"Xueheng" Centennial - Liu Boming: Another Clue to Understanding the Xueheng School

In 1922, the 35-year-old Liu Boming was unusually busy. He is a professor of philosophy at Nanjing Higher Normal School and National Southeast University (the predecessor of Nanjing University), with the responsibility of teaching knowledge and guiding students, and he is also the deputy director of the President's Office of NGC-UTV, with the mission of maintaining order throughout the university and transforming the floating style of study. In addition, he is an important supporter and lead author of the newly founded "Xueheng" magazine. In 1922 alone, he published six articles in Xueheng magazine, all of which were "deliberate works of life". Overworked and exhausted, he died of meningitis the following year. On the day of commemorating the centenary of the founding of Xueheng, Liu Boming should not be forgotten.

Liu Boming

I. Liu Boming and the Xueheng School

Looking at the historical narratives about the Xueheng school, the dispute between Mei Guangdi and Hu Shi is often talked about, and Wu Mi's painstaking management of "Xueheng" is really lamentable, and the rest such as Liu Yizheng, who has the style of an elder, and Hu Xianhua, who is both scientific and literary, all show a unique character style. However, Liu Boming, who was publicly promoted as a leader by the founders of Xueheng magazine, has not yet attracted enough attention from the academic community.

In fact, liu Boming's support was indispensable for Mei Guangdi and Wu Mi and others to gather in Nanjing and co-found Xueheng magazine with Liu Yizheng, Hu Xianqiao and others who were already in Nanjing. In 1920, Mei Guangdi returned from the United States and first taught at Nankai University, and soon after was hired by Liu Boming to teach at Nangao-Dongda University. At the same time, Mei Guangdi also invited Wu Mi to come with him, so that the inaugural issue of Xueheng was founded in 1922. Not only that, Liu Boming himself was deeply involved in the whole process of "Xueheng" from the beginning of its conception to its practice. In addition to writing a large number of articles, according to the author's speculation, the word "Xueheng" itself may have come from Liu Boming. In the article "The Spirit of Scholars", published in the first issue of Xueheng in 1922, Liu Boming criticized the phenomenon of "thirsting for new knowledge" but "not choosing anything else" in the academic circles at that time, and concluded: "All these things, the balance of governance and the academic curriculum, its suspension can not be calculated." Whether literally or literally, there is a high correlation between "balance of learning" and "balance of governance of learning".

Feeling liu Boming's important influence and significance on the cause of Xueheng, Wu Mi called him "a high standard and great hope, a leader of the group of sages"; Mei Guangdi also fondly recalled: "In the eleventh year of the people (1922), "Xueheng" magazine was born, and the master of his affairs was a small number of stubborn and untamed members in the school, and Bo Ming was the leader. ”

Second, Liu Boming's ideological transformation before the founding of "Xueheng"

However, Liu Boming's cooperation with Mei Guangdi, Wu Mi and others did not happen overnight. In fact, Liu Boming's attitude and propositions have changed to a considerable extent in the new cultural movement that surged up after May Fourth, especially the phenomenon of students participating in social movements. In Liu Boming's own words, he "advocated the spirit of outward orientation at the time of May Fourth", but soon after "the spirit of the Lord inward". This change was not only of great significance to Liu Boming himself, but also a necessary prerequisite for the members of the Xueheng school to be able to develop their careers and advocate their humanistic ideas at Nangao-Dongda.

The so-called "outward spirit" is mainly manifested in social awareness and social services. In April 1919, the Educational Survey Organized by the Ministry of Education proposed to change the original purpose of education to "cultivate a sound personality and develop a republican spirit". In this regard, Liu Boming expressed his praise. In his view, the so-called sound personality is actually a personality that conforms to the spirit of the republic. "The so-called republican spirit, the sympathy of the wise, the will of goodness, the motivation of society, the self-respect and respect of others, the exchange of experience, the self-regard and the regard of people as hooves." This spirit is mainly directed at the external society, reflecting a character of "being human" rather than "self-serving".

