A century ago, when Chinese civilization was facing a profound crisis, a group of intellectuals with a lonely sense of knowledge ascended to the top and founded the magazine "Xueheng" in Nanjing, putting forward the idea of "studying scholarship, expounding the truth, changming the essence of the country, and melting new knowledge", which left a strong mark in the history of modern Chinese culture in the name of "Xueheng School". A century later, the Chinese nation has ushered in a new opportunity for development, and the inheritance of civilization and cultural innovation have become the call of the times. In 2022, the centenary of the founding of Xueheng Magazine, the Xueheng Research Institute of Nanjing University will hold a series of academic and cultural activities to further explore the cultural heritage of the Xueheng school and deepen and expand the research on modern Chinese cultural history. The Paper, Private History and the Xueheng Research Institute of Nanjing University jointly launched the "Centennial of Xueheng" series of articles to introduce relevant research and look forward to exchanging and discussing with readers.
Xueheng magazine
In the summer of 1924, Wu Mi, a professor at Southeast University, was about to leave Nanjing, where she had lived for three years, and go to Shenyang to teach at Northeastern University in Shenyang. On the occasion of parting, he expressed his feelings with poetry: "Flesh and blood relatives and friends are different, don't leave this day has been sad." Jiangnan did not allow long to be a guest, and Saibei was like a hometown. Forced to do the road, depression and life in the book box. Yi Yi looked back at Taicheng Liu, and worked hard for three years to hate long. The poem is full of reluctance and sorrow.
Wu Mi also has another identity, that is, the editor-in-chief of Xueheng magazine. In January 1922, Xueheng was founded in Nanjing, and by 1924, Xueheng had gone north with Wu Mi, and these two years were considered to be the most creative and influential periods of the Xueheng school. Liu Boming, Mei Guangdi, Wu Mi, Liu Yizheng and Hu Xianqiao and other backbones of the Xueheng school are all professors of Southeast University, and the rise and fall of the Xueheng school is also closely related to the university of Dongda.
Wu Mi
1. Department of Western Literature
The main leaders of the Xueheng school will be Mei Guangdi and Wu Mi, who met when they studied in the United States. Mei took the lead in returning to China and taught in Nankai, but it was not smooth. At the beginning of 1920, Mei Guangdi resigned from his teaching post in Nankai and went to Nanjing High School to teach Western literature.
Mei Guangdi's southward journey was due to the invitation of Liu Boming, the "vice president" of Nangao. Mei and Liu were former classmates at Northwestern University in the United States, and they had been friends for many years and were like-minded. Liu Boming advocated in Nangao to "cultivate talents who integrate Chinese and Western scholarship... To enable scholars to observe and study the inherent knowledge of our country with Western vision and methods. Not muddy in the past, not lost in the new." This proposition is in line with the aims of the later School of Learning. After going south, Mei Guangdi decided to take Nangao "as a place to gather comrades and friends and develop ideal careers", that is, to promote humanistic ideas and correct the new culture and new literary trends that are surging in the country. In the autumn of 1920, Mei Guangdi agreed with the Zhonghua Book Company to edit and publish the magazine "Xueheng". In 1921, Mei recommended Wu Mi and Lou Guanglai to the school. Mei Guangdi wrote to Wu Mi that Southeast University was about to be established, and he would propose to add a Department of Western Literature to the university as a base for the development of careers.
Previously, Wu Mi had made an appointment with the Beijing High School teacher, with a monthly salary of 300 yuan. Later, due to Mei Guangdi's summons, he was changed to a "micro salary" of 160 yuan per month by Nangao. The Department of Western Literature in Mei's plot was an important factor in attracting Wu Mi. In October 1921, the two jointly proposed the "Opinion on the Establishment of the Department of Western Literature" which was approved by the Professors' Association of The University of Tokyo. On November 2, the UTokyo Council decided to add a Department of Western Literature with Mei Guangdi as its director, the first Department of Western Literature established at a Chinese university.
