Zhou Hexuan was actually not happy with his chat with Gu Hongming. There were many things he didn't say, and some opinions were kept as vague as possible, because speaking out would irritate the old man.
Seeing Gu Hongming's old and decrepit appearance, Zhou Hexuan was afraid that he would get excited, so he held his chest and went to the ground to die.
Gu Hongming was so angry that Zhou Hexuan didn't want to bear this reputation.
"Consult the country with profit and govern the country with virtue" is too general and not entirely true.
Principal Chang also seeks profit for the country. His new warlords and bureaucrats, large and small, are pursuing profit, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang conglomerates who support him are also pursuing profit. The final outcome is that everyone works for himself, no matter whether others live or die, the country will benefit.
, but it’s a mess.
Our party's attack on local tyrants and land distribution is also based on profit for the country. Morality comes before profit. Everyone has noble pursuits in their hearts, and only "profit" can be put in one place.
What Zhou Hexuan really wanted to say was to rule the country by law, supplemented by moral bottom line and profit-driven. But in order to refute Gu Hongming's "rule of virtue", he could not talk about ruling the country by law, because the old man would definitely be confused and confused after hearing this, and even
Will criticize Zhou Hexuan's Legalist thought.
As we all know, Gu Hongming is a believer in Confucianism, and Confucianism and Legalism are mortal enemies.
It was the discussion about the superiority and inferiority of nations that reminded Zhou Hexuan of a book. That book was called "Guns, Germs and Steel", which won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in the United States and the Popular Science Book Award in the United Kingdom, and became a New York Times bestseller.
Book ranking works.
Zhou Hexuan wrote the preface of this book in the reception dormitory of Peking University. Due to the age, many contents in it need to be revised, and Zhou Hexuan does not fully agree with some of the views. He needs to explain according to his own ideas, such as about
Chinese part.
"Foreword
Mr. Gu’s question
For various peoples in different parts of the world, in the thirteen thousand years after the last ice age, some areas of the world developed into industrial and agricultural societies that used metal tools and had writing, and some areas still
Preserved hunting and gathering societies that used stone tools...
Recently, I talked with Mr. Gu Hongming about the issue of national superiority and inferiority. His view is that all nations in the world have their own characteristics, and China is the best nation in human history. I agree with his view, but when it comes to Africa, America, and the South Pacific,
For some ethnic groups, deviations have occurred.
Why can white people manufacture modern industrial products, but black people in Africa can only be enslaved? Are the indigenous people of the South Pacific still primitive societies?
Peoples from Eurasia, as well as peoples still living in Eurasia, control the wealth and power of the world. Other peoples, including most Asians, have not yet gotten rid of European colonial rule and are far behind in wealth and power.
.There are also some ethnic groups, such as the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, America and the southernmost tip of Africa, who are no longer even the owners of their own land. They were massacred and conquered by European colonists, and some were even driven out to extinction.
Therefore, the question of disparity in the modern world can be systematically elaborated as follows: Why is the distribution of wealth and power the way it is? Why aren't Indians, Africans and Australian Aboriginals killing, conquering or exterminating Europeans?
For this question, we can look back at history. Starting from 1500 AD..."
Zhou Hexuan does have the leisure to write all kinds of articles. He hires others to write his martial arts novels. "Dog Officer" only requires tens of thousands of words of manuscripts a month. The work of the newspaper can also be left to Shen Congwen and Li Shoumin to help. Responsible.
The original text of "Guns, Germs and Steel" was too wordy, and Zhou Hexuan made a lot of simplifications. However, on the issue of China, he was prepared to expand the length of the discussion, and he was confident that the writing would be more profound and thorough than the original author.
Regarding the description of racism in it, Zhou Hexuan does not need to be as taboo as the original author and use a lot of text to prove that he is not a racist. In today's international society, the jungle is strong and racism is very popular, and there is nothing shameful.
The content of this book can be summarized in one sentence: "The history of different nations follows different paths. The reason is the difference in the national environment, not the biological differences of the nations themselves."
Zhou Hexuan also decided to add a private chapter at the end of the book to explain China's future development path from the perspective of China's history, culture, and geography, which is equivalent to "The Rise of a Great Power: China's Future."
This book should have been extremely shocking when it was published in the 1920s, because many of the ideas are forward-looking and groundbreaking, and the various archaeological data are also very detailed. For example, the various vertical and horizontal comparisons in the book
Domestication of plants: Fertile Crescent (8500 BC), China (no later than 7500 BC), Britain (3500 BC), Andes (no later than 3000 BC), Amazon region (3000 BC), Mesoamerica (no later than 3000 BC), Eastern United States (2500 BC)
Later there is the domestication of animals, as well as the time when pottery, villages, tribes, metal tools, countries, writing, and iron tools appeared.
If nothing else, throwing out these data is enough to cause a sensation in the world of archaeology.