Regarding the relationship between the self and society, Liu Boming emphasized: "I am for me, and I belong to the group. I'm closely related to the big crowd. He even proposed: "My life is not my own, and so is the social commission." My personality is not my own, and so is the commission of society. "Since I am subordinate to society, my dedication to society is actually equivalent to my own welfare. It should be emphasized that serving society and even devotion to society is not motivated by compulsion, but is achieved through the true self-consciousness of the individual. To achieve true self-consciousness, it is necessary to carry out "group education." Liu Boming pointed out: "The true spirit of mass education, in short, is the spirit of serving the society and the spirit of participating in social undertakings. The spirit of this time is rooted in the imagination of society. If there is imagination, then universal and enduring sympathy is born. Here, Liu Boming put forward a view that seems very classic today: the imagination of individuals on society. This coincides with the "imaginary community" proposed by contemporary scholar Benedict Anderson. Anderson believes that the nation has not actually existed since ancient times, but is the product of the combined effect of many conditions such as print capitalism in modern times. The pivot is the imagination of many individuals of the same community, which in turn produces identity. As a result, the nation was formed, and wave after wave of nationalism continued to surge. A hundred years ago, Liu Boming had already proposed that the existence and development of society requires individual imagination of it. This kind of imagination is extremely necessary, otherwise, "confined to selfish interests, ignoring the interests of others and the advances and retreats of society, and benefiting oneself, even at the expense of others."

Under the influence of american educational ideas represented by Dewey, and also feeling the violent shock brought about by the student movement, Liu Boming in 1919 actively encouraged students to cultivate an outward spirit and social awareness. He said with emotion: "The occurrence of a student tide like this time has caused the people of the whole country to pay attention to state affairs, and the society that has always been insensitive has gradually become motivated." This is the lifeblood of China's frontline, which cannot be underestimated. Liu Boming hopes to take this as an opportunity to guide students out of the classroom and into the society, so as to truly become a member of the society, rather than a selfish person who only masters knowledge and skills.

However, once students leave the classroom, go to society, and participate in socio-political activities, their drawbacks are quickly revealed. After the May Fourth student movement came to an end, Peking University President Cai Yuanpei wanted to put the school's teaching order on the right track as soon as possible, and he took many measures to this end, but the effect was "at best only slightly effective." Moreover, not only Peking University, but also schools across the country after 1919 have constantly erupted in various schools. It is difficult to restore the educational order, and the study style of the whole country is also abnormal. Even when the "freedom" of students is released and there is no constraint, the causes of the student tide are no longer limited to the major affairs of the state and society, and some problems that should be resolved internally will also directly affect the maintenance of campus order.

As the leader of NGC-U.S., Liu Boming quickly noticed that the academic ethos was changing and that students' thinking was moving from one extreme to the other: "Once it was too obedient, but recently it was too floating." Affected by this, Liu Boming's own thinking has also undergone a major change. Before May Fourth, Liu Boming believed: "Our country's thinking has been degraded since the Zhou Qin Dynasty for more than two thousand years, and the underdevelopment of scholarship, the lack of political cultivation, and the lack of improvement of craftsmanship must all suffer from the shackles of old ideas, so that they will become rigid into laws, and there will be no creation in order to develop what the ancients did not develop." It can be said that at this time, Liu Boming almost completely denied China's traditional culture, and was only one step away from comprehensive Westernization. But as the student movement floated, Liu Boming became acutely aware of the extremism of such claims and quickly changed his views. He proposed: "To know that the old culture and old morality of the mainland have their own value, and if we want to abolish him, we should first make efforts to study the spirit and study his meaning. Then seek to transform, so as not to be extreme! Liu Boming's attitude toward traditional culture has undergone such a clear change, which indicates that he is gradually drifting away from the new cultural school that led the trend of the times at that time; at the same time, it also indicates the convergence of the Xueheng group two years later, and their questioning and "reaction" to those who fiercely deny the traditional ideas.

Before 1920, Liu Boming published articles with both "Liu Jingshu" and "Liu Boming"; but from 1920 onwards, all his articles were signed "Liu Boming". Guo Bingwen, president of Nangao-Dongda University, once mentioned: "Junjing Jingshu, the word Boming, in recent years, has been written in characters." "1920 was the time node for Liu Boming's ideological transformation, and it was also the time node for his character substitution. He seems to be consciously announcing to the outside world that today's self is no longer the "Liu Jingshu" of the past, but the "Liu Boming" who has undergone a transformation.

Third, Liu Boming after the ideological transformation

After completing the ideological transformation, Liu Boming attaches the most importance to what he calls the "spirit of inwarding", that is, to guide students to pay attention to spiritual cultivation, strive to make them return to their studies, return to rational thinking, and observe and respond to social problems from the standpoint of scholars. Among them, the transformation of the study style is its primary goal.

