Gu Tinglong and Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment"

□ Yao Yiming

One day, he and Adu had dinner together, and during the meal they talked about Gu Tinglong's collection of books. Adu said that he remembered that in the autumn of more than a year ago, he was ecstatic when he received the batch of Gu Tinglong's books on Wuxing Road in Huaihai Road, and he did not even let go of a piece of paper, and later some inconspicuous pieces of paper were sold for a good price. Made a lot of money, I quipped. Adu smiled and said nothing, and his black face was full of pride. More than a year ago, in the autumn since the wenmiao old book market appeared Gu Tinglong's collection of books, in the old book circle caused a lot of waves, and Adu is also a witness, many of the stories, I have written in the "Gu Tinglong old collection of several books and periodicals" article, as for my harvest is also very few, the purpose of Gu Tinglong's old collection of rare books and foreign publications, but also can not move, intentional and insufficient. Now the old story is revisited, just to further clarify some details.

During the small talk with Adu, Adu said that the batch of Gu Tinglong's old collection he received had a manuscript of Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment" of more than 100 pages, and Adu was very happy, because Gu Jiegang's manuscript was not low in price. Gu Jiegang graduated from Peking University, and later successively served as a professor at Many famous universities such as Xiamen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Yenching University, Peking University, etc. In 1926, he was named after the publication of "Wu Gejia Collection", and from 1926 to 1941, he published seven volumes of "Ancient History Discernment", and became a representative of the ancient history discernment school and the skeptical ancient school. But the manuscript was not sold, because the words of the manuscript were not written by Gu Jiegang, but copied by Gu Tinglong. This intrigued me involuntarily. After a few days, I saw the manuscripts, and sure enough, they were Gu Tinglong's words. This is strange, how could Gu Tinglong copy Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment From The Preface"?

The first volume of Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment" was published in 1926 by the Peiping Pushe Society, and he wrote a self-prologue with nearly 60,000 words, Gu Jiegang reviewed his reading, the process of learning for learning, personality and opportunities, and also expounded his views on the debate on ancient history. The original meaning of "ancient history discernment" is the debate on ancient history, and the "Ancient History Discernment" has been published in a total of seven volumes, each of which collects papers from both positive and negative sides, in addition to doubting the ancient, there is also the ancient. Not all of the "Ancient History Discernment" was compiled by Gu Jiegang, the fourth and sixth volumes edited by Luo Genze, and the seventh volume edited by Tong Shuye and Lu Simian. In 1981, the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House reprinted the "Ancient History Discernment", and added the eighth volume of historical geography content at the suggestion of Gu Jiegang.

As for why he wrote "Ancient History Discernment", Gu Jiegang said: "My academic work began with Zheng Qiao and Yao (Ji Heng) and Cui (Shu). Cui Dongbi's book inspired me that the "Biography" and "Record" were not credible, and the Yao Book inspired me not only that the "Biography" and "Record" were not credible, but even the "Classic" could not be fully trusted. Zheng Qiao's book inspired me to learn and understand, and aroused my doubts about the Book of Poetry. Therefore, my boldness is getting bigger and bigger, daring to overthrow all the idols in the "Classics" and "Biographies", and the guiding ideology of my "Ancient History Discernment" originated from the ideas of Zheng, Yao, and Cui in the distant sense, and was inspired and helped by Hu Shi and Qian Xuantong in the near future..."

After the publication of the first volume of the Ancient History Discernment, it was a great hit and was printed in as many as twenty editions. The "Ancient History Discernment" mainly suggests that the ancient books since the Warring States, the Qin Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty, especially the ancient history contained in the scriptures, are mostly due to the evolution of myths and legends, which are gradually accumulated by the myths and legends of different eras, so as to eliminate some false and false historical materials in the ancient books and further clarify and scientifically study China's ancient history. According to Gu Jiegang, the first volume of the "Ancient History Discernment" is my correspondence and articles discussing ancient history with Hu Shi, Qian Xuantong, Liu Tuanquan, and others, with 'Yu' as the central issue of discussion, and also with the movement of distinguishing forgeries in successive dynasties. In this volume, the arguments for many of the problems now seem to be weak enough, but I still stick to the main points. I wrote a 60,000-word "Self-Introduction" of 60,000 words (originally 100,000 words, which was published with part of the Meng Jiang Nu) that explains why I studied ancient methods and why I have these insights. ...", "How Did I Write the Ancient History Debate?") 》)