There was no Internet at the beginning of the 20th century, and information exchange was very difficult. Many of the data above have been researched and discovered, but no one has integrated them. The situation in Europe and the United States is slightly better, and Asian archaeologists are all doing their own things. It won't attract much attention if it produces results.
This is an "anthropology" work, and it combines the contents of several major branches of social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology.
Anthropology was originally dedicated to the study of human anatomy and physiology. However, decades ago, research on social anthropology began to appear, and it has not yet formed a complete system. The book "Guns, Germs and Steel" was published in Europe and the United States. The world of anthropology will probably drive those scholars completely crazy.
Zhou Hexuan worked hard all afternoon in the reception dormitory and finally finished writing the preface and the first and second chapters.
Just after dinner, Zhang Taiyan and his disciples Qian Xuantong, Ma Yuzao, Liu Wendian and others came to visit. Qian Xuantong and Ma Yuzao had classes that day and did not go to the station to greet them.
Zhang Taiyan asked with a smile: "I heard that old man Gu came today. What did you talk to him about?"
"What else can there be?" Zhou Hexuan said speechlessly, "He wants to do what Confucius did, and act like Confucius of the Republic of China, advocating the use of love and morality to influence society. I can only follow what he says, to seek for the country with profit and govern the country with virtue. .”
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Zhang Taiyan laughed so much that he even squeezed out tears.
Qian Xuantong shook his head and sighed, and said: "Mr. Gu is a bit pedantic. Even I, who is immersed in books, know that it is useless to talk to warlords about morality."
Zhou Hexuan said: "Of course he knows it too. I guess he saw that China is Westernizing too fast and has introduced many bad Western habits, so he sticks to the same old ways to warn the world. Unfortunately, he is also suspected of being conservative and actually opposes women's liberation.
What’s so good about those ugly little women’s feet?”
"Celebrities have to be unique," Ma Yuzao said with understanding.
Liu Wendian joked: "When it comes to celebrities, our Mr. Qian has also become a celebrity recently."
"Don't pull it on me!" Qian Xuantong rolled his eyes at him.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Everyone laughed again.
Zhou Hexuan was puzzled by the laughter and quickly asked what was going on.
After Liu Wendian explained, Zhou Hexuan finally understood.
It turns out that half a month ago was Qian Xuantong's 40th birthday. When he was young, he once said: "When a person reaches forty, he should die. If he doesn't die, he should be shot."
These words were remembered by many people, so Hu Shi, Liu Bannong and others came to congratulate him on his birthday. Everyone wrote obituaries, elegiac couplets, elegy and condolence articles for Qian Xuantong, and planned to publish an article in Yusi magazine
Issue "Special Issue on Mr. Qian Xuantong Cheng Ren".
When Qian Xuantong heard the news, he was so angry that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He called Hu Shi and others to scold him, and his special memorial issue was finally cancelled.
The special issue was cancelled, but the contents were known to southern newspapers, so they published various elegiac couplets and condolence articles, making southern readers think Qian Xuantong was really dead.
As a result, Qian Xuantong's friends in the south sent telegrams of condolences to his family one after another. Many celebrities and scholars also wrote articles to commemorate Qian Xuantong and listed his academic contributions during his lifetime. It was so sad and painful.
It's so sad, it makes people cry.
Just yesterday, a good friend from the south came to Peking University by boat and train to express condolences to Qian Xuantong's family. As soon as the friend came to the door, he saw Qian Xuantong sitting in the living room eating, and he exclaimed:
"Brother De Qian, do you still have any unfulfilled wishes? You are reluctant to reincarnate."
Qian Xuantong smiled bitterly and said, "I'm almost pissed off by you."
Everyone teased Qian Xuantong for a while. Liu Wendian glanced at the manuscript on the table and asked, "What masterpiece is Principal Zhou writing?"
Zhou Hexuan explained: "I got inspiration from chatting with Mr. Gu, and I am going to write something about human sociology."
Zhang Taiyan was not polite and opened the manuscript to read. After reading, he smiled and said: "It's interesting. Are you going to analyze and discuss all the nations in the world?"
"That's what I meant." Zhou Hexuan nodded.
"hiss!"
Zhang Taiyan gasped: "You are really powerful."
Everyone was surprised by Zhou Hexuan's erudition. Far-sighted scholars knew something about world history and world nations. But writing a book is different. You have to do in-depth research and analysis. Otherwise, writing will only make people laugh and be looked down upon.
.
"The Rise of the Great Powers" is amazing enough. Now Zhou Hexuan wants to write about the nations of the world. The knowledge reserve required is too terrifying. In the Republic of China, where you could not use the Internet to search for information, you had to travel around the world and visit libraries and scholars everywhere.
Only big names can write.
Even a madman like Zhang Taiyan was in awe of Zhou Hexuan and said: "After you finish writing this book, you must mail it to me."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Why don't you write a preface for me."
"That's good, I can also gain some fame in your book." Zhang Taiyan was overjoyed.
