"Northwestern University Learning Records"

Author: Yun Huixia
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-04-01
Features: This issue is a collection of selected academic interviews with renowned professors from Peking University, featuring profound academic thoughts as well as unique academic experiences. It revolves around the theme of the academic transformation and innovation of contemporary Chinese intellectuals, promoting the concept of "engaging with traditional studies, integrating new knowledge, embracing inclusiveness, and advocating intellectual freedom." This issue / is a collection of selected academic interviews with renowned professors from Peking University, featuring profound academic thoughts as well as unique academic experiences. Theme / The academic transformation and innovation of contemporary Chinese intellectuals. Concept / Engaging with traditional studies, integrating new knowledge, embracing inclusiveness, and advocating intellectual freedom. Excerpt:
Q: In your upcoming book "The Establishment of Modern Chinese Scholarship," you discuss the transition of traditional Chinese scholarship to modernity, centered on Zhang Taiyan and Hu Shi. This writing approach seems quite different from previous works in this field. Why did you choose these two figures? (Chen Pingyuan)
A: I did not intend to write a textbook-style comprehensive work. Such a "comprehensiveness" merely organizes existing knowledge and achievements. I believe that truly in-depth research is grounded in case studies. Zhang Taiyan and Hu Shi belong to two generations, and the foundation of modern scholarship was jointly built by scholars from the late Qing and May Fourth periods. They have spiritual connections as well as academic lineage, but their differences are also apparent. To some extent, these differences represent the rift between the "carrying forward" generation and the "opening up" generation during the period of academic transformation. Similarly important is that "the old" Zhang Taiyan and "the new" Hu Shi only represent one aspect of the issue. Both Zhang Taiyan's absorption of new knowledge and Hu Shi's exploration of traditional culture are aspects that must be given significant attention. Although Zhang Taiyan and Hu Shi each have their own methodologies, they are not entirely irreconcilable. The debates over Confucian and Mohist studies between them, as well as Zhang Taiyan's reflections on official and private education, all bear the traces of the collision and integration of new and old knowledge systems. In my studies of the history of fiction, such as "The Transformation of Narrative Modes in Chinese Fiction," I focus on the subtle connections and transitions between old and new fiction. I find that this kind of information in history is particularly meaningful. I am not particularly fond of the approach of "dividing and conquering" because it tends to obscure many issues.