Li Ji and Hu Shi's mutual assistance and discomfort

Li Ji acquiesced to Hu Shi's propositions and advanced and retreated with Hu Shi

On February 4, 1933, Hu Shi received an English express mail from the Shanghai headquarters of the "League" at No. 4, Beifangliangjiao Hutong, where he lived, which contained an English letter signed by Song Qingling, a letter from Song's English secretary Smedley, and two indictments from political prisoners in the Peking Military Commission's Reflection Bureau.

The complaint bitterly accused political prisoners of being tortured in prison, and Smedley personally demanded that the Peiping Chapter be rescued immediately, and at the end claimed that the full text of the complaint had been published, "Unless your chapter takes immediate steps, those prisoners will be severely sentenced and mistreated."

Just four days ago, Hu Shi, Yang Xingfo, Cheng She, and others had just inspected the reflection house and learned that the prisoners were most distressed by wearing shackles and poor food, but there was no mention of lynching. Hu Shi also spoke in English with a prisoner named Liu Zhiwen, who did not have any hints. On February 1, Yang Xingfo only talked about the above two points in an interview with reporters.

It is said that after the "League" Headquarters in Shanghai received the indictment, for the sake of prudence, it should have verified it with the Peiping Branch before making a decision, but now it hastily announced it, and there is also the sentence at the end of Smedley's letter that if the Beiping Branch does not comply, it will bear the crime of persecution of the prisoners, is it not like coercion?

Hu Shi wrote these two opinions into a letter on the same day and prepared to send them to the Shanghai General Association. Before the letter could be sent, Hu Shi read the complaint and Song Qingling's letter in the English-language newspaper Yenching News the next day, signed as "The National Executive Committee of the Chinese Civil Rights Protection League." All kinds of signs strengthened Hu Shi's judgment, and he believed that the indictment that Shanghai would always receive was fabricated.

He pointed out: "It is a big mistake for Mrs. Sun to publish it in foreign newspapers without examining it, believing it as true, and publishing it in the name of the 'National Executive Committee.'" He further stated that if one or two private individuals could use the name of the highest organ of the association to publish irresponsible anonymous manuscripts, then The friends of Peiping "must not join such a group."

On February 5, Hu Shi wrote a letter to Chengshe, Li Ji, and Chen Bosheng, explaining the situation, and sending the original letter and the reply letter to Cheng, Li, and Chen to "Dajian", and if agreed, ask Cheng Jun to leave a draft and mail the original letter out quickly; for example, the three thought that the executive committee should be convened for discussion, "begging to show knowledge", Yunyun.

After Hu Shi's two above-mentioned protest letters were circulated by Cheng Shemei, Li Ji, and Chen Bosheng, executive members of the Beiping Branch of the "Alliance," they were sent to Shanghai by air express mail by Chengshe.

In his letter, Hu Shi said that "it is absolutely impossible to join such groups." However, before he could withdraw, the "League" expelled him on March 4.

After Hu Shi was expelled, Li Ji and the Beiping Branch of the "Alliance" of more than 40 professors and presidents also ceased its activities on March 28. This undoubtedly proves that Li Ji, Cheng Shemei, and Chen Bosheng agreed with the opinions in Hu Shi's letter, otherwise they would have left the letter and asked the Executive Committee to discuss it. It can be seen that the three of them agreed to a certain extent or acquiesced to the spirit of the last paragraph of Hu Shi's long letter, and were willing to advance and retreat with Hu Shi.

All of the above shows that Hu Shi and Li Ji are ideologically compatible as liberal intellectuals.

Hu Shi and Li Ji really knew each other in 1948, before they were about to leave the mainland, and that year they spent a few days together in Wuhan.

In October 1948, at the invitation of Zhou Kunsheng, president of Wuhan University, Li Ji and Hu Shi, president of Peking University, jointly went to Wuhan to give a lecture. The "Diary of Hu Shi" wrote: "On October 1, 1948, I went out at 7:00 a.m., invited Li Jizhi to the International Gala, and went to the China Merchants Wharf with Zhou Kunsheng and Xiong □□ to take a small steamer to the Jiangtai steamship. After 11 o'clock, the boat starts. On the night of September 8, 1937 (Sunday), it has been eleven years since he took a steamship from Nanjing to Hankou. ”

Li Ji gave two lectures in Wuchang and Hankou, entitled "The Beginning of the Bronze Age" and "One Month in Japan". When Hu Shi and Li Ji appeared on the forum of Wuhan University at the same time, the auditorium was crowded with listeners.

