I have recently seen several articles describing Gu Hongming. These articles all have one thing in common. They all use his pigtails to discuss and start the dispute over Gu Hongming's pigtails. Some say he was the first person to cut off braids in the late Qing Dynasty; some say he was the last to cut off braids.
Let’s take a look at these articles first.
The title of one article is "The Madman". "When the court of the late Qing Dynasty was in turmoil, he was the first general to jump out and want to cut off his braids. The Qing Dynasty pursued the principle of 'leave your head without leaving hair, leave your hair without leaving hair'. Cutting off braids was tantamount to treason." But Gu Hongming was very young. Cutting off the pigtails was a shocking move and completely different. Later, when everyone saw that the late Qing Dynasty was almost exhausted, everyone also cut off the pigtails, but Gu Hongming first added a fake pigtail, and then grew a pigtail. ."
Look at another article, ""Monster" Gu Hongming was the first person to cut braids in the Qing Dynasty. "Gu Hongming was one of the first people in the Qing Dynasty to cut off his braids. When he was studying in Scotland, he had a girlfriend who liked to play with his shiny black braids in her hands. To please his girlfriend, Gu Hongming made a 'click' sound He cut off his own braid and gave it to his girlfriend."
There is also this article, "Gu Hongming - The Last Braid of the Qing Dynasty". "Gu Hongming was a weirdo, known as the last braid of the Qing Dynasty (it was still there when he died in 1928)."
After reading it, I was stunned. I found several more articles describing Gu Hongming, but none of them said that he was the first person to cut pigtails in the Qing Dynasty; nor did they say that his pigtails were the last in the Qing Dynasty. All I can say is that the authors of the above articles are great. Could it be that they are "inventors" who changed careers. The way to cut braids depends on the environment and location. Everyone has their own opinions. No one is the same as anyone else. The housekeeper had no choice but to look here and there, unable to decide.
Men in the Qing Dynasty all had braids. Although Gu Hongming’s braids had yellow hair, it was nothing unusual. When looking at Gu Hongming, don't look at his braids, but look at his knowledge and his wild and unrestrained life.
Gu Hongming (1857-1928), named Tang Sheng, who called himself Nianren, was born in Tong'an, Fujian (now part of Xiamen), and was born in Penang Island, Malaysia. His father is a local overseas Chinese, and his mother is a Westerner. His high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, and yellow hair have become Gu Hongming's appearance features. Gu Hongming was knowledgeable. He obtained 13 doctorates in his life. He was proficient in nine foreign languages ??including English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Latin, Greek and Malayan. He once served as an interpreter for envoys from six countries and was praised by Sun Yat-sen and Lin Yutang. He is called "China's first language genius". He called himself the "Hanbin Reader", and in his later years he was also called the "Old Man from the East, West and South". He was "born in Nanyang, studied in the West, and served in Beiyang."
At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a saying in the West: You can go to China without seeing the Three Great Halls, but you must see Gu Hongming. Gu Hongming's ideological influence spanned the East and West in the 20th century. He was a scholar who was knowledgeable in both Chinese and Western learning, liberal arts and science, and was also a pioneer in the history of the spread of modern middle schools to the West.
Gu Hongming’s reputation in the West is far greater than that in China. He read English newspapers backwards and mocked the British, saying that Americans were uneducated, lectured on Confucianism to Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, exchanged letters with literary master Leo Tolstoy, and discussed the world's cultural and political situation. India's Mahatma Gandhi said: He is called "the most distinguished Chinese". Nelson, a philosophy professor at the University of G?ttingen in Germany, admired Gu very much. When he learned that Gu Hongming's life was difficult, he actually raised money for him. A German university professor solemnly declared, "Students who do not understand Gu Hongming are not allowed to Participate in relevant discussions. "German people believe that there are two people who can represent Eastern culture. In addition to Gu Hongming, they are India's Rabindranath Tagore. He was also the longest-serving scholar of modern China who was hired by Japan to give lectures for four years.
He creatively translated "The Analects", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "The Great Learning" into the West in English and German. Promote Eastern culture and spirit to Westerners. At the same time, he translated foreign poetry into Chinese. He was a pioneer in translating and introducing Western poetry to China in modern China.
