A hundred years of general reading

Businessman, columnist, media person

The full text is more than 4300 words, and it takes about 9 minutes to read

In such a huge "split" and pluralism, there is a consensus that has always been rooted in almost all the soil layers of social life, that is, the emphasis on common sense, especially serious common sense. This common sense parasitizes general readings and still does today.

What began on World Book Day on 23 April 1995 (World Book and Copyright Day) is a recent story, just over two decades ago. In recent times, many dialogues and live broadcasts have appeared. Reading becomes both the interface of spring and the interface of anxiety. Whether it is business or public welfare, such a noise makes people wonder, what is the difference between 4 23 at this time and 11 11 at that time? In this model, reading is more like an object of business, and what people are really reading and what they get from reading seems to have ceased to be the most important concern.

▌ List of books for intellectuals

In late April 1923, when Liang Qichao was temporarily living in Cuiwei Mountain, Tsinghua Weekly once again invited Liang Qichao to prepare a seemingly cumbersome topic, that is, to recommend what people should read. Liang Qichao recalled the classics he read, not only listing a lengthy bibliography, but also making annotations and recommendations for each book. Within three days, more than 10,000 words were written.

The "Essentials of Introductory Books on Traditional Chinese Studies and Their Reading Methods" is divided into "cultivation application and ideological history relationship books", "political history and other philological books", "rhyme books", "primary school books and grammar books", and "casual books", and takes into account the system and practicality. It became the most important bibliography of Xuemeng at that time.

The list of books in the 1920s is not as easy and casual as the list of books in the 2020s.

First of all, it is not easy to do, behind a list of books is often the entire cultural history; second, it is aimed at the youth group of all of China, not readers in a certain region and a certain field. There were so many Chinese classics accumulated in the 1920s that how to read them, or even how to find a system to reference and ponder, was a difficult task.

Before Liang Qichao, Hu Shi also made a list of books, but because it covered a lot, it could not really be used by readers, and "how to tell young people to read", he was criticized by many. Liang Qichao's book list is rather a moderate response, which not only avoids large and inappropriate, less practical, but also avoids simplification and system.

In the 1920s, the Beijing News Supplement also invited celebrities to collect books. Hu Shi, Liang Qichao, the three brothers of the Zhou family, Lin Yutang, Shen Jianshi, Gu Jiegang, Ma Sulun, Xu Shousheng, Taixu and other 77 others all expressed their responses and concerns to the youth group. Gu Jiegang did not forget to ding, "The road of learning has always been inexhaustible, and everyone should conform to their own temperament and choose the path they are willing to take... As long as we do our best according to our own will, open the way where there is no way, accumulate years and years, of course, there is hope for achievement. ”

As everyone knows, Lu Xun is not "cooperative." Lu Xun said, "I have never paid attention, so I can't say it now." Lu Xun exhorted young people to read less ancient books and more foreign books, "What young people need most now is 'deeds', not 'words'." So, what is speech? What is a line? What does Lu Xun's attitude, which is very different from Liang Qichao's, show?

To understand Lu Xun's attitude, we must return to the context of the culture at that time.

In the late Qing Dynasty, a series of changes occurred, often referred to as socio-economic, but cultural changes can not be ignored. In the new round of contacts with the outside world, the relationship between China and the world has undergone tremendous changes. Behind the changes in language, knowledge, and common sense is the replacement of knowledge systems, that is, the transition from classical knowledge to modern knowledge.

During this period, the "General Bibliography of the Four Libraries" became obsolete, and the "Bibliography of Western Studies" also became a thing of the past, and only the "National General Bibliography of Life Bookstores" was preserved and popularized nationwide. The change of physical use came to an end, and Western learning finally gained the upper hand. The mentality of the intellectual community is the transformation of civilization into culture. In the context of the times, Lu Xun's words are not provocative, he is nothing more than telling the youth that Western studies is the universal language of the future and the infrastructure of future knowledge and society.

▌ The birth of the first generation of (academic) general reading materials

Textbooks play an important role in the growth of people and the training of knowledge, and in this sense, the first generation of textbooks is probably not overestimated. The first generation of textbooks not only popularized modern knowledge and ideas, such as the geographical "seven continents and four oceans", but also transformed people's perception of reality and society from the perspective of academic system and knowledge system. Today to trace the origin of a word and concept, many need to return to the context of this period, not only because they first appeared at that time, but also because many of them constitute a world of ideas that confirm each other.

What is even more valuable is that those involved in the compilation of these general readings, especially textbooks, are mainly scholars or scholars. This is almost impossible today, and it is no longer possible to imagine today, that scholars speak in general, everyday terms about the theories and lives with which they know them.

