Biographical Review of Li Da's Academic Thought

Author: Ding Xiaoguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-01-01
Features: Reviewing the development of Chinese academia in the 20th century, it can be said that: it was a century of abundance, innovation, and glory. Over a hundred years, outstanding scholars emerged, stars shone brightly, achievements were abundant, and new ideas were constantly introduced. Traditional Chinese academia underwent transformation, and Western academia was extensively introduced into China. Through the exchange, collision, and integration of Chinese and Western academia, 20th-century Chinese academic culture was born and rapidly grew. Within a hundred years, new breakthroughs and significant progress were made in various academic fields, establishing a complete system of modern Chinese academic culture. Reviewing and summarizing the academic development of the 20th century, distinguishing its right and wrong, gains and losses, is a meaningful endeavor, an essential step to advance 21st-century academia and further construct Chinese socialist academic culture.
Traditional Chinese academic culture has a long history, profound roots, and has achieved brilliant results with substantial accumulation. It has long nurtured the Chinese people, shaping the character and spirit of the Chinese nation, and holds an important position in the history of world academic culture. However, since the mid-19th century, imperialist invasions brought Western academic culture to China. The spread of Western learning in China went through several stages, starting with the dissemination of material civilization, followed by institutional and spiritual civilizations, until Marxism was introduced to China. Western academic culture is vast and far-reaching in influence. After entering China, it took root, blossomed, and bore fruit. It changed the direction and pace of development of Chinese academic thought and even the entire society, enabling China to transition from a traditional feudal society to a modern one. During this period, there were intense struggles and gradual integration between Chinese and Western learning, between old and new studies, and between traditional and modern academia. The academia of the 20th century China was born through this process of struggle and integration.
The modernization of Chinese academia began with Yan Fu's translation of Western academic classics. In the late 19th century, he translated "Evolution and Ethics" by Thomas Huxley, introducing the theory of evolution to the Chinese people and bringing about a revolutionary change in academic thought. Later, he successively translated Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations," John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty," John Stuart Mill's "A System of Logic," Herbert Spencer's "Social Evolution," Montesquieu's "The Spirit of the Laws," John Stuart Mill's "A System of Logic," and George Johnstone Stoney's "Elements of Logic." These were fields rarely studied or written about in traditional Chinese academia, providing references for modern Chinese economics, political science, law, sociology, and logic, which thus emerged. In 1901, Liang Qichao published "Discourse on the History of China," explaining the difference between modern and traditional historiography: "As world academia advances, the role of modern historians differs from that of their predecessors. Earlier historians merely recorded facts, while modern historians must explore the relationships, causes, and effects of these facts. Earlier historians confined themselves to the rise and fall of a few powerful individuals or families, though called history, it was merely a genealogy of a person or family. Modern historians must investigate the overall movement and progress of human society, the experiences of the entire nation, and their interrelationships." He passionately called for the revolution of historiography, believing it was a matter of national survival: "If the revolution in historiography does not occur, our country will be irredeemable. Among all things, this is the most important." At that time, Xia Zengyou wrote "New Middle School Chinese History Textbook," the first modern Chinese general history written in chapters. Other disciplines also entered the modern era at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1910, Shen Jiaben founded the Law Society and "Journal of the Law Society," marking the beginning of modern Chinese jurisprudence; Wang Guowei and Luo Zhenyu's research on oracle bones unearthed from the Yin Ruins can be considered the origin of modern archaeology; Zhang Taiyan's study of Indian philosophy and Wang Guowei's exploration of Schopenhauer pioneered the study of foreign philosophy by modern Chinese scholars. During the May Fourth Movement, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi advocated literary revolution, giving birth to modern Chinese literature. Hu Shi wrote "Outlines of the History of Chinese Philosophy," the first analysis and study of ancient Chinese thought from a Western perspective. As for natural sciences, in the late 19th century, scholars like Li Shanlan, Xu Shu, and Hua Hengfang translated numerous works and laid extensive groundwork. In 1915, Chinese students studying in the United States founded the Chinese Scientific Society and launched "Science Magazine," marking the gradual development of modern Chinese natural science research.
