Yan Fu---A Critical Biography of His Academic Thought

Author: Ma Yong
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2001-02-01
Features: Reviewing the development of Chinese academia in the 20th century, it can be said that it was a century of abundance, innovation, and brilliance. Over the hundred years, outstanding scholars emerged, stars shone brightly, achievements were abundant, and new ideas were constantly introduced. Traditional Chinese scholarship underwent transformation as Western scholarship was extensively introduced into China. Through the exchange, collision, and integration of Chinese and Western scholarship, 20th-century Chinese academic culture was born and rapidly flourished. Within a hundred years, each academic field made new breakthroughs and significant progress, 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 in advancing 21st-century academia and further constructing Chinese socialist academic culture. Traditional Chinese academic culture has a long history, profound roots, and has produced brilliant achievements and substantial accumulations. 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 aggression against China also brought Western academic culture. The spread of Western learning to the East went through several stages, starting with the dissemination of material civilization, followed by institutional and spiritual civilizations, until Marxism was introduced into 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 in China's academic thought and even the entire society, transforming China from a traditional feudal society into a modern one. During this period, there were fierce struggles and gradual integration between Chinese and Western learning, old and new learning, traditional and modern scholarship. The 20th-century academic culture of China was born in this process of re-creation. The modern Chinese academic culture originated 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 the academic perspective. Later, he successively translated Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations," John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty," John Henry Alcock's "Elements of Social Science," Herbert Spencer's "Principles of Sociology," Montesquieu's "The Spirit of the Laws," John Stuart Mill's "A System of Logic," and George John Romanes's "Elementary Lessons in Logic." These were fields rarely studied or written about in traditional Chinese academia, providing references for the development of modern Chinese economics, politics, law, sociology, and logic. 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 explain the relationships and causes and effects of these facts. Earlier historians confined themselves to recording the rise and fall of a few powerful individuals or families, which, though called history, was no more than a genealogy of a person or family. Modern historians must explore 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. He said, "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 "A New Middle School Chinese History Textbook," which was the first modern Chinese general history written in a chapter-based format. Other disciplines also entered the modern era at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1910, Shen Jiaben founded the Legal Society and "The Journal of the Legal Society," which can be considered the of modern jurisprudence. Wang Guowei and Luo Zhenyu's study of oracle bones unearthed from the Yin Ruins marked the beginning of modern archaeology. Zhang Taiyan's study of Indian philosophy and Wang Guowei's study of Schopenhauer pioneered the study of foreign philosophy by modern Chinese scholars. During the May Fourth Movement, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi promoted the literary revolution, giving birth to modern Chinese literature. Hu Shi wrote "Outlines of the History of Chinese Philosophy," the first analysis of ancient Chinese thought using Western perspectives. 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 "The Scientific Journal," marking the gradual development of modern Chinese natural science research. The 20th-century Chinese academia 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, were inevitably deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture. The scholars of the 20th century, coming from the old era, were mostly proficient in traditional Chinese culture. The fierce anti-traditionalist fighters 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 removing the old and creating the new. However, old traditions had alreadyed into their blood, making it impossible for them to completely sever ties with the past. As they themselves said, they had fought their way out of the old camp and turned their weapons against their own ranks. Even "wholly Westernized" advocates like Chen Xujing could not escape the influence of old traditions. As long as one is Chinese and has been educated in Chinese culture, one cannot completely the influence of Chinese academic culture. "Today's me" cannot entirely oppose and discard "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 people who entirely opposed and rejected Western academic culture. Modern life, in terms of clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, was largely influenced by the West—western suits, western-style meals, modern buildings, cars, and airplanes. Western civilization was everywhere. Could anyone's life be separated from these things? Mao Dun, in "The Midnight Sun," portrayed Wu Laotai as a stubborn and ignorant old man, but when he came to Shanghai from the countryside, he recited "The Great Response to" while living in a modern building and could only travel by car. Cui Hongming, who advocated for restoring the old ways while sporting a queue, was actually a university scholar with a comprehensive Western education. The major characteristic of the 20th century was the shift from conflict to integration between Chinese and Western cultures. People grew up in a cultural atmosphere that was both Chinese and Western, neither purely Chinese nor purely Western, but a harmonious blend. The struggle and integration of these two heterogeneous cultures would not end in a short time. Historically, the introduction of Buddhist culture into China underwent a long process, from the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang and Song dynasties. Confucianism and Buddhism