Introduction to the article: Zong Baihua (1897-1986), formerly known as Zongzhi, was a member of the Creation Society. His main works include the poetry collection "Flowing Clouds", the literary studies "Goethe Research", "Beauty and Artistic Conception", etc. Chapter 1 We
We stand side by side under the Tianhe River.
The world has fallen into a deep sleep.
The twin stars in the sky
are reflected in our hearts.
We held hands, looked at the sky, and said nothing.
A mysterious tremor.
Through the depths of our hearts. Chapter 2: Liberation
A final feeling of desolation in my heart
When will I be able to be liberated?
The moon of the Milky Way shines on my upstairs.
The sound of the flute comes from far away?
The coolness of the moon
The coolness of the heart
Assimilated into the coolness of the universe . Chapter Three: East Coast
Tonight the bright moon’s light
reflects on the flower of my heart.
I stood quietly on the beach
Listening to the clear sound of the stars in the sky.
A lone flower fell asleep next to me,
I held the fragrance of her dream.
Ah, dream! Dream!
Mingyue’s dream!
She is looking for the lover in her dream,
I Thinking of my hometown under the moon! Four short poems
On the tree of life
Carved a flower
Thanks fell into my arms,
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I pressed it gently on my heart.
She came into contact with the music in her heart
and turned it into a little poem. Chapter Five Morning Revival
The light of the sun
washes my soul when I wake up early.
The moon in the sky
is like the lingering dream I had last night. Birth background
Mr. Zong Baihua (1897-1986), a master of modern Chinese aesthetics, was born in Changshu, Jiangsu Province. He was born in the Fang family outside Xiaonanmen, Anqing City, Anhui Province. My father went to primary school in Nanjing, so he often claimed to be "half Anhui". He has devoted his life to studying
art and is proficient in Chinese and Western aesthetics and various art theories. He is an esthetician who has deeply grasped the essence of Chinese classical aesthetics. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Mr. Zong taught at the Central University in Nanjing, and together with Mr. Deng Yizhi of Peking University, he was known as "Southern Zong and Northern Deng". Together with Zhu Guangqian, who returned to China in 1933 and taught in the Department of Spanish at Peking University, the three He became one of the three most famous aestheticians in the country at that time. By chance, Mr. Deng is from Huaining, Anhui, and Mr. Zhu is from Tongcheng, Anhui, so two and a half of these three scholars are from Anhui. The three great aesthetes, Deng, Zhu and Zong, all made great contributions to the history of modern aesthetics. They made important explorations and accumulations based on the integration of classical and modern, Chinese and Western, and aesthetic theory and artistic practice. Here are some thoughts on Mr. Zong Baihua’s research and writing on the “History of Chinese Aesthetics”. The complex of writing history
Most scholars spend their whole life studying specialized subjects. The accumulation of knowledge and the passion for writing often give rise to the ambition of "history", that is, the idea of ????writing a specialized history of this discipline, which can be called This is the scholar's "complex of writing history". This is not surprising. There are many Chinese scholars in the 20th century who wrote the history of specialized disciplines, such as Liang Qichao's "Academic History of China in the Past Three Hundred Years", Hu Shi's "Outline of Chinese Philosophy", and Feng Youlan's "History of Chinese Philosophy." , Zheng Zhenduo's "Illustrated History of Chinese Literature", Guo Shaoyu's "History of Chinese Literary Criticism", Liu Yiyu's "History of Chinese Culture", Liang Sicheng's "History of Chinese Architecture", Zhu Guangqian's "History of Western Aesthetics", etc., these works They have become classics in the history of modern Chinese academics.
However, some other scholars, such as Wen Yiduo and Lu Xun, also had a long-cherished wish to write a "great literary history of China" spanning thousands of years. However, due to many changes and interference from external forces, their wish was not finally realized and became a "last wish". The disillusionment of the desire to narrate history will be an eternal regret for the scholars themselves and for Chinese academic history. Scholars are keen on writing history, and their original intention is nothing more than to demonstrate their academic insights and academic strength through the writing of specialized histories of disciplines, and to reflect their overall grasp of the research field through writing history, so as to occupy a commanding height in this subject research. Lifelong Regret
The history writing trend in modern academic history has also stimulated our curiosity to explore the regretful past that Zong Baihua and the "History of Chinese Aesthetics" missed in writing.