The Department of Western Literature provides an important disciplinary platform for Mei and Wu to develop their ideal careers. Training students, disposing of funds, hiring faculty members, and conducting courses will all enjoy the power of "independence and autonomy.". Wu Mi "repeatedly wrote letters to friends in the United States" to teach at the school, including Tang Yongtong and Lou Guanglai at Harvard at the time. In December 1921, when Wu learned that Tang Yongtong wanted to hire Qinghua, he wrote to Liu Boming: "If the intention of stealing is heavy, ordinary people will go to Tsinghua." However, for friendship and our ambitions, it is advisable for Tang Jundang to do this. At the invitation of Wu Mi, Tang and Lou both came to Dongda thereafter. A group of scholars with similar ideals and aspirations gathered in the southeast to form a new academic force.
In the Department of Western Literature, Mei and Wu are also deeply recognized by students. Wu Mi believes that "Mei Junya is self-respecting, does not talk in vain, and does not lightly compose, so although the achievements are small, outsiders rarely know, and the disciples who are close to the hot are deeply convinced but not suspicious." In 1923, Tsinghua student Liang Shiqiu listened to Wu Mi teach French literature at UTokyo, "gushing endlessly, eloquently listening, like walking beads, like several family treasures", and praised the mellow beauty of the style of Dongda University after returning to school. Wu Mi said: "The three years from 1921 to 1924 were the most diligent period of Mi's life. Not only can the magazine "Xueheng" compiled by Mi be published on a regular basis every month, but also Mi's teaching classes at Southeast University, actively preparing, reading more, and enriching the content, so that the lectures will always be wonderful. And every year to open a new course, such as the "History of European Literature", so the reputation is also rising. ”
Mei Guangdi
II. "A Few Stubborn and Untamed Elements"
However, the situation of the Western Literature Department at UTokyo is not smooth. The first is the shortage of funds. Founded in the middle of the semester, the department had no separate budget in 1921 and "had no expenses other than the salaries of the faculty members as usual" were not available. In 1922, Mei Guangdi proposed a budget of 17540 yuan, which could not be implemented due to the economic support of the school. In 1923, the budget of the whole department was only more than 6,000 yuan, which was a big gap with the expectations of teachers and students. Secondly, there was a shortage of teachers, and at that time, there were only two teachers in the Department of Western Literature, Mei Guangdi and Wu Mi. Again, there is a shortage of books, and Wu Mi not only borrows books from Jinling University in the same city, but also uses private books for the reference of students in the department. Students complained: "There are no references, there are few professors, there is a lack of courses, and students and other students cannot obtain advanced knowledge in school today." "Due to financial pressures, it is difficult to do so.
More important is the divergence of ideas. Commentators mostly emphasize the old and new antagonisms between the north and the south around May Fourth, as well as the difference between humanism advocated by the Xueheng school and experimentalism advocated by Hu Shi and others. Within UTokyo, this antagonism manifests itself more directly. The new humanism of the School of Balances originated from the ideas of Irving Babbitt in the early 20th century. The New Humanism highlighted the importance of moral personality, focused on the cultivation of personality, and believed that education was not only for the pursuit of pure knowledge, but also had its moral purpose. Wu Mi believes that students should be trained to be comprehensive people with "profound knowledge, profound thinking, excellent insight, and strange aspirations." Liu Boming advocated that education should be aimed at the indoctrination and spiritual cultivation of individuals, and opposed narrow professionalism and commercial education. Liu Yizheng, another representative figure of the Xueheng school, took human ethics as an element of Chinese culture and emphasized personality education. He believes that the Chinese tradition attaches the greatest importance to education, "stressing education without the original Chinese ancient righteousness, adhering to the recent affairs of Europe and the United States as the law, and abandoning the so-called abandoned chickens and treasure wild birds."
