Xiao Gongquan is a well-known political scientist, historian and educator at home and abroad, and is also one of the most influential scholars in the field of Chinese political science in the twentieth century, who taught in many famous universities at home and abroad all his life, taking the establishment of religion as the foundation of his life, he did not hold any official position, in addition to teaching and educating people, that is, writing books and sayings, his main representative works are "Political Pluralism", "History of Chinese Political Thought", "Chinese Countryside" and other works.
Xiao Gongquan
Xiao Gongquan (1897-1981) was born on November 29, 1897 in Nan'an, Jiangxi, before the full moon, his mother died suddenly, and his infancy, childhood and adolescence were completely dependent on the support of his grandfather, aunt and uncle, and not only grew up healthily, but also received a good education.
In the summer of 1915, Xiao Gongquan was admitted to the Shanghai Chinese YMCA Middle School, which focused on English and business, and most of its faculty graduated from St. John's University.
In June 1918, Xiao Gongquan was admitted to the third grade of the higher education department of Tsinghua School, and the reason why he chose to apply for Tsinghua was entirely due to the recommendation and encouragement of his cousin Xiao Gongquan, Xiao Gongquan and Xiao Gongquan were the same, but two years earlier than Xiao Gongquan, Xiao Gongquan wrote to encourage Xiao Gongquan: "I believe that your level is enough to pass, no matter what, you must try." ”
In 1919, Xiao Gongquan and many of his classmates at Tsinghua University participated in the mighty May Fourth Patriotic Movement, Chen Changtong, Luo Longji and others were very active student leaders at that time, and Xiao Gongquan also actively participated in it, when he had gradually formed such a political concept: "The rise and fall of the country, the responsibility of the husband." However, in order to be able to fulfill his responsibilities, he must first acquire the knowledge and skills of 'saving the country', and it may not be helpful to rely on his enthusiasm alone. Reading books should not forget to save the country, but to save the country, we must first read books. ”
In late August 1920, Xiao Gongquan took a cruise from Shanghai to the United States to study, entered the University of Missouri School of Journalism to study journalism, the reason why he chose the University of Missouri, is also because Xiao Yu studied in this school, the brothers live together in a private house, although the cost is more expensive than living in the school dormitory, but it can be well integrated into the daily life of Americans, and better understand and understand the United States.
Xiao Gongquan (standing) poses with Xiao Xuan
Xiao Gongquan found that he was not suitable for studying journalism, so he resolutely transferred to the Department of Philosophy, not only taking professional courses such as sociology, psychology, political science, and education, but also taking courses in German, French, and botany.
In the summer of 1922, Xiao Gongquan received a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri, and was admitted to the Graduate School for a master's degree in the fall of that year, and in June 1923, he received a master's degree from the University of Missouri with his thesis "The Theory of Multiple States".
In September 1923, Xiao Gongquan was admitted to Cornell University to study for a doctorate under Professor DiLly, majoring in philosophy and minoring in political science, and his French and German exams were also successfully passed, and his English ability was comparable to that of native scholars, although his spoken language was slightly accented, but his English writing was elegant, and even British and American scholars were very impressed.
In early May 1926, Xiao Gongquan finally completed his doctoral dissertation, "Political Pluralism", and finally received a doctorate in philosophy, and his thesis was recommended by his supervisor to a publishing house in London, England.
In August 1926, Xiao Gongquan returned to Shanghai on the "President McKinley" cruise ship and taught at two pheasant universities in Shanghai, "Southern University" and "Kuomintang University", teaching political science and sociology.
Xiao Gongquan soon received a letter from a British publisher informing him that his doctoral dissertation, Political Pluralism, had been printed and included in one of the "International Series on Philosophy and Scientific Methods in Psychology", which Xiao Gongquan was quite surprised and deeply honored, because this series of books also included the works of famous scholars such as Russell and Liang Qichao.
