In the fifties of the last century, Hu Shi once said: "Lu Xun is a liberal,...... Lu Xun is our man. Nearly half a century later, Zhou Cezhun, an overseas historian who heard this in person, wrote a poem, "'Zheng Zheng is like an iron free body, Lu Xun will eventually be my generation.'" 'Forty-three years ago, tell me, and the word will be new. [1] But did Hu Shi really hit the nail on the head? Things seem to be far from the case. In fact, when people sort out and summarize the liberal traditions of the last century, they often exclude Lu Xun. Indeed, whether it is the way of survival, attitude and temperament, or more importantly, the position and viewpoint, Lu Xun is far from the liberal intellectual group represented by Hu Shi. This article intends to take a glimpse of the ideological differences between Lu Xun and liberal intellectuals from the perspective of different attitudes toward the specific incident of college students fleeing in 1933.
One
On New Year's Day 1933, Japan raided Shanhaiguan. Two days later, Shanhaiguan fell. The Japanese troops were facing the Rehe River, and Pingjin was shaken. At this time, the major universities in Peiping are about to end the semester and are about to have winter vacation. The artillery fire on the front line made the students of Guangzhou University, who were preparing to return home, even more panic, so they left the university early, and there was an incident that affected the flight of college students for a while.
That is, take Tsinghua University as an example. After the Yuguan incident, the Student Self-Government Association of Tsinghua University held an emergency congress and went to school on January 6, pointing out: "Pingjin is shaken, people's hearts are in turmoil", and the vast number of students "have a heart for the country, avoid danger, and are worried and panic", and requested the end of the semester examination and the early holiday. On the one hand, the school refused the student's request, and on the other hand, it stipulated that "if any of the students are unable to take the examination for any reason, they may follow the ordinary leave procedures." So the Tsinghua University Student Government Association held a plenary meeting on January 7 and decided that all students "ask the general manager of the university for leave." President Mei Yiqi issued a special notice on the 8th, reiterating that the semester examination will be carried out as usual, and criticizing all students for taking leave, "The students of our university are an example to the public, and if they first disturb themselves, the order in the rear will be affected." How different it is from opening the eyes of a strong enemy. What is more, the continent has been weak over the years, resulting in unprecedented national difficulties today, and those who think that they will be the foundation of future rejuvenation are only because of the indomitable spirit of young people, and when the events come today, students can only avoid danger and have no skills, look forward to the future, and their hearts are painful, and purposeless sacrifices can be avoided, but this is not yet the problem at present", requiring students to "work hard to do what they should do within the limits possible", and cannot use their bare hands as a pretext for "priority refuge". [2] The Tsinghua University Professors' Association also issued a letter to students on the 9th, exhorting students, which specifically mentioned the French writer Tudor's "Last Lesson", hoping that students would look at or re-read the novel, "If Beiping is not dangerous, then you are useless, and if Beiping is really dangerous, you have no nostalgia for this last lesson." ..., we can't bear to see your actions turn to extremes, let alone the society's loss of expectations for Tsinghua University, so we use the most sincere attitude to give a message, and this advice may be the last. [3] The words are quite earnest. But neither the discipline of the school nor the persuasion of the teachers had much effect, and in the end, few exams remained. At that time, Ta Kung Pao reported that "only one-third of Tsinghua students take the examination for staying in school".
University students have fled, which has also attracted widespread attention and discussion from all walks of life. Several hundred citizens in Peiping even signed a joint letter to the Central Party Department, the National Government, the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance, accusing college students of "treating their personal lives as Mount Tai and causing the people's country to be a straw mustard" at a time when the country was in trouble. Thus he demanded that the education funds during the suspension period be suspended and "transferred to the anti-Japanese military supplies." [4] The slow response of the Nanjing Nationalist government also sent a special telegram to the universities in Peiping at the end of January, reprimanding students for "disturbing themselves and corrupting school rules" and ordering them to "report in detail the situation of students skipping exams and taking early vacations." ”[5]
Two
Lu Xun, who lived far away in Shanghai, attached unusual importance to the flight of college students in Beiping, and within a week wrote articles such as "The Defense of Escape", "On "Going to Difficulty" and "Fleeing", "Students and the Jade Buddha", and "Chongshi", commenting on the matter and expressing his views.