The "Universal Library" curated by Wang Yunwu can be said to be a model for the transfer of knowledge systems. Many of the authors involved in the compilation of the "Universal Library" are masters in the eyes of today's people, such as Hu Shi, Cai Yuanpei, Jiang Menglin, Fu Sinian, Ren Hongjun, Zhu Kezhen and so on. Beginning in the late 1920s, the Universal Library consists of two series and 8,000 volumes, divided into different small series of books such as engineering, business, medicine, and natural sciences.

To digest such a large number of books, ordinary people naturally can't afford it. Despite the ups and downs, The Universal Library found its customers: government offices and libraries.

In 1906, after Duan Fang, Dai Hongci and other ministers returned to China after visiting the sea, they asked the Qing government to set up public cultural facilities such as libraries, museums, animal gardens (zoos), parks, etc., as "a place for excellent travel and rest", which is "enough to see and hear ugly".

The opening of the National Library in 1909 was the beginning of modern Chinese libraries. According to the Education Bulletin, there were 237 public and private popular libraries in 21 provinces in China in 1916, 1,052 in 1931, and peaked in 1936, which was also the peak of the publishing industry. Among the libraries that have sprung up in various provinces and cities across the country, the most suitable collection is probably the "Universal Library".

Wang Yunwu's creation of such a huge project is inseparable from his attachment to modern knowledge. The knowledge here is not practical and professional, but broad, beyond utilitarian knowledge.

Along with the "Universal Library", there are also the writings of modern knowledge systems by national intellectuals. They created the first generation of modern academic textbooks, which are often more concise and condensed than today's textbooks, and more suitable for readers with different needs. For example, "A Short History of Chinese Art", "History of Chinese Architecture", "Western Music and Poetry", "The Logic of the Ink Classic", "China's Frontier Problems Today", "A Small History of Botany", "General Physics", "Semi-Agricultural Talk" and so on. After a hundred years, most of the works are still first-class classics, and even some are still unrepeatable treasures, such as "Half a Farmer Talks About Shadows".

▌ No reader can be less

In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, modern education was established and then deepened, but the "general readership" envisioned by Wang Yunwu was at most 20 to 30 million (according to the "university fever" of the late 1920s), no more than one-tenth of the population.

According to statistics, in 1949, there were more than 400 million illiterate people in China, accounting for about 80% of the population, and the illiteracy rate in rural areas and women was particularly high. Before compulsory education was universalized, literacy and education improvement depended mainly on literacy work. National literacy was carried out four times, and by the end of the four campaigns in 1964, the illiteracy rate had dropped from 80 per cent to 52 per cent. This figure has decreased further over the past few years. In 2020, the number of illiterate people in China is less than 90 million.

Shortly after the work of eradicating illiteracy among peasant groups was fully launched, the State Language Commission (State Language and Writing Work Committee) established and promoted the introduction of the "Chinese Character Simplification Plan (Draft)". The announcement and publication of a series of instruments, such as the Simplified Word Matrix, set the tone for work for a long time to come. At this time, the New Writing Movement had a history of several decades, and the principles of pinyin, spoken language, simplicity, internationalization, modern science, and economy that it pursued would soon be realized.

In 1949, there were 55 public libraries in China, which increased to 562 in 1965, so small that it is difficult to benefit ordinary readers, especially peasant readers.

In order to make it easier for farmers to access books, the library model began to be promoted nationwide. These libraries are mainly built in rural areas, and in some cases are not fixed, on a mobile and itinerant model. According to a statistical data, in 1951, more than 4,900 rural libraries were established in the northeast region, more than 3,100 in the central and southern regions, more than 4,000 in north China, more than 1,500 in east China, and the southwest and northwest regions also exceeded the task. In addition, rural supply and marketing cooperatives will also undertake the work of book distribution. According to a data, the library of Zhai Cheng Village in Dingxian County, Hebei Province, has books on different themes and types, such as "How the US Imperialists Invaded China", "The New Marriage Law", "Maternal and Infant Health", and "Millions of Heroes Crossing the Yangtze River". Readers of Yuanqu Village in Hebei County love to read books such as "Reading Pictures and Literacy", "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang", and "The Story of Li Zicheng".

In 1963, the Rural Reading Publishing House was established, and books such as "Popular Physics", "The Face of the Earth", "Sending Peaches (Song Lyrics)", and "Four Parts of Peasant Family History" were published successively. In the Chinese book market in 1949, there were not many books for rural groups, but by 1960, such books had reached 4688 kinds, 125192 thousand copies, accounting for about 1/6 of the total and 1/4 of the printed number.

Reflecting this is the publication and distribution of a series of general knowledge books, such as the "Rural Youth Knowledge Series", "Political Economy Popular Series", "People's Commune Small Series", "Popular Music Series", "Workers and Peasants' Popular Literature Library", "Workers' and Peasants' Encyclopedia Knowledge Library" and so on. In addition, there are also "Small Series of Chinese History", "Small Series of Foreign History", "Small Series of Geography", "Small Series of Language" edited by Wu Han, and so on. These series of books are already very different from the "Universal Library", and their focus is no longer on knowledge and ideas, but on general knowledge and popularization.

