The inheritance of China's academic torch

More than 2,500 years ago, Confucius had a dialogue with four disciples who were "familiar with the six arts", and the "Zilu, Zeng Chen, Ran You, and Gongxihua Attendants" in the Analects of The Analects advanced vividly recorded the discussion of this "theme class meeting". This dialogue not only inspired the disciples' ideal expression of serving the state affairs through the national welfare and the ceremony of the alliance, but also triggered the outstanding ideal depiction of "bathing in Yi, dancing in the wind, and returning with a chant". The whole text is only 315 words, but it embodies the subtle and simple language characteristics of the Analects, and the rich literary color displayed in the simplicity of the sages' discourses reflects the social and political ideals and the ideological moments of the people who are not far away.

Turning over the thick history of Chinese academic civilization, from Confucius's apricot altar lectures to modern university classrooms, the iteration of knowledge and ideas is inherited, such as the pyramid accumulated layer by layer, which profoundly affects the evolution of society. Each generation of great thinkers has created the academic peaks of their time, and although they have gone deep into history, their salaries are still in full swing. The times change, and academic development must be followed by those who have been in the past and those who have been opened. Today's scholars have a greater responsibility to shoulder the mission of following up on the chronicles and constantly promoting the philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics in the new era to increase their great cause and broaden their voices.

Learning is passed on from generation to generation

General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out in his congratulatory letter to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yangshao culture and the birth of modern Chinese archaeology: "Over the past 100 years, several generations of archaeologists have made unremitting efforts to make a series of major archaeological discoveries, showing the origin, development context, brilliant achievements and major contributions to world civilization, and playing an important role in better understanding the long-standing and profound Chinese civilization. "As far as modern academic history is concerned, 100 years of Chinese archaeology is undoubtedly young, however, it is precisely under the continuous struggle of several generations of archaeologists that the source and context of China's five-thousand-year civilization have gradually become clear. In the Chinese archaeologists who take the continuation of civilization as their mission and academic research as their dedication, we see the spiritual wind and bone of the Inheritance of Chinese Learning - "People can promote the Tao, not the Tao".

More than 120 years ago, the discovery of oracle bones opened a new era in the study of ancient Chinese history, since the Yin Ruins oracle bones have further reappeared in the sky, the underground archaeological data has been continuously excavated and discovered over the past hundred years, Sun Yirang, Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei, Guo Moruo, Yu Shengwu, Xu Zhongshu, Tang Lan, Shang Chengzuo, Hu Houxuan, Chen Mengjia... These predecessor scholars, who have entered the history of oracle bone science, make full use of new historical materials, combined with the records of the documents handed down from generation to generation, to crack the historical code of ancient Chinese civilization from the ancient script world like the Heavenly Book, enriching people's understanding of the history of the Yin Shang period. On November 20, 2019, Yan Zhibin, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, won the third prize of the Fifth Guo Moruo Chinese History Award for his doctoral dissertation "Research on Bronze Inscriptions in the Shang Dynasty". Gao Disciple is from a famous teacher, Yan Zhibin frankly said that he embarked on the road of archaeology and paleography research, thanks to the guidance of the two tutors' teaching methods and the teachers of the spirit of governance. Master tutor Lin Hu has made outstanding achievements in the fields of ancient scripts and pre-Qin history, and is well-known in the academic circles; doctoral teacher Liu Yiman has participated in the important excavations of the Yin Ruins oracle bones after the founding of New China, especially the excavation of the East Land Oracle Bones in the Garden in 1991, which is known as the "third major discovery of oracle osteology". It is on the basis of the research of previous scholars that Yan Zhibin's paper once again comprehensively sorts out the Bronze Inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, establishes the time frame of the Bronze Inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, and deepens the study of Shang History. As Ge Jianxiong, a professor at Fudan University, said in the "General Introduction" of the "Modern Academic Masters Lecture Hall" series in 2009, "'Passing on the fire' depends on the fire not extinguishing." Chinese civilization can flourish and flourish for a long time, and carry forward and flourish, relying on the fire of generation after generation."

"Academic dedication cannot be half utilitarian." This is the greatest lesson that Professor Wang Chengluo of the Institute for Advanced Study of Confucianism at Shandong University has learned from his predecessors. He successively studied under Wang Shaozeng and Dong Zhi'an, two philologists, and Wang and Dong ershi were both taught by the classical academic master Gao Heng. The outstanding talents cultivated and inherited by Gao Heng and other scholars of the older generation have become the new force in several large-scale Chinese classical literature collation projects after the founding of New China. "The Qing History Manuscript Art Literature Zhi Collection" is Mr. Wang's most accomplished work, the first time to truly clean up the Qing people's writings; the editor-in-chief of the "Complete Book of the Two Han Dynasties" is Mr. Dong's greatest contribution. At an advanced age, Mr. Wang is still obsessed with learning, and there is no other reason to explain it except for the responsibility of continuing to study in the past; the energy invested by Mr. Dong in compiling the anthology of the ancestors is immeasurable, and there is no other reason to explain except academic inheritance and dedication to the teacher. Under such a teacher's inheritance, Wang Chengluo edited and sorted out the "Supplementary Compilation of the Twenty-Five History, Art, Literature, and Classics" and the "Continuation of the Twenty-Five History, Art, literature, and Classics", promoting the study of classic culture and the history of academic thought, and fulfilling the long-cherished wish of the scholars of the previous generation.