He claimed in the preface to the translation of "The Analects": We just want to express a wish here, hoping that those educated and thoughtful British people can reflect on their views on China after patiently reading our translation. People's existing prejudices can be corrected and their attitudes towards the relationship between people and countries in China and Britain can be corrected.
"The Spirit of the Chinese People" (i.e. "Spring and Autumn Days") is Gu Hongming's most influential representative work in English. It is a collection of a series of essays with "The Spirit of the Chinese People" as the core. Faced with the bullying of the Chinese nation and discrimination against Chinese culture by Western powers at that time, the main purpose of Gu Hongming's discussion was to reveal the spiritual life of the Chinese people and elucidate the eternal value of Chinese traditional culture.
Gu Hongming believes that to evaluate a civilization, one must look at "what kind of people, what kind of men and women it can produce." He criticized those missionaries who "are called authorities in the study of Chinese civilization" And sinologists "actually do not really understand Chinese and Chinese language." He said: "To understand the real Chinese and Chinese civilization, that person must be deep, broad and simple." Because "Chinese people The three major characteristics of China’s character and Chinese civilization are profoundness, broadness and simplicity.” In addition, there is “sensitivity”.
From this unique perspective, Gu Hongming compared Chinese with Americans, British, Germans, and French, highlighting the characteristics of the Chinese.
Americans are broad-minded and simple, but not deep; British people are deep, simple, but not broad-minded; Germans are broad, deep, but not simple; French people are not as naturally deep as Germans, and are not as broad-minded as Americans and simple-minded as British people. But they have the sensitivity that these three nations lack; only the Chinese have all four excellent spiritual qualities. Because of this, Gu Hongming said, "The overall impression left by the Chinese people is 'the kind of indescribable gentleness'."
Gu Hongming publicly said to the students during his lecture at Peking University: " Why do we need to learn English poetry? That is because after you learn English well, you can use our Chinese principles of life and gentle and kind poetry to teach those foreign countries." At that time, China was arbitrarily divided by foreign powers. , ventilated from all sides. He said such words, showing that he was making a determined and desperate struggle, and what kind of pain he was suffering in his heart.
Francis Poli, a French friend and scholar of Gu Hongming, called him a "Chinese weirdo" and a "crazy old man" in the commemorative article "Chinese Saint Gu Hongming" and said that he "stuck in an outdated world". The "unique personality that loves fallacies" was very impressive: "He was wearing a Chinese robe. At a time when people in Beijing were cutting off their braids, he kept his symbolic braids on for more than an hour. . Gu was so eloquent that I could barely get a word in. In fact, it was just a long monologue, which I will never forget, because I have never seen someone so persistent in his opinions and beliefs. ”
Zhou Zuoren described Gu Hongming in "Jiu Lu of Peking University", "He was born with a foreign appearance with deep eyes and a high nose. He had a bunch of yellow hair on his head, but it was braided into a small braid. He wore maroon Ning silk in winter. A square mandarin jacket with large sleeves and a small melon-skin cap; not to mention Beijing around the 10th year of the Republic of China, even in the pre-Qing Dynasty, if you meet such a colorful priest-like figure in a small city on the road, everyone will be in awe. It’s amazing to see with your eyes. It’s indeed a scene from Wangfujing Street during the Republic of China, and this scene is real, not a copy.”
Lin Yutang in “Gu Hongming in the Heart of an Eighty-Year Old Man”. The article sincerely praises: "Gu Hongming is a piece of hard meat that cannot be absorbed by a weak stomach. To Westerners, his works are like porcupines full of hard thorns. But he has depth and insight, which makes people forgive him for many of his faults. , because there are very few people who are truly wise. "Lin Yutang also said, "If a person is isolated and isolated, the more he helps someone, the more he will be scolded, especially if he has lent him money to save him from poverty. No, that’s not enough to show his stubbornness."
Wen Yuanning, an English professor at Peking University who was his contemporary, said: "During his lifetime, Gu Hongming had become a legend; after his death, he may have become a legend. He has turned into a mythical figure. In fact, he is not very different from the many people you meet every day. He is just a born rebellious figure."