Political Pluralism
Xiao Yu was the dean of the private Nankai University Grammar School at this time, under his recommendation, Xiao Gongquan received a letter of appointment from Zhang Boling, at that time, the scale of Nankai University was not large, but here gathered a group of academic elites, including Harvard University Mathematics Doctor Jiang Lifu, Columbia University Doctor of History Jiang Tingdi, Princeton University Physics Doctor Rao Yutai, Yale University Biology Doctor Li Jidong, Economics Doctor He Lian, Cornell University Economics Doctor Xiao Yu and other academic celebrities, they are all the best professors in China. Moreover, he was also the founder or discipline leader of his respective subject areas, Xiao Gongquan quickly integrated into this elite group of elites and created new disciplines for Nankai University.
In August 1928, Luo Jialun became the president of National Tsinghua University, he carried out a series of reforms to Tsinghua, and the most praised is to hire famous teachers, Nankai University's Jiang Tingdi, Li Jidong, Xiao Yu and other famous professors were in this context, Luo Jialun was recruited to teach at Tsinghua University, and Xiao Gongquan was hired by Northeastern University.
In the spring of 1930, Xu Shuxi, then the head of the Political Science Department of Yenching University, traveled back to China and visited Xiao Gongquan when passing through Shenyang, Xu Shuxi was a doctor at Columbia University, and under his persuasion, Xiao Gongquan gladly accepted the appointment of Stuart Leiden and went to the Political Department of Yenching University as a professor in the autumn of that year, teaching courses such as "Introduction to Political Science", "Western Political Thought", and "Chinese Political Thought", at that time, the Political Science Department of Yenching University was one of the best political science departments in Chinese universities.
Yenching University is well paid, it is not an easy task to obtain a teaching position at Yenching University, Xiao Gongquan cherishes his teaching position and devotes himself to teaching activities wholeheartedly, and Xu Shuxi is also very important to Xiao Gongquan and fully supports Xiao Gongquan's work.
In the first half of 1932, Xiao Gongquan received an invitation from Pu Xuefeng, director of the Department of Political Science of Tsinghua University, Pu Xuefeng was also a doctor from Tsinghua University, who was quite familiar with Xiao Gongquan, in the face of the invitation from his alma mater, Xiao Gongquan felt quite embarrassed, Yanjing was not thin, and the level of teachers in the Department of Political Science of Tsinghua University was higher than that of Yanjing, under the persuasion of friends, Xiao Gongquan finally chose Tsinghua University.
At that time, the Department of Political Science of Tsinghua University had professors such as Pu Xuefeng, Zhang Xiruo, Qian Ruisheng, Wang Huacheng, and the joining of Xiao Gongquan and Chen Zhimai, resulting in a very strong faculty of the Department of Political Science, Xiao Gongquan taught six hours a week, and other times mainly studied the history of Chinese political thought and the history of Western political thought.
In the summer of 1934, Jiang Tingquan, then head of the History Department, was entrusted by Chiang Kai-shek to take a sabbatical to visit the Soviet Union and Europe, so he entrusted Xiao Gongquan with the quarterly magazine "Chinese Social and Political Science Review" edited by him, and it was not until a year later that Xiao Gongquan shirked his responsibility as editor after Jiang Tingquan returned to China.
Xiao Gongquan had close contacts with Jiang Tingdi, Pu Xuefeng, Li Jidong, Wu Mi, Sun Guohua, Zhao Shouyu, Chen Daisun and others in Tsinghua, of course, he had closer contacts with Xiao Xuan, who was mainly engaged in the teaching and research of economics, international trade and finance, and served as the head of the Tsinghua Department of Economics, the dean of the Grammar School and the provost, Xiao Yu and Ma Yinchu and Li Quan were known as the "three pillars" of China's economic circles at that time, and Tsinghua University at this time can be described as famous at home and abroad. It has become one of the most developed universities in the world in the social sciences.