Mr. Zong once wanted to write a "history of Chinese aesthetics" during the aesthetic craze in the 1960s. However, due to differences in opinions among the members of the team that compiled the history of Chinese aesthetics at that time, Zong Baihua was unable to complete this work according to his own wishes. His academic career and his desire to write history finally came to nothing. This aborted aesthetic history project has been delayed for decades. Although various works on the history of Chinese aesthetics have emerged in large numbers, their academic value has yet to be tested. Judging from the ones that can be seen today, most of them are unsatisfactory. After all, there has not yet been an aesthetician with Zong Baihua's academic foundation and proficiency in various Chinese and Western arts. Mr. Zong is certainly not an insurmountable academic peak, but as far as China is concerned, the basic conditions for producing a master like Zong Baihua are not yet met. From this point of view, Mr. Zong's unfinished "History of Chinese Aesthetics" will be a permanent lack in the academic world. This shortcoming is thought-provoking. Disciple's Memories
According to the reminiscence article of Mr. Zong's disciple Lin Tonghua, it can be seen that Zong Baihua's subjective and objective conditions for writing the history of Chinese aesthetics in the 1960s were quite mature. The subjective conditions can be clearly known: Mr. Zong laid a solid foundation in classical literature since he was a child, and later studied in Germany, where he was deeply nourished by the spirit of German classical philosophy and modern art trends; he himself is interested in various arts, especially Chinese calligraphy. The appreciation of art, painting, poetry, garden architecture and other arts is unquestionable in terms of education. Mr. Zong is also a poet. His flowing poetic language and intuitive wisdom have left a deep impression on us in the poem "Flowing Clouds" and "Aesthetic Walk". All these show that Mr. Zong is qualified for the compilation of "History of Chinese Aesthetics".
In terms of objective conditions, many scholars in the domestic philosophy and aesthetic circles at that time, especially master-level scholars, were still alive, such as Zhu Guangqian, Deng Yizhe, Feng Youlan, Tang Yongtong and other great scholars, and they could communicate with each other academically. In 1952, universities across the country underwent large-scale departmental restructuring. (The consequences of this integration are quite serious. For example, Tsinghua University’s philosophy and literature tradition has been severed, and Tsinghua’s humanistic heritage has been drained away. It has become a science and engineering university. After the 1990s, it will be difficult to continue Tsinghua’s humanistic tradition. It is conceivable.) But this integration of university departments was a blessing for the Department of Philosophy of Peking University. At that time, all the philosophy departments of universities in the country were merged into Peking University, and the Department of Philosophy of Peking University became the only one in the country. Tie. After this adjustment, Mr. Zong Baihua was transferred from Nanjing University to Peking University, and Professor Deng Yizhi from Tsinghua University was also transferred to Peking University. Together with Mr. Zhu Guangqian from the Department of Spanish at Peking University, Peking University’s academic strength in aesthetics reached its peak. Therefore, Zong Baihua’s objective conditions for writing the history of Chinese aesthetics are unique.
In addition, Mr. Zong advocates that aesthetic research should involve various arts and pay attention to the progress of research on ancient history. Ancient unearthed cultural relics and new archaeological discoveries are of great help in understanding and in-depth understanding of ancient aesthetic consciousness ( Archeology also made many new discoveries in the 1960s), he once said: "Studying the history of aesthetics is inseparable from historical data, especially archaeological discoveries." It is conceivable that if Mr. Zong could start "revising history" at that time, in the 1980s, with the new progress of Chinese archaeology, some new materials would be added to make this "history of Chinese aesthetics" shine for future generations. Unfortunately, none of this came to fruition. This loss not only belongs to Mr. Zong Baihua personally, but also to the entire aesthetic community and even the entire Chinese academic community.
So, what is the real reason why Zong Baihua’s history has not been completed?
According to Professor Ye Lang of the Department of Philosophy of Peking University, in 1962, the State Council assigned Zhou Yang to take charge of the compilation of university liberal arts textbooks. , there were three aesthetics textbooks included in the preparation plan at that time, one was "Introduction to Aesthetics", edited by Chao Wen. The other is "History of Western Aesthetics", written by Mr. Zhu Guangqian alone. Another one is "History of Chinese Aesthetics", edited by Zong Baihua. "History of Western Aesthetics" was successfully published in the 1960s, and "Introduction to Aesthetics" was also officially published in 1981. However, "History of Chinese Aesthetics" died prematurely. In the end, Yu Min and Ye Lang were responsible for compiling the two-volume "Materials on the History of Chinese Aesthetics". "Selected Editions", the work was done. This was the basic situation at the time. Academic differences
In the 1960s, Mr. Zong began to edit the "History of Chinese Aesthetics" and also talked with Mr. Tang (Tang Yongtong) about the special methods and insights into studying Chinese aesthetics. Both Tang and Zong started from the aesthetic thoughts summarized in artistic practice and emphasized that Chinese aesthetics should collect information from a broader background. Mr. Tang even believes that the records about the konghou in the Tripitaka may also be useful for aesthetic research. Mr. Zong agreed with Mr. Tang's views and emphasized that even though some literati's notes and artists' experiences are just a few words, profound aesthetic insights can occasionally be discovered. Later, when compiling the "History of Chinese Aesthetics", due to differences of opinion among the participants, they did not follow Mr. Zong's profound insights on art practice and Mr. Tang's research methods on Buddhist aesthetic thoughts. Finally, the "History of Chinese Aesthetics" was compiled. The writing of "History of Western Aesthetics" failed to come out as smoothly as Mr. Zhu's "History of Western Aesthetics". It has become a very difficult task to sort out the large number of notes on the history of Chinese aesthetics left by Mr. Zong.
(Appendix to Volume 4 of "The Complete Works of Zong Baihua", Anhui Education Press, 1994)