On August 1, 2021, Mr. Yu Yingshi, a historian living on the other side of the ocean, took a hexi at the age of 91. When I shed tears, I can't help but think of his many comments on the literary scholar Mr. Qian Zhongshu.
A said Qian Zhongshu is knowledgeable and strong. Mr. Yu said that he had asked Mr. Qian a small question, that is, Mr. Qian's "Tan YiLu" mentioned the Lingyuan monk and Cheng Yichuan Erjian, which could be contrasted with The Three Books of Han Yu and Tianqian. But I don't know where the "two Janes" come from? Mr. Qian pondered for a moment, and then said seriously, "You can probably find it in the Yuan Dynasty's "Buddha's Tongzai". "Later, when I checked, this was indeed the case.
Second, Mr. Qian has a character of vengeance and enthusiasm. This character is expressed in his poems. Mr. Qian wrote poems like Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty, writing poems such as "Returning to the Garden and Rural Residence" and "Drinking", as well as poems such as "Yong Jingke" and "Reading the Classics of Mountains and Seas". Mr. Qian wrote a poem "Reading the World" in 1989, that is, "Reading the world has moved to two sideburns, and the block is lonely and the hair is crowded." The stars have not been extinguished, and the inches are difficult to burn the ash after drowning. Symptomatic also know that the medicine must be changed, and the new he technique must be pushed. Don't try to be long and fragmented, but leave Kuwata alive again", is an example.
The third said that Mr. Qian's words had entered the "realm of immortality." His writings became "one of the highest crystallizations of classical Chinese culture in the 20th century," and his death "symbolizes the simultaneous end of classical Chinese culture and the 20th century."
Mr. Qian didn't believe much in abstract systems. He once said that Hegel had built a big system, but he could not live in it, and he had to build another small house next to it. It can be seen that this big system is actually meaningless. Professor Saya Berlin of oxford university said that there are two types of people in academia, one is the fox type, everything is known, and the other is the hedgehog type, which must build a big system. Qian Zhongshu belongs to the former, he captures a small kind of truth, but it adds up to a considerable amount. Just like loose money that is not strung together, a little tandem is very useful, and it will always be useful, and those so-called big systems, often within a few years, are thrown away, or even forgotten.
Mr. Qian's academic direction is quite influenced by the Chinese school of examination, and he pays more attention to small points and fine points. An allusion must know where it first appeared; a poem must know which one it first came from a poet or writer. Mr. Qian is seeking victory in this. Victory can only be sought at these small points, the big places are not clear, you set a set of me, and no one can judge. However, he occasionally has some big judgments, such as that Chinese poetry and Chinese painting have two opposite ways, but this is not the case.
Six said that Mr. Qian's main contributions are note-taking, such as "Tan Yi Lu" and "Pipe Cone Compilation". Mr. Qian takes the book as the ontology, as the basis, and as the structure. When he talked about "Zhou Yi", he took "Zhou Yi" as the structure, and when he talked about "Zuo Biao", he used "Zuo Biao" as the structure, and found places where he could use and play. Talk about the original, talk about excellence. At the same time, it is also necessary to contact the West, compare and communicate with the West. There is an idea that China has, and a foreign country has; a certain phenomenon, China has, and foreign countries have it. Mr. Qian pays attention to the similarities between China and the West, and rarely talks about the differences.
Mr. Seven said that Mr. Qian is good at decomposing a big problem into a number of small problems for narration. Some readers believe that Mr. Qian has no sense of problems, but this is not the case. Mr. Qian hardly mentions general common sense, and only talks about problems at very cutting-edge points. How can ordinary readers have Mr. Qian's background and jump to the cutting edge at once? So it's hard for these readers to know what he's talking about. In other words, when Mr. Qian proposes and solves the problem, the average reader may not know that it is a problem.
Eight said that Mr. Qian was his "yearless" friend. Mr. Qian once wrote on the title page of the "Pipe Cone Compilation" when he gave it to Yu Ying: "Every time I get the Junshu, I feel the magic of its words, and there are people who come to solve things, and they come out and appreciate it together." This morning, when I saw it, I sighed: 'Overseas should be pushed alone.' "Even in the Central Plains, I am the second person to think!" Mr. Qian also said in another letter to Yu Yingshi: "The two books of favor and the gift of shi mean deep eternity, and the sentences are suitable, which is enough to make the old bards swear their hands, and they have fairy bones in their bodies... The younger brother is like Tian Guang, who hates not to meet on the day of prosperity, and the friendly voice and answer; now the subject is exhausted, and the foolishness is exhausted, and only the Junshi is passed by. Mr. Yu attaches great importance to Mr. Qian's praise.
Mr. Yu Yingshi and Mr. Qian Zhongshu have only met twice, the rest are pen and ink exchanges, and Mr. Yu can comment on Mr. Qian from eight aspects, which shows the thickness of the friendship between the two and also reflects the depth of his admiration for Mr. Qian.