In 2020, a collection of essays in honor of the late philosopher Ye Xiushan, "Life only for philosophical thoughts", was published. In the "Preface" to the anthology, Huang Yusheng, a professor of philosophy at Tsinghua University who studied under Mr. Ye for many years, wrote: "Mr. Ye's pure philosophy is actually the philosophy of freedom. What is particularly valuable is that Ye Xiushan has always engaged in dialogue with the greatest philosophers in history and his contemporaries at the height of the first philosophy. Philosophy for him is not only a professional and technical work, but also an ideological undertaking. "Purity and freedom" not only constitute the theoretical interest of Ye's philosophy, but also reflect the philosopher's academic spirit beyond all utilitarian purposes. "Without this spirit, it is difficult to do academic work with peace of mind, especially it is difficult to do philosophy with peace of mind." Huang Yusheng said.

Learning high is the teacher's moral high is the model

Learn to propagate the Tao, and teachers to preach. A scholar who preaches both the Tao and preaches is the true teacher.

There are talented people in the Jiangshan generation, and only by passing on the torch can academic China we keep singing, and only by opening branches and scattering leaves will we increase the glory of things. Cultivating outstanding talents in philosophy and social sciences has been one after another, and realizing that there are successors and talents are the fundamental plan, and Mr. Wang Shaozeng and Dong Zhi'an have devoted a lot of effort to this. After more than thirty years, Wang Chengluo still treasures the papers revised by his predecessors, which retain their densely packed grading handwriting. Wang Shao once referred to the practice of his teacher Qian Jibo at that time, combined with his own experience, summarized the experience of cultivating students as: "Attach importance to edification, allude to education in teaching; strict requirements, diligent inspection; mutual discussion, inspiration for thinking; read more and write more, and steadily improve." In terms of writing articles, Dong Zhi'an often asks students to have a copy of the material to say a word, concise and concise, and express it well. His own articles are more self-demanding, must be based on evidence, and the arguments must be profound, and are called "dry goods" by colleagues in the academic community. Philology is a real skill that requires the accumulation of experience. Let the students grow in the project and practice, learn the first-hand skills, and prepare for the future scientific research alone, which is the successful experience of the two gentlemen in cultivating students. Today, Wang Chengluo has also become a teacher, not only inheriting the knowledge of the predecessors of Everbright, but also inheriting their teaching methods. "Watching the students grow and make achievements day by day, I experienced the sense of accomplishment and happiness of the tutors."

Archaeology is a highly specialized discipline. Lin Hu is good at adjusting the course content and teaching method according to the characteristics and interests of each student, focusing on training students' weaknesses in the knowledge structure, cultivating students' sensitivity to discover problems, observing the profundity of problems, and the academic spirit of "not following the clouds and following the waves". This sense of training of his also inherited from his teacher Yu Shuwu. Yu Shengwu is the oracle bone scientist who knows the most oracle bone scripts after Luo Zhenyu, but Yu Lao does not only focus on the interpretation of ancient characters, but hopes to explore the problem of ancient history through the interpretation of ancient text materials. Elder Yu expected students to write such historical masterpieces as Wang Guowei's "TheOry of the Yin Zhou System". Liu Yiman has participated in many archaeological excavations at the Yin Ruins site, and she was taught by Xu Xusheng, the founder of mainland archaeology, focusing on the combination of archaeology and oracle osteology. In the collation and research of oracle bones, she stressed that oracle bone research is not limited to oracle bone script, and all matters related to the oracle bone and the matters involved in the oracle bone should be within the scope of research. This realization also affected her students. "Ms. Liu is a peaceful and gentle person, she fully respects the students' research orientation, encourages us to choose our own topics, explore freely, and provide timely guidance." In the study, Professor Liu stressed that the study of ancient characters should start from archaeology and have archaeological characteristics. Yan Zhibin said.

Ye Xiushan trained his students in a philosopher's way. "As a student, every time I communicate with him, what I am most afraid of is not lack of knowledge, but lack of ideas." Huang Yusheng believes that Mr. Ye's training method seems to be "laissez-faire" and "tolerant" on the one hand, he allows students' interest and thinking to do the research he most wants to do, leaving students with sufficient space for independent thinking, allowing different academic propositions, especially encouraging and valuing views that are different from his own; on the other hand, he is strict and even "picky". "When I was in school, Mr. Ye asked me to talk to him at least once a week about my recent readings and my understanding." Huang Yusheng recalled that Mr. Ye judged whether the other party had read it and grasped the gist of it by listening to the students talk about their reading experience. "Mr. Ye uses his way to force students to face the problem itself while doing his best to expand professional knowledge, and his thinking is based on deep professional research." Today, as a doctoral supervisor, Huang Yusheng also pays attention to the equal and open training of students, and does not draw "teachers" as a prison. When a student calls himself a "yellow door", he does not agree, but prefers to call it "philosophy door". "In this door, they are all the same way of truth, the same door of freedom."

