Author: Liu Fusheng
Biography of scholars
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Meng Wentong (1894-1968) was born in Yangjiagou, Shiniu Temple, Yanting County, Sichuan Province. In 1906, he went to Chengdu with his uncle, who was a professor of Chengdu Fuxue, and then entered the newly established Sichuan Guoshu College to study with the masters of classics Liao Ping and Liu Shipei. After 1927, he successively served as a professor at Chengdu University, Central University, Henan University, Peking University and other universities. In 1937, he was appointed as a professor at Sichuan University, Northeastern University, and West China University. In 1941, he became the director of the Sichuan Provincial Library. In 1957, he became a researcher at the Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Written by Hongfeng, after about 20 years of efforts by Professor Zhesi Mengmo, the Complete Works of Meng wentong was published by the Bashu Book Society in 2015, and the collection of essays is divided into nine volumes, namely Confucianism, Zhuzi, Historiography, Ancient History, Ancient Rites, Ancient Tribes, Ancient Lands, Taoism, and Beiji, with a total of more than 3 million words.
【Everyone】
In 1923, Mr. Liao Ping, a master of jingjin literature in hemiplegia, after reading an article forwarded by Meng Wentong, could not help but praise Zuo Shu: "Mengwen Tong is like the bottom of a barrel, admiration and admiration, the future will become everyone." ”
Mr. Mon Wentong did not live up to the expectations of the Master. In the following 40 years of academic career, he was known for his extensive knowledge and profundity, and made extraordinary achievements in the study of scriptures and sons of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, the history of the Late Zhou, Six Dynasties and Song Dynasties, Zen and Silla studies in Buddhism, Taoism and Taoism, Song Ming Theory, Paleogeography, and Ancient Ethnic History. Many of these chapters have become monumental works in the academic field of the 20th century.
Mr. Xiao Xiao once said: Meng Wentong is "the outstanding master of traditional Chinese studies and expert in national history in China in the twentieth century", which is very appropriate. Here is only a brief introduction to Mr. Meng's study of scripture and history.
The study of the classics is slight
Classics were the mainstream of Qing Dynasty scholarship, with the controversy between "ancient scriptural studies" and "modern classics", the former interpreting the scriptures in detail and exhorting the system of chapters and verses and canons, while the latter emphasized the use of small words and general meanings. In his early years, Mr. Meng studied at the Sichuan Guoxue Museum, where masters gathered, and through the modern literary scholar Liao Ping, the ancient literary scholar Liu Shipei, and Wu Zhiying, who also knew the ancient and modern, and in the lecture, they held their own reasons and made their own reasons, prompting him to think for a long time in the divergent theories of the teachers.
Since the publication of his debut novel "Ancient Texts of Kong" in 1915, Mr. Meng's study of scriptures has lasted for more than 50 years. He learned from Liao Ping and was influenced by it, but did not blindly follow, and ruled the scriptures without mud. In 1922, he wrote "The Peaceful Discussion of Sinology in the Past Twenty Years" ("Introduction to Classics"), which differed from the old theory, and discussed the modern learning, the ancient learning, the Lu xue, the Qi xue, the Jin xue, the Wang Bo and the sons. The gentleman said it was his "own opinion".
In 1923, Mr. Meng "went south to Wuyue, seeking strangeness, looking at the flow of scripture since the same light, and the rong ma was born in the suburbs, so the old lurked, the crowd of fierce people blocked the road, and talked about Xi You." He found that in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, which were originally important towns for economic study, the style of study had changed greatly.
After 1928, when Mr. Meng returned to the scriptures, he could not help but sigh: "Friends and friends are scattered, and there is no one to teach." Looking at Tingke, the past is still the same, and the victory will not be constant, and it can not make people feel sad and afraid. Sighing: Will the will of the Master rest on Si Hu? Or is it too big to be true? The gentleman felt the burden on his body, and immediately a series of famous articles such as "Sutra Learning and The Origin" came out one after another.