engaged in fierce struggles and mutual rejection before gradually integrating, giving rise to Confucianized Buddhism—Zen Buddhism—and Buddhistized Confucianism—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 emperors Shunzhi and Kangxi, 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 emergence of new academic culture from this integration, is a long, slow, and arduous process. The spread of Western culture in China after the Opium War marked the third time heterogeneous culture entered China, with a greater scale and more profound impact than the previous two. Due to the superiority of Western academic culture, traditional Chinese culture seemed inferior. By the end of the last century, Chinese and Western learning were in fierce battle, and Chinese learning had already been disorganized and defeated. It was necessary to learn from the strengths of Western learning, "taking the West as the teacher," and to recreate Chinese academic culture on its own foundation to rebuild it. Against this historical backdrop, through the unremitting efforts of Chinese scholars, 20th-century Chinese academia was nurtured, emerged, and displayed a new face and vigorous vitality. The 20th-century Chinese academic culture, broadly speaking, has the following characteristics:
1. Guided by the theory of evolution and materialist history. Traditional Chinese academic culture praised the institutions and figures of ancient times, revered the sages and belittled the later rulers, considering Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius as the bearers of the Way. Later generations lost the ancient Way, leading to conflicts and struggles and the gradual decline of society. In the late 19th century, Yan Fu translated "Evolution and Ethics," and the theory of social evolution became popular nationwide, completely changing outdated notions. The Chinese people came to understand how to observe and study human society from an evolutionary perspective, reaching 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 was introduced to China, and advanced intellectuals grasped the scientific materialist view, further understanding productive forces and production relations, the economic base and superstructure, the objective laws and subjective initiative of social development, etc. They guided the study of academic culture under the guidance of materialist history and scientific methods. 20th-century Chinese academic culture made significant progress. All 20th-century Chinese scholars believed in the theory of evolution. After 1949, Marxist materialist history held the dominant position, nurturing and fostering a large number of scholars under its guidance.
2. A new knowledge classification system was formed. Traditional Chinese academic culture was divided into classics, history, philosophy, and belles-lettres, not strictly based on subject classification. Among these, classical studies held the highest position and encompassed everything. The "Book of Changes" 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; and the "Spring and Autumn Annals" included history and political science. Many disciplines were still in their infancy, not yet fully differentiated from the broad classical studies, with extremely blurred boundaries between subjects. By the 20th century, Chinese academic culture had flourished and formed a new knowledge classification system. Natural sciences adopted the academic achievements accumulated over centuries in the West and became an independent major. Within it, there were numerous sub-disciplines, establishing major fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, engineering, and medicine. These fields were diverse, rich in content, and had reached a high level, benefiting national economic and social 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, politics, 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 a massive increase in knowledge and information. Academic culture became increasingly enriched and expanded, completely breaking free from the old framework of classics, history, philosophy, and belles-lettres, forming a new classification system of modern social sciences 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 degree of subjectivity. Academic pursuits involved intuitive insights, deep contemplation, self-reflection, and self-cultivation. Certain non-rational methods, such as those that were imaginative, intuitive, faith-based, speculative, or emotional, as long as they could express the real or illusory state of the research object, could form some form of academic knowledge, such as ancient theories like the "Mythical Sea and Nine States" or the "Theory of" (Heaven and Earth Mutual Influence) or the "Theory of " (Clarifying the Mind and Seeing the 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 "Single evidence, no conclusion," discarding subjective biases, and adopting 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, emphasis was placed on research methods that gathered 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 academic culture valued rational spirit rather than intuition, faith, or authority.
4. High-pitched patriotism. In the 20th century, imperialist aggression against China became fiercer, and the oppression of feudal warlords and the Nationalist government became more brutal. Internal and external troubles plagued the nation, and people lived in hardship. 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. They bravely took the mission of saving the nation upon themselves, diligently exploring and researching in various academic fields, all with the goal of saving the country. 20th-century Chinese academic culture was born and developed in the stormy years of hardship. Scholars in various fields shared a strong desire to oppose imperialist aggression and feudal oppression, aiming for a prosperous nation and a happy people. Those in natural sciences hoped for salvation through science; economists hoped for salvation through industry; pedagogues hoped for salvation through education; political scientists hoped for national prosperity and stability; philosophers hoped to revitalize the national spirit; historians hoped to educate and mobilize the people through historical experience; and writers created numerous heroic images of the Chinese nation that were unwavering and unyielding. 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.