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, talk endlessly about 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 still mere memorization, mere dross. Compared to his intelligence, scholarship is merely the precipitated residue, at most ranking second. For scholarship has both a soul and a body: talent is the soul, memorization is the body; artistic charm is the soul, words and materials are the body. True scholarship is subtle and formless, its spirit residing in the tiniest of points yet encompassing the vast universe. Citing countless books, etc., is impressive, but not truly impressive. 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 to cross the river or tear down the bridge after crossing it; it is all discardable like worn-out shoes. Even ancient sages said, "If one learns the Dao in the morning, one can die that evening." Therefore, despite Qian's scholarship, due to his "bewildering" artistic ontology, what he truly values is not scholarship but something else, as the saying goes, "The dross passed down is not pure beauty, and the brushwork cannot depict the spirit." What Qian truly values is precisely that "spirit" which is "hard to depict with brushwork." This "spirit" is an "artistic realm," or the very "Qian spirit."