Hu Shi's Recent Works on Learning (Volume 1)

Author: Niu Qizhen
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-06-01
Features: This collection is divided into five volumes. Volume I contains only three texts: "On Confucianism" proposes a fresh perspective on the history of ancient Chinese academic and cultural traditions. I am confident that this perspective will gradually gain recognition from historians in the future, although there are still many skeptical reviews at present. The other two texts discuss research methodologies: "The Date of Laozi" focuses on the methodology of textual criticism, while "Collation Studies" explores the methodology of collation. Volume II consists entirely of texts Buddhist materials. Only "A Study of the True Revelations" pertains to Taoist historical sources, as "The True Revelations" involves the "Four Chapters on the Way of Emptiness," so I included this text here. Volume III is entirely dedicated to novel historical materials. Most of the texts collected here were written over the past five years, with a few exceptions dating back five years. These texts were mostly published in various periodicals. This collection was originally part of the fourth volume of "Hu Shi's Collected Writings." Due to the inclusion of many political discussions—particularly those on international politics over the past three or four years—it was deemed inadvisable to collect and publish them at this time. Therefore, I extracted the sections on academic thought and compiled them into this collection, "Recent Studies on Learning." Volume I contains only three texts: "On Confucianism" proposes a fresh perspective on the history of ancient Chinese academic and cultural traditions. I am confident that this perspective will gradually gain recognition from historians in the future, although there are still many skeptical reviews at present. The other two texts discuss research methodologies: "The Date of Laozi" focuses on the methodology of textual criticism, while "Collation Studies" explores the methodology of collation.