According to Zhang Qiyun, a student at Nangao University, "Its school-running policy attaches the greatest importance to personality cultivation. At that time, whenever the school reopened, the school was suspended, the New Year's Day and other special ceremonies, there were often grand gatherings of teachers and students. At that time, Mr. Liu must have personally attended, and he often talked about the issue of study style, which was very touching to hear. Zhang Qiyun's classmate Hu Huanyong also said: "When Master Liu was in school, he mainly taught philosophy, and Yu specialized in history, so there were very few people who received from Master Liu in his academic studies. However, his thoughts, speeches, deeds, and morals are deeply and greatly influenced by them. Zhang Qiyun's and Hu Huanyong's memories were confirmed by Liu Boming's family. Liu Jingbang is Liu Boming's younger brother, and in a memorial article, he mentioned the study style twice: "When the brother is doing something, he leads the southeast students, improves the sociological style, and gives up the brother and who he is!" ...... Recalling that my brother was at my age, I knew that I was diligent and self-motivated, and the articles had been exposed, and I had secretly encouraged myself by improving the southeast half of the wall learning style. ”

In the face of the floating society and academic circles after May Fourth, Liu Boming put forward five expectations in his first article published in Xueheng, "The Spirit of Scholars": First, scholars should have the spirit of self-confidence (self-confidence in their own culture); second, scholars should pay attention to self-sufficiency (beyond fame and fortune); third, scholars should have the chastity of knowledge (adhere to the truth and not seek the good of the masses); fourth, scholars should have the spirit of seeking truth; fifth, scholars must have a prudent attitude. These five points were put forward in response to the trend of abandoning the old and starting from the new that existed widely in the academic circles at that time, and had very practical guiding significance for the youth group.

In addition to worrying about the academic circles at that time, especially the youth group lost their way in the choice of Chinese and Western cultures, Liu Boming also knew that the "freedom" of students in social activities had exceeded the normal limits and affected the normal development of educational activities. To this end, he did not hesitate to "go against the weight of his neighbors" and re-mention the function and role of training in education. Liu Boming proposed: "Training is the center of education, and the biggest difference between the educated and the uneducated exists here. Therefore, he advocated the need to carry out scientific training, so that students have "hard work and self-encouragement, not tired of detail, clarity, precision." Only with these virtues can education achieve the desired results and china's future be promising.

When students go out of the campus and into the society, Liu Boming continues to emphasize the importance of spiritual cultivation. This spirit is the spirit of the citizens, the spirit of the people of the republic. Liu Boming believes that the most important thing in the spirit of citizens is nothing more than two points, that is, "responsible" and "automatic". Among them, responsibility is mainly aimed at the floating social atmosphere at that time, and automatically is the character that the "Democrash state" should have. "Democrashy" is a transliteration of the English democracy, which is now generally translated as "democracy"; but in the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, it was mixed with "republic". Liu Boming stressed that Demokrassis is not only a political system, but also a spirit, that is, a republican spirit. "The republican spirit is not other, that is, automatic responsibility for political and social life." This interpretation is perfectly consistent with his perception of civic spirit, which emphasizes the need for responsibility while recognizing the value of automaticity. Schools and teachers bear the brunt of the republican spirit of civic self-responsibility.

It should be noted that Liu Boming advocates spiritual cultivation, but does not deny the social consciousness and social services that he has previously paid attention to. To be precise, at this time, Liu Boming only improved this idea more, and had a clearer strategy for how students should care about social issues and participate in social activities. He believes that caring for the social and political situation is the right and responsibility of citizens, and as for how to participate in social activities, it should be treated separately: students below secondary schools should attach importance to their studies and try not to personally participate in social and political activities; college students should have a heavier responsibility, "Where the relationship between political and social problems is relatively large, it is advisable to make speeches in the study of the original theory, and their hearts are public, and they do not look at the selfish intentions of any party system, but meet with the people of the country with a noble spirit and a lofty psychology." As for the strike, Liu Boming basically held a negative attitude, believing that it could only be done by chance, and it must be a major matter related to the safety and security of the whole country. Otherwise, "if there is occasional external stimulus, the school will respond to the strike internally, and the stimulus will not stop, and the strike will continue without end." Long is in the midst of chaos, and his thinking is also influenced by it, and it is scattered and irregular. "In the final analysis, students should be concerned about social and political affairs, but their words and deeds should be premised on good spiritual cultivation, and they can exercise both the right to freedom and the weight of responsibility.

All of these were to keep a distance from the more radical new culture and new ideological trends at that time, and even tit-for-tat confrontation, which was the main reason why Liu Boming supported and participated in the cause of Xueheng. However, it is worth noting that compared with Mei Guangdi and Wu Mi, who mainly focus on the conflict between the old and the new, Liu Boming seems to focus on the current situation of education and the development of education. This is directly related to his status as a university leader, and also reflects the differences and complexities within the school. In this regard, in the process of knowing and understanding the Xueheng School, Liu Boming is indeed a clue worth paying attention to.