Principal Zhou Kunsheng stood in the middle of the podium, looked around the audience, smiled and delivered a speech: "We have invited two distinguished guests today. One is Mr. Hu Shi, the president of Peking University, with the surname Hu Mingshi, and the other is Mr. Li Ji, a famous archaeologist of the Academia Sinica, whose surname is Li Mingji. The names and words of the two of them coincide! Principal Hu Shi joked with me yesterday that I had 'put the two of them on the (Luojia) Mountain' and came! As you know, I don't know anything about archaeology, but fortunately, President Hu Shi is omniscient, so I'll ask him to introduce Professor Li Jizhi to you now, okay?"

During the day and night of the trip, Hu Shi introduced some life tips to Li Ji, such as suggesting that a meal before his speech was best to eat half full, otherwise it would cause discomfort, drinking a little wine might be beneficial, and also talking about how to brush his teeth correctly. At the time, they lived next to each other and shared a bathroom.

One day Li Ji asked Hu Shi: You are so tired, why don't you take a hot bath?

Hu Shi replied: Too tired, after washing, I don't have the energy to wipe the bathtub again, and I don't want to bother the co-workers.

"Although the tao is not good, it is not done; although it is small, it is not impossible." Li Ji reflected on himself, and he didn't seem to think about it so carefully. In short, it was a pleasant academic journey, but neither Li Ji nor Hu Shi, at that time, expected that this was their last light and shadow on the mainland.

At the end of 1948, Li Ji accompanied the "Academia Sinica" to Taiwan to escort cultural relics. The following year, Hu Shi went to the United States.

Li Ji was indignant about the position of "Jizhi" and "President of the Academia Sinica", and Hu Shi gladly "adapted"

In the early 1950s, Hu Shichang went to Taiwan to give lectures.

Between 1952 and 1953, Li Ji was writing a treatise on a stone statue unearthed from Yin Ruins, and asked Hu Shi for advice due to a lack of reference materials. Hu Shi introduced him to read Zhu Zi's "Kneeling and Praying", and Li Ji later checked it out and found it really useful, thus completing the article "Kneeling and Squatting and Squatting", and clarifying the history of Chinese kneeling. Li Ji thus deeply admired Hu Shi's profound knowledge and hard work in reading, and Hu Shi also praised Li Ji's article.

In the autumn of 1957, Zhu Jiahua resigned as president of Taiwan's "Academia Sinica." At the end of the year, the "Academia Sinica" review committee voted to elect Hu Shi. Chiang Kai-shek signed the "president' appointment letter and called to urge him to arrive as soon as possible. Hu Shi called back to report his illness and asked that Li Ji be appointed as the "acting dean" first, and Jiang Yun allowed him to do so.

By the spring of 1958, the preparations for the Third Academician Conference of the "Academia Sinica" led by Li Ji had come to an end, and Hu Shishi had taken up his new post. The position of "dean" was "suitable" because of Li Ji's indignation, so Hu Shi was happy to "adapt to it.". There is a parable in the West: two hedgehogs in the cold winter, to rely on each other to keep warm, to maintain a proper distance from each other, if the distance is too close, their respective thorns or stab each other bloody. Hu Shi and Li Ji were originally far apart, and when they became colleagues at this time, would there also be a "hedgehog problem"?

Before returning to Taiwan to settle down, Hu Shi wrote a letter from the United States to Li Ji, director of the "Institute of History and Languages", asking him to find a small piece of land near the Fu Sinian Library, and he wanted to buy a few small rooms to immerse himself in reading, but he never wanted to subsidize the institute. With Hu Shi's status and influence, Li Ji felt that the matter was too big to be specialized, so he reported to the general office of the "Academia Sinica". Finally, the matter was reported to the highest authorities in Taiwan.

Chiang Kai-shek has always been generous to the leaders of Shilin, such as the establishment of the Fusheng Academy with a high-speed carriage and horse during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and then he allocated special funds for Qian Mu to build the Shuangxi SuShuLou in Taipei City. This time, Jiang Shi ordered a piece of land to be built and a small house to be donated to Hu Shi, and the funds were included in his own writing fee.