Following the chronicles, there is no pioneering

In the inheritance of Chinese scholarship, although the continuation of the zhi is precious, there is no more pioneering realm. As a scholar of the younger generation, when there is a determination of "I love my teacher, I love the truth more", we can continue to expand the academic aspirations of our predecessors, create new academic peaks for the era in which we live, and open up a path for the continued deepening of academic history. In fact, this is what teachers expect from their students: there is nothing more important to achieve as a teacher than to see students achieve more than they can achieve.

In 2019, Mr. Ye Xiushan's posthumous book The Hope of Philosophy: The Development of European Philosophy and the Opportunities of Chinese Philosophy was published. This is a key topic applied by Mr. Ye to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences under the title of "The Historical Development of European Philosophy and the Opportunity of Chinese Philosophy", and this research is full of the contemporary Chinese philosopher's ardent hope for Chinese philosophy. "Mr. Ye not only used his own ideological experience to personally testify the ideological ability of Chinese thinkers, but also verified the depth and universal significance of Chinese thought by confronting Chinese and Western thought, and based on this, he gained insight into the possible future of Chinese thought." Although many later generations of scholars have not been able to personally favor Mr. Ye, reading his philosophical works can also directly feel the charm of his extremely original ideas. As Huang Yusheng said, Ye Xiushan's works not only have systematic discussions and reflections on the first philosophical issues, but also established the self-contained systematic ideas on the first philosophical issues of his time in the Chinese-speaking world, and also opened up a new possibility for the future of philosophy, that is, cross-cultural and cross-traditional Chinese philosophy.

"Master leads you through the door, and your practice depends on yourself." This sentence was verified by Yan Zhibin. In 2001, his first work into the field of paleography was published, "Four Editions of the "Jin Wen Compilation" Proofreading Supplement". This research is the result of Yan Zhibin's study of jinwen materials under the guidance of Lin Hu. In his doctoral studies, he applied the method of "combining archaeology and paleography" advocated by two teachers, Lin Hu and Liu Yiman, to his research. Yan Zhibin built a database of Shang Dynasty bronze inscriptions and created ancient characters, which took more than two years alone; it was more difficult to solve the problem of refining the age of Shang Dynasty bronze inscriptions. Yan Zhibin's achievements have been recognized by the academic community, and the two gentlemen have also encouraged the achievements of students.

In the practice process of Chinese philosophy and social sciences developing with the times and forging ahead with the people, the academic spirit of respecting the law and guarding the truth, the academic stance of serving the country and the people and being willing to dedicate, and the academic character of constantly exploring and daring to innovate have become the precious spiritual wealth of future generations of scholars. In order to reward future generations of scholars to carry forward the spirit of academic predecessors and encourage academic talents to climb to new heights, various professional academic awards named after the scholars of the predecessors are numerous in the academic circles, such as "Sun Yefang Economic Science Award" (1985), "Hu Sheng Youth Academic Award" (1997), "Guo Moruo Chinese History Award" (1998), "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" (1998), "Qian Duansheng Legal Research Achievement Award" (2006), "Rizhi World History Award" (2013)... At the 19th Awarding Ceremony of the Sun Yefang Economic Science Award on January 9, Huang Qunhui, director of the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said enthusiastically: "Young students are the future of Chinese economics, and the future innovation and development of China's economics is realized by young students, and the hope of future Chinese economics lies in the unremitting efforts of these young students." "Inheriting and carrying forward the academic spirit, academic stance and academic character of the older generation of economists represented by Sun Yefang, encouraging young students to study hard, love the cause of economic research, and determined to benefit the people and repay the society with academic research is not only an academic good story, but also an important embodiment of the unremitting efforts of economists across the country to build a Chinese economic discipline system, academic system and discourse system." As the winner of the 18th Only Book Award of the Award, Professor Qiao Hongwu of the School of Economics and Management of Wuhan University said that Mr. Sun Yefang's exploration of the law of China's socialist economic construction did not copy the template envisaged by the classic writers of Marxism, nor copied the reproduction of the capitalist market economy, but took Marxist economic thought as the guide and put forward the important idea that "the law of value still has to play a role", which reflects his outstanding contribution to the construction of the subjectivity, nationality and originality of new Chinese economics It has set an example for contemporary scholars to construct philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics.

"Scholars come out of politics, and politicians learn from them." Scholarship divorced from the conditions of the times does not respond to the people's actual concerns, has nothing to do with the future and destiny of the country and the nation, and is bound to miss the practical opportunity for vigorous development. In the journey of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, philosophical and social science workers shoulder a special historical mission. Prospering Chinese scholarship, developing Chinese theory, disseminating Chinese thought, grasping the historical initiative, and conforming to the "time" and "trend" of the development of the new era have opened up broad prospects for the development of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. Striving for a new era, creating a bright future, and realizing the dream of a great cause is to develop China, change the world, and create history, which will inevitably inspire the sustainable inheritance of China's academic torch.

Editor: Jia Wei