Yan Fu was the most influential Enlightenment thinker, translator and educator in the late Qing Dynasty, and in the turbulent modern history of China, he looked at the world, searched for wisdom, and contributed an immeasurable treasure to the Chinese intellectual circles. He was praised for his translation of The Theory of Heavenly Evolution as "the first person to learn from Western China in China" (Kang Youwei) and "represents a group of people who looked to the West for truth before the birth of the Chinese Communist Party" (Mao Zedong). This famous scholar who has served as a teacher at the Mawei Shipbuilding School, the chief teacher of the Beiyang Naval Master School, the general office of the Compilation Bureau of the Beijing Normal University, the principal of the Fudan Public School in Shanghai, the principal of the Anqing Higher Normal School, the chief editor of the Dictionary Museum of the Qing Dynasty, and the first president of Peking University, has also devoted himself to the compilation and review of primary and secondary school textbooks.
Yan translated "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" and shocked modern China
In 1866, Yan Fu entered the Mawei Ship Master School to learn steamship piloting, and received a more systematic Western enlightenment. In 1877, he was sent to England to study, and entered the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, where he "excelled in his examinations". In 1880, he was hired as the chief teacher (dean) of the Tianjin Beiyang Naval Teachers School, and in 1890, he was appointed as the general office (principal). In the 20 years he has been working in the Shui Shi Academy, Yan Fu has also run magazines, translated books, and written articles, and has gradually become an outstanding enlightener who has opened up the wisdom of the people and led the progress of the times. Later, Yan Fu's Huxley's "Theory of Heavenly Evolution", Adam Smith's "The Original Wealth" (i.e., "The Wealth of Nations"), Spencer's "The Words of Group Studies", John Mill's "Theory of the Rights of the Masses" and "Mill's Famous Studies", Jenks's "General Interpretation of Society", Montesquieu's "Law and Meaning" (i.e., "On the Spirit of Law"), and Yefons's "A Brief Introduction to Famous Studies" became the "Eight Great Classics" widely circulated in intellectual circles and used as textbooks for some new middle schools. For example, Wu Rulun included "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" as a textbook for the school in his "School Bibliography", and Zhang Yuanji asked teachers to teach students to read Yan's translation of "Yuan Fu" at Nanyang College. On the cover of the 7th edition of "A Brief Introduction to Famous Learning" in 1914, the words "approved by the Ministry of Education" and "used in middle schools" were printed. Of course, the most influential is the well-known "Theory of Heavenly Evolution".
Almost at the same time that Li Hongzhang signed the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", Yan Fu completed the translation of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution". In December 1897, it was published in Tianjin's "Compilation of National News", and officially published in 1898.
The Theory of Heavenly Evolution was translated by Yan Fu based on the British scholar Huxley's 1893 lecture "Evolution and Ethics" at Oxford University. Although Huxley gave a poetic lecture on Darwin's theory of evolution, Yan Fu did not care about how a frog mutated, he focused on the application of Darwin's theory of evolution in human society, and made a term for the "natural selection" of human society, called "natural evolution". Yan Fu did not copy the literal translation of the original text, but transplanted the sociological theories of Spencer that he admired to Huxley's book as needed, and nearly one-third of the length of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" was more than 30 "press words" written by Yan Fu himself, so Lu Xun called it "'doing' a "Theory of Heavenly Evolution". The central idea that Yan Fu wants to expound is: If China can conform to the law of "heavenly performance" and carry out reform of the law, it will turn from weak to strong, otherwise it will be eliminated from the destruction of the country and the extinction of the species. In the "Introduction" to the Theory of Heavenly Evolution, he wrote: "Each of things contends to exist, and those who are suitable are self-reliant. Those who stand by the way are strong, and the strong are prosperous; He who does not stand is weak, and he who is weak perish. In the "concluding remarks" of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution", he even shouted: "On the day of my generation, I showed weakness in vain, and it was useless to come to the leaves." Solid will Shen Yi with strong, see the sharp edge of the husband, the frontier is not opposed, can be fought for and desirable but not surrendered...... Wu Rulun in the "preface" for the "Theory of Heavenly Evolution" commented as "Respectful translation of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution", the name and reason are deduced, the gesture is enough to wear nine songs, and there is a wonderful way to draw a knife and break the water, this is a strange work in the sea. "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" is like the fresh blood that has been injected into the body of the ancient Shenzhou, and the shock it has caused in the intellectual and intellectual circles is no less than "a tropical storm caused by a butterfly flapping its wings".
