More than 100 years have passed, and the May Fourth Movement is a "past" that people keep remembering, and it is also a "present" that I have repeatedly revisited and written over the past 20 or 30 years. 2019 is the 100th anniversary of May Fourth, when he compiled a book called "The Age of Passion" (which was actually published a few years later). Now this book is a traditional Chinese version of "Polyphonic May Fourth" at the invitation of the Hong Kong side, and the original first chapter has been greatly modified, and the fourth and twelfth chapters have been added. This book is a general record of my continuous efforts under the May Fourth theme, and of course, it is not simply a collection of years of research, but also a new look (for example, the last chapter is basically rewritten).
The book shadow of "Polyphonic May Fourth".
The new fourth chapter further examines the polyphonic nature of May Fourth, emphasizing that the May Fourth Movement was a special event that has been celebrated, remembered, and interpreted since its inception. The movement itself is not a plan and then a move, but a completion in the process of development. In the process of its gradual stereotyping, the entanglement of ability and words is an innate phenomenon that never abandons. Of course, the May Fourth Movement has its own themes that echo and echo among all, but it is also true that there are many clues. The diversity of historical events itself has led to the diversification of the perception of May Fourth. It is a polyphonic movement in which different sounds are independent of each other, but they also participate together to shape a larger harmony. Changing historical events require a developing understanding, and rich historical events require a pluralistic understanding. It is necessary not only to show the "public sayings" of the times, but also to reproduce various unique "private words", and to express the polyphonic historical events in a polyphonic way.
The general section of the book (Chapters 2-4) suggests a common question as to whether the May Fourth Movement was a coherent and self-contained system. On the surface, May Fourth in the narrow sense seems to be more self-sufficient because of its short time and clear demands. However, the student movement is actually in the process of a new cultural movement, and its "rewriting" of the entire movement is clearly visible. Hu Shiai said that more than 400 vernacular publications that supported and echoed the student movement in an instant, revealing the intrinsic relationship between the broad and narrow senses of May Fourth - without the nourishment and cultivation of the new literature and new trends of thought that had preceded it, the sudden student movement would not have "responded to all calls" at that time, and continued to be echoed thereafter, and a politically oriented movement left a significant cultural imprint in history.
The new twelfth chapter shows the end of the generalized May Fourth. Along with the transformation of political ethics, the May Fourth people also pondered about politics itself and its relationship with culture. This fundamental concern concerns the ways in which China can be better improved and its place in the world. Hu Shih, who once wanted to be alienated from politics, eventually went through a struggle full of helplessness, or it can be said that it was the result of negotiations with the times. From the May Day Movement to the Northern Expedition, China gradually entered an "era of action" in which the individual gave way to the group, and politics prevailed over culture. The powerlessness of words reveals the "uselessness" of reading, and declares that an era characterized by culture has truly become history.
We often say that the times create heroes, but in fact, heroes can also create the times, and May Fourth in a broad sense can best express the mutual shaping of the times and heroes (intellectual youth). If May Fourth in the narrow sense is separated from its own unification, it will not only have an unstable foothold on its own, but will also greatly dilute the historical existence and historical significance of May Fourth as a whole. It can be said that whether it is broad or narrow, May Fourth is not a truly self-sufficient system, but it has gradually become unified in the process of development-
Roughly at the end of the May Fourth era, a homogeneous "May Fourth" cognition has gradually taken shape in the conventions, so May Fourth does have its own aspect. However, May Fourth is also a movement that has been remembered and interpreted as soon as it happens, and its meaning has continued to ferment for a long time. The May Fourth in people's memory, in different periods and fields, shows a hidden and different selectivity, and its construction has been continuing. Such a state of being somewhat self-sufficient and always in the process of development, at a cursory glance, has become a whole, and on a closer look, the layers are faintly visible, quite similar to the scene of stones entering the pool, stirring up ripples that overlap each other.
Xu Zhimo once described the acoustic effect of throwing stones into a deep pool, which can give us inspiration:
Take a stone and throw it into the deep pool in the ravine, and you will hear the sound clear and harmonious. The aftermath still echoes in the ravine, making you think of the stone slowly, slowly sinking into the bottomless pool.
Imagine if you throw another stone while the aftermath is still reverberating, there will be two echoes, and the two invisible stones in the water are still slowly sinking, while the aftermath that can be heard on the surface of the water is no longer distinguishable from each other.
The same is true of the ripples caused by the stones: the ripples caused by the stones that were thrown before are still rippling, and the stones that fall after them cause new ripples. Although there is a sequence of stones, the two ripples are visually connected, and it cannot be ruled out that the previous ripples are considered by some to be caused by new stones, and vice versa. In addition, the scale wave that touches the shore can also use the force to reverse, overlapping with the new wave that hits the shore.