In June 1937, in order to enrich the higher education in the mainland, the Chinese Cultural Foundation decided to set up a chair professor of the Gengjian Fund at Sichuan University, and Hang Liwu, then the director general of the board of directors of the Sino-British Gengjian and the director general of the Chinese Political Society, invited Xiao Gongquan to join, and Xiao Gongquan gladly accepted this invitation, but soon the "Lugou Bridge Incident" broke out.
In February 1938, Xiao Gongquan arrived in Chengdu, the then president Cheng Tianfang was a doctor of political science at the University of Toronto, Canada, and had served as the president of Anhui University and Zhejiang University, he invited Xiao Gongquan to serve as the head of the Department of Political Science, throughout the Anti-Japanese War, Xiao Gongquan in addition to teaching at Sichuan University, but also taught part-time at Yenching University, West China University, and Guanghua University in Chengdu Huaxiba.
In January 1939, in order to meet the needs of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Nationalist government established the Supreme National Defense Commission, and many famous scholars were invited to serve as counselors, when scholars engaged in politics became a common phenomenon, and old friends Wu Guozhen, Jiang Tingdian and others also tried their best to persuade Xiao Gongquan to enter politics, but in the face of the "pie" that fell from his head, Xiao Gongquan was not moved, and still "guarded the education post".
In 1941, the National Government promulgated the "Measures for the Appointment of Professors by Ministries", implementing the "Ministerial Appointment of Professors" system, directly appointed by the Ministry of Education, "Ministry Of Education" was the highest honor in China's educational circles at that time, known as "Professors among Professors", the evaluation objects were professors with special contributions to their disciplines, Xiao Gongquan was elected as the second batch of "Ministerial Professors" in 1943, and was the only professor of political science in the first batch of 30 people and the second batch of 15 people, which shows its status as a grandmaster in the field of political science.
In 1943, when Xiao Gongquan went to Chongqing for a meeting, Chen Bray, known as Chiang Kai-shek's "literary boldness," invited him to join the Kuomintang, and Xiao Gongquan said: "It seems that I have not yet paid attention to constructive proposals or well-intentioned criticisms as a non-party member; if I had made the same remarks as a party member, readers might not have paid equal attention to them." Xiao Gongquan ignored the opportunity to join the Kuomintang.
In the summer of 1944, Xiao Gongquan was invited to the Advanced Class of the Central Training Corps (the third phase) as an instructor for a month-long lecture, and the scholars who served as instructors at the same time were Qian Mu, Feng Youlan, Qian Ruisheng, Tao Menghe and others.
Xiao Gongquan, who took political science as his lifelong pursuit, could not be indifferent to state affairs, and he often published political articles in order to fulfill the responsibility of "serving the country by being a scholar"; he soberly realized that the implementation of Western democratic constitutionalism in China requires a long historical process, and also depends on the quality education of the whole nation, and "one of the functions of education is to complete the psychological development of the people", and a large number of political articles he wrote were included in the book "Constitutionalism and Democracy" published in 1948.
Constitutionalism and Democracy
Xiao Gongquan, who studied political science all his life, also has a poet's heart, he left more than 500 poems during the War of Resistance, and in the decades before the War of Resistance, he only created more than 200 poems, Xiao Gongquan taught at Chengdu Yenching University, and Chen Yinke, Wu Mi, and Li Fanggui were once old friends of Tsinghua, and they were also everyone who studied chinese and Western studies, often chanting and singing together, and were named "Four Famous Dans" by the people of the time.
During Xiao Gongquan's teaching in Rongcheng, his greatest achievement was the completion of the writing of the "History of Chinese Political Thought", which was both his proud work and the work of painstaking efforts, although Xiao Gongquan completed the writing work in only two years, but the preparation of this book was a long process.
Xiao Gongquan's profound knowledge of traditional Chinese studies, skillful English expression, strict political science training, and long-term teaching of "History of Chinese Political Thought" and "History of Western Political Thought" have laid a solid foundation for him to write "History of Chinese Political Thought", "History of Chinese Political Thought" was published by the Commercial Press, which soon shocked Chinese and foreign academic circles and was respected by colleagues in the academic circles.