Li Ji did not expect that things would reach this point, so he had to resign himself to it.

Hu Shi was deeply disturbed to learn of this news, and he said to Li Ji in his letter: "I hope for two things most often, one is that I want a private house for a scholar, not the residence of the dean of the 'Academia Sinica'. The second is that I still insist that this house be built at my expense. ”

To this end, he first sent two thousand five hundred dollars and said, "If there is not enough, beg to show it."

The final result is unknown to future generations. But apparently, Hu Shi had a grudge against Li Ji in this matter, and perhaps he felt that this matter was detrimental to his own reputation. Although Li Ji is not responsible, he is a party after all. In Hu Shi's mind, it may be said that "the economy is not good."

In the nearly four years since Hu Shi returned to Taiwan until his death, he was the president of the "Academia Sinica" and Li Ji was the vice president of the "Academia Sinica" and the director of the "Institute of History and Language", and the two of them maintained an attitude of trust, cooperation and support. But there are also many discomforts.

Because of the problem of employing people, Hu Shi severely criticized Li Ji

Li Guangmo once said that when his father, Li Ji, was the director of the "Institute of History and Languages" and the acting president of the "Academia Sinica," "things that were commanded by the elders and arrogant happened frequently, especially in the treatment of certain directors of the institute, the relationship was very tense, and even unable to work together.", including Yang Shuren.

On October 4, 1961, Taiwan's "Dahua Evening News" published a report on the unclear account books of the "Academia Sinica", which attracted media attention and led to the resignation of Yang Shuren, secretary of the "Academia Sinica" Council. Yang is the former director general of the "Academia Sinica", familiar with the situation in the academy and also has research on economic issues. Hu Shi originally wanted to invite him to return to the post of director general, but because of his health, he repeatedly pushed back and finally became the secretary of the Council, but still helped the "Academia Sinica" to deal with the use of funds. The so-called rumor of "unclear account books" has deeply affected the poplar people. Although Hu Shi wrote a letter to persuade him to stay, it was still to no avail.

In May of that year, Hu Shi wrote: "When I presided over the first meeting of the council after I took over the matter, I saw the annoying attitude of □□□, and I knew that the tree people could not help. The tree man is not unwilling to help me, he does not even want a car and horse fee, he has long decided not to prepare for long-term help; unless □□□ full realization, the tree man cannot be appointed. □□□ attitude is really annoying; but people are not bad, and his biggest flaw is that he never thinks for others. The three characters represented by the box are "Li Jizhi", because of the differences in the employment of personnel, Li Ji attracted severe criticism from Hu Shi.

However, three months later, on the cause of Hu Shi's death, Li Ji was more criticized and accused, and some people alarmistly said that Li Ji had "kicked the door" against Hu Shi.

On the morning of February 24, 1962, the "Academia Sinica" held the fifth academician meeting in Nangang, Taipei, and more than 100 guests were invited. Hu Shi presided over the meeting, completed all the agenda, and elected seven new academicians. At noon, the "Academia Sinica" entertained the academicians for lunch. A cocktail reception is held at 5 p.m.

It is said that Hu Shi instructed his secretary Wang Zhiwei beforehand: "The humanities group asked Vice President Li Ji to make a representative speech, and if you are polite, you do not have to insist." ”

At 5 p.m., the cocktail party began, and Hu Shi happily walked to the microphone to give a speech. Then, Hu Shi invited Mr. Ling Hongxun to speak. Mr. Ling spoke after that it was Li Ji. Unlike Hu Shi's high profile, Li Ji's speech was in a low tone, and he said of Hu Shi: "... In November last year, Mr. Hu accepted an invitation from a foreigner and gave a speech on "Social Reform Required for Scientific Development", which, although some small places and my views are not exactly the same, but I generally agree with it. Who knows, but it caused a lot of discussion. Then, Li Ji said that he felt that scientific ideas could not take root in Chinese society, which was the biggest problem...

After Li Ji finished speaking, Wu Dayu and Liu Dazhong continued to speak, after which Hu Shi stood up again and spoke.

