1927 was an extraordinary year for China, the feudal empire had just been overthrown, the Republic of China regime had not been established long ago, the legacy of the great powers still existed, anti-imperialist anger was frequent in various places, the fire of revolution was just burning, the country was still unstable, and social turmoil was difficult to sustain. At the intersection of such an era, a master calmly jumped into the lake and ended his life. A suicide note and a century-old mystery were left behind.
This master is the world-renowned scholar Wang Guowei in modern times. Wang Guowei (December 3, 1877 – June 2, 1927), originally known as Guozhen (国桢), was a Chinese poet whose name was Jing'an (静安), Boyu (伯隅), Chu (初号堂), Evening Number Guan Tang (晚号觀堂), also known as Yongguan (永觀), and 谥忠悫. Han Chinese, a native of Haining Prefecture, Zhejiang Province (present-day Haining, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province). Wang Guowei was a well-known scholar with an international reputation during the intersection of modern and modern China.
Wang Guowei has studied both Chinese and Western, integrating Western philosophy and aesthetic thought with classical Chinese philosophy and aesthetics, forming a unique aesthetic thought system. At the same time, he has a deep study of songwriting and drama, historiography, paleography, and archaeology, and is known as the pioneer of new historiography.
Wang Guowei has no master in his life, has a wide range of subjects, has achieved outstanding achievements, and has made outstanding contributions. In education, philosophy, literature, opera, aesthetics, history, ancient literature and other aspects have deep achievements and unique innovations.
Wang Guowei wrote a lot of works in his lifetime, including "The Testament of Mr. Wang Jing'an of Haining", "Commentary on the Dream of the Red Chamber", "Song and Yuan Opera Examination", "Human Words", "Guantang Jilin", "New Evidence of Ancient History", "Qulu", "Yin Zhou System Theory", "Quicksand Falling Jane" and other 62 kinds, leaving a broad and profound academic heritage for the treasure house of Chinese national culture.
Wang Guowei went to Japan several times in his early years to study, and then returned to China to give lectures, walking in the south study room under Puyi's rule, and reading ancient books with Puyi for many years. During this period, Yu Zhixue was quite successful.
On June 2, 1927, after handling his work affairs, Wang Guowei went to the Summer Palace alone, calmly smoked a cigarette, and then suddenly jumped into Kunming Lake, ending his life. Afterwards, people found a suicide note in his pocket, the suicide note was written to his son, the suicide note Chinese short, clear, but did not clearly explain the cause of suicide, which left posterity with a mystery that was difficult to solve for a hundred years.
As for the reason why Wang Guowei committed suicide, his relatives were secretive from beginning to end. There are many speculations in later generations, including the theory of "martyrdom", the theory of "forcing debts", the theory of "fear", the theory of "obstruction", and the theory of "cultural martyrdom". No matter how tragic Wang Guowei is, it is regrettable that such a rich master has not aged, which is also a huge loss to Chinese culture.