Will this world get better: Liang Suming's oral account in his later years

Author: (American) AI KAI
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Eat well, sleep well, walk well, speak well—this is what is meant by "respect." Respect means not being sloppy or unrestrained. Respect means the heart is in one's chest. Respect means not chasing after things, nor neglecting them. From respect comes caution, leading one into solitude—this is Master Wu's philosophy. Chasing after things leads to losing one's heart; neglecting things is the same as losing one's heart. It is to see the heart in things, yet the heart does not follow things. Liang Shuming said: Humanity is not small, but tragic; tragedy lies in being controlled by oneself (control and being controlled are one). Smallness is a mistaken view. When you transcend selfishness, you transcend smallness. Who is invincible? Life. What is defeated? Matter. Life is the heart; it is the heart manifesting itself in things; it is the struggle between the heart and matter. History (cosmic history) has always been a struggle between the heart and matter, again and again, step by step, conquering matter, relying on matter, utilizing matter, all performed. Only by deeply understanding oneself and having control over oneself can one avoid and transcend folly and inferiority.——This is the profound knowledge, the sublime is the great ability or skill. Yet it is not known by Western scientists who chase after things outwardly. Economic life divides the heart while uniting the body. Politics forms group antagonism, dividing boundaries. The problems of the world today stem from Western culture. To avoid the destruction of humanity, one must turn to Chinese culture. The current predicament of China is the result of blindly learning from the West. To break the deadlock and achieve unity, one must correct the two errors of drawing boundaries and using force, and transcend the two great walls of the world as the starting point. Impatience and greed show humanity's meanness; admiration and envy reveal humanity's ugliness; impatience and frustration show humanity's uselessness. Scholarship is to solve problems, and true scholarship is to solve one's own problems. Through Oral History, we see a completely new Liang Shuming. In his later years, Liang Shuming indeed reached the realm of a "sage," perhaps truly as he himself said, having seen everything as light. Looking back at his self-assessment of his political achievements and social activities, a self-mocking tone of a failure becomes the dominant theme of the narrative. Additionally, more than one-third of the book is dedicated to Liang Shuming's comments on important figures in modern history with whom he had direct interactions, such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Hu Shih, Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Wu Zhihui, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Feng Yuxiang, Han Fuju, Gu Hongming, Zhang Dongruan, and Zhang Junmai. These comments are interesting and valuable because his views are clearly his genuine feelings, without any signs of concealment or embellishment. It can even be said that many of the examples Liang Shuming provides make us reconsider some important figures and events in modern history. The interviewer, AI KAI, is a professor at the University of Chicago in the United States and an expert in Liang Shuming. After reading the book, one cannot help but admit that experts are indeed experts—it is AI KAI's effective guidance that allowed Liang Shuming to open up his heart and share many meaningful stories and thoughts.
—China Book News Professor AI KAI of the University of Chicago in the United States wrote the book The Last Confucian: Liang Shuming and the Dilemmas of Chinese Modernization. To verify facts and correct the incomplete and inadequate parts of the book, Professor AI visited China in August 1980 to interview Liang Shuming and had lengthy discussions with him more than ten times. During the conversations, Liang discussed the cultural characteristics and representative figures of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, touching on many political and cultural figures (Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chiang Kai-shek, Kang Youwei, Zhang Taiyan, Hu Shih, Feng Youlan), reviewed the important activities in his life (teaching at Peking University, engaging in rural reconstruction, founding the Democratic League), and the content is rich, making it an important reference for understanding and studying Liang Shuming's thoughts, activities, and the social life of modern Chinese society.