These general readings often do not appear alone, they are paired with radio speakers, newspaper reading groups, literacy classes, blackboard newspapers, street slogans, theater troupe performances, film screenings, etc., and are often an accessory to labor.

A certain mass in Yushang County, eastern Zhejiang Province, described, "Our study is not a dead reading of mr. students listening, reading a few words, we also tell stories and local news ... In addition, various conference activities were used to teach, such as an entertainment party held in Ala on the evening of the twentieth, prepared some refreshments, and first talked about the immediate problems - the suffering and exploitation of the peasants, and everyone was very excited. In connection with the kuomintang government's authoritarian dictatorship and inability to resist the war, it should be reorganized immediately. Then sing and do one-man shows, each performing its stunts. The old women and children who came to visit were squinting and smiling, and the people automatically gave cigarettes to participate in the entertainment, and the mood was very high. ”

At this stage, many writers have turned into general knowledge writers, such as Shen Congwen and He Qifang. The journey from new literature to general reading is strung together with many stories. The most important of these is that the distance between the workers' and peasants' class and the university has shortened, and the distance between the high culture and the low culture has also shortened. The former is the social structure, such as the great development of third-tier cities under the support of a series of policies such as "prioritizing the development of heavy industry"; the latter means that the general consideration has become the most important consideration for the first time, even if it is often based on the position of the workers and peasants.

▌ Contemporary general reading

In contemporary times, at the mass level, general knowledge has been accepted by a brain, but the system and quality required by general knowledge have been ignored. Everyone needs general knowledge, but it seems that it is not. At the same time, how to produce general knowledge is also a big problem.

In today's best-seller list, general reading still accounts for the majority of the share, but each book alone is not necessarily a general reading. It boils down to the fact that cognition and comprehension are still not valued and unaddressed. No general knowledge, no shared language, no unanimous bestsellers, these issues are all linked together to make a good proposition for this gray transition period.

Taking the 10 most concerned books in the "Douban 2021 Annual Reading List" as an example, "Feminism from Scratch", "Being Inside: The Chinese Government and Economic Development", "Liu Qing's Lecture Notes on Western Modern Thought", and "Maybe You Should Find Someone to Talk to" are all general readings.

These four general readings represent the four mentalities and situations of Chinese readers today: a sense of stability and moderation like a college textbook; interrupted rational inquiry; closed self-awareness and healing; and an encyclopedic fact investigation.

None of these generalities are new and have been remarkable facts since the 1990s. After more than two or three decades, the main thing that has changed is the content orientation, which is more contemporary, more concerned with urban life and the spirit of rationality. They create a pictorial scene: a young couple who have just entered the workplace exchange opinions about the situation in Ukraine and each other's depression at the dinner table, and then bury their heads in their own work. This is a space-time full of ambiguities and paradoxes, but also a space-time full of possibilities and methods, and how to achieve it is becoming complicated.

Cultural fever so far, readers and social changes are very large, it is difficult to generalize. But in such a huge "division" and pluralism, there is a consensus that has always been rooted in almost all the soil layers of social life, that is, the emphasis on common sense, especially serious common sense. This common sense parasitizes general readings and still does today.

Around 1985, artists did not have the status they have today, and could produce such a great social and commercial effect, but almost everyone was reading heidegger, Wittgenstein and other thinkers, although they could not read it very well. In middle school, Zhang Xudong read almost all the modern Western academic classics that could be found in Shanghai at that time, and these academic classics soon became the most important reference items for college students to read.

Compared with Wang Yunwu's Universal Library, these classics are richer and more in accordance with the original context, with few local colors. Around 2000, academic textbooks from various disciplines appeared one after another, and they were the last generation of general reading books to date. Over the past two decades, these general readings have introduced new phenomena and categories of global academic production since the 1990s, such as the history of concepts, ecology, postcolonialism, games, and the familiar technical engineering term AI. China's general vision is once again open, but the social situation it faces is much more complicated than before.

In such a situation, it may be time to reiterate Liang Qichao's exhortation a hundred years ago: "A question that has been done by others and compiled into a textbook for me to read is naturally effortless, but from this effortless result, my mind is not meticulous and not carved." People who specialize in reading this kind of book will, over time, exhaust their creative talents. In the new bungalows on the straight roads of New York and Chicago, this person must have lived a meaningless mediocre life. To live a meaningful life, it must be when Columbus first came to the Americas. ”

The inscription is from the Commercial Press

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Liang Qichao, "Introduction to Chinese Studies and Its Reading Methods" Solution and Its Reading Method, Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House, 2016

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