Wang Chonghui, the Executive President of the Republic of China, said: "Gu Hongming brought glory to the country and became famous internationally. His contribution to cultural exchanges between China and the West was unprecedented."
Guo Moruo said, "Before his new and powerful remarks, almost all Old ideas and customs are like fallen leaves in a strong wind, having completely lost their brilliance. The youth of twenty years ago - in other words, the children of the proletarian class at that time - can be said to agree or disagree. There is no one who has not been baptized by his thoughts or words."
Gu Hongming lived in an unfortunate era. In such an era, as long as you were Chinese, you could only be weak. At the mercy of others. If you are sober and you have to fight, you will have to pay an extremely painful price. Facing the motherland with internal and external troubles at that time, Gu Hongming was worried about the rupture of Chinese tradition and the ruin of Yanhuang civilization. In his notes "Records of Zhang Wenxiang's Shogunate", he expressed his deep sighs about the self-esteem and worries of Chinese culture.
There is a note in "Recording Wen" called "Forget the Bastard". Qiao Jun, the assistant minister of the academic department, said to Gu: "What you have said is the king's way, but why can't it be implemented today?" Gu Hongming replied: "There are only two ways in the world, either the king's way or the bastard's way. Mencius said: 'The two ways are benevolence and unkindness. '" Gu Zai satirized that the so-called "kingly way" is just a strategy of governing the country written on paper that has never been realized, while the "bastard's way" is what China has been called since ancient times. The method that gangsters constantly practice to seize and govern the world.
Gu Hongming insisted on his "symbolic braids". He said: "I wear braids. It is a sign. I am a representative of the last generation of China." Gu Hongming also scolded All those who cut off their braids are "beasts and wild beasts without braids!" In the early years of the Republic of China, when someone cut off their braids and put on a hat, he would scold them: "Wear a hat while wearing a monkey!"
Gu Hongming's views on China He has a deep belief in moral culture and regards himself as "the Qiancheng that defends morality and the Muduo that warns the world." What he hated the most in his life was that the Chinese people spurned old learning and despised national customs. However, his compassion and kindness were not appreciated by the people. His insight into the past and present was not appreciated by the gods. His inappropriate words could only be expressed with laughter and curses. He always cursed people. Being able to scold the other person's life, he was derogated as a "monster" and criticized as a "madman". He deliberately pursues being different. He opposes whatever others approve of and despises whatever others admire. When it was fashionable to cut braids, he insisted on keeping them; when pacifism was fashionable, he insisted on advocating monarchism.
Because of his outstanding intelligence, he can speak eloquently and justify everything. Comments on him have been mixed over the past century. Those who praise him go to heaven, and those who criticize him go to earth. There are different opinions.
After Gu Hongming died, a foreign writer said: "Gu is dead, but Europeans who can write Chinese poems have not yet been born!"
Look at the current world, what? He dares to say and do outrageous things. It can only show that this kind of people's idea of ??"continuing to die without shocking words" is at work.
What we see in Gu Hongming is that when the country was in crisis, he exhausted all his energy to try to restore the decline of the Qing Empire, showing his awe-inspiring national pride; he used the most paranoid method to defend the already declining The traditional Chinese culture remains unchanged in response to ever-changing changes. He has been unremitting in protecting traditional culture throughout his life, fighting against the entire world on his own; with his wild attitude, his heart is bleeding and helpless to protect his strong national self-esteem. His arrogance and alternative behavior were just misunderstood by others. He was a born rebel.
Gu Hongming is a wonderful book with profound and thought-provoking contents. Reading articles about him, the words between the lines sometimes make you burst into laughter, sometimes make you high-five him for his humor and eloquence, and sometimes make you shake your head helplessly. But as you smile, high-five, and shake your head, you will have the idea to think about culture, tradition, national dignity, and the future of life in Gu Hongming's era, and understand and reflect on that historical era of precarious conflict between China and the West in your own way.
Those who like to be narcissistic and talk about Gu Hongming’s concubinage, footbinding, smelly habits, and talk about his braids about early and late, \ and yellow, think they have discovered something. The New World is really unconventional and sensational, and boring.