Mr. Meng zhijing believes that it is important to do the study of the "Ming Dao", and the three of them can only be counted as a step in the study of scriptures. He criticized the fragmentation of the Qing Dynasty scribes without knowing what the "jing" was, nor was he satisfied with the fact that Master Liu Shipei paid attention to the "family law" and "regulations" of the Han Confucian scribes, and even did not satisfy Liao Pingshi's compromise "three transmissions" to talk about "Spring and Autumn".
There are ten articles in the "Classics of Learning", which traces the meaning of the doctor's present text and the meaning of the ancient text of Liang Zhao, clarifies the long-term confusion and unclear problems in the two Han classics, and embodies the highest realm of the "Ming Dao". "If we can only talk about the Six Classics and righteousness, only do some Daoist and inquiry, and put aside a period of dignified and virtuous things, such as Ming Shu, Observing Humanity, Zhi Guang, and Exhausting Subtlety, this is still not to the top layer."
Mr. Liao Ping died in 1932, and Mr. Meng wrote three articles to commemorate his mentor, sorting out the development of classical and ancient literature, and pinpointing the shortcomings of the academic circles. Among them, the article "Jingyan Liao Jipingshi and Modern and Modern Literature" made a flat discussion on the "Liao Kang Gong Case", holding that Liao Ping and Kang Youwei are both modern and modern literature, each with their own origins, but Kang's "New Study of Pseudo-Scriptures" cannot be said to be unaffected by Liao's words, but it cannot be said that Kang's words can summarize Liao's learning. The article "Mr. Liao Jiping and Qing Dynasty Sinology" criticizes the Qing people's love of building allusions or ruling the last branches of the path, praising Liao Ping for the truth of Zhou Qin's scholarship, using the "Royal System" as the program of the current literary etiquette system, calming down the "ancient and modern" controversy, and fully affirming Liao Ping's merits of "degree to the former sages".
In his early years, Mr. Meng talked about the "Neo-Confucians" who held the study of modern texts and classics at the time of the Qin and Han Dynasties, believing that there was a big difference between them and the "old Confucians" of Kong Meng, who maintained the Shiqing system, and did not face up to the political and philosophical thinking of modern writers, but only saw the superficial phenomena such as the five elements of yin and yang, and lost the watermelon and grabbed the sesame seeds.
The "Neo-Confucians" of the Qin and Han Dynasties embraced the "aspirations of the ages", talked about the ideal society of "one king and great law" in which all people are equal, and talked about well fields, schools, sealing Zen, hunting, and Mingtang. Ida is rich and poor, schools (Puyong) are the ideal sustenance, such as the selection of the Son of Heaven by sealing Zen, the deposing of princes by hunting, and the discussion of state affairs by Mingtang. Mr. Meng went on to analyze the motives of this change in thinking, arguing that since the Warring States period, the rise of clothed people and the rise of the qingxiang clashed with the noble power of the clan, and the Ram relied on "Spring and Autumn" to ridicule Shiqing to reflect this change. The ideal society of "Neo-Confucianism" is entrusted to Ida, where everyone is equal.
Mr. Meng said: "There are originally two kinds of well field system recorded in the literature, one is really existing in history, and the other is idealized by scholars, the former is a harsh class inequality system, and the latter is an ideal system of equality for all. He further believes that "what Han said is the ideal well field, naturally it is no wonder that everyone praises the government of tithe", and when the land contradictions in history were sharp, there were many voices of fu Ida, and this insight found us a key to solving the mystery of Ida.
In his later years, Mr. Meng wrote "Confucius and Modern Literature", which further discussed the thinking of modern writers in the Han Dynasty, revealing the tremendous changes that took place in Confucianism from the late Warring States period to the early Han Dynasty, which was a great contribution to the study of the history of Confucianism, and was of epoch-making and innovative significance in both the academic history of Chinese thought and social and political history.
Therefore, some scholars believe that Mr. Meng's discussion of the modern Literary Family, emphasizing the "revolutionary theory" of the "Qi Shijia" and the "Jingfang Yichuan" "has the significance of intellectual history"; it is also said that Mr. Meng's discussion on the "One King's Great Law" of the present text is an equal system of all peoples and one law, and it is the result of being infected by the spiritual atmosphere of the "May Fourth" revolution (Liu Xiaofeng). If this theory is not bad, then the growth of learning not only needs to be "cultivated by the old people in the wilderness", but also must be the product of the agitation of the ideological trend of the times.
