholar, made some slight improvements but was still too often incomprehensible.
When Dr. Hu began to tackle the Book of Odes, he reduced the work to nothing more than a collection of ancient songs and ballads, and thus made it much easier to understand. The first section of the Book of Odes; "Kuan Sui," is read by the Han and Sung scholars as poems celebrating the marriage of a king in the Chou dynasty, while Dr. Hu reads them as poems descriptive of the amorous longing of the male for the female. Readers of "Kuan Sui" today cannot help agreeing with Dr. Hu's interpretation. His new look at the "Chu" poetry also has inspired delightful reinterpretations during the last 40 years.
Dr. Hu also introduced the evolutionary concept of literature. This helped students see how writing developed, and the concept also has; been applied to histories of thought and to other academic subjects. The evolutionary approach alone would be enough to command the eternal respect and admiration of students.
In 1919, Dr. Hu began to introduce experimentalism into China. The two fundamental concepts are the laboratory attitude of mind and the genetic method. To him, "experimentalism is but the application in philosophy of the scientific discipline. "
New Philosophy
Dr. Hu's experimentalism is largely derived from William James' pragmatism but augmented or modified by his own ideas and those of John Dewey. (Dr. Hu was not tempered, as William Janes was tempered, by religious considerations.) Problems of philosophy have no final, definitive answers. Accordingly, the pragmatism of James and Dewey has aroused controversy among philosophers. However, for Chinese minds of 40 years ago—characterized by so much confusion, emptiness and lack of restraint—experimentalism was a practical cure. For that matter, these ills in thinking remain prevalent today and experimentalism is still the best prescription.
It often occurs to me that if Dr. Hu's spoken and written words about thought and philosophy had been carefully heeded by the majority of our young people at the time, the situation of our country would be better. But in matters of this kind, it will not do to harp on the past. Every epoch has had its sages and their moral teachings. If posterity had followed their words of wisdom, the world would certainly be a better place.
We can only hope that certain of Dr. Hu's works will forever form part of the world's classics, and that his painstaking but magnificent efforts and lifetime of chaste and chastened living will be always remembered by intelligent people. If works and examples of this nature continue to accumulate from generation to generation, and if our tradition of liberal education does not fade away, this world must gradually improve. This seems to have been Dr. Hu's lifetime faith; it ought to be the credo of modern civilized mankind.
Intellectual Pursuits
Dr. Hu's life can be described as one of hard work. He never worked toward wealth or political position; he constantly worked for honor. To him, honor could not be had by force or by denial of truth but could be obtained only through demonstration of intellectual capacity and honorable conduct. Not to be forgotten are Dr. Hu's industry in intellectual pursuits, his enthusiasm In helping others pursue knowledge, his efforts at promoting nationwide education and cultural activities, his assiduous attention to propriety in personal conduct, his wholehearted attempts to advise people and encourage them to refrain from uncivilized behavior. All this he did with his whole soul, sensible of his honor and the honor of his country.
Dr. Hu was a most patriotic man. Next to making himself a profound and great scholar, his dearest wish was to see China become one of the first class civilized nations of the world through its own intellectual efforts. When we study his life, we find that aside from branching into a brief diplomatic career as China's ambassador to Washington during World War II, his activities were always concerned with education or academic research.
He held a key position in the China Foundation from its inception. The Foundation never had many resources. He knew its weaknesses but believed in doing what he could with what he had to use the limited funds for proper projects at the most opportune moment would necessarily do some good. This was how he painfully managed to maintain the China Foundation for more than 30 years.
In the same spirit, he chairmaned the National Council on Science Development, Republic of China, during the last four years. He thought it would be difficult for scholars and teachers to produce solid work if they lacked reasonable economic support in day-to-day living. Our national finances are impoverished, but a nation lagging behind intellectually cannot hope for a bright future. Dr. Hu therefore began to push for a long-range scientific development program. He insisted on "academic independence," by which he meant government provision of a fixed and independent budget.
Return From U. S.
This slogan did not mean that he mistrusted government, but that he was afraid officials entrusted with the nation's educational affairs might appropriate the money in such a way as to defeat what NCSD set out to accomplish. He knew there were good people in the agencies concerned with education, but that in this turbulent world there are few completely dependable individuals. The manner in which Dr. Hu conducted himself in heading up the China Foundation and NCSD can serve forever as a model for behavior of those working for such agencies.
In 1958 Dr. Hu returned from the United States to take up the presidency of the Academia Sinica. He was most happy to tackle this task. He could continue with his own intellectual pursuits and try to revive serious intellectual activities to the honor of the country. The seriousness with which he approached his work is common knowledge. The diligence of a 70-year-old became of concern to those who knew his physical condition, although his own worry was for other things. Knowing him as his friends did, they could not determinedly advise him against doing what he had put his whole being into.
On the afternoon of last February 24, he was holding a welcoming party in honor of the members of the Academia Sinica at its Tsai Yuan-pei Memorial Hall! He was inevitably excited by the cheerful words of a few members who spoke of the prospects for China's advancement in science. At a little past 6:30, when he was bidding good-by to guests, he was stricken by a heart attack. It is my belief that he was happy in the few moments before he died. It is only with such a thought that we can console ourselves when we think of this perfect man, this Hu Shih who gave his life for the intellectual good of his country.