The academia of the 20th century China was a product of the advanced intellectual class seeking salvation for the nation by looking to the West for truth. Western theories and numerous works surged into China like a flood released from a dam. Chinese scholars, rooted in their own foundation, selected, distinguished, and absorbed, creating academic culture suited to their time. As Chinese scholars, born and raised in China, educated in China, they were deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture. The scholars of the 20th century, coming from the old era, were generally proficient in traditional Chinese culture. The fierce anti-traditionalists of the May Fourth Movement, such as Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Qian Xuantong, and Wu Yu, strove to oppose and break away from old traditions to fulfill their historical mission of discarding the old and embracing the new. Yet, old traditions had already permeated their blood, making it impossible for them to completely sever ties with tradition. As they themselves said, they had fought their way out of the old camp and turned against it. Even "full Westernization" advocates like Chen Xujing could not escape traditional influences. As long as one is Chinese and has been educated in Chinese culture, one cannot completely shed the influence of Chinese academic culture. "Today's me" cannot entirely reject "yesterday's me." Similarly, no 20th-century Chinese scholar, no matter how conservative or stubborn, could completely oppose Western academic culture. The superiority and advancement of Western academic culture became increasingly evident, and people could not help but accept it to some extent. There were no one who entirely opposed and discarded Western academic culture. Modern life, in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, was largely influenced by the West—western suits, western-style meals, western-style houses, cars, and airplanes. Western civilization was everywhere. Whose life could be separated from these things? Mao Dun portrayed Wu Laoye in "Midnight" as stubborn and ignorant, yet when he came to Shanghai from the countryside, he recited "The Great Response to" but lived in a western-style house and had to travel by car. Sun Yat-sen, with his queue and advocacy of reviving tradition, was actually a university scholar with a comprehensive Western education.
A major characteristic of the 20th century was the transition from conflict to integration between Chinese and Western cultures. People grew up in an atmosphere of being both Chinese and Western, neither Chinese nor Western, and a blend of both. The struggle and integration of these two heterogeneous cultures would not end in a short time. Historically, when Buddhist culture entered China, it took root over the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Tang, and Song dynasties, with Confucianism and Buddhism engaging in intense struggles and mutual exclusion before gradually integrating. This gave rise to Confucianized Buddhism—Chan Buddhism—and Confucianized Buddhism—Neo-Confucianism. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jesuits introduced Western culture to China, though supported by figures like Xu Guangqi, Li Zhiyao, even the Kangxi Emperor, it faced strong resistance from Confucianism. After over a hundred years, it faded away without taking root or bearing fruit. This shows that the integration of heterogeneous cultures, especially the birth of new academic culture from this integration, is a long, slow, and arduous process.
After the Opium War, the spread of Western culture in China marked the third time heterogeneous culture entered the country, with greater momentum and far-reaching influence than the previous two. Due to the superiority of Western academic culture, traditional Chinese culture seemed inferior. By the end of the last century, in the clash between Chinese and Western learning, Chinese learning had been disorganized and defeated. To rebuild Chinese academic culture, it was necessary to learn from Western strengths and create anew on the foundation of Chinese academic culture. Against this historical backdrop, through the unremitting efforts of Chinese scholars, 20th-century Chinese academic culture was nurtured, emerged, and displayed a fresh face and vigorous vitality.
Generally speaking, 20th-century Chinese academic culture had the following characteristics:
1. Guided by the theory of evolution and materialist history. Traditional Chinese academia praised the institutions and figures of ancient times, revered the sages and belittled the later emperors, considering Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius as the bearers of the Way. Believing that the ancient Way had been lost, the later generations were filled with strife, and society gradually declined. In the late 19th century, Yan Fu translated "Evolution and Ethics," and the theory of social evolution swept the nation, completely changing outdated concepts. The Chinese people came to understand how to observe and study human society from an evolutionary perspective, arriving at conclusions entirely different from those of the ancients. Thus, 20th-century academic culture abandoned traditional concepts and established modern new ones. Around the May Fourth Movement, Marxism entered China, and advanced intellectuals grasped the scientific materialist worldview, further understanding productivity and production relations, the economic base and superstructure, the objective laws and subjective initiative of social development, guiding academic culture research under the guidance of materialist history and scientific methods. 20th-century Chinese academic culture made significant progress. All Chinese scholars of the 20th century believed in the theory of evolution. After 1949, materialist history under Marxism held the dominant position, nurturing and fostering a large number of scholars.