First, the magazine "Taosheng" at the time published an article by Zhou Muzhai, which objected to the behavior of college students to flee, arguing that "even if you cannot go to the disaster, the minimum minimum should not flee." Lu Xun was quite unimpressed by it, and wrote a special article, clearly advocating that "if you can't go to the disaster, you should flee", expressed support for the students' flight behavior, and claimed that he belonged to the "refugee party". [6]
First of all, Lu Xun does not advocate that students go to difficulties, because students are unorganized and untrained, and "what they learn on weekdays is the theory of creditor's rights, the history of Turkish literature, the least common multiple, and so on." Second, take a step back, how about "not fleeing"? Lu Xun said clearly, "I am also completely against it. The reason is, "What if the enemy arrives and the college students will die with their bare hands and curse the thief, or will they hide in the house in order to survive?" [7] The former is of little help to the overall situation, and the latter is almost impossible, because the experience of various universities in Shanghai during the 128 incident last year is evidenced, and it is difficult to ensure that "foreign aircraft cannons will not be blown out of the research room." [8] In short, to go to the refuge is to send death, and not to flee is to wait for death, so it is natural and blameless to flee.
At this time, the liberal intellectuals with Hu Shi as the core were relying on the Independent Review to form another gathering of modern liberal intellectuals. In stark contrast to Lu Xun's attitude, the backbone figures of the "independent critics" almost invariably opposed the flight of students. For example, Fu Sinian compared the flight of college students with the use of their power by dignitaries to send their families to the south, and the spread of rumors by politicians who had lost power, and believed that they "completely exposed the inferior nature of the Chinese." He even advocated relying on the power of the government to "bring college students to work as rear auxiliary work, or make them perform rough work, and not let them run for their lives in the form of self-aid." [9] Jiang Tingyi believed that the phenomenon of college students fleeing and striking classes had caused intellectuals to lose face, "What can we say at this time and in this situation, when we see the enemy shelling our cities with artillery and fire and slaughtering our compatriots, and on the other hand, we see university students five or six hundred miles from the front line holding a meeting there to discuss the major issues of early holidays, stopping examinations, and demanding that the school guarantee life safety?" We literati are no longer qualified to scold martial artists. [10] Ding Wenjiang pointed out in his speech to college students that in Europe and the United States, "if there are university students who want to flee to escape the exam, even if they are not shot, they will at least be expelled from the school, and the family will not tolerate it, and the society will not be despised by society." He made it clear that fleeing and avoiding exams was "an act that hindered the resistance against Japan", so it should not be done by young students.[11]
Unlike the general public, who blame students more out of moral indignation, the "independent critics" oppose student flight and, in a negative sense, to maintain social order. As Jiang Tingyi said, "If we cannot actively help the country at this time, at least we should not be burdened by the country, and the tranquility of the rear society and the calmness of the people's hearts have a great relationship with the combat effectiveness of the front." [12] Ding Wenjiang, who graduated from science and engineering, even started from the specific link of train transportation to discourage students from fleeing, "There are many people fleeing, the transportation of trains is more crowded, and the order of the railway cannot be maintained." [13] In a positive sense, they oppose the flight of students because they want students to sit firmly in their studies, study with peace of mind, and save the country by studying. In this regard, they have something in common with Lu Xun, that is, they do not advocate that students go to the disaster (only Fu Sinian seems to be an exception). A typical expression of this view was Ding Wenjiang's speech to students at Yenching University and Union Medical College, which he later synthesized into an essay, "The Effectiveness of Anti-Japanese Resistance and the Responsibility of Youth," published in the Independent Review. So far, we have not found a text written by Hu Shi, the core figure of liberalism at that time, specifically in response to the student flight incident, but it should not be wrong to say that advocating young students to study to save the country, that is, the so-called "doing the cause of saving the country within the scope of study" is Hu Shi's consistent position. As early as a few years ago, Hu Shi said, "Saving the country is a great undertaking, and queuing up and parading the streets, shouting 'Down with the British and Japanese bandits', is not a cause of national salvation: ... The cause of national salvation requires all kinds of talents, and the true preparation for national salvation lies in