In the history of modern Chinese universities, Southeast University is an important city for advocating new education. Guo Bingwen, a Doctor of Education from Columbia University, advocates merit- and efficiency-oriented pragmatism in school management, emphasizing the university's service to society. Guo Bingwen said: "If education is not practical, then all teaching, training, management, etc., must not be deeply in line with the needs of society." This is very different from the xueheng school's view of education. Mei Guangdi believes that there is a controversy in the educational propositions of UTokyo, the arts and sciences pay attention to humanistic and pure scientific training, learning for the sake of learning, and not seeking urgent practical use; while the various disciplines of agriculture, industry and commerce are aimed at creating specialized professional talents, and their spirit is very different, "so the controversy between the two factions arises." Li Sichun, a professor at the Department of Western Literature, also pointed out at that time that the main conservative and national reasons of the Xueheng school were only the personal ideological propositions of his generation, which was far from the study style of UTokyo under the command of "realism" and "businessman-style" educators.
Reflected in the running of schools, agriculture, commerce, education and other subjects closely related to social and economic development can obtain off-campus annotations through cooperation with government and social organs, and their development is eye-catching. Zou Bingwen, director of agricultural science, once told Guo Bingwen bluntly, "The arts and sciences are a big miscellaneous shop, but the agricultural sciences are not." In the cultural atmosphere of UTokyo, the liberal arts and sciences that emphasize basic science are called "miscellaneous shops", and the Western literature department, which aims to explore Western classical culture and literature, is even more untimely. Li Sichun once reflected: "Although the so-called Western literature is a discipline for the people to express the highest spirit, although it is necessary for the liberal arts and sciences that emphasize principles and principles, the educators who are in the 'merchant style' have only practical views in their minds, and they are regarded as heavy and solid. ”
Just as neo-humanism is marginalized in American academia, the School of Balance, as its eastern believers, is also in a non-mainstream situation in China's educational circles. In his 1932 recollection, Mei Guangdi pointedly pointed out that the School of Learning at the University of Tohoku at that time was just a collection of "a few stubborn and untamed elements".
Third, the cow and Lee enmity
The dismal management of the Department of Western Literature, personnel entanglements and departmental contradictions are inevitable. Before the establishment of UTokyo, Mei Guangdi and Zhang Shiyi, the head of the English Department, had already had a deep disagreement. The Department of Western Literature left the independent portal of the English Department, causing old grudges to add new ones, and contradictions continued to ferment, and finally broke.
For a long time, English students have been dissatisfied with the teaching staff of the department and have repeatedly asked the school to hire British and American teachers. After the establishment of the Department of Western Literature, English students could choose to stay in the Department or transfer to the Department of Western Literature, and as a result, in the summer of 1922, "half of the class" of those who requested to transfer the department caused a storm of transfer. Student Zhang Peiying bluntly said that the reason for changing the department was "not very satisfied with the English major". Zhang Shiyi wrote to Guo Bingwen, saying, "The arbitrary change of such a large number of students is enough to damage the spirit of future students and undermine the development of the entire department.". But in the end, the school still approved the transfer of students, which added new grievances to the two departments that were already deeply divided.
The contradictions eventually intensified over the selection of the head of the English department. In July 1923, Zhang Shiyi again resigned as director. Liu Boming, who presided over the school affairs, retained fruitlessly and approved Zhang's resignation. However, on August 3, professors of the English Department jointly proposed four criteria for the future director, which stipulated: "Second, there must be special research in the science of language and pedagogy, and people who are academically well-known in China." Because the department pays attention to language, those who only have literary knowledge are not competent. 3. It is necessary to have many years of experience in teaching languages and experience in education, and those who are well known in society can not only those who have graduated from foreign universities and have obtained degrees. It can be seen that there are two pertinences, one is the distinction between language and literature, and the other is the exclusion of foreign students.
