In 1930, Jiang Menglin was appointed president of Peking University, relying on Hu Shi and Fu Sinian to start the project of "resigning the old and hiring the new" talent introduction project. Jiang Menglin proposed that he do the work of dismissing the old people, and the selection and recruitment of new people was entrusted to Hu Shi and Fu Sinian. In the Department of History of Peking University, the two courses of The History of the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties of the General History of China have been suspended, and no professor has served as the main lecturer of the course, which is a headache for Hu Shi, the dean of the Faculty of Letters.
The new hiring of a heavyweight scholar who can not only serve as a heavyweight scholar who can teach heavy responsibilities but also live up to the expectations of the historians has become the first choice for Hu Shi and Fu Sinian's goals. At this time, Meng Wentong began to appear in Hu Shi's vision, and it was Tang Yongtong who directly pulled Meng Wentong into Hu Shi's vision. Tang Yongtong was hired by Hu Shi from Nanjing Central University to the Philosophy Department of Peking University, and during his time in Nanjing, Tang Yongtong was not only a colleague of CUHK with Meng Wentong, but also a classmate of Jinling Inner College, and studied with the Buddhist master Ouyang Jingwu, and Tang and Meng were closely related.
The famous historian and scribe Meng Wentong
Meng Wentong, who is three years younger than Hu Shi, is a native of Yanting, Sichuan, with no foreign background, and is a very traditional academic figure. Meng Wentong studied under liao ping, a master of modern classics, and Liu Shipei, a master of ancient classics, in Chengdu's Sichuan Cungu School, and asked for advice from the master of ancient classics, Zhang Taiyan, when he visited Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In the field of scripture, Meng Wentong is a well-known scribe who has inherited from the past to the bottom. Because there was no master under Ouyang, and Xiong Shili, Tang Yongtong, and Wang Enyang were the same disciples, the Buddhist attainments were also extremely deep. Tang Yongtong should have introduced Toh-kuo to Hu Shi about His scholarly background and knowledge, so Hu Shi quickly extended his lucky olive branch to Mong Wentong, who was teaching at Henan University in Kaifeng.
Liao Ping, a famous scholar of modern texts
Understanding the academic origins of Mongolian Wentong is the first step, and Hu Shi also places Mongolian Wentong's scholarship in a larger context. A close understanding is that the Shanghai Commercial Press, which is closely related to Hu Shi, has successively published Meng Wentong's "Zhen Wei of Ancient History" and "Classics of The Original History", which are very influential in the field of history, which makes Hu Shi very pleased. When Meng Wentong was teaching in the History Department of Nanjing Central University, he published a series of historical papers in the Journal of History, which seemed to have a deep relationship with the Nangao School of which Liu Yimou was the academic leader, but Miao Fenglin, the chief general of the Nangao School of History, violently attacked Meng Wentong's views on the Three Emperors and Five Emperors in class and newspapers, which made Meng Wentong very angry and immediately resigned and returned to Chengdu University in Sichuan. This period of academic controversy made Hu Shi keenly realize that Meng Wentong, who was proficient in historiography and classics, should be his academic colleagues. A major key to Peking University's resignation and new recruitment is to solve the problem of many Zhejiang professors. Meng Wentong is a native of Sichuan, which naturally changes the situation of a single lineup of Zhejiang professors. What is even more urgent is that the courses on the history of the Wei and Jin dynasties and the history of the Sui and Tang dynasties that have been suspended for two years really need manpower and cannot be abandoned anymore. It was this kind of overall consideration that Meng Wentong soon reported to Peking University.
Mongolian Classics Treatise "Sutra Selection"
Meng Wentong taught the history of the Wei and Jin dynasties in the history department of Peking University, what was the teaching effect? Yang Xiangkui, an old student of Mr. Meng, recalled, "Mr. Meng is good at Buddhism, and if he talks about Buddhism of the Six Dynasties, he will be more welcome." (Meng Mo, ed., "Records of Mongolian General Studies", p. 51) Yang Xiangkui's subtext is that Meng Wentong did not teach the Six Dynasties Buddhism, but only explained this period of history, which was welcomed by the students. Hu Shi was very concerned about the effectiveness of Meng Wentong's classroom teaching, and he asked Ren Jiyu, a philosophy student at Peking University, three times, where did Meng Wentong's Song history course go? Ren Jiyu said three times that What Meng Wentong taught was still Wang Anshi's transformation method. This raised a big question in Hu Shi's mind. ("Interview with Mr. Ren Jiyu", Studies in The History of Historiography, No. 4, 2004)
Disciple Meng Wentong recalled the pomp and circumstance of his lectures at Peking University
In the summer of 1935, Hu Shi, dean of the Faculty of Letters at Peking University, stepped forward and decided to dismiss Meng Wentong from his teaching position. The reason for the dismissal, Hu Appropriately said to Qian Mu, a professor in the Department of History, "It is said that the literature is in the classroom, and the students do not understand their language." (Qian Mu, "Eighty Memories of Parents, Miscellaneous Memories of Teachers and Friends", p. 179) What Meng Wentong taught was a compulsory course, the course was deep, there were many students, and it was normal for some people to understand the content of the lecture. Qian Mu tried his best to defend Meng Wentong, but to no avail. Is it true that Hu Shi dismissed Meng Wentong, as Hu Shi said, because students could not understand The classroom teaching of Meng Wentong? This should be said to be a pretext and an excuse for Hu Shi to dismiss Meng Wentong.
Qian Mu's memoirs in his later years recall his dealings with Mong wentong
Why dismiss Montventus? According to Qian Mu's recollections in his later years, that is, Meng Wentong's appointment as a professor in the history department of Peking University was completely facilitated by Hu Shi, but Meng Wentong, who had a personality of Geng Jie, did not visit Hu Shi's mansion once, did not talk about personal feelings, and seemed to be very unkind to others. If you do not take the initiative to be close to the dean, you will naturally offend Hu Shi after a long time. This is one of them; the Mongolian classics are profoundly accomplished, and his historical skills rely on the foundation of scripture, that is, entering historiography with scriptures, which only focuses on classical documents and ignores the combined use of underground excavation materials. This is contrary to the historical views of Fu Sinian, who taught the course "Historiographical Methodology" in the Department of History of Peking University and was the director of the Institute of History and Language of the Academia Sinica, and Meng Wentong invisibly blamed Fu Sinian. That's the second.
Hu Shi (center) and Fu Sinian (left) pose for a group photo
Meng Wentong was a native of Sichuan, and his colleague and friend Qian Mu's assistant teacher, He Cijun, a native of Sichuan, wrote an article refuting Hu Shi's very proud essay "Speaking Confucianism", which was encouraged by Meng Wentong; and Meng Wentong was highly praised when evaluating Deng Zhicheng's "Two Thousand Years of Chinese History", and this master of general history, Deng Zhicheng, a professor of history at Yenching University, was Hu Shi's old rival. This naturally made Hu Shi dissatisfied. This is the third. Meng Wentong's important academic treatise "Discussion of Shu Studies" was published in Jiayin, Vol. 1, No. 21, 1925, sponsored by Zhang Shizhao, and was included in the book "Jingxue Shuyuan". Zhang Shizhao was strongly opposed to the vernacular and fought a long pen and ink lawsuit with Hu Shi. The frequent exchange of letters between Meng Wentong and Zhang Shizhao was so good that it was a good sentence, which naturally offended Hu Shi intentionally or unintentionally, which was also a fuse for Hu Shi's resentment of Meng Wentong. This is the fourth.
Meng Wentong's academic friend and famous logician Zhang Shizhao
Because of his study of ancient Chinese history, Meng Wentong attaches great importance to ancient myths and legends, and also has his own opinions. Yang Xiangkui and Gu Jiegang, students of Peking University, wrote a joint article entitled "Three Emperors Examination", which was published in the special issue of the "Yanjing Journal" in January 1936. Yang Xiangkui inscribed this paper with a brush "Wentong Teacher Save Student Yang Xiangkui presented it to his teacher, Meng Wentong. This shows that Meng Wentong's theory of ancient history and Gu Jiegang's theory of "ancient history discernment" are in the same blood. At this time, Gu Jiegang, who was a professor at Yenching University, had already parted ways with his teacher Hu Shi and classmate Fu Sinian, and Meng Wentong and Gu Jiegang were close, and it was obvious that Hu Shi and Fu Sinian were guilty. Rooted in the depths of the heart, the view of the portal, the controversy of the school carved into the bone marrow, and the prejudiced literati are light, Meng Wentong has become a victim of Peking University.
Gu Jiegang, the leader of the "Ancient History Discernment" school and a famous historian
After Peking University dismissed Meng Wentong, he was replaced by Professor Chen Yinke of Tsinghua University, who was invited by Fu Sinian. After leaving Peking University, Meng Wentong went to Tianjin to teach at a female teacher, and his family stayed in Beiping, as usual, Meng Wentong still talked with Qian Mu, Tang Yongtong, Xiong Shili, etc. to talk about learning, talking about family life, and sightseeing in the mountains. At the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Meng Wentong was a professor in the History Department of Sichuan University, and because he was not accustomed to the warlord style of President Huang Jilu, he put forward strong criticism and was dismissed by Huang. But Meng Wentong was a "strange man", and although he was dismissed by Huang Jilu, he still went to Sichuan University for classes. Meng Wentong said, "I can not take money, but I am a Sichuanese, and I cannot help but teach Sichuan children." "Principal Huang Jilu couldn't do anything about Meng Wentong. (Cheng Qianfan, "Mulberry Yu Reminiscences", p. 157)
Meng Wentong's historical treatise "Ancient History Zhenwei"
"Strange man" Meng Wentong has the style of a Wei and Jin celebrity, he is a fan of Sichuan opera, and he makes friends with all kinds of people. Meng Wentong has a mantra: "Even if I don't know a word here, I must be a person." Kui Yingtao, a student of the History Department of Sichuan University in Meng Wentong, recalled: "Mr. Meng was not tall, holding a leaf cigarette pole that was two feet long, smiling, and calmly walking up to the podium, with the trinity of scholars, elders and Venerables. Finally, I would like to add that Meng Wentong's younger brother Meng Siming was a well-known expert in Yuan history, and when he was a graduate student at Yenching University, he was famous for his "Social Class System in the Yuan Dynasty". After studying in the United States, He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University. The brothers Meng Wentong and Meng Siming have become the "double bi" of modern Chinese history.
The earliest print of Meng Wentong's younger brother Meng Siming's representative treatise on historiography, The Social Class System of the Yuan Dynasty