During the May 4th New Culture Movement 90 years ago, "New Youth" launched a vigorous "literary revolution" with the slogan of "promoting vernacular and opposing classical Chinese". This "revolution" directly "revolutionized" the old fate of "classical Chinese" that had taken root in the land of China for thousands of years. The vernacular Chinese language washed away the frustration of having been in the "second room status" of culture for a long time and made its debut. At this point, the entire Chinese nation seems to have begun to Immerse yourself in the joy of getting rid of the shackles of feudal culture.
In fact, the debate between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese has been going on for a long time. "New Youth" was just one of the battles that rewrote the situation. What was the situation before "New Youth"? Why did "New Youth" How did it evolve after rewriting it...
We might as well start from the beginning——
1. Historical entanglements
Classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese, both It is written language, but the difference is that "classical language means language that is only seen in writing but not spoken. Baihua means spoken language, and words means spoken language. The general meaning is spoken language." [1] The only difference between the two lies in their proximity to spoken language.
In fact, both classical Chinese and vernacular are based on spoken language, but the so-called spoken language standards are different. Classical Chinese is the ancient Chinese written language based on the spoken language of the pre-Qin Dynasty, while vernacular is based on the spoken language since the Tang and Song Dynasties. Based on Northern dialect. The language we speak now is developed on the basis of the northern dialect since the Tang and Song Dynasties. It is no wonder that we find the vernacular to be clearer and easier to understand.
When the "classical Chinese" was overthrown ninety years ago, an important reason was that "the separation of Chinese and Chinese language hindered social progress." Here we need to explore the emergence of this phenomenon from a historical perspective.
In the initial stage of the development of the Chinese language, language and language were integrated, and those ancient Chinese classics that seem esoteric and obscure today were actually vernacular works at that time. For example, in the "Book of Songs", we know that most of the "winds" in it are folk songs, and we can be sure that many of them were composed directly orally. Another example is "The Analects", which is a collection of quotations by Confucius, and its relationship with spoken language is self-evident.
Due to historical changes, the spoken language used in people's daily communication has changed, while the written language has remained unchanged. As a result, since the Six Dynasties, classical Chinese has shown obvious signs of separation from spoken language. However, because Chinese characters are ideographic characters, the difference in pronunciation does not hinder people's understanding of reading, so the inconsistency between words and texts has not attracted enough attention. At the same time, because the classics of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties were all written in classical Chinese, and these works are the source of Han culture, the literati of later dynasties consciously insisted on a kind of imitation of classical Chinese creation, which artificially intensified the Chinese language. Inconsistent situation, and ultimately formed a long-term inconsistency in Chinese language.
During this period, vernacular writing also showed its presence everywhere. From "Shishuoxinyu" and "Yan Family Instructions" to Dunhuang Bianwen, Tang and Song quotations, Song and Yuan scripts, and Ming and Qing novels, along the way, each dynasty and each generation has produced a large number of vernacular works, but unfortunately Unfortunately, it failed to shake the dominance of classical Chinese in the end, and most of it could only be scattered among the people. Although they were aggrieved, they could not escape the fate of "second wife". [2]
It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that all this was reversed. At that time, the country was in a bad situation, and the Chinese people first wavered in their cultural self-confidence. This was a prerequisite and the fundamental reason for the future changes in Chinese culture. It is this mentality that makes the Chinese people put tradition on the dock for the first time and count its sins. Classical Chinese, as the main carrier of traditional culture, must bear the brunt of the impact [3]. So Huang Zunxian wanted to "write by hand and speak by mouth", while Qiu Tingliang claimed that he "favored the vernacular and abandoned classical Chinese", thus starting the vernacular movement.
In the New Culture Movement of 1917, the vernacular movement was pushed to the extreme. In January of that year, Hu Shi published "A Preliminary Opinion on Literary Reform" in "New Youth", arguing that "vernacular literature is the authentic form of Chinese literature", advocating the abandonment of classical Chinese and the use of vernacular, and proposed that articles should be written fluently, without allusions, formulas, or formulas. When speaking antitheses, do not avoid common sayings, pay attention to grammar, do not imitate the ancients, and speak with substance. Chen Duxiu also published "On Literary Revolution" in February, using the "three major principles" to echo Hu Shi's "eight propositions". This one and the other can be said to have truly opened the curtain of this vigorous cultural and sports revolution. In 1918, all articles in "New Youth" switched to vernacular, and various vernacular magazines such as "New Wave" and "Weekly Review" followed suit. In September 1920, the Ministry of Education ordered all national schools to switch to Mandarin for the first and second years of Chinese studies from this autumn. At this point, the vernacular has achieved officially recognized legal status.
After reviewing this period of history, I always feel that the situation in the thousand-year battle between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese has turned around suddenly. The authentic status of classical Chinese for thousands of years seems to have been overturned overnight. Classical Chinese, a symbol of identity, seemed to have been transformed overnight into the remnants of feudal culture and the main culprit hindering national progress. After thousands of years of training, the vernacular has finally got rid of the shadow of "second room" and stands at the center of the Chinese cultural stage. Although the pace of reaching this center was a little hasty and unsteady, it has finally achieved success.
What caused a millennium war to change the situation in a hurry?
2. The Battle of the New Culture Movement
During the New Culture Movement, classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese were defeated in the battle. The reasons are roughly as follows:
(1) Chinese people’s awareness of crisis
The reason why classical Chinese has been able to maintain its supreme status for thousands of years is, to a certain extent, due to the Chinese nation’s prosperity in the world for thousands of years. This kind of prosperity has created the Chinese people's admiration and trust in traditional Chinese culture based on classical Chinese. After the late Qing Dynasty, the country's power declined and foreign powers humiliated them, which shook the self-confidence of the once proud Chinese people. Among them, the first thing to bear the brunt was the shaken cultural self-confidence. Suffering from not being able to figure out the reason for the "sudden weakening", all the grievances were directed at tradition. Driven by this mentality, tradition was no longer regarded as a treasure, but became the target of criticism. As the main carrier of traditional culture, classical Chinese is bound to bear the brunt of the impact.
