Qian Zhongshu and Modern Scholars

Author: Li Hongyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Not bad, Qian Zhongshu is a scholar, and a university scholar who stands alone. Mr. Qian's scholarship is truly vast and profound. Contemporary scholars, blinded by this, endlessly praise how Mr. Qian has an extraordinary memory and an incredible reading volume. It must be said that these are all facts, but they are ultimately superficial observations. Qian's scholarship is indeed vast, refined, and profound, but in his view, it is merely the accumulation of memorization—mere dross. Compared to his intelligence, scholarship is merely the precipitated residue, at most ranking second.
Scholarship has both spirit and substance: talent is the spirit, and memorization is the substance; artistic temperament is the spirit, and words and materials are the substance. True scholarship is subtle and intangible, its essence residing in the tiniest of points yet encompassing the vast universe. Citing how many books he has read, that is remarkable, but not truly remarkable. People read and study to understand the Dao and clarify principles. Once the Dao is understood and principles are clear, then all the books in the world and all accumulated knowledge can be like climbing a ladder or stepping onto a staircase—there is no need to discard the raft after reaching the shore or demolish the bridge after crossing the river. It is all discardable like worn-out shoes. Ancient sages even said, "If one hears the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening."
Therefore, despite Qian's scholarship, due to his "strange" artistic ontology, what he truly values is not scholarship but something else. It is said, "The dross passed down is not pure beauty, and the spirit is hard to paint." Qian truly values precisely that "spirit" that is "hard to paint." This "spirit" is an "artistic realm," or what is known as the "Qian Spirit."