In the 1940s, Mr. Meng wrote for more than 20 years and published the famous work "Five Treatises on Confucianism". Among them, five articles in the "Treatise" discuss the essence of Confucianism and its formation and development, especially the development of its philosophical and political thought; the four articles in "Broad Treatise" are the internal links between Confucianism and China's two-thousand-year history, discussing the commerce of the Zhou Dynasty, the society of the Qin Dynasty, the economic policies of the Han Dynasty, and the social design of the Song And Ming Dynasties. "The argument is quite remarkable, far beyond the view of the portal of modern and ancient times in general scripture. If you don't keep the fences, you will become a family of your own" (Xiao Ji's father's words).
In his later years, Mr. Meng devoted himself to the study of science, and once said that "those who are deep in self-satisfaction are only rational", and in 1937, he published "The Development of Confucian Philosophical Thought and Later Theory", which had already discussed the issue of rational qi. In his later years, he wrote "Notes on Science", which has more in-depth thinking on sexual rationality and qi, etc., which is "not a general reading note, but a deep study of the Song Ming Science and Technology schools, including YingzuiHua and unique wisdom" (Xiao Xiao's father's language), which is the crystallization of Mr. Li's rational thought.
The Buddhist master Ouyang did not even write "The Biography of the Mean", and when he sent Mr. Meng, he once said, "Only I have a literary understanding and a foot to talk with him." Xiong Shili called Mr. "the best of the two or three confidants", which is exactly the words of the thinkers. In fact, Confucianism, scripture, and science all discuss Confucian issues, but the emphasis is different, so mr. Li has never given up the study of Confucian classics.
From the history of the passage
Mr. Meng was born in the study of scriptures, and later became a historian, so Mr. Meng has the saying that "from the classics into history". Inspired by Liao Pingshi, in 1927, he wrote the famous work "Ancient History Zhen Wei", which revealed the formation and evolution of the "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" system, and the fallacy of the existence of a series of dilapidated theories. He pointed out that this three-five system is the theory of the late rise of the Warring States, and the legendary emperors are only the evolution of the tribal chieftains who have grown their own people in ancient times. The ancient Chinese peoples can be divided into three families: Jianghan, Haidai and Heluo, which not only have different distribution areas, but also have different lives and cultures, and ancient history and legends are also very different.
Mr. Meng further discussed the rise and fall of the three generations of Xia and Shang, as well as the similarities and differences and unification of the three generations of cultures, which not only sorted out the complicated and tangled ancient history, but also made many unresolved issues open-minded for thousands of years, creating a precedent for the study of regional culture in China.
In this year, Mr. Meng taught at Chengdu University (the predecessor of Sichuan University), in 1932 at Henan University, and then successively at Peking University, Hebei Women's Normal College, Tianjin University and other schools, which was the heyday of his research on the evolution of northern ethnic groups in the Zhou and Qin dynasties.
At the "urging" of Mr. Gu Jiegang, Mr. Meng successively wrote articles such as "Inu rong dong invasion examination", "Qin Wei Rong nationality examination", "Chi Di and Bai Di eastern invasion examination", "ancient ethnic migration examination", "Dongyi's rise and fall and migration", tracing the traces of ethnic migration and flow from a spatial point of view, insight into the different ethnic groups under the cover of the same ethnic group name from time, and then looking at the trend of their ethnic integration, from which they found that there was an inseparable internal connection with various academic schools of the pre-Qin Dynasty, which aroused the attention and controversy of the Zhou Qin ethnic group in the academic circles at home and abroad.
From the traces of national rejuvenation, the changes in cultural scholarship are discovered, which is a major contribution and characteristic of Mr. Meng's research on ethnic history.
During the seven or eight years, the manuscript accompanied Mr. Meng in the north and south, which showed that he cherished this research very much. Later, the various articles were combined into a book called "Studies on Ethnic Minorities in Zhou Qin", which was published in 1958, which once again aroused a warm response from the academic circles.