History of Chinese Political Thought
In April 1944, when Xiao Gongquan became the president of National Chung Cheng University, he invited Xiao Gongquan to be the dean of the law school, but was rejected by Xiao Gongquan, after the victory of the War of Resistance, Xiao Gongquan originally planned to return to Tsinghua University to teach, but his former residence was occupied, and the original strong political science department suffered a serious brain drain, and the original backbone professors were only Zhang Xiruo, and Xiao Gongquan's desire to return to Tsinghua University was suddenly extinguished.
In August 1946, Xiao Gongquan was invited by Gu Yuxiu, president of the Central Chengchi University, and flew from Chengdu with his family to Nanjing to become a professor at the Central Chengchi University, Gu Yuxuan was a classmate and colleague of Xiao Gongquan during the Tsinghua period, Xiao Gongquan still taught courses such as "Chinese Political Thought" and "Western Political Thought", although he was familiar with teaching these courses, he was conscientious.
After the restoration of National Taiwan University, the Ministry of Education of the National Government selected a group of professors from all over the country to teach at National Taiwan University in order to comprehensively take over and transform National Taiwan University.
In April 1948, Xiao Gongquan was elected as the first academician of the National Academy of Sciences, and only Xiao Gongquan and Qian Ruisheng were elected as academicians in the field of political science, and Xiao Gongquan was completely elected by relying on his academic achievements.
Group photo of the first academicians of the National Academy of Sciences
At this time, Xiao Gongquan received a telegram from the University of Washington, inviting him to go to the University of Washington as a visiting professor, since returning to China in 1926, Xiao Gongquan has not stepped out of the country for 22 years, just when he was going through the formalities to go to the United States, the bad news came that his cousin Xiao Yu died of illness in New York.
In September 1949, Xiao Gongquan took a year off from the president of National Taiwan University, Fu Si nian, and took the "China Bear" cruise ship to Seattle in the United States to serve as a visiting professor at the Institute of Far Eastern and Soviet Studies at the University of Washington.
Xiao Gongquan did not intend to live in the United States for a long time at first, but he soon found that his research work could not be completed in a short period of time, and he also considered letting his children continue to study in the United States, so he changed his temporary teaching position to a tenured teaching position and eventually settled in the United States.
Xiao Gongquan began to write the book "Chinese Countryside" in the autumn of 1953, and in the autumn of 1955, Xiao Gongquan completed this work of a "pioneering" nature, which also marked that he had reached a world-class level in the history of Chinese thought.
"Chinese Countryside"
The American Association of Academic Societies awarded Xiao Gongquan the third "Outstanding Achievement Award in Humanities and Scholarship" that year, and awarded a $10,000 prize for "the best of the two great academic traditions of China and the West", and "Chinese Countryside" was listed as a must-read book for politics, social organization, anthropology and Asian studies.
By chance, Xiao Gongquan obtained information provided by Kang You for his daughter Kang Tongbi, which included photographic film of many of Kang Youwei's published and unpublished works, which became a new subject of Xiao Gongquan's research, and he delved deeply into the subtleties and carefully wrote the book "Kang Youwei Thought Research", which was published by the University press of Washington, and soon he published the book "Weng Tonggong and the Pengshu Restoration".
"Kang Youwei Thought Research"
In 1968, Xiao Gongquan retired from the University of Washington, living in a corner of Seattle, although he left the university pulpit of 42 years of teaching, he still wrote books and lectures, often interacted with "Hongru", although he had long adapted to overseas life, but the feelings of missing and worrying about his homeland were never broken, often pouring out his homesickness in poetry, and praising himself as "the doctor who destroyed the country".
On November 4, 1981, Xiao Gongquan, a generation of Chinese political science masters, died in his apartment in Seattle, USA, at the age of 84, and his writings were published by his disciple Professor Wang Rongzu into the Complete Works of Xiao Gongquan, leaving us a very valuable historical legacy, so that we can fully understand and understand Xiao Gongquan's academic contributions.