turning oneself into a useful talent. [14] Just one year before the Yuguan Incident, in the face of Japan's advancing pressure, Hu Shi also exhorted students in a speech entitled "Gift to This Year's College Graduates" that when the country is humiliated, they should be able to calm down, study and study, and try to serve the country. He cited the example of the French scientist Pasteur, "who refused to abandon his microscope and laboratory when the country suffered great humiliation", and finally "reaped the miracle of scientific salvation." [15] Many years later, when Hu Shi wrote a biography for his friend Ding Wenjiang, he devoted considerable space to Ding Wenjiang's article "The Effectiveness of Anti-Japanese Resistance and the Responsibility of Youth", praising Ding Wenjiang for "sincerely telling young people a few honest words that many people refuse to say." [16] It can be inferred from this that on the issue of student flight, Hu Shi also opposed flight and advocated reading to save the country. In his article "The Effectiveness of Anti-Japanese Resistance and the Responsibility of Youth," Ding Wenjiang pointed out that the responsibility of college students is that "they should make twelve efforts, thoroughly understand the needs of modern countries, cultivate the personality and attitude of modern citizens, and learn the minimum specialized skills, and then they can make a little patriotism, successful crystallization, and effective behavior." Ding Wenjiang has high hopes for college students, believing that those students who "skip exams, flee to refuge, and put up signs and shout slogans to deceive themselves are a minority and temporary," and the vast number of young students are bound to undertake the task of transforming and building the country. [17]
Three
As mentioned earlier, Lu Xun supported the flight of students from the safety of individual students' lives. This first reflects the humanitarian stance that Lu Xun has always upheld in the depths of his thought. It is this position that makes him naturally on the side of the weak. In his article "The Defense of Escape", he said at the beginning: "In ancient times, being a woman was a big shame, and every move was wrong, and this one also scolded, and that was also scolded. Now this obscurity has fallen on the students, and they are scolded for entering and retreating. [18] "Jin was also scolded" refers to the 918 incident, when students went to Nanjing to petition the government to resist Japan, but the government suppressed them;" Retreat is also scolded", naturally refers to the application of the Ministry of Education's telegram after the students fled and the condemnation of public opinion. In Lu Xun's view, the government's order not to flee is of course a manifestation of political power, and public opinion, including free intellectuals, also constitutes a kind of "discursive hegemony." The fleeing students have become completely weak. Lu Xun also repeatedly compared the flight of college students with the southward migration of cultural relics from Peiping, and the grand situation of the "front gate station of the special convoy team" even showed the helplessness of "obscure students". [19] Therefore, when the government and intellectuals and citizens were accusing the students, only Lu Xun put himself in the students' shoes, strongly feeling that they "only run to self-pity", and human life is not as good as antiquities, that is, "what is not a jade Buddha, not worth a penny". [20] This concern for individual life and deep sympathy for the weak is indeed a reflection of Lu Xun's consistent style.
In contrast to Lu Xun's focus on individual life, liberal intellectuals opposed student flight with an eye on social order and the future of the country. There seems to be a paradox here: Lu Xun, who is not (at least not always seen) as a liberal, values the individual, while liberals, who have always been considered individualistic and light on groups, value the state. Such an analysis of the problem may be too academic and dogmatic. We cannot say that Lu Xun does not consider the future of the nation and the state (although it may be different from the state in the liberals' mind); Nor can it be said that liberals do not care about the safety of students. In fact, a more specific issue is involved here: the attitude towards the Kuomintang regime. When Lu Xun said that students should run for their lives, he wanted to say more: this regime is unreliable. His article "The Defense of Escape" is a defense of the flight of students, and even more an indictment of the Kuomintang regime. And when liberals say that students should study with peace of mind, they also imply a premise: the safety of students' lives is guaranteed. A further premise is that the country can gradually become rich and strong through reading, through the development of education, and the development of science. Lu Xun's article is full of indignation and repeatedly mentioned, such as the Kuomintang's suppression of petitioning students, but afterwards said that the students "fell into the water on their own"; Ignoring people's lives, busy rescuing antiquities, "panic antiques relocation" and other phenomena are outside the field of vision of liberals; The order of railway traffic valued by liberals and the stability of people's hearts in society are also not within Lu Xun's consideration.
