Biographical Review of Guo Moruo's Academic Thought

Author: Xie Baocheng
Editor-in-Chief: Sun Yan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-07-01
Features:
Excerpt: The Trendsetters of the New Era
In the early decades of the 20th century, China was undergoing a period of transition between its old and new eras, and it was also a time when foreign ideologies and culturesed Eastern civilization with entirely different connotations. In such an era of profound social and intellectual transformation, peoplewere exploring the relationship between Chinese and foreign thought and culture. Guo Moruo, the subject of this book, was one of the most accomplished and influential figures among those who engaged in this exploration.
1. The Rebel of "Fragrant Rose Country"
At the confluence of the Dadu River and the Min River in Sichuan lies a historic city with over 3,000 years of culture—Leshan. It was the former capital of the Shu King Kaoming, became Nan'an County during the Qin Dynasty, and was subordinated to Shu Commandery. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, it was known as Pingqiang County and the seat of the commandery. During the reign of Emperor Xuan, it was established as Jizhou. In the late years of the Yongzheng reign in the Qing Dynasty, Leshan County was added, and the city was renamed Leshan. The area has long been famous for its "colorful and fragrant" roses, earning it the title "Fragrant Rose Country." Jizhou is renowned for its beautiful landscapes, including the world-famous "Immortal Mountain" Mount Emei and the giant Buddha carved into the cliff during the Tang Dynasty. The second peak of Mount Emei, Suishan, is commonly known as "Second Emei." There is also a third peak called Meifeng. To the north of Meifeng lies a small town named Nanlin Town in the Tang Dynasty, which was relocated to what is now Shawan during the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty. Over a century ago, it was the Shawan Town in Guan E Township, Jiding Prefecture, Leshan County of the late Qing Dynasty's Sichuan Province.
The "Fragrant Rose Country" produced outstanding figures. On November 16, 1892 (the 27th day of the ninth lunar month, the Wuchen year), our subject of discussion was born into this world. His arrival was marked by a sense of "rebellion." Ignoring the immense pain his mother endured during childbirth, he impatiently "landed on his feet," taking the first step of a "rebel." His ancestors originally came from Ninghua County, Tingzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, but moved to Sichuan before the 46th year of the Qianlong reign (1781). By the time of our subject, they had already been in Sichuan for six generations. His grandfather was fond of spending money, leading to the decline of the family's fortune. His father, Guo Chaopei, was skilled in managing finances and restored the family's prosperity. To educate his children, he established "Suishan Mountain School" in the back garden of their old residence, hiring teachers to teach the children. The mother of our subject, Du Yaozhen (also known as Du Sufen), was the daughter of an imperial scholar and could recite some poetry through osmosis. At the age of 15, she married into the Guo family and was respected by everyone for her diligence and hard work. During her pregnancy, she dreamed of a small leopard biting her left palm, and thus named the "rebellious" infant "Wenbao." Later, she was given the given name Kaizhen and the sobriquet Shangwu. In September 1919, when Kaizhen published her new poems "Holding My Son to Bathe in the Bodo Bay" and "Coots," she first signed her name as "Moruo," claiming it was a combination of the two rivers in her hometown—the Meixi River (Dadu River) and Ruoshui River (Ya River, also known as Qingyi River)—"merging" together. From then on, "Moruo" replaced Kaizhen as her name. In the mid-1920s, when publishing several translated novels and collections of plays, she began using the three-character name "Guo Dingtang." Later, in the field of oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, she was often referred to as "Four Tang"—Luo Xuetang (Zhenyu), Wang Guantang (Guowei), Guo Dingtang (Moruo), and Dong Yantang (Zuobin)—as a symbol of her achievements. In terms of cultural cultivation, Guo Moruo can be said to have been immersed in Confucian classics and nourished by traditional culture. However, his romantic and rebellious personality made him deeply the negative aspects of old learning. At the age of four, Wenbao began reciting Tang poetry with his mother, marking the "first lesson" of his poetic education.
"The vast Yangtze flows gently, the distant traveler's emotions linger.
Falling flowers together lament, silently they fall to the ground."
Even half a century later, these lines remained etched in his memory. Even at such a young age, he developed a curiosity about reading, inspired by the poem "A young scholar, riding a horse to school,
The teacher finds me too young, but within me lies much wisdom."