At the end of 1937, Mr. Meng returned to Shuzhong and taught at Sichuan University and other schools, concurrently serving as the director of the Sichuan Provincial Library. In his later years, he paid special attention to the history of the southern nationalities, and even discussed the ancient history of Bashu, and made a slight observation on the relationship between Bashu and Shu, the ancient ethnic groups of Bashu, and the economic changes of Bashu. He reveals the changes in the shu ethnic groups between the Han and Tang dynasties, and is the most insightful in distinguishing the difference between the Shu "fangren" and the shu (also known as the "fang").
"Yue Shi Cong Kao" is the last treatise completed by Mr. Meng before his death, which answers an important question in the history of the southern peoples. The Vietnamese historian Tao Weiying said: "Before the Spring and Autumn Warring States, when another large ethnic group (Han) occupied the Yellow River Valley, while the Yue occupied the entire area south of the Yangtze River", the Yue Shi Cong Kao analyzed chu and Yue Domains, distinguishing the fallacy of Chu and Yue Tongzu, and the fallacy of Ming Tao's family was false to the world. He made a specific analysis of the "Baiyue" ethnic groups contained in the ancient history, revealed their different cultural characteristics and historical sites of change, and pushed the study of the history of the southern ethnic groups to a new stage.
It is worth noting that the "Yue Shi Cong Kao" was completed under the "cowshed" of the day and the night during the catastrophe, and the book "always runs through the spirit of patriotism" (Li Yihao), and is recognized as one of the most important achievements in the study of the ethnic groups in southern China in the 20th century.
Mr. Meng has conducted a lot of ancient geographical research because of his research on ancient history, but he does not simply investigate the geographical evolution, but his focus is still on examining the traces of the evolution of ancient and modern history. Mr. Zhou Shu and Gong Fang compared with "Yu Gong" to gain insight into the "pioneering feelings of the Han nationality"; Mr. Li observed the changes in biology in ancient and modern times, found that the climate of the ancient Yellow River Basin was superior to the Yangtze River Basin, and proposed the inseparable relationship between "cultural rejuvenation" and phenological changes.
In the study of the ancient water and land, Mr. Meng found that the "Notes on the Water Classics" was very suspicious and proposed that the ancient geography should be treated with the method of governing the classics. This has gone beyond the scope of pure historical geography, opened up a new direction for the study of historical geography, and has a unique meaning in the study of "Li Xue".
Mr. Meng's study of the Classic of Mountains and Seas is also unique. Since the 20th century, some scholars have noticed that this "strange book" has important academic value for the study of ancient history. His research is of typical significance, as he "raises the book to the appropriate position of ancient history research" (Luo Zhitian), examines the "era" and "region" in which it arose, and pays special attention to the significance of the book 'treating the lands of Cuba, Shu, and Jingchu as 'under the heavens'", which shows that the Classic of Mountains and Seas is very "likely to be a classic of bashu culture that is a representative of the Bashu culture circulated in the Ba and Shu regions". There are many legends and myths about Kunlun in ancient times, and Mr. Li pointed out: "There are myths, but not all myths." To clarify the era and context in which the ancients said Shu or Kunlun as "under the heavens", it can be seen that taking myths as historical facts or completely viewing them as falsehoods is biased.
Mr. Meng believes that Chinese historiography flourished in the Late Zhou Dynasty, the Six Dynasties, and the Two Song Dynasties, which was the period of China's "meeting of ideological contours". Since the 1930s, he has successively written the main part of the History of Chinese Historiography, focusing on these three periods.
The History of Chinese Historiography focuses on historical thought, historical methods and their relationship with various academic ideas of the times, focusing on the history and philosophy of history of the development of historiography. In the book, He advocates "looking at the history of the law of the sons" and "governing the history of the rule of law of the sons", as he said: "When talking about academic thought, we must see both the spirit of the times and the source of its academic veins. This is "the first history of the development of historiography, the first history of historiography to examine the development of historiography in the broad field of ancient academic thought, and an important innovation without precedent" (Li Jiaju).
