Liang Shuming was born in Beijing in 1893, and his ancestor was Hu Gechi, the fifth son of Yuan Shizu, who was one of the few ethnic minorities among the masters of the Republic of China. He wrote a lot in his lifetime, and his main works include "Introduction to Indian Philosophy", "Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies", "Shuming Collected Works", "Shuming's Recent Writings", "Essentials of Chinese Culture", "Human Heart and Life", etc. He has studied Buddhism and India deeply.
Vegetarian 76 years: Liang Shuming once said that he was a Zen monk in his previous life. In 1912, he first got involved in Buddhism, and the following year he began to eat vegetarianism, and even expressed to his father and brother that he would volunteer to become a monk. Liang Shuming insisted on being a vegetarian for more than 70 years, except for eggs and milk, all other meats were not touched, and he lived for more than 90 years. In January 1950, under the repeated invitations of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, Liang Shuming came to Beijing from Chongqing, Mao Zedong invited him to his home as a guest, and also sent a car to pick him up and entertain him for dinner.
Don't take a rickshaw: Liang Shuming once saw a white-haired old man pulling a rickshaw on the streets of Beijing in the old society, accidentally fell to the ground, his white beard was stained with blood, and he immediately burst into tears and never took a rickshaw again. During the Republic of China, such as Wu Zhihui and others, in order to advocate humanitarianism, insisted on not taking rickshaws when traveling. Tao Xingzhi was even worse, once he took a rickshaw back because of an emergency, and he had to exchange with the coachman halfway, so that the coachman took half the car with tears in his eyes. Scholar Liu Wendian often denounced the inequality of rickshaws in class, and then boarded the rickshaw after class.
Undefended city: After Liang Shuming's original death from illness, and he was busy with rural construction and the cause of democracy in the Anti-Japanese War, his two sons were fostered by relatives. Later, he continued, did not send invitations, but only published a notice in the newspaper, writing: The congratulatory person will prepare a gift of one yuan. There were hundreds of people in attendance, and it was very lively. Someone asked him why he had changed when he said he would no longer get married? Liang replied: "I am an undefended city, and I have been attacked." The bride blushed and argued, "He attacked me, how can I attack him?" There are also people who coaxed Liang to sing opera, he sang a play "Thief of the Royal Horse", and said in a playful tone: "Do you think I'm not old?"
Confrontation with Chairman Mao: Liang Shuming and Mao Zedong were the same age, and in 1918, the two first met at the home of Mr. Yang Changji (Yang Kaihui's father), when Liang Shuming was a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy of Peking University, and Mao Zedong was a librarian at Peking University. Twenty years later, Liang Shuming went to Yan'an and had many conversations with Mao Zedong in 16 days, two of which were all-nighters, which shows the depth of the relationship. It's just that Chairman Mao's confidence in China's victory still hasn't affected Liang Shuming's pessimistic attitude towards the country's future.
In 1953, when the enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was held for group discussions, Liang Shuming's speech on the peasant question (see remarks) set off a huge storm. Mao Zedong was very unimpressed with Liang Shuming's speech, and in the following days, the meeting severely criticized Liang Shuming's remarks. Liang Shuming was shocked. His temper was repeated, desperately demanding to speak, and he quarreled fiercely with Mao Zedong, until someone shouted "Liang Shuming get off the stage!" in the hall, and the thrilling quarrel ended in a hurry. Subsequently, Mao Zedong set the tone for Liang Shuming's question: although it is "reactionary", it is not counter-revolutionary;
Remarks: "In the past 30 years of China's revolution, China relied on the peasants, but after entering the planned economy, the workers' lives were in nine days, but the peasants' lives were in nine places.