After entering "Suishan Mountain School," he began learning the "Three-Character Classic." "Human beings are born good,
Their nature is similar, but habits differ." Such ambiguous philosophical questions naturally failed to capture the interest of a young student, who then "escaped school." As a result, his father "used force" to bring the young Kaizhen "back to school."
Postscript:
After revising the first edition, I came across some new materials about the Guanzi, so I added this postscript here. In his compilation and collation of the Guanzi, Guo Moruo was disappointed that the Song Dynasty edition of the Mobaotang by Cai Qian dao had been lost by the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, he repeatedly expressed regret for this loss in his Collected Collation of the Guanzi. In March 1956, the Collected Collation of the Guanzi was published by the Science Press. In early July, Guo Moruo received a letter from Pan Jingzheng along with a manuscript collation of the Guanzi by Chen Huan and the incomplete draft of Case Studies on the Guanzi by Ding Shihan. In early September, he replied, "I have finally completed the collation and returned the original manuscript," adding, "I briefly annotated the headers of each book." He mentioned that the Mobaotang edition was rumored to be in the Soviet Union and expressed hope that it might be seen again in the future. Here, I record Guo Moruo's annotations on the headers of each book for those interested in the editions of the Guanzi.
On the header of Chen Huan's manuscript collation of the Guanzi:
I compiled the Collected Collation of the Guanzi and collected many editions, but the Song Dynasty edition of the Mobaotang was missing, which I deeply regretted. This manuscript was copied from the Mobaotang edition and collated by Chen Huan, with annotations left for the Wang family of Gaoyou (referring to Wang Niansun), as evidenced by the seals. Pan Jun Jingzheng kindly lent it to me for detailed review, allowing me to my regret and for which I am deeply grateful. The original manuscript was missing from volumes 13 to 19, and Huang Pili had previously collated and supplemented them based on the Song Dynasty edition by Lu Yitian. This manuscript was based on Huang's collated and supplemented edition, with Chen further collating it against Liu Ji's annotated edition. This shows the diligence and meticulous attention to detail of the predecessors. After Chen's collation, he donated the manuscript to the Wang family, demonstrating the deep friendship among scholars of that time, which is truly moving. All this is worth learning from, and it is not just an addition to the society's collection of rare books. Pan Jun truly embodies the virtue of the predecessors, and he humbly returned these annotations, expressing his gratitude.
September 9, 1956
Guo Moruo
On the header of the incomplete draft of Ding Shihan's Case Studies on the Guanzi:
The incomplete draft of the Guanzi is truly valuable, having been kindly lent to me by Pan Jingzheng. The draft was finalized by Chen Huan, and the red annotations are in Chen's handwriting. Dai Wang also reviewed it and left several annotations. However, the Ding theories adopted in the Collation of the Guanzi do not fully align with this draft. There are passages in the draft that are absent from the original, likely borrowed from the Annotations to the Guanzi, which is now lost and cannot be traced. The draft contains many profound insights that Dai overlooked, and there are also errors in Ding's work that Dai also repeated, proving that Dai's efforts fell far short of Ding's. The loss of Ding's book is a pity, but the incomplete draft is better than nothing and should be cherished.
September 9, 1956
Guo Moruo
Notes:
Proofreading is a difficult task, and each round of revisions reveals errors—whether in titles, main text, citations, or even footnotes. Numbers, in particular, are prone to mistakes if not handled carefully. I would like to specially thank the book's editor-in-chief, Sun Yan. In October 1992, I attended the Sichuan Provincial Centennial Celebration of Guo Moruo's Birth in his hometown and had a brief meeting with Sun Yan. On January 12 of this year, she came to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to deliver the first proofread version of the book. Without prior arrangements, it would have been nearly impossible to recognize each other, and both of us were moved by the passage of time. Looking back at the proofread version, I could sense Sun Yan's diligence and attention to detail from the margins. Mistakes in the original manuscript were corrected, errors in the clear proofs were marked and supplemented. For questions that were unclear, she used a pencil to highlight them, reminding me to verify. For some citations, it seems she even checked the original texts. Overall, after reviewing the first proofread version, my greatest impression is that Sun Yan is truly dedicated to the editing of this book. Through her meticulous work, it can be said that there will be no significant errors in the book. For this, I specially added this postscript to express my gratitude for her dedication and hard work!
January 1999