Zhou Taixuan, formerly known as Zhou Zhuo (周焯), was later renamed Zhou Wu (周無), Taixuan (太玄), and was named After studying in France, he used his number to travel. He was born in Xindu County on January 20, 1895 (December 25, 2018). His ancestral home is Xiangfu County, Henan. The ancestor Zhou Lianggong was a scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and a large number of works were destroyed due to the prison of writing, and now only the "Lai Gutang Poetry Notes" and "Book Shadows" have been handed down. His father, Zhou Tang, served as the governor of Xindu, Emei and other counties in Sichuan. Liu attaches great importance to the education of his children, and Zhou Taixuan's profound achievements in traditional Chinese culture are closely related to his family's academic origins.
In 1909, Zhou Taixuan was admitted to the Sichuan Higher School with a middle school. Guo Moruo once wrote in "Before and After Anyway": "Wang Guangqi, Wei Siluan, Li Jieren, and Zhou Taixuan were all my classmates at that time, and the first three were classmates of Class C. At the time, they were all considered the best. Tai Xuan was the youngest of all,...... He was a good boy who was born... He is versatile. As far as I know, he can write poetry, he can fill in words, he can play the seven-stringed piano, he can draw, and he can write a good hand in his pen. According to Mr. Zhou, he was deeply influenced by the progress of the school's president, Liu Shizhi, "under his protection,...... I can read many revolutionary periodicals sent from overseas." At that time, the magnificent poems of Wen Tianxiang's "Jishe", Yue Fei, Zheng Sonan, Zhang Cangshui, Zhai Shiyun and others published in the "Journal of National Essence" all inspired his national integrity and patriotic spirit.
In the autumn of 1930, the Taixuan family was in Paris. On the left is Wang Yaoqun
In 1911, Zhou Taixuan graduated from the separate middle school, and in the midst of hardships, he resolutely rushed to Shanghai and was admitted to the Political economy department of the Chinese Public School. After graduation, he worked as an interpreter and editor for Minxin Bao in Shanghai. Later, he moved to Beijing, where he served as the editor of Jinghua Daily and Zhonghua Xinbao and a correspondent of China News Agency. He and his friend Wang Guangqi, who also worked as an editor at The Beijing Daily, deeply felt that the warlord rule was dark and corrupt, the great powers coveted and slaughtered, the wind and rain were obscure, the national disasters were deep, and social reform was imperative. At this time, he became acquainted with Li Dazhao, who was teaching at Peking University and editing the supplement of the Morning Bell Newspaper, and was very close to each other, and agreed that it was necessary to "unite with his peers and kill a path to transform this ancient, decaying, groaning, oppressed and exploited country into a young, independent, rich and powerful country." As a result, the organization of the "Young Chinese Society" gradually matured among them.
On June 30, 1918, a meeting of initiators attended by Li Dazhao, Wang Guangqi, Zhou Wu (i.e., Zhou Taixuan), Chen Qing, Zhang Shangling, Zeng Qi, and Lei Baojing was held at Yueyun Villa outside The Shunzhi Gate (i.e., Xuanwu Gate) in Beijing, and decided that Wang Guangqi would be the secretary, Li Dazhao would be the editor, and the youngest Zhou Wuren wenmu. On July 1, 1919, the "Young Chinese Society", a progressive society with the largest number of members, the widest distribution and great influence during the "May Fourth" period, was formally established. The Society has the largest number of members abroad, including those living in France. On March 27, 1921, the Paris chapter was established, and Zhou Taixuan was elected secretary. Members of Nanyang, Tokyo, New York and other places are contacted by the Paris chapter.
In 1917, through the introduction of Wu Yuzhang, Zhou Taixuan joined the Chinese Law Education Association and actively studied French in preparation for going to France. After the end of the First World War, the Paris Peace Conference was held on January 18, 1919, and in order to report the true news of the Paris Peace Conference to the chinese people as soon as possible, Zhou Taixuan went to France on the first day of the first lunar month of the old calendar. With the consent of Wu Yuzhang and with the support of Li Shizeng, one of the advocates of the Huafa Education Association, he quickly set up the Paris News Agency.
Since the Chinese delegation's demand to abolish the "Twenty-One Articles" and the privileges of the great powers in China was rejected by the imperialist countries, the domestic situation in China was on the verge of erupting. The "Paris Peace Treaty" also affirmed Japan's seizure of rights and interests in China's Shandong, and the Beijing government delegation was ready to sign it. The Paris News Agency was the first to bring the news back home, which was disclosed by various newspapers, and soon after, the "May Fourth" movement broke out, and the Beijing government was forced to refuse to sign.
