The Republic of China was an interesting and helpless era. Just take the quarrelsome people in front of us and you can see the confusion of their thoughts.
Wu Zhihui and Qian Xuantong actually belong to the "abolition of Chinese characters" group. They also know that the abolition of Chinese characters cannot be achieved overnight, and they need to take their time, such as simplifying characters first and transitioning to Latin letters step by step.
This idea is exactly the same as in the early days of New China. Our party is also preparing to simplify Chinese characters first and eventually make them fully alphabetical.
After the meeting, Qian Xuantong took the initiative to find Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, are you interested in talking about simplified Chinese characters?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "My foundation in Chinese studies is very poor, and I don't have much research on language and writing."
"No, no," Qian Xuantong waved his hand and said, "Mr. Taiyan has read the manuscript of your novel. He said that it is full of simplified characters, and some of them are too simplified. From this point of view, you and I are in the same camp.
people."
Qian Xuantong was also a student of Zhang Taiyan. Together with Lu Xun, he followed Zhang Taiyan to study phonology, exegesis and "Shuowen Jiezi". Qian Xuantong was also the editor of "New Youth" and actively promoted the vernacular movement. It was precisely because of his support to Lu Xun
Inviting manuscripts, the novel "Diary of a Madman" was born.
Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Mr. Gu Gu, we are not the same people. I hope that Chinese characters can be simplified appropriately, but I firmly oppose the abolition of Chinese characters. Our starting points are completely different."
“I don’t want to abolish Chinese characters,” Qian Xuantong said with emotion, “but with the development of the times, Chinese characters have gradually become outdated. Whether it is the expression and application of natural science or the dissemination of knowledge and information, the use of Chinese characters is extremely inconvenient.
The alphabetization of Chinese characters is a historical trend, and our generation is just a promoter. I hope future generations can benefit from it."
Zhou Hexuan was silent. He didn't want to argue anymore because it was impossible to convince the other party.
Zhou Hexuan took the initiative to change the topic and asked: "I heard that Mr. Ling is studying at Peking University?"
"You mean the third child?" Qian Xuantong said with a smile, "He is studying in the preparatory course of Peking University and also taking undergraduate courses. Young people have different ideas. I originally wanted to train him to become a talent in Chinese studies, but he turned out to be more interested in physics.
.”
Zhou Hexuan said: "It is good to study physics. The country needs talents in science and engineering the most."
Comrade Qian Xuan said: "I hope he can learn something famous."
The "third child" the two discussed was none other than Mr. Qian Sanqiang, the father of two bombs.
The "Qian family" in the Republic of China produced too many talented people, including Qian Xuantong, Qian Mu, Qian Weichang, Qian Zhongshu, Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Qian Zhonghan... the total number of academicians from both sides of the Taiwan Strait exceeds 10.
Zhou Hexuan and Qian Xuantong were chatting along the way. Before they left the Central University, Vice Minister of Education Duan Xipeng caught up and shouted: "Mr. Zhou, please wait a moment!"
Zhou Hexuan turned around and asked, "Do you have any advice for Minister Duan?"
Duan Xipeng said with a smile: "It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Education. As the president of Central University, I am now extending an invitation to Mr. Zhou, hoping that Mr. Zhou can serve as a visiting professor of history at Central University."
"I'm honored, but I'm afraid I don't have time to come here to give lectures." Zhou Hexuan said.
"It doesn't matter," Duan Xipeng said, "As long as there is an opportunity, Central University welcomes Mr. Zhou to give lectures at any time. The end of the term is coming soon, and Mr. Zhou happens to be in Nanjing, so why not teach the students about history in these few days."
Zhou Hexuan thought for a moment and said, "No problem, Principal Duan will arrange the time."
"How about tomorrow afternoon?" Duan Xipeng asked.
"Okay." Zhou Hexuan said.
"That's great," Duan Xipeng said happily, "Central University is in short supply of scholars as proficient in Western history as Mr. Zhou, and students have long been waiting for him."
The Central University of the Republic of China was later known as Nanjing University. Because of the strong support from the Ministry of Education, this school had an extremely strong faculty. As far as the history major is concerned, Central University is no weaker than Tsinghua University and Peking University, and many masters of Chinese studies have been invited to teach.
Unfortunately, in terms of world history, Central University has not yet recruited top talents because the school has been established for a short period of time. It was not until Shen Gangbo and others joined in that Central University made up for its shortcomings in the field of world history.
Duan Xipeng immediately invited Zhou Hexuan to visit the History Department of Central University, and introduced many history professors such as Xu Ziming and Miao Fenglin.
"Hello, Mr. Zhou, I have long admired your name!" Xu Ziming is the dean of the History Department of Central University and is responsible for teaching Western history. He was quite excited after seeing Zhou Hexuan.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Hello, Professor Xu."
Although Xu Ziming was proficient in Western history, he, like Gu Hongming, advocated retaining the essence of the Chinese nation and actively opposed the May 4th Movement and the Vernacular Movement. He had a great time writing war with Hu Shi at that time, and even wrote an article "Hu Fu Cong Tan", criticizing Hu Shi for engaging in the May Fourth Movement. The Fourth Movement was a disaster that destroyed traditional culture.
A few people walked into a classroom chatting and laughing. When the students inside heard that Zhou Hexuan was coming, they immediately surrounded them like crazy. Just like meeting a celebrity, they shook hands and asked for autographs, chattering and pestering Zhou Hexuan non-stop.
Zhou Hexuan was dealing with many students and picked up a textbook on the desk. This book was called "History of the West", which was translated and compiled from many Western history books. Zhou Hexuan took a rough look at the catalog and found that the content was really rough.
"Is this the Western history textbook from Central University?" Zhou Hexuan asked with a frown.
Xu Ziming explained: "It was compiled at Southeast University (the predecessor of Central University). It was compiled in a hurry, and there were some errors and omissions. When I taught the students, I had to add and correct some content myself, otherwise it would be misleading. "
The textbooks at Central University are so perfunctory, which shows how bad the overall situation is.
In the early and mid-term of the Republic of China, the textbooks of domestic universities were all solved by themselves. The schools that were good at it were carefully compiled, while the schools that were not good at it just made random mistakes. Especially for subjects related to foreign countries, most of them were pirated translations.
The best Western history textbook during the Republic of China was Mr. Yu Xiezhong's "General History of the West," but it would take several years for that book to be published.
Zhou Hexuan turned to Duan Xipeng and said: "Principal Duan, I want to compile a textbook on Western history. I wonder if Central University is interested?"
"Of course I am interested," Duan Xipeng said with a smile, "Mr. Zhou is a world historian, and the textbook you personally edited must be an authoritative work. As soon as this book is compiled, Central University will adopt it immediately!"
Zhou Hexuan’s goal was not just Central University. He hoped that all universities in the Republic of China would adopt the Western history textbooks he compiled.
Textbooks are the easiest thing to contain private information and subtly transmit one's own thoughts to students.
This time Zhou Hexuan plans to use Stavrianos' "General History of the World" as a blueprint, delete the advanced parts, and add some patriotic thoughts.
If "Global History" were placed in the 1930s, it would definitely be a shocking work. It would not only affect school students, but probably world-famous historians would regard it as a treasure. Later generations of academic circles spoke highly of "Global History"
Gao called it "a new starting point for the compilation of contemporary world history, one of the 10 books that influenced world history, and a classic work on the history of the development of human civilization."
By the 21st century, many universities in the United States have adopted "General History of the World" as a basic course textbook, and even some military academies have selected it as a textbook.