2. A new system of knowledge classification was formed. Traditional Chinese academia was divided into classics, history, philosophy, and literature, not strictly based on disciplinary classification. Among these, classics were particularly important, dominating and encompassing everything. The "I Ching" included mathematics, philosophy, and natural sciences; the "Book of Documents" included political science, history, and geography; the "Book of Songs" included literature, art, and natural sciences; the "Book of Rites" included political science, ethics, and pedagogy; the "Spring and Autumn Annals" included history and political science. Many disciplines were still in their infancy, yet to fully differentiate from the broad category of classics, with extremely blurred boundaries between disciplines. By the 20th century, Chinese academic culture had flourished and grown, forming a new system of knowledge classification. Natural sciences adopted the academic achievements accumulated over centuries in the West and became an independent major. Within it, disciplines branched out, establishing major fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, engineering, and medicine, with numerous categories and rich content, reaching a high level and benefiting national well-being. In the humanities and social sciences, literature, history, and philosophy were separated, forming their own specialties. New disciplines such as economics, law, pedagogy, sociology, journalism, political science, and psychology emerged and became independent. Due to the rapid progress of human society in the 20th century, people's understanding of nature, society, and themselves deepened, with knowledge and information quantities growing immensely, and academic culture content and scope expanding, completely breaking the old framework of classics, history, philosophy, and literature, forming a new system of modern social and natural sciences.
3. The application of rational methods. Traditional academic research methods were not precise enough, logic was not rigorous, and reasoning and judgment had a certain subjective color. Academic pursuits involved intuitive insights, deep contemplation, self-reflection, and self-cultivation. Certain non-rational methods, such as imaginative, intuitive, faith-based, speculative, and emotional approaches, as long as they could express the state of the research object—whether real or illusory—could form certain academic knowledge, such as ancient theories of the "Nine Seas and Seven States," the theory of (heaven-mankind interaction), and (clear mind and visible nature). In the 20th century, Chinese academia introduced Western research methods, using induction and deduction, emphasizing evidence, adhering to the principles of "no evidence, no belief" and "no single piece of evidence, no conclusion," discarding subjective biases, and maintaining a calm, objective attitude to conduct specific and accurate cognitive activities on determined objects. In natural sciences, microscopes, telescopes, and other scientific instruments and experimental methods were used. In social sciences, research methods focused on investigation and collection of firsthand material. 20th-century academic culture pursued precise and specific understanding of the rich diversity of the real world, thereby recognizing its essence and laws. Modern academia values rational spirit rather than intuition, faith, or authority.
4. High-pitched patriotism. In the 20th century, China faced harsher imperialist aggression and more brutal oppression from feudal warlords and the Nationalist government. Internal and external troubles plagued the people. 20th-century Chinese scholars witnessed the fragmentation of the nation and the suffering of the people, filled with infinite compassion and a sense of responsibility, calling for the salvation of the nation. They painstakingly explored and dedicated themselves to research in various academic fields, all for the purpose of saving the country. 20th-century Chinese academic culture was born and developed in the stormy years of hardship. Scholars shared a strong desire to oppose imperialist aggression and feudal oppression, aiming for a prosperous nation and happy people. Those in natural sciences hoped for salvation through science; economists through industrial development; pedagogues through education; political scientists through national prosperity; philosophers through reviving national spirit; historians through using historical experience to educate and mobilize the people; and literary scholars through shaping the heroic images of the unyielding Chinese nation. 20th-century Chinese academic culture emerged alongside the nation's hardships, driving the nation forward, calling for national awakening, and inspiring the struggles of the masses. Therefore, patriotism permeated it, becoming its main spiritual support. 20th-century Chinese academic culture waved the banner of patriotism.