It can be said that the darkness of society, the peril of the nation, and the weakness of the country created the crisis consciousness of that generation, and the irrationalization of this crisis consciousness formed a so-called concept, that is, "Cultural backwardness". The formation of this concept inspired Huang Zunxian to "write by hand and speak by mouth", while Qiu Tingliang claimed to "advocate vernacular and abandon classical Chinese", which can be said to be the beginning of the vernacular movement.
Originally, reflecting on history is a normal reaction in any era, and it is also a necessary step for the development and progress of traditional culture. However, if the responsibility for the decline of the country is shifted to tradition, it will result in an extremely irresponsible historical attitude. As for classical Chinese to be equally guilty, it is even more difficult to understand. However, in the face of the possible danger of national subjugation, treating traditional culture rationally has become the most unacceptable behavior for the Chinese people. Any calm thinking will be denounced as reactionary ideas and must not be displayed. However, radicalism representing patriotism has gradually become a part of Chinese society. the mainstream trend of thought. [4]
(2) The transformation of written language from aristocracy to civilianization
When reviewing the historical entanglements between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese, we analyzed how classical Chinese gradually moved towards the "separation of language and writing" "of. Since Chinese characters are ideographic characters, the difference in pronunciation does not hinder people's understanding of reading, so the inconsistency between language and text did not attract enough attention from the beginning. With the further changes in history and the continuous changes in people's daily communication and spoken language, this inconsistency has become more and more serious, so that classical Chinese, as a kind of written language, has become farther and farther away from the people. It is still divorced from daily life and only serves as a A sign of superior status exists in formal electrification and announcements. And this will inevitably cause increasingly strong dissatisfaction among the broad masses of civilians. Lu Xun once said, "Our Chinese writing, in addition to restrictions on status and economy, also imposes a high threshold for the public: the difficulty is crossed by the scholar-bureaucrats, and these scholar-bureaucrats try their best to use it. Writing is even more difficult, because it can give him special dignity."
Before the new literature, there were hierarchical concepts in literature (classical Chinese literature and vernacular literature) and social hierarchical concepts (literati, intellectuals and common people). common people) is deeply ingrained. In literature, classical Chinese literature is the most respected, while vernacular literature is civilian literature and is inferior. Corresponding to this are the social classes divided by this - scholar-bureaucrats, intellectuals and common people. Even reformers such as Liang Qichao, who advocated vernacular literature, still insisted that "everything has its own group, and everyone has his or her own status." This "unequal hierarchical concept" in literature and society was the reason why the vernacular movement could not achieve significant success before the New Culture Movement.
In the New Culture Movement, the fighters of "New Youth" profoundly criticized the feudal aristocratic nature of classical Chinese, and advocated the establishment of a system of universal communication, universal enjoyment and freedom for the whole society and the whole nation. ***The same "Mandarin literature". One of the revolutionary achievements of the "May Fourth New Literature" is to "return the literary rights exclusive to the privileged class to the hands of the broadest common people in society."
(3) Matching of content and form
A striking feature of the May Fourth New Culture is the matching relationship between content and form. It is difficult for traditional classical Chinese to reflect modern life and accurately express democratic and scientific ideological content. As new cultural content is formed, its formal aspects are also formed accordingly. The emergence of the vernacular symbol system was not only the carrier of new culture, but also one of the symbols of the division between old and new culture in this period.
One of the contents of the new culture is democracy, the core of which is individualism. In his article "The Tao of Confucius and Modern Life", Chen Duxiu attributed the Western democracy he admired to a kind of "individual independence" [5]. That is to say, we advocate individual liberation and spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom first requires freedom in the form of expression, because the freedom of thought depends on the freedom of language form. Therefore, the free content of the new culture objectively requires a free style to adapt to it. This is somewhat similar to McLuhan's theory - the form of the medium determines the content it transmits. Moreover, in the direct sense of democracy, democracy is a social and political form that appeals to the will of the majority. Therefore, it inevitably requires the popularization of language forms, leaning towards the people and being controlled by the people.
Before it was written down, vernacular was the spoken language and was the daily language of the people.
It is active in the daily life level of society, and is obviously different from the classical Chinese that is higher than this level. Moreover, the vernacular is more clear and clear than the classical Chinese. Vernacular Chinese is more selective than classical Chinese in the relationship between words and sentences. Whether it is grammatical rules or stylistic organization, vernacular Chinese has a greater degree of freedom than classical Chinese. For example, the new vernacular poetry is freer than the strict metrical poetry, the new diversified prose is looser than the old prose with a fixed form, and the new novels of various genres are not as single as the episodic novels. As a form of new culture, vernacular Chinese has achieved extremely important cultural achievements. It created a new generation of literature and laid the foundation for modern novels, poetry and prose. Modern literary styles and modern scientific styles all trace their origins from this.
No matter from which angle you look at it, the new culture and vernacular literature at that time complemented each other.
From these aspects, the "New Youth" of that year did have a great role in promoting the vernacular "taking charge". However, judging from the development of the entire history, the vernacular replaced classical Chinese at that time. It can be said to be a historical necessity.
The existence of these reasons led to the defeat of classical Chinese in the New Culture Movement. But does this mean that classical Chinese will disappear from the old pile of history? Reposted from Baidu Know