Mr. Meng was one of the well-deserved pioneers of the study of Song history in China in the 20th century, and in the 1930s, he opened the first course of "Special Topics in Song History" at Peking University. Before and after this, he expressed outstanding views on the social changes during the Tang and Song dynasties, the commodity economy of the Song Dynasty, the historiography of the Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty, and the War.
The old and new changes in Tang and Song scholarship were paid attention to by Mr. Meng very early, "and after the Song Renzong celebration calendar, the new learning was on the smooth road of prosperity, so both the government and the opposition were the world of new learning", which became an unpublished theory. When the evaluation of Wang Anshi's change of law was one-sided, He wrote a long article "Treatise on the Change of Law in the Northern Song Dynasty", proposing that to evaluate Wang Anshi's law change activities realistically, we should pay attention to the consequences of the law change measures. Due to the "inopportune" long-term publication of the treatise, however, it did not go away, which attracted a lot of attention, highlighting the valuable spirit of Mr. Wang's study and truth-seeking, and was officially published in 1999 with the collection of essays.
The essence of governance
Mr. Meng has gone out into history, how does he view the relationship between scripture and history?
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the system was reformed, the imperial examination declined and the school flourished, and under the influence of the classification of Western disciplines, the art profession specialized, the classics could not be set up in any one subject, and "forced" to be divided into several subjects, "Yi" into philosophy, "poetry" into literature, "Shangshu", "Spring and Autumn", and "Rites" into history. Mr. Meng was dismissive of this. He denounced "the false classification of Western scholarship" for sacrificing Chinese scholarship, "regardless of the great power and great achievements of classics in national culture."
"Classics are the supreme code of the Chinese nation, and thought and behavior, politics and customs cannot deviate from their own norms." Mr. Meng believes: "Classics is the study of scriptures, which is a whole, has its own objects, non-history, non-philosophy, and non-literature, which is the culmination of ancient culture and the forerunner of later culture. In mr. Wang's view, "jing" is not a question of which discipline it belongs to, and the culmination of ancient culture is similar to the general "guoxue" or "Chinese culture", which has its own development context and must be carefully identified.
Mr. Meng analyzed that the ancient classics based on the "old classics of the Zhou Dynasty" are for historiography, while the modern classics of the "neo-Confucians" of the Qin and Han Dynasties are the ideal design of society and cannot be simply regarded as history. In this sense, sir does not agree with the saying that "the six classics are all history". Mr. Wu Tianqi said: "Mr. Meng introduced the methods and achievements of the management of the scriptures into the historiography, so that the history of the classics can be connected and complement each other. "Reading Mr. Meng's book, I will definitely have a real feeling about it."
Mr. Meng advocates the comparative study of Chinese and foreign histories, believing that this is an important method. His famous work "Ancient History Zhen Wei" is inspired by the comparison of Chinese and Western history, combined with china's ancient history and legends, proposed that ancient Chinese peoples can be divided into three series. The "Western historical law" derived from Western historical materials cannot be regarded as the "law of the world", and Mr. Li criticized the academic tendency of "being high in the name of being able to attack the Western clichés". He discussed the economic thought of the Han Dynasty, believing that the politics of the Zhou and Qin dynasties and the heavy peasants and suppressing commerce were particularly fierce. The Confucian theory of suppressing wealth had an impact on the politics of later generations, and "heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce became the fundamental national policy in China's history", which was still true at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Confucians are all rich, so "capital control is also a policy of China's long tradition", forming China's "unique history", which is different from other countries.
Mr. Liu Yizheng has repeatedly talked about Mr. Meng's examination of the Qing people. However, he believes that if history is governed by evidence, it is inevitable to be fragmented, and he praises the American scholar Bantz's "New Historiography and Social Science" (published in 1933 in Chinese translation, with new editions in recent years), believing that "it is much wiser than a historian who only knows the evidence." Examination evidence is a tool study, both scripture and history can be used, the examination evidence itself is not a classics or historiography, it cannot be examined for the sake of examination, and the examination evidence should have a grander and more righteous purpose, which is actually a criticism of the trend of Qianjia examination evidence, which is consistent with the idea that the zhijing should be regarded as a "clear way" of learning.
