Qian Xuantong, a famous literary figure in the Republic of China period, one of the advocates of the new cultural movement, studied under the master of traditional Chinese studies, Zhang Taiyan, and the father of Qian Sanqiang, the founder of the "two bombs and one star".
Although Qian Xuantong was born in a traditional family of scholars, his father and grandfather both served in the Qing Dynasty, but when he became an adult, Qian Xuantong chose to study in Japan, and met Zhang Taiyan, Qiu Jin and many other democrats there.
Qian Xuantong
After the success of the Xinhai Revolution, Qian Xuantong came to Beijing to become a professor at Peking University, because Cai Yuanpei, the president of Peking University at that time, advocated "freedom of thought, inclusiveness" and greatly supported the new cultural movement, so the academic atmosphere of Peking University at that time was very strong and very free, and anyone could express their views without restraint.
Therefore, when we understand some of qian Xuantong's later words that seem to be a bit extreme or out of tune, it is not difficult to understand the reason for this phenomenon, and literati scholars like Qian Xuantong, who were once famous, are also a bit "arrogant and arrogant", so some words from the mouths of these literati seem to have a different deep meaning, for example, Qian Xuantong once said: "When a person reaches forty, he should die, and if he does not die, he should be shot."
Cai Yuanpei
If this sentence is said by an ordinary person, then whether it is in the Republic of China period or now, everyone will feel that this person has a brain problem, but this sentence is precisely from Qian Xuantong's mouth. He said that when a man reaches forty, he must die, so is he not a man? If he admits that he is human, then if he lives in good health and stability until he is forty years old, will he not die? Of course, if he doesn't admit that he is a human being..., then he may have nothing to say, only to say that Qian Xuantong's face is really thick, but Qian Xuantong said such things in the year when he was standing together, or it makes people feel very strange, who is Qian Xuantong? Professor of Peking University, the leader of the new cultural movement, such a university scholar should not say such a thing! Where is Sven the Reader? Where is the reader's reticence?
Well, if Sven and reticence are the models of behavior of readers, then at the beginning of the Republic of China, many literati really had nothing to do with Sven and reticence! Because of the special historical period, they are bound to be regarded as outliers by traditional readers.
However, if the alien is not an alien or something, they have long since stopped paying attention to it, because the rolling wheel of history is turning forward, and the stagnation has long been crushed to death, at least their own heterogeneity can conform to the development of the times, Qian Xuantong, Huang Kan, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, and so on.
Although the style of the reader has changed, the tacit understanding and communication between the readers has never stopped, just as Qian Xuantong reached the age of forty a few years after saying such an amazing thing.
At the age of forty, his body was still so strong that there was no sign of dying.
Hu shi
Therefore, some of his old friends are planning to be cold and humorous, and qian Xuantong himself seems to be happy to enjoy this kind of cold humor, and he is even full of enthusiasm to do an issue of "Mr. Qian Xuantong Chengren" in the newspaper, trying to publish these links and sacrifice texts, hoping to take this opportunity to have a large-scale mourning activity with beautiful scenery in the whole country.
I think I seem to understand Qian Xuantong a little, before him it was always the dead who accepted the mourning of the living, but what can people know when they die? It is better to live and "enjoy" the mourning after death in advance! I have to say that this idea is really avant-garde, and it is wonderful!
He may have thought so at the time, the mourning after death is sad, but the mourning before death is relaxed and happy, since it is all mourning, we must mourn, why not go on with happiness and happiness?
However, Qian Xuantong's plan ultimately failed, because before the press could be issued, the warlord Zhang Zuolin of the Feng clan entered Beijing, and for a time the situation in Beijing changed drastically, and Qian Xuantong's plan could only be shelved.
Although the plan to publish the issue was stranded, but the ridicule of friends did not end, his close friend Hu Shi wrote a poem in the following year, the name of the poem is "Commemorative Song of the Anniversary of mr. Qian Xuantong's Chengren", the first sentence of the poem is: "Damn Qian Xuantong, how can he not die so far!" ”
The meaning could not be more obvious, Qian Xuantong, do you die or not?
As for the whole poem, it reads as follows:
Damn Qian Xuantong, how could he not be dead so far!
All his life he has been killing the ancients, and last year he took his turn.
Unfortunately, the knife is not fast, and it is shameful to throw water,
Such hesitation passed, after September 12.
It's a pity that I wasn't there to jail you.
This year, I suddenly wrote a letter to do the "Chengren Memorial".
This is not difficult, please read the "Biography of the Fengshen Gods" first.
Go home and dig a pit and sleep in it,
Cover your body with grass and light a lamp in front of your feet.
Sprinkle rice on the grass, and conceal it from the ghost of Yama,
Hidden from the scholars of the four sides, mourning the Great Ceremony of Cheng ren.
On September 12 this year, pray and pray everywhere,
Raise your way up to heaven early, so that you don't make trouble in hell.
I have to say that Hu Shi's mouth is really sharp, completely did not give Qian Xuan the same bit of face, all kinds of greetings to him "go to death" Yunyun, if it is an ordinary person, it is estimated that he would have jumped high, gritted his teeth and took a knife to cut Hu Shi, but Hu Shi is Hu Shi after all, and the object of ridicule is Qian Xuantong, these two "different kinds" are combined, it will inevitably touch a different spark, if I am angry because of these few poems, then I am not "different", so I can't say that Qian Xuantong will definitely enjoy this kind of "greeting" from others to him , but it will certainly not be disgusted, after all, it is their own "reneging on their word".
Qian Xuantong family portrait
So, why did Qian Xuantong say such a thing back then? In fact, this is not Qian Xuantong's eating enough to do casual nonsense, to know that China at that time was in the replacement stage of new and old culture, as the leader of the new culture movement, Qian Xuantong urgently hoped that this replacement would be completed quickly, and wanted to push the new cultural movement to the mainstream culture of China as soon as possible, advanced ideas are indispensable, in that old era that has not yet been fully civilized, young people are the most likely to accept advanced ideas and thus become the core force to promote the new culture movement, similarly, with the growth of age, People's thinking will tend to be conservative, and then the new cultural movement will stagnate with the conservatism of people's thinking, so Qian Xuantong will say things like "people should die when they reach forty."
Thinking about it now, Qian Xuantong's words were just one of the many literati imprints of that era, and the literati at that time might have such strange behaviors or unrealistic arguments, but it has to be admitted that all their words and deeds were hoped to change the backward status quo of our country at that time.
Only by experiencing the painful and unbearable years and humiliating history of the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic can we experience the helplessness and bitterness hidden under their strange words and deeds.