Speaking again, Hu Shi's mood was quite excited. Lü Shiqiang, a scholar of modern history who was present at the time, believed that Hu's excitement was mainly due to Li Ji's pessimism about the development of science in China, and mentioned that Hu Shi had been criticized and attacked by many people after he delivered a speech on "social reform required for scientific development". Originally, Hu Shi's mood was already very heavy, but it was only because of the meeting of academicians, especially the arrival of Academicians Wu Dayu, Yuan Jialuo, Wu Jianxiong, and Liu Dazhong, which made his mood very excited, so the speech at the beginning of the cocktail party was relatively peaceful and pleasant, but Li Ji's speech inevitably made Hu Shi depressed.

Lu Shiqiang said: "Sir, when he talked about this, his tone was a little excited. If Hu Shi had stopped talking about it, stopped talking, and didn't let himself continue to be excited, maybe what happened later wouldn't have happened—just when he was shouting loudly, he suddenly stopped talking, maybe he felt uncomfortable. Just listen to him say, "Okay, okay, we'll talk about it today, let's drink some wine and have a snack!" Thank you. "It was 6:30 and the guests started to go back. Hu Shi stood where he had just spoken, shaking hands with some of the people who had resigned, and was about to turn around to talk to whom, when he suddenly turned pale, shook his back and fell backwards, the back of his head touched the edge of the table, and his body fell to the ground. Ling Hongxun, Qian Siliang, and others standing near Hu Shi hurriedly stretched out their hands to help him, and it was too late...

After Hu Shi's death, Chiang Kai-shek wrote down "a model of old morality in the new culture, a teacher of new ideas in the old ethics" as a sign of mourning.

The next day, Song Meiling visited Mrs. Hu Shi and advised her to take good care. On the 27th, Chiang Kai-shek sent another forehead and wrote the four big characters of "Wisdom and Virtue and Long". On March 1, a day of public remembrance of the deceased, Chiang Kai-shek came to mourn.

At the memorial service for Hu Shi,

Flowers, knots, altars, wreaths, cries, and mourning are extremely mournful; and Li Ji's elegy is only three small poems:

Why not die tomorrow?

Try to do your job,

It's like you'll never die.

The source of the elegy is Two of Ding Wenjiang's favorite quotes before his death, which Fu Sinian quoted in the article commemorating Ding.

Li Ji's elegy is both a remembrance of Ding Wenjiang, who died in 1936, Fu Sinian, who died in 1950, and Hu Shi, who died newly, but also a kind of self-encouragement. The ancients said, "Remember the deceased, mourn yourself."

Perhaps Hu Shi's initial hunch was correct, that is, he could not let Li Ji speak at all. Therefore, there are various theories surrounding Hu Shi's death, one of which is that Hu Shi's illness was onset, which was stimulated by the "encirclement and suppression", and Li Ji was a type of person who participated in the "encirclement and suppression". There are also more people who accuse Li Ji of not singing against Hu Shi on that occasion.

Why did Li Ji say those words, and did those words offend Hu Shi? To answer these questions, we must study Li Ji's mentality around February 24, 1962.

In August 1953, Li Ji published an article in The Magazine of Free China entitled "Several Questions on How to Advance Scientific Thought in China", which analyzed and criticized the "face" problem of Chinese.

Li Ji is full of anxiety about China's traditional culture and national nature, but the purpose of criticism is still to have confidence in the future.

Promoting the rooting of science in China is Li Ji's consistent ideological proposition and behavioral motivation; and the failure of science to take root in China is also a tension and anxiety in his heart that is difficult to eliminate.

Promoting scientific thinking in China can be said to be the starting point and destination of Li Ji's academic thought. Therefore, the incident that happened at the "Academia Sinica" cocktail party on February 24 was not that Li Ji deliberately robbed Bai Hushi and deliberately sang a drama with him, but that he once again warned the world with his unique discourse system.

In the past, people classified Li Ji as a scientist and archaeologist, but since then, people have found that Li Ji's thinking is extremely profound and wise. Many years later, Chen Saidshen said in an article: "A British gentleman at the University of Chinese in Hong Kong told me that you have not yet trained first-class scientists in China. Mr. Li Jizhi also said that science has not taken root in China, and I feel the same way. In fact, how many second- and third-rate scientists are trained in China? Professor Yukawa of Japan did not leave Japan before he became a meson (meson). In contrast, it is time to know where the effort lies. ”

And Li Ji's profound thoughts, even in the eyes of Hu Shi and his friends, were pessimistic and inappropriate. Once again, our nation's concept of "face" has been unfortunately spoken of...