Turning over Mr. Meng's sutra and history, it is impossible to draw important conclusions in the meticulous examination, so it is very convincing. He attaches great importance to the analysis of historical materials, he said: "Since the three ancient times, a hundred inter-works, or different names and the same reality, or different real and the same name." We must first understand its meaning, understand its changes, not lag behind words, and know that differences are not different, the same is not the same, and then it can be different and the same. Interpretation and original meaning can not be equated, with the change of the world, the more complicated the words, and the original meaning more and more confused, it is important to understand the relationship between "change" and "righteousness", and the scholar must not be careless. Contemporary scholars attach importance to textual context and constructive theoretical analysis, as if it were. Revisiting this passage of Mr. Li's, I once again feel the enduring value of his methodology in governing history.
Mr. Meng quoted Mencius as saying that "there is a skill in looking at the water, and we must look at its land" to govern history with words, believing that "we must focus on the magnificent waves" and "grasp the changes in history in order to give a rough picture of historical development." He also said: "Things do not arise alone, but there must be neighbors", believing that contemporaneous things will never happen in isolation, but must have their "consistent and inseparable ones". "Cultural changes are not isolated, they are often not confined to a particular field, they must therefore be examined in terms of economic, historical, literary aspects, and are often linked to changes in the economic base," he said. Just like reading a book, it needs to be "studied before and after the book" to receive good results. One horizontal and one vertical, so Mr. Theory of Learning is often from a high position.
In 1935, Mr. Meng commented on Liu Jianquan's "Scattered Articles on the History of Learning", which pointed out: "Chinese scholarship, since jian'an, the beginning and the beginning, the Tianbao, the great calendar and the return, the Zhengde, the Jiajing and the return, and the late Zhou dynasty are the four major changes, all of which strive to destroy the old saying, do not open a new way." This phrase is grand and deep.
In the 1950s, Mr. Meng found that the four stages of China's academic evolution were "closely aligned" with the four stages of agricultural productivity development and the four stages of the evolution of the conscription system. He proposed: "The rest, such as the electoral system, was also changed from the County-State Tribute of the Han Dynasty to the Zhongzheng Jiupin of the Six Dynasties, and then to the Examination System of the Tang Dynasty. Another example is the Fu Bing, which was also changed from the Han's Yu Bing to the Peasants, to the Soldiers of the Six Dynasties (Tang Chu Fu Bing), and then to the recruitment of the Late Tang Dynasty. They are also quite compatible with the stage of agricultural development. It should be considered that none of these phenomena are accidental, but should have a certain intrinsic connection. However, the relationship between the conscription system and the national economy is the closest, so as a key discussion, there is an 80,000-word paper entitled "The Expansion of Agricultural Products in China in Past Dynasties and the Evolution of the Conscription System and Academic Thought". The article breaks the dynastic system and examines the traces of the evolution of China's productive forces, production relations, superstructure and ideology in the past two thousand years, and is a masterpiece that embodies the profound and "bright change" viewpoint.
Mr. Meng's historical thought of "understanding through knowledge and understanding its flow" is well known and has also influenced a generation of scholars. The gentleman said: "We must look at it through in order to see the historical context clearly, so we must engage in general history." He also pointed out: "Learning will make its differences clear, and righteousness will be extremely refined." Mr. Li's research combines problems with society and culture, integrates them, and finds out the organic connections between them, which is a major feature of his historical research.
With the rise of modern historiography in China in the 20th century and the marginalization of traditional classics, Mr. Meng became one of the most representative scholars in that era of academic transformation.
Liu Fusheng, admitted to the Department of History of Sichuan University in 1977, successively obtained a bachelor's degree (history major), a master's degree (ethnic history major), a doctoral degree (ancient Chinese history), under the supervision of Professor Meng Mo and Professor Wu Tianqi, in 1985, he stayed on to teach at the university, and is currently a professor and doctoral supervisor.
Guangming Daily (2019.07.29. 11th edition)