China News Agency, Beijing, June 12th: He Zhaowu, a master of Chinese and Western culture, how to be a "reed that can think"?
"China News Weekly" reporter Song Chundan
At 4 pm on May 27, 2021, He Zhaowu was critically ill.
When the ambulance came to pick me up, I couldn't even measure my blood pressure.
After nine o'clock in the evening, his blood pressure and body temperature rose miraculously, but only briefly.
The next day, he died peacefully.
He Zhaowu is a famous Chinese historian, ideological and cultural historian, and translator.
Born in Beijing in September 1921, he graduated from the Southwest Associated University. From 1956 to 1986, he was an assistant researcher and researcher at the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
After 1986, he taught at the Institute of Ideology and Culture of Tsinghua University.
He has long been engaged in research on historical theory, philosophy of history and intellectual history, as well as translation of Western classics.
The Chinese and English versions of "History of Chinese Thought Development" have become the textbooks of many universities in China, and have also contributed to China's globalization.
His translations of "Thoughts", "The Social Contract", "History of Western Philosophy" and "The French Revolution" have become classics that have influenced generations of Chinese people.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Meng Xiangcai, a professor at Shandong University, worked with He Zhaowu for many years in the Research Office of the History of Chinese Thought of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the predecessor of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences). In the meeting, He Zhaowu is usually the last to speak, and his speech is always three sentences, which is summarized as "He three points".
No matter when, he always keeps a low profile, speaks slowly, expounds his views calmly, doesn't treat people, tries not to tell lies, and doesn't go against the trend, and his character is well-known in the circle.
He Zhaowu.
Image source: "Reconstruction of Historical Reason"
Zhu Qing is a pen name
In 1952, He Zhaowu was transferred to Northwestern University in Xi'an as a lecturer in the History Department of the Teachers College.
But unlike Beijing, where he couldn't find any books, he was suffering from not being able to read books properly.
In 1956, the central government proposed "March into Science" and formulated a large-scale "12-year Science and Technology Plan".
He Zhaowu was transferred to the Chinese Academy of Sciences as an assistant researcher at the Second Institute of History of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences.
Hou Wailu, the deputy director, also serves as the director of the Chinese Thought Research Office, and has always wanted to finish the last two volumes of the "General History of Chinese Thought" edited by him (one to three volumes were published before the founding of New China).
When he restarted this work in the summer of 1957, he seconded Zhang Qizhi from Northwestern University, and successively transferred Li Xueqin, Yang Chao, Lin Ying and He Zhaowu from the selection office to work in the Research Office of Chinese Intellectual History.
When the book was published, one of the signatures, "Zhu Qing", was the collective pseudonym of the five young scholars.
Zhang Qizhi, Li Xueqin, Yang Chao, and Lin Ying are known as the "Four King Kongs" under Hou Wailu, and they are more intimate with Hou Wailu in terms of business cooperation and emotion.
He Zhaowu is relatively independent, and he is often seen reading foreign books by himself.
Hou Wailu must find the basis for everything in the original canon of Marx. When encountering an important concept, he will never give up until the exact meaning is clarified.
One of He Zhaowu's jobs was to help Hou Wailu search for the original texts in German.
In his spare time, He Zhaowu reads and translates, because only translating will not make mistakes: "Everything is said by others, and I am only responsible for translation." In 1958, his translation of Rousseau's "On the Civil Covenant" was published.
In 1962, the book was revised and renamed The Social Contract Theory and published.
These two translations became popular readings among young people at that time, and they are still the most sold, the most well-annotated, and the most widely circulated among various Chinese translations.
Meng Xiangcai said that He Zhaowu's foreign language proficiency is absolutely the first in history, and his translation of Rousseau's "Civil Covenant" has reached the level of "faithfulness, elegance, and eloquence".
His national language skills are also quite good. Meng Xiangcai asked him many questions when he wrote "The Biography of Liang Qichao", and he basically answered them satisfactorily.
Zhang Qizhi told reporters that He Zhaowu's translation works can be said to have reached "a consummate skill".
"It is appropriate to say that he is an academic master who has profound knowledge in both Chinese and Western cultures and has made great contributions to Western culture, especially philosophy."
Zhang Qizhi remembered that Hou Wailu once said, "Comrade Zhaowu has his 'big'." Every time Hou Wailu came to the research room to talk to everyone, he would add a sentence, "Please come with Zhaowu."
Hou Wailu told Zhang Qizhi that He Zhaowu did not express his opinions in public, which did not mean that he did not understand the matter clearly, but that he did not express his opinions easily.
He is a learned man, and everyone should respect him and learn from him.
truth, only one
After the "Cultural Revolution" began, He Zhaowu did not participate in any mass organizations.
The situation was too chaotic, so he hid at home as a "Xiaoyao faction" and read Kant frantically.
In the 1940s, when he was studying at the Southwest Associated University, He Zhaowu read Kant's introductory book, which was an English translation of "Critique of Pure Reason" (the "First Criticism").
I thought that "even Wang Guowei can't read Kant's book. I'm afraid there is no hope of reading it."
Kant said that when each person pursues his own conflicting goals according to his own mind, he is unconsciously moving toward a common goal, which is a kind of "rational cunning".
Nature will never do anything in vain. Once it gives reason and freedom to human beings, it is enough. From then on, it will no longer intervene, but let human beings create everything by themselves - this is history.