Although such a fluctuating complex layer is diachronic, it often appears to be synchronic, and is therefore often recognized as synchronic.
Historically, the phenomenon of "courtesy and seeking the wilderness" can be understood at a deeper level: a new "ceremony" has been formed in the central area, and the aftermath of the old rites in the periphery area is still there, so traces of the old rites can be found. However, the new rites in the central area will gradually extend to the periphery areas, and the traces that appear in the local area cannot be ruled out as the impact of the new rites, but they may be seen as the aftermath of the old rites. In particular, what people see is often what they want to see, and for those observers who have the desire to "lose the courtesy", even if it is really the trace of the new rite, it is easy to see it as a remnant of the old rite.
In actual history, there may have been more than two or three stones falling into the water, and those sounds or ripples that are synchronic may be caused by different diachronic factors. If the stone enters the flowing water instead of the still water, the sound and waves of the water are involved, and the tension between the reaction of the external impact and the internal existing path is involved, and the sound waves and ripples caused by the stone are thus more complex and difficult to distinguish.
Specifically, the May Fourth waves, which are formed by the convergence of many tributaries, must have echoes wherever they rush (for example, their flow through Shanghai is not necessarily the same as the ripples caused in Chengdu). Such a very special event in history, not only the skills and words of the time, but also the hindsight of hindsight, are all sounding and sounding, forming a polyphonic movement that is dependent on each other. Therefore, the "impact-response" of stones into the water is both a revelation and a challenge, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish the causes of those sound waves or ripples, that is, the "traces of the traces".
In the actual operation of scholars, most of the specific research is to intercept a historical event for exploration. This kind of sliced research may have to be done, but when it comes to recognizing, interpreting and analyzing the specific fragments that have been intercepted, it cannot be regarded as static, and when we pay attention to what Liang Qichao said, "every historical site is in the middle of the journey, and it is in a state of doing and stopping." Only by paying attention to the dynamics of a single historical event and its spatio-temporal relationship with other people and other events can we comprehend and show its still and moving spiritual outlook.
The so-called "long river of history" is originally flowing, sometimes magnificent, sometimes slow, or even a "stagnant water" with a slight ripple (to borrow the title of Li Jieren's novel). There are rocks entering the water, the ripples of the torrent and the still water are different, and the sound waves of the shallow stream and the deep pool are also different. The long river of history that flowed through the passionate era of May Fourth may be like a surging torrent as a whole, rather than a still deep pool. However, if you cut to the specific surface of the water, its ripples and sound waves are not too different in degree. As Liu Xianxin pointed out, "All things that are quiet and stable will be seen after the same harmony." Any fragment is a static determination intercepted in the cycle of changes, and it must be intercepted and then visible, and can be investigated and analyzed, but this so-called "stillness" is still in motion, but it is a static determination that "does not stop" in the midst of change ("Zhuangzi Tianxia": "The disease of the arrow, and there is a time when it does not stop. Or what Benjamin called "dialectical stillness", the phenomenon seems to be solidified, but it can still be seen through the moving posture.
Not only do historical fragments need to be examined in a larger mobile historical context, but the understanding of the overall historical situation also obtains different cognitions due to the different fragments intercepted. In other words, each fragment of history is not only a part of the overall history, but also a reflection of the whole history itself. Yu Shiying once said that "the moon reflects Wanchuan" and everyone has different views on May Fourth, and Wanchuan reflects the moon like a stone into the water, and the sound waves and ripples are also different depending on the river. In particular, history is to be seen in deeds, and what each person thinks, says, and does in a specific field is always important. In the face of the May Fourth Movement, which is evolving in time and space, each person, the aftermath and the researcher have their own specific cognition of the scene, and each person is different.
The independent and corresponding parts form a polyphonic movement, which is played and interpreted again and again.
The physiognomy of May Fourth is not a simple string of individual nodes, but has its own unified side. However, a single cognition is not only a part of the overall image of May Fourth, but also accompanies and causes each other with many other cognitions, and it is also a concrete perception in which it is placed, which has irreplaceable uniqueness.
This puts higher demands on researchers. Every era and history has its own special color. Those who write May Fourth must follow the orientation of narrating history as history, respect the personalities of the times, events and characters, and make the May Fourth less uniform. The rich and diverse polyphonic May Fourth still needs to be placed in the long river of history and the world pattern to continue to appreciate it, in order to obtain what Chen Yinke called "the sympathy of understanding", and present it to readers in the way of "seeing and doing". Although I can't reach it, my heart yearns for it.