Biography of Hu Shi (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Hu Ming
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not Available
Features: The central focus of this book is to organize or clarify historical materials related to the life and thoughts of Hu Shi, rather than to interpret and analyze them. In recent decades, research and writings on Hu Shi have often exhibited a tendency of insufficient "organization" and excessive "interpretation." The interpretations have become overly dense, convoluted, dogmatic, and biased. From "using arguments to guide history" to "binary evaluations," the interpretation of historical materials has flourished yet been hasty and superficial. The flourishing aspect is characterized by "false, grand, and hollow," while the hasty and superficial aspect is marked by "short, flat, and quick." Their conventional manifestations involve seizing on fragments of Hu Shi's words to make arguments or judgments, discussing "texts" without considering the "entire text," and evaluating "people" without taking into account the "whole person." Those skilled in this practice might cut off a segment, critique it, and draw a conclusion through exaggeration. They might even interrupt Hu Shi's singing just after two or three words, omitting the rest, and comment on how the tone is proper, the melody is round, it belongs to a certain school, and whether the flavor is pure or mixed. This is clearly not the objective and factual attitude expected of a historian. Such research and reviews not only fail to satisfy Hu Shi in the afterlife but also greatly deceive and mislead readers and audiences. The above is my self-explanation of why and how I "portrayed" Hu Shi, and in reality, it also explains the guiding principle behind my writing this book.