After He Zhaowu read it, he felt a sense of apocalypse.
He remembered Goethe's famous saying: "Everyone can have his own truth, but there is still only one truth." He began to translate secretly, just to escape from emptiness and misery, and never thought about publishing.
In the summer of 1972 after Nixon's visit to China, He Zhaowu noticed a foreign telegram on the Reference News, saying that Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Rousseau's The Social Contract were displayed in the Xinhua Bookstore.
The Social Contract Theory was translated by him.
He sensitively captured the changes in climate, so he re-edited the eight papers of Kant's "Critique of Historical Reason" that he had translated privately, and sent them to the publishing house, which was renamed "Critique of Historical Reason".
Unexpectedly, this book did not come out until 1990.
He Zhaowu said that everyone said that Kant was obscure and difficult to understand, but if you first read the "Third Criticism" ("Criticism of Criticism") and the "Fourth Criticism" that laid the foundation of aesthetics, you can see a more interesting Kant.
He said that Kant's critical philosophy is like a "Divine Comedy of Philosophy", the "First Criticism" takes you on a tour of the phenomenal world, the "Second Criticism" takes you on a tour of the ontological world, and the "Third Criticism" takes you to the ninefold sky.
thinking reed
In 1979, He Zhaowu was directly promoted from assistant researcher to researcher.
In 1983, he went to New York, USA, as a visiting professor at Columbia University Ruth Fund.
Chen Qineng entered the Institute of World History in 1959. He told reporters that He Zhaowu was devoted to learning, but he did not insist on learning, and listened to music all day long.
When chatting, he rarely talks about himself, but he doesn't shy away from asking him anything.
He likes history, but not rigid history, preferring historical theory and historical thought.
In 1996, the two co-edited The Theory of Contemporary Western Historiography.
In 1985, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences began to organize the "History Theory" magazine.
The first editorial board member Yu Pei said that Zhang Zhilian and He Zhaowu, two experts representing the highest level of foreign historical theory research, were invited to be the editorial board members.
He Zhaowu is very knowledgeable, but he is very humble. He always seeks opinions from others and never speaks qualitatively or arbitrarily.
Yu Pei said that He Zhaowu has written many articles for "History Theory", and he can combine the reality of Chinese historiography in the 1980s and write it from the perspective of Chinese discipline construction.
Academic circles have long debated why China's feudal society has continued for so long. He Zhaowu said that this is a "pseudo-issue", which is put forward from the perspective of Europe. Since it is necessary to "abandon the Eurocentric theory", it must be recognized as a characteristic of China.
He Zhaowu laughed and said, "Why is the young pioneer not as good as my old man?"
After the 1980s, Tsinghua University resumed the liberal arts, and in 1986 the Institute of Ideology and Culture was established.
Experts in the history of Chinese philosophy hired Zhang Dainian, and experts in the history of Western thought hired He Zhaowu.
When the director Yang Disheng went to the Academy of Social Sciences to invite He Zhaowu, He Zhaowu lived in the earthquake shed because of the house demolition.
He said, "I will go there whoever solves the housing problem for me." In this way, he was transferred from the Institute of History of the Academy of Social Sciences to the Institute of Ideology and Culture of Tsinghua University.
Photographed in Munich, Germany in July 1991, the first from the left is He Zhaowu, and the third from the left is Yang Disheng.
He Zhaowu has been living in a small third room of more than 60 square meters in the Southwest Building of Tsinghua University.
Tsinghua University once asked him to move to a new house of 100 or tens of square meters in Heqingyuan Community, but he did not move, nor did he want the house, and he still lived in the same place.
In the early years, he could often be seen riding his rusty and rattling bicycle away from the dust in the Tsinghua Garden.
Gradually, he could only walk with a cane.
In 2001, He Zhaowu was 80 years old.
Tsinghua University wanted to hold a birthday party for him, but he firmly declined. The birthday party was changed to "He Zhaowu's Historiography Theory Seminar", but he locked the door and ran away during the meeting.
At the age of 90, everyone held a meeting on the grounds of the first anniversary of the death of one of his friends and scholars, and tacitly did not mention his birthday, and neither flower baskets nor banners appeared with any relevant words.
Meng Xiangcai said that after the reform and opening up, the situation and environment have completely changed. He Zhaowu ushered in the golden period of his personal academic development. Many works and translations have enabled him to achieve an academic status that matches his real level, but he has kept a low profile.
He Zhaowu said, in fact, he has not written any serious books, most of his books are collections of short essays.
He joked that now that the currency has devalued, so has the master, and he is always a master.
In 2006, his oral history "Going to School" was published, and the response was strong. Some of the more pointed content such as Feng Youlan's "criticism" also attracted some questions, but he did not come forward to make any defense.
Meng Xiangcai felt that this was in line with his principle of doing things: do not differentiate, let others say.
But not talking does not mean not thinking.
He Zhaowu'ai quoted a famous quote from the 17th century French philosopher Pascal's "Thoughts".
This book was translated by him in the early days of the "Cultural Revolution" and was published after the reform and opening up.
One of his collections is called "Reed Grass Collection".
This passage of Pascal said that man is just a reed, the most fragile thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed, and it is useless to occupy any amount of land. Because of space, the universe includes and swallows up. Man, but because of thought, "I embrace the universe."
(Finish)