Gu Jiegang's recounting in the text is some of his memories of his compilation of the Ancient History Discernment. His article "How Did I Write the Ancient History Debate?". It was published in the 1980 issue of Chinese Philosophy, Sanlian Bookstore, No. 2 and No. 4, and Gu Jiegang died of illness at the end of that year. So why was the "Ancient History Discernment Self-Introduction" copied by Gu Tinglong? This has to start from the relationship between Gu Tinglong and Gu Jiegang.

Gu Tinglong is of the same lineage as Gu Jiegang and is an uncle of the higher generation, but Gu Tinglong is a student of Gu Jiegang, and Gu Tinglong is eleven years younger than Gu Jiegang. The same is the Jiangnan Gu family, Jiangnan Gu family was once praised by the Kangxi Emperor as "the first reading family in Jiangnan", but after the baptism of time, the living conditions of each family branch have their own conditions; Gu Jiegang was born in Suzhou Suspension Bridge Lane, although this alley is not large, but there is an exclusive garden of the Gu family. It can be seen that although both the Gu Tinglong and Gu Jiegang families have the same ancestor, after several generations, the living environment and economic conditions are different.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Shanghai Editorial Office of the Zhonghua Book Company (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House) decided to reprint Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment", the original intention of the publishing house was to let Gu Tinglong write a new preface, but Gu Tinglong felt that he was shallow and incompetent, so he copied Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment From The Preface". In Gu Tinglong's letter to Gu Jiegang on New Year's Day in 1978, there is a paragraph about this matter: "I have agreed to organize the great works, and I intend to transfer Comrade Wang Xuhua to help, and I despise myself and approve of it." When the intention is about to honor Chen Zhi, the leader of our museum. According to the cloud academy of social sciences letter has also been received, after the study of the general branch, that is, resumed. After that, I participated in the CPPCC meeting for eight days, which ended on the 31st day. Tomorrow at work, when I urge the organization, I will advise again..." (The Complete Works of Gu Tinglong, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, December 2017 edition)

Later, due to various reasons, Gu Jiegang's "Ancient History Discernment" was not reprinted by the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House until 1981 after his death (not a collated version, but a photocopy of the whole book). In the introduction of the reprint, Gu Jiegang's achievements in historical research and the significance of the reprint of "Ancient History Discernment" are detailed:

At that time, the examination of the authenticity of ancient history was collected in the "Ancient History Discernment", which reflected the overall picture of the achievements made in revising China's ancient history (including ancient events and ancient books). From 1926 to 1941, the Ancient History Discernment was published in seven volumes, containing 350 articles and more than 3.25 million words. Because the publication of the book has been around for a long time this year, it is very difficult to find seven volumes, so in order to meet the needs of readers, the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House has photocopied the whole book, and according to Mr. Gu Jiegang's last wishes, it has added the eighth volume of "Ancient History Discernment", which is dedicated to examining ancient geographical articles. The first volume is Gu Jiegang's correspondence with Hu Shi, Qian Xuantong, Liu Quan, and others discussing ancient history, with "Yu" as the center of the discussion, and the movement to distinguish falsification in previous dynasties, as well as Mr. Gu Jiegang's 60,000-word "Self-Introduction to Ancient History Discernment" and the reprinted new income "How I Wrote the Ancient History Discernment"; the second volume is the study of the first volume. The first part discusses the issue of ancient history, the middle part discusses Confucius and Confucianism, and the second part is a commentary on the first volume. The republishment of "Ancient History Discernment" can enable readers to see the brave spirit of Gu Jiegang and other historians who dared to break thousands of years of tradition, and can also enable readers to understand their achievements through a large number of examinations. ”