The standard proposed by the professor of the English Department was not taken seriously by the school, and on the 4th, the school announced that Lou Guanglai would become the head of the department. Lou is not only an international student who has just returned from Harvard, but also proficient in the study of English and American literature, but he himself and Wu Mi and Mei Guangdi are also in the same door and have close exchanges.
Lou's appointment caused an uproar in the English department. Professors of the Department of English jointly sent a letter to Liu Boming on the same day, saying that they could not recognize the appointment. Liu tit-for-tat said that the right to appoint the head of the department is in the school, and there is no precedent for whether the departments recognize it or not. Since then, the two sides have exchanged letters, and the wording has become increasingly sharp, but the context has been greatly misplaced. The professor of the English Department proposed that the head of the department should be elected by the professors in the department, or take turns, or form a professorial committee to preside, all of which have the intention of not wanting the director's power to fall by. In particular, Lou Guang, who had close contacts with Mei and Wu, came out to take care of the long affairs, which was difficult to accept. However, in Liu Boming's view, over the years, the teachers and teaching of the English Department have been mostly dissatisfied with the students, which has reached the point where it is difficult to maintain and need to be reorganized, and he proposes to merge the two departments. In his view, the merger should take the Department of Western Literature as the main body, and it is reasonable for Lou to serve as the director.
In the 1923 academic year, Lou Guanglai was resisted by professors in the English Department and had difficulty carrying out his work. Li Sichun described the situation at that time: "Lou Guanglaijun was the head professor of the English Department, while zhang Shiyijun, the head professor of the English Department in the old days, was in the same position. So last year, the school had two English department chairs, two courses set by two directors, and two English department preparation rooms. The students were confused and confused. The master of the school ignored it. The newly hired Lou Jun, on the other hand, was particularly stunned and indignant. ”
In the autumn of 1924, Wu Mi felt nostalgic for the three years of Dongda, and wrote in a poem: "After Jiangnan went, the soldiers rose up, and the beautiful waters and mountains swept away the dust. The victory will be a new pavilion in the next life, and the old couple will be left. From the beginning of the grievances to the cattle and plums, the tail of the common hardships. The salary is broken, and the vicissitudes are true. Among them, the sentence "from the beginning of the grudge to the cattle and Lee" describes the accumulated grievances of the English Department and the Western Literature Department.
Fourth, the wind and clouds are scattered
In November 1923, Liu Boming, who was physically and mentally exhausted, became ill from overwork and died young. After losing Liu Boming's administrative "protection", the situation of the Department of Western Literature at UTokyo was even more difficult.
At the beginning of 1924, Jiangsu Province was responsible for sorting out the province's finances and cutting the budget of The Eastern University, and soon there was a proposal to abolish the department in the school. The Department of Western Literature and the Department of English have been feuding for many years, and because the head of the English Department is not at odds, the collation of the Department of Western Literature and the Department of English can be said to be the first to bear the brunt of the school's consideration of abolishing the department. On March 16, Wu Mi wrote to Wu Fangji: "Southeast University has decided to abolish the Department of Engineering, the Department of Political Science and Law and Economics, and the Department of Western Literature. All the faculty, not a single one remains. The students of TTOK once questioned Guo Bingwen about the theory of cutting science, and Guo replied: "Although there is such a proposal in the outside world, it must not be implemented." It can be seen that there is a lot of hearing about this inside and outside the school.
On April 27, the Council decided to merge the Department of Western Literature, the Department of English, and the Courses of German, French, and Japanese literature into the Department of Foreign Chinese Literature. At the beginning of May, the Committee of Foreign Chinese Literature was established to deal with the reorganization. The association is chaired by Sun Hongfen, director of arts and sciences, and its members include Wu Mi, Zhang Shiyi, Robert Winter and Cheng Qibao. In July, UTokyo appointed Winder as acting head of the Department of Foreign Chinese Literature.