After Kang Youwei saw this translation, he praised Yan Fu's translation of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" as the first in China, and absorbed the views of evolution in "Confucius Reform Examination".
Wang Guowei wrote in 1904 "On the Academic Circles of Recent Years", he said: "Nearly seven or eight years ago, Huxley's "Theory of Heavenly Evolution" translated by Hou Guan Yan (Fu) was published, which was the eyes and ears of the people of the new world...... Later, the names of Darwin and Spencer rose to the lips of everyone, and the phrase 'natural selection' was seen in popular literature. ”
Hu Shi vividly described his feelings as a student in "Forty Self-Statements": "After the publishing house of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution", within a few years, it became popular all over the country, and it became a reading material for middle school students......
After China's repeated defeats, after Gengzi's great humiliation, this formula of 'survival of the fittest, survival of the fittest' is indeed a kind of slap in the face. Not only did he write the essay "Biological Competition, Survival of the Fittest", but he also changed his name to "Fittest".
Lu Xun also recorded in "Morning Flowers and Evening Picks: Trivial Notes" that when he was a student in Nanjing, "I went to the south of the city on Sunday and bought a thick book printed on white paper...... As soon as I have free time, I eat cakes, peanuts, and chili peppers as usual, and watch "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution". ......
Since its official publication in 1898, in just over a decade, the book has been published in more than 30 different editions, reprinted countless times, and has become a must-read for almost all young students who are eager for new knowledge. It can be said that in that era when modern textbook publishing was just starting and new reading materials were extremely scarce, Yan Yi's "Theory of Heavenly Evolution" became the textbook with the largest circulation and the most far-reaching influence at that time.
The main purpose of the Qing government's education, which was to maintain its own rule, was to establish "all textbooks" and to "approve" a textbook that would be published throughout the country. In October 1902, the Translation Bureau and the Editorial Office of Beijing Normal University Hall were established, and Zhang Baixi hired Yan Fu as the general office of the Translation Bureau, Lin Shu as the deputy general office, and Li Xisheng as the editor-in-chief of the Editorial Office. After Yan Fu took office, he formulated the "Regulations of the Translation and Book Bureau of Jingshi University", believing that the translation of foreign textbooks was a top priority, and that Mongolian schools and primary schools were urgent and urgent.
1. At present, the translation of each book shall be based on the teaching discipline as the top priority, and the chief translator shall select the foreign version for use, and the translator shall be assigned a special degree and a limited number of translations.
2. Textbooks are generally divided into two classes. One is Mongolian school, and the other is primary school. Those who are profound will work on it after these two books are written.
3. The textbook is divided into sections, one place, two Western texts, three cloth calculations, four business skills, five geometry, six algebras, seven triangles, eight Han arcs, nine static forces, ten dynamic forces, eleven fluid mass forces, twelve thermal forces, thirteen optical 、......、 thirty-five moral education readers. ......
Although in the spring of 1904, when Yan Fu resigned from the post of general office of the Translation and Book Bureau, the Jingshi University had translated many high-level Western textbooks, but the Editorial Office had not compiled a unified textbook for the whole country. Therefore, the Qing government in 1904 promulgated the "Statutes of the Concert School" formally clarified the textbook examination system, in principle, allowed the private sector to participate in the compilation and publication of textbooks, and in December 1905, after the establishment of the school, under the General Affairs Department set up the examination and approval department, in charge of the review of textbooks.
On April 7, 1906, Yan Fu published an article entitled "On the Urgent Approval of Primary School Textbooks" in the "Zhongwai Daily", in which he put forward his own views on the main purpose of compiling textbooks, the talents of compilation, the content, the examination, the issuance, and even the printing and sales of textbooks. He believes that in higher education, "all words and texts are textbooks", so "textbooks are not necessarily necessary for education". However, "there is no need for higher schools, but from secondary schools onwards, and from primary schools onwards, it is indispensable...... Therefore, it is said that below secondary school, not only moral education, that is, intellectual education, but also textbooks. He pointed out that the Faculty should play the role of "outline" and "simplification" in the textbook review process, but did not advocate that the Faculty issue a unified textbook, and listed the five major difficulties in the compilation of textbooks.