Similarly, Lu Xun was quite unimpressed by the liberal intellectuals' idea of "reading to save the country." In fact, he has always compared this practice of persuading students to fasting with the regime's crackdown on students. For example, in his article "The Defense of Escape", he described how the students' petitions in Beijing were suppressed but no one questioned or protested, and further said: "I still have to be expelled, I have to tell my parents, and I have to be persuaded to enter the laboratory." [21] In the article "On "Fleeing" and "Going to Difficulty", he said even more obviously, "Later, the Northern Expedition was successful, Beijing belonged to the party-state, and the students all entered the era of entering the laboratory. ...... In order to correct this bad temper, our government, soldiers, scholars, literary heroes, policemen, and detectives have really taken a lot of painstaking efforts. With edicts, with knives and guns, with books and newspapers, with tempering, with arrests, with torture, until last year, when the petitioners died "fell into the water on their own" and even the memorial service was not held, the effect of the new education was revealed. ”[22]
As some scholars have pointed out, "Lu Xun's central idea is 'building people', pursuing people's individual spiritual freedom, that is, 'opposing the enslavement of people.'" He is highly vigilant about any thoughts, intentions that enslave people. [23] The "reading" advocated by liberal intellectuals was, in Lu Xun's view, a kind of servitude education for students, which was to bind students to the system and make students comfortable with slave status. It is on this basis that he has refuted this argument of exhortation to students to read books in many articles. However, the experience of the fleeing students who "entered and were scolded, and retreated was also scolded" also seemed to hint at the dilemma of Lu Xun, an "anarchic individualist": in the authoritarian Kuomintang regime, of course, free individuals cannot stand up, but when the country is in trouble, they each flee for their lives, and how can people who break away from the system stand up?
Lu Xun said: "We must not look too high on college students, nor can we blame them too much, China cannot rely exclusively on college students", this is not specifically aimed at liberal intellectuals, but if in Lu Xun's view, Fu Sinian, Jiang Tingyi must blame students too much, and Ding Wenjiang and Hu Shi think too highly of students. Lu Xun immediately said: "After college students escape, they should think about how they can not just escape, get out of the poetry realm, and set foot on the ground." [24] This may have been something that Lu Xun has been thinking about all his life, but in the eyes of liberals, it is not a problem.
Exegesis:
[1] LI Shenzhi. "Return to May Fourth: Learning Democracy". Bookhouse, 2001(5)
[2] [3] [4] [5] Ta Kung Pao, 12 January, 14 January, 18 January, 29 January 1933.
[6] [7] [22] [24] LU Xun. "On "Fleeing" and "Going to Distress". The Complete Works of Lu Xun (Volume IV).People's Literature Publishing House,2005:486, 487-488, 487, 488.
[8] [18] [21] LU Xun. "The Defense of Escape". The Complete Works of Lu Xun (Volume V), People's Literature Publishing House, 2005: 12, 11, 11
[9] Fu Sinian. "Chinese Chance to Be Human Has Arrived". Independent Review, 1933 (35).
[10] [12] JIANG Tingyi. What else do we have to say now? 》． Independent Review, 1933 (35).
[11] [13] [17] DING Wenjiang. "The Effectiveness of Anti-Japanese Resistance and the Responsibility of Youth". Independent Review, 1933 (37).
[14] HU Shi. "Patriotic Movement and Study". Modern Review, Vol. 2, No. 39, 5 September 1925.
[15] HU Shi. "Gift to this year's college graduates". Independent Review, 1932 (7).
[16] HU Shi. "The Biography of Ding Wenjiang". Hainan Publishing House, 2002: 193.
[19] Lu Xun. "Chongshi". The Complete Works of Lu Xun (Volume V), People's Literature Publishing House, 2005: 15.
[20] Lu Xun. "The Student and the Emerald Buddha". The Complete Works of Lu Xun (Volume IV), People's Literature Publishing House, 2005: 491.
[23] Wang Dehou et al. "Lu Xun in the World". Reading, 1998 (9).
Text/Gao Huaiju