Although the name was changed and merged, the Department of Western Literature was actually abolished, and the relevant people were scattered. Lou Guanglai, who had been in the struggle between the two factions for months, such as "on the fire", announced his resignation as director in April. Lou ben wanted to transfer to Nankai, but he did not make the trip, and temporarily took up residence in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Beiyang Government as an English secretary. Mei Guangdi was attacked in the school because of his love affair with Li Jinying, a girl in the department, and he had no intention of falling in love. In May of that year, Mei was hired as a Harvard Chinese teacher at the recommendation of her mentor Bai Bide. Wu Mi was dissatisfied with Mei Guangdi's absurdity in department affairs, but when the wind and rain were shaky, she had no good strategy, and finally chose to advance and retreat with the Department of Western Literature. Guo Bingwen retained him to continue as a professor, but Wu Mi resigned twice, saying that he would stay with the Department of Western Literature and go abroad to teach at Northeastern University. French professor Li Sichun returned to his hometown in Sichuan, and his heart was not without Geng Geng. In November 1924, Li remembered Wu Mi, who was far away in Fengtian, in a poem, ShiYun: "Shami's article entered the market, and Junlaoyan had no return. Dust upside down who can ask, smoldering from the world has become rare. ”
In the view of Wu, Mei and others, the division of Western literature departments is the result of the "secret dispute" on the campus of UTokyo. As a "few stubborn and untamed elements" in the school, in the "realism" and "businessman-style" orientation of running the school, the situation of western literature departments and scholars is not satisfactory. In 1923, Hu Xianhua went to Harvard again to study. In November of the same year, Liu Boming died young, and the newly formed Xueheng Pai suddenly lost its cohesion. The so-called school of learning and balance does not actually have a real faction or organization, but a loose combination of scholars' ideals. In the fierce competition for resources between the departments of UTokyo, he has fallen behind, and he has also retreated step by step in the personnel struggle involving personal interests. On the occasion of the dismissal of the Department of Western Literature, Wu Mi said vividly and sadly in a letter to friends and friends: "With the diligence and encouragement of my peers in the school, the reputation of learning, and full of pride, but it is a light net, all dismissed, the difficulty and fantasy of the world, such as it is!" ”
The flow of the Xueheng school is scattered, and the ideological rift caused by it has a far-reaching impact. Wu Mi ran away in spite of his retention, reflecting his unwillingness to go along with him. Although Liu Yizheng and Tang Yongtong stayed at Southeast University, they became representatives of the school's proposal to improve the school's affairs. In the autumn of 1924, Liu Yizheng wrote an article entitled "The Art of Scholars" in Xueheng, bluntly saying, "To slander bureaucrats and worship warlords, do you have to be a scholar?" "Sharp criticism was given to the scholars who ran through the door of the powerful. In 1925, during the Dongda Yichang wave, Liu was known as the "scourge" and "traitor", and Liu and Tang were forced to leave the school and go north.
The Xueheng school of southeastern university put itself on the edge of the mainstream of the university, took itself in the position of critics, and to some extent was a group of self-proclaimed sober "minorities". The criticism of the Xueheng school is not only a struggle against the new literary and cultural forces, but also directs the mainstream group that governs in the school. The difference between humanism and experimentalism, practical education and personality education is not only the difference in academic and educational concepts, but also reflected in specific school affairs and personnel disputes.
In the autumn of 1924, Hu Xianhua learned that Wu Mi had left Guanwai and sent two poems from Harvard to comfort him. One of the songs: "A crowd of Chu Nai groups, the ink row Yang Zhi is not paid." The rate of beasts cannibals is deeply hidden, and the migration of wages is abrupt and conspiratorial. Liaodong soap hat mourning encounters, door alley black clothes sense old tour. Mo Ji exhausted the general theory of gains and losses, and Sven was not lost in my company. Once "a few stubborn and untamed elements", what was left to Southeast University and Chinese culture was a rich ideological legacy. The encouragement of xueheng and his peers at the time of the dissipation is both a kind of relief and a certainty that flows from his heart.