There are many studies, and the members of the department do not have to be good at it, but it is the shallowest textbook method, and it must be the deepest for its scholars. The promulgation and review are established, and the whole country pursues it, if our country is the former, "Notes on the Collection of Four Books". Since it is a matter of merit, why not take more and seek improvement,
Its things have been obsolete in an instant, and there is no self-reliance for the new day, and it is difficult to do both. The territory is wide, the geographical advantages are different, and the textbooks listen to the people themselves, so they are suitable for themselves, and they become happy and easy, and the people can use them to get their own teachers. To the school department, then all directions, suitable for the north does not have to be suitable for the south, detailed in the mountains and slightly in the Ze, its difficulty is also three. Academic progress is very different, so that the school can go with the times, and it is overwhelming; If it does not change over time, it will imprison the smart, and it will be difficult. The book of textbooks, the application of the widespread, its price must be cheap, its book must be very compatible, want to have both, must listen to commercial competition, and then there is this, the school is its own, there is no such effect, its difficulty is also. After examining these five difficulties, it is clear that although the school department promulgates its own textbooks, although it is beneficial for a while, it will be detrimental to the permanent.
Yan Fu also proposed that on the premise of following the purpose of education, we should have a relaxed attitude towards the examination and selection of textbooks: "There is no need to be too strict in establishing a standard, and there is no need to be too narrow in selecting categories, but there is no major mistake, and those who are not perverse with the purpose of education and harmful to the moral and mental power of school children are allowed to be sold, and they are allowed to be selected by the users, and they are allowed to protect copyright." In view of Yan Fu's extensive influence in academic and even political circles at that time, his progressive ideas on textbook approval undoubtedly promoted the broad participation of the textbook-compiling society in equal competition.
In Yan Fu's diary in 1909, there are also many records of his personal participation in the examination and revision of textbooks. For example: "On October 21, I read the Chinese textbook compiled by the book company. It's a lot of tricks. "On the seventh day of the first day of November, I read the "National Must Read" edited by Chen Zengshou and Pan Qingyin. "On the ninth day of the first day of November, Yan and Bao were entrusted with "National Must Read". "On November 19, I changed the "National Must Read" at home, and it was extremely boring. In the end, Yan Fu arrived at the ministry on December 14 and handed over the "National Must Read" and Langxi. ”
In this year, Yan Fu also served as the chief editor of the Thesaurus of the Faculty, and led Wang Guowei and others to determine the terminology of botany, mathematics, psychology, ethics, logic, geography, constitutional law and other disciplines, and published a comparison table of terms, which facilitated the compilation (translation) of textbooks. Not only that, in 1910, Yan Fu also participated in the compilation of the Commercial Press's "Elementary School Hall Character Stickers", and his cursive script was compiled into the ninth volume.
In the first chapter of "The Quest for Prosperity: Yan Fu and the West," Harvard University professor Schwartz wrote: "Yan Fu's concerns are significant, his efforts to resolve them are significant, and the questions he raises are of great significance to China as well as to the West." In the clarion call of Yan Fu to "open up the wisdom of the people, drum up the people's strength, and renew the people's morality", in those special time and space accompanied by an urgent sense of national crisis and anxious sense of salvation, and in the longing for "where is China going" and "Xinmin is the first urgent task of today's China", the whole society pins its hopes on education, and education pins its hopes on brand-new textbooks. The Commercial Press, Wenming Bookstore, Biaomeng Bookstore, Huiwen Society, Science Bookstore, China Book Company, Zhonghua Book Company, World Book Company, Kaiming Bookstore, etc., have pushed the compilation and publication of modern Chinese textbooks to a climax. In order to solve the living space of the nation-state, the textbook clearly emphasizes that the body is the first key word of modern people's natural attributes, autonomy and equality are the independent consciousness of modern people's spiritual world, material wealth is the positive transformation of modern people's understanding of interests, and rights and obligations are the prerequisites for modern people to enjoy democratic politics...... Modern textbooks draw on and learn from them in order to lead young students to take new steps of the times in a difficult and difficult social environment, in order to achieve the goal of transforming society and realize the "change" of Chinese society from backward to advanced.
At the age of twelve, he was admitted to the Mawei Ship Master School to study piloting, and at the age of 23, he was sent to the United Kingdom to study driving. What is particularly important is that from the emergence to the development of modern Chinese textbooks, from compilation to publication, they have generally absorbed the idea of "survival of the fittest" and have made "the superior and the inferior" their spiritual essence. (Wu Xiaoou)
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