Hu Shih

thumb|The classical language, so long dead, can never be the medium of a living literature of a living nation; the future literature of China must be written in the living language of the people. Hu Shih (Chinese: 胡適; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962) was a Chinese philosopher, essayist and diplomat. Hu is recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese. Quotes It is only through contact and comparison that the relative value or worthlessness of the various cultural elements can be clearly and critically seen and understood. What is sacred among one people may be ridiculous in another; and what is despised or rejected by one cultural group, may in a different environment become the cornerstone for a great edifice of strange grandeur and beauty. The Chinese Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934), p. 46 The original dispute was one of poetic diction... From an interest in the minor problem of poetic diction I was led to see that the problem was really one of a suitable medium for all branches of Chinese literature. The question now became: In what language shall the New China produce its future literature? My answer was: The classical language, so long dead, can never be the medium of a living literature of a living nation; the future literature of China must be written in the living language of the people. "No dead language can produce a living literature." And the living language I proposed as the only possible medium of the future literature of China, was the pei-hau, the vulgar tongue of the vast majority of the population, the language which, in the last 500 years, had produced the numerous novels read and loved by the people, though despised by the men of letters. I wanted this much despised vulgar tongue of the people and the novels to be elevated to the position of the national language of China, to the position enjoyed by all the modern national languages in Europe. The Chinese Renaissance, p. 50 Commonly Attributed India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border. Hu Shih, The Indianization of China. Proceedings of Harvard Tercentenary Conference of Arts and Sciences and Independence, Convergence, and Borrowing in Institutions, Thought and Art. Harvard University Press, 1936. The above is a widely known quote. However, some claim what Hu Shih said was "Rather than sending soldiers, India sent a few missionaries to conquer China culturally." Deepak B. R. 2020 India and China: Beyond the Binary of Friendship and Enmity https://books.google.com/books?id=_fsOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6&dq=hu+shih+india+centuries&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio47mvmeP7AhVli_0HHaHLDYwQ6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false Springer Nature 6 9811595003 Others claim that Hu Shih was not praising Indian culture at all and was in fact a reformist who viewed Indian philosophy negatively, blaming Indian introduced philosophy from monks like Xuanzang for destroying scientific empricism unlike earlier Chinese philosophers of the Warring States period.Yeh Wen-hsin Kirby William C. Leutner Mechthild Mühlhahn Klaus Berliner China-Hefte Series of Berliner China-Hefte : Chinese history and society 2006 Global Conjectures: China in Transnational Perspectiv https://books.google.com/books?id=sJ_CpbgVxsgC&pg=PA18&dq=hu+shih+india+centuries&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio47mvmeP7AhVli_0HHaHLDYwQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=hu%20shih%20india%20centuries&f=false LIT Verlag Münster 18 3825894819 External links Hu Shih Category:1891 births Category:1962 deaths Category:Academics from China Category:Philosophers from China Category:Educators from China Category:Essayists from China Category:Ambassadors of China Category:People from Shanghai Category:Liberals Category:Non-fiction authors from China Category:Political authors from China