At the end of 1919, Zhou Taixuan began to found the "Travel in Europe Weekly" and organized the "Huagong Weekly", and the following year, the "Huagong Weekly" was changed to "Huagong Xunxian" and began to publish. Zhou Taixuan edited the Weekly Travel in Europe, and most of the articles were written by him. The journal published a large number of articles that publicized and discussed new trends of thought, such as work-study, work-study doctrine, the situation of Chinese workers, and social reform. Founded by Zhou Taixuan, Li Lisan and Zhao Shiyan, the Journal of Chinese Workers is a publication that mainly reflects the lives of Chinese workers. During this period, Zhou Taixuan became acquainted with Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and so on.
In 1920, Zhou Taixuan finished his work on the journal and entered the University of Montpellier in the south of France to study naturalism. He graduated in 1924 with a master's degree in education and quickly entered the Institute of Research of the University of Paris. During this period, he published many studies, papers and detailed drawings in the journals of the French Academy of Sciences, the French Zoological Society, and the Biological Society, and solved the problem of the staining of organelles and Golgi, thus confirming its existence with certainty. Coupled with his achievements in the study of coelenterates and especially on jellyfish, he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in 1930 by the French National. Until 1949, the Soviet Union published "Inferior Animal Embryology" also quoted Zhou Taixuan's diagrams and narratives, which showed the level he had reached at that time.
In 1930, he was hired by Zhang Lanzhi, president of Chengdu University, to return to China and teach at Chengdu University and Chengdu Normal University in the name of the Zoology Lecture of the China Education and Culture Foundation Committee. In 1931, the three universities merged to form the National Sichuan University, and he was hired as a professor, dean of the Faculty of Science, and head of the Department of Biology.
In 1931, the "918" incident broke out, and the Sichuan warlords launched a fierce street battle in Chengdu. Zhou Taixuan was deeply disappointed in the real world. In 1936, he traveled to Europe again for scientific investigation, and wrote many articles for the Ta Kung Pao and the National News Weekly, attacking the society with increasing abuses. After returning to China, he began to secretly study the classic works of Marxism-Leninism and learn Russian, and made new quests to save the country and the people.
Between 1948 and 1949, when the old Ta Kung Pao was reborn, Zhou Taixuan wrote to Wang Yunsheng, pointing out: "The next one or two years will be the years of major changes in the whole country,...... I hope that the Ta Kung Pao will appear in a new posture..." Subsequently, Zhou Taixuan served as an adviser to the Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao and presided over the work of the editorial committee, and began to contribute to the newspaper's remarks on the side of the people, and also played an active role in united front work.
In 1950, he served as a member of the Southwest Military and Political Committee and the Cultural and Educational Committee, and attended the second session of the first session of the CPPCC National Committee as a special representative, and then succeeded him as a member of the second, third and fourth cppcc national committees until his death. In September 1951, he was appointed chairman of the Administrative Committee of Sichuan University, and in September 1952, he was appointed president of Chongqing University and a member of the Southwest Administrative Committee. In 1953, he was transferred to Beijing and successively served as a member of the Standing Committee and the Academic Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director and director of the Compilation Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and president and editor-in-chief of the China Science Press. Since 1955, he has also served as a first-class researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. During this period, he organized personnel from the mouth of the Yalu River to Beihai City to conduct a general survey of the distribution of jellyfish in China's coastal areas, and also participated in the investigation of international cooperation, which laid the foundation for China's research work, filled the gap in domestic jellyfish research, and was known as the originator of Chinese coelenterate research.
As the first president of the China Science Publishing House, Zhou Taixuan did pioneering work for the establishment of the first comprehensive natural science publishing house with a certain scale and level in New China. He has presided over the editing and publication of many scientific and technological books with high level and great influence, such as "World Science Translation Series", "Chinese Animal Atlas", "Zoology", "Scientific Achievements in the Ten Years of the Founding of the People's Republic of China", etc. It has made positive contributions to the cause of scientific and technological publishing and the development of science in China.
Zhou Taixuan was diligent in writing all his life and attached great importance to the popularization of science. Seven books on biology remain, the most important being Studies on chiysaora's Life History and Animal Psychology. There are 11 translations, the important ones are "The Great Problems of Post-Darwin Biology", "The Study of Man", "The Science of Man", "Species" and so on. In addition, he has written a large number of scientific papers, popular science books, reviews on education, literature, philosophy, religion and other aspects, and a large number of political papers. His long scientific paper, "Looking into the Future of Mankind", attracted the attention of the scientific community. He also translated the poems of the famous French poets Emile de Bacques and Paul Verlaren, and was the first person to introduce Paul Verleren to China. His Future of Poetry also makes an important exploration of poetry theory. His poem "Across the Indian Ocean" was widely circulated and became popular among the population. Some of his poems were included in the "New Chinese Literature Series", which earned him a very good title.
Zhou Taixuan joined the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party in 1953 and served as a member of the party's Beijing Municipal Committee and a member of the Central Committee.
On July 23, 1968, Zhou Taixuan died of illness in Beijing. On December 22, 1978, the burial ceremony of the ashes was held at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing.