On June 2, 1927, Guoxue master Wang Guowei committed suicide in the Summer Palace in Kunming Lake.
When the news came out, everyone couldn't believe it.
None of his family members or colleagues detected anything unusual about Wang Guowei during his lifetime.
On the morning of June 2nd, Wang Guowei still got up at dawn as usual to wash up and have breakfast with his family.
After eating, he would sit in the study for a while, gathering his thoughts and getting ready to start the day.
His wife sent him out as usual, but she didn't expect it to be a farewell.
After Wang Guowei arrived at the office of Tsinghua University, according to the plan, he was supposed to evaluate the test paper results for the graduate students, but suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to bring the test paper, so he asked people to help him go to his home to get it.
After the evaluation of the volume was completed, he talked with Hou Houpei of the office of the institute about the enrollment of the next semester.
The two talked for a long time, and Hou Houpei did not find any fluctuations in Wang Guowei's mood, and he was as focused and serious as ever in his work.
Wang Guowei then borrowed 2 yuan from Hou Houpei, who had no change and gave him five yuan.
Wang Guowei took the five yuan out of the house to take a taxi to the Summer Palace.
He wandered for a long time in front of Kunming Lake, smoking a cigarette, and seemed to be full of worries.
Because Wang Guowei still wore braids, the gardeners of the Summer Palace were deeply impressed by him.
After Wang Guowei finished smoking, he suddenly jumped into the lake.
The sound of falling water shocked the gardener sweeping the floor not far away, and he did not think that he was just a bowed head, and the old man looked for short-sightedness.
The lake is not deep, there is silt underneath, but Wang Guowei is determined to die, his head is down, his mouth and nose are blocked by silt, and after being rescued, his clothes are not yet wet.
Because he did not know how to use first aid, Wang Guowei eventually suffocated and died.
The family found in his pocket the suicide note left by Wang Guowei, and between the lines, there was no longer any attachment to this world
"Fifty years, only one death is owed, and after this life, there is no more shame." ”
Wang Guowei did not reveal exactly why he died, so there are many opinions about the cause of his death.
Looking back at Wang Guowei's life, he was so excellent that he still couldn't escape the test of various fates.
On December 3, 1877, Wang Guowei was born in Haining, Zhejiang Province, to a family of scholars.
Wang Guowei lost his mother at the age of four, and the biggest influence on him was his father Wang Naiyu. Wang Naiyu was erudite and versatile, and under his cultivation, Wang Guowei loved to read from an early age.
At the age of 15, Wang Guowei took the name of Xiucai, and was known as the "Four Talents of Haining" with Chen Shouqian, Ye Yichun and Zhu Jiayou.
Wang Guowei is talented and intelligent, but he is not good at the rigid imperial examination. Since the examination of Xiucai, he has failed the first place in the examination for two consecutive times.
After a long time, Wang Guowei, who already had a deep hatred for the Eight Strands of Literature, simply focused his mind on the study of literature and history.
After the Sino-Japanese War, a large number of Western cultures were introduced to China, and Wang Guowei was also deeply interested in Western culture while specializing in traditional Chinese culture.
In 1900, Wang Guowei went to Japan to study under the sponsorship of Luo Zhenyu.
During his study in Japan, he mainly studied philosophy, studied the philosophy of Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and the English and French families, combined with the pre-Qin and Song dynasties, and also studied Western ethics, psychology, aesthetics, logic, and education.
After reading the books of Three German philosophers, Schopenhauer, Kant, and Nietzsche, he wrote "Nietzsche's View of Education", "Schopenhauer's Heredity", "Kant's Philosophy" and other articles.
Luo Zhenyu saw that he was so addicted to Western culture, so he deliberately reminded him. He advised Wang Guowei,
"Nietzsche's schools of thought, benevolence, humility, and uncontrolledness, and those who want to innovate culture to replace the old culture, there are many abuses."
No matter how good Western culture is, it is also based on the historical background and living soil of the West, and if it is forcibly propagated in the East, I am afraid that it will be dissatisfied.
Wang Guowei understands this. In fact, he did not give up on the study of Oriental culture.
Wang Guowei has always been proud of China's long-standing ancient culture.
In 1908, Wang Guowei published the classic masterpiece "Human Words and Sayings", which explained the essence of classical Chinese aesthetics with a simple and easy-to-understand, in-depth and simple analysis.
In terms of the appreciation of words, he first proposed the "realm theory". Whether a word is written well or not, the most important thing is the mood, not whether the rhetoric is gorgeous.
In the book, Wang Guowei mentions that those who have achieved great things in ancient and modern times and those who have asked questions about universities must go through three realms:
"Last night the west wind withered the trees. Go up to the tall building alone and look at the end of the world. "This first realm also." The belt gradually widened and finally did not regret it, and was haggard for the people of Ishwa. "This second realm also." The crowd looked for him a thousand times, and looked back, but the man was in the middle of the light. "This third realm also.
This is also Wang Guowei's life feeling. In the initial stage of study, the classics are as vast as smoke, he can't figure it out for a while, excitement and wandering coexist, and when he reaches the second realm, he has found the goal of life, and naturally struggles hard for the "Yi people" in his heart, so that the belt is gradually widened and his face is haggard.
People who want to do a big career will go through these two stages, but the best in any field is talent plus sweat, many people have sweat, but there is no talent, so they can only stay in the first two stages.
Wang Guowei had achieved the Triple Realm, but he still hadn't lived this life well.
He was born in the Qing Dynasty, and while he was successful in his studies, the Qing Dynasty died.
He always wore braids and regarded himself as an old man left behind in the Qing Dynasty.
In 1923, on the recommendation of Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei was hand-picked by Puyi as "Walking in the South Study", and accompanied the emperor to study in the name of Xiucai.
Although the Qing Dynasty has been dead for 11 years, and Puyi is no longer an emperor with real power, Wang Guowei is still very grateful.
For him, it was an honor.
However, this happiness was too short-lived, and in 1924, the warlord Feng Yuxiang expelled Puyi from the Forbidden City.
Wang Guowei was unemployed, and what made him even more sad was that he had to face the fact that Daqing was indeed dead again, and he even met with Luo Zhenyu and other former Qing widows to join Hu Mingzhi, and finally dispelled his thoughts after being dissuaded by his family. The kingdom was full of children, and he still had many worries that he could not let go.
He did not die, but the depression in his heart never dissipated.
The literati were sad and were born in a turbulent world, and Wang Guowei's sorrows could never be resolved.
In 1925, Wang Guowei became a professor at Tsinghua University, and because of his profound knowledge, he was known as one of the four great mentors of Tsinghua University (Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Chen Yinke, and Zhao Yuanren).
In 1926, the eldest son Wang Qianming died of illness, and Wang Guowei was deeply shocked and his mood was even more depressed.
In the same year, Feng Yuxiang joined the Northern Expedition and led an army to defeat Zhang Zuolin, and his troops approached Beijing, where the wind was loud and the wind was loud, and everyone was in danger.
Wang Guowei had long known Feng Yuxiang. Two years ago, it was Feng Yuxiang who drove Emperor Puyi out of the palace.
And now, hearing this name again, Wang Guowei's heart was full of worry.
The scholar Ye Dehui was killed for having pigtails and was accused of being a "former Qing widow".
Many of Wang Guowei's friends fled Beijing, but he insisted on not leaving.
Wang Guowei once asked his student Jiang Liangfu what he thought of people with pigtails? Jiang Liangfu advised the teacher to cut off the braids for his own safety, conform to the situation.
Wang Guowei said, "I don't want to be humiliated anymore, I can't bear any more humiliation." ”
The demise of an old era will always leave behind many untimely remnants of the previous dynasty.
On the one hand, he painstakingly studied and only wanted to teach and educate people well, on the other hand, in the era of the alternation of the old and the new, he wanted to teach quietly, which also became a luxury.
When the Qing Dynasty became a thing of the past, Wang Guowei's braids looked so out of place.
Even his wife didn't understand why he didn't cut the braids, which were complicated to take care of and easy to get into trouble, and didn't do any good.
Wang Guowei only said that since he had stayed, why cut it off.
His loneliness, no one understands.
When the times wrapped him up, let him meet and change, it was really difficult for him to be strong.
Wang Guowei, who lost his mother at the age of four, had a melancholy personality and was not good at words, and when he grew up, he experienced a series of changes, and he was even more taciturn and often immersed in learning.
He worked hard in silence for fifty years, and finally did not want to be humiliated.
After he committed suicide, countless people were speculating and analyzing the cause of his death, of which Chen Yinke explained it most reasonably.
"When a culture declines, the person who is transformed by it will suffer, and the greater the process of its expression, the greater the suffering it will suffer; and if it reaches a very deep degree, it will not be out of suicide that it will not be able to seek peace of mind."
When a culture declines, those who are deeply affected by it will be very painful, which can be described as deep love and pain.
There is only one death, only peace of mind.
Wang Guowei left many works and made great contributions to the development of traditional Chinese culture.
For those who like to read poetry, "Human Words" is a good book worth reading and re-reading.
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