Fu Gaoyi passed away: People will never forget the record of "Mr. China"
Talk about Fengsheng
We commemorate Fu Gaoyi today because he recorded China's modernization process, and he was not afraid to inject emotions.
According to the Beijing News, on December 21, Beijing time, the Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies of Harvard University issued a tweet stating that we announced with sorrow that the former director Fu Gaoyi had passed away.
It is reported that Fu Gaoyi died on the 20th local time at the age of 90.
On that day, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai posted several tweets expressing condolences for the death of Fu Gaoyi.
His tweet stated, "I am very sad after knowing the news of Fu Gaoyi's death. He is an outstanding scholar on Chinese issues and an old friend of the Chinese people. He has devoted his life to enhancing mutual understanding between the Chinese and American peoples. He has made important contributions to the friendship between the people of China and the United States and Sino-US relations. His insights on China issues are of inestimable value to the academic field and the world as a whole."
As a representative of the Fairbank School of Harvard University, Fu Gaoyi also studied China, Japan, and South Korea.
His works such as "Japan No.1" became famous for a while.
He is considered to be one of the very few Western scholars who are proficient in the history of China and Japan.
Fu Gaoyi is not a linear historical narrator, but injects sociological and organizational perspectives into his research.
As a result, its research has more practical and comparative significance.
For example, his research on Japan has enriched people's cognition of a mature and modernized society in the East, and this cognition can be used to observe China's modernization process.
For Chinese readers, Fu Gaoyi's reputation is mostly due to his 10-year study of China, "Deng Xiaoping Times" published in 2010.
This book is considered to be "the most comprehensive record of China's amazing and bumpy road to economic reform so far."
He was therefore called "Mr. China".
Fu Gaoyi received this evaluation because he has been studying China since 1961, which lasted nearly 60 years.
It can be said that he followed most of the course of China's modernization.
There are few contemporary Western scholars like him who have a deep understanding of the difficulties and costs of China's modernization process. This understanding is reflected in the "Deng Xiaoping Times", which is Fu Gaoyi's praise of Deng Xiaoping.
As he put it: "Is there any other leader in the 20th century that has done more to improve the living standards of so many people than Deng Xiaoping? In the 20th century, who has had such a huge and long-lasting influence on world history? "
Some critics believe that Fu Gaoyi has excessive praise for the research works of China and Japan.
Indeed, Fu Gaoyi's writing seldom has the rational perspective and academic height of general authoritative works, but has the characteristics of traditional narrative.
But this feature stems from his dual considerations: one is that his books are written for middle school students and ordinary people; the other is that he uses historical results as the evaluation criteria.
This also determines that he is not hesitating to praise China's modernization development.
We commemorate Fu Gaoyi today because he recorded China's modernization process, and he was not afraid to inject emotions.
He deliberately got rid of the western perspective of the narrative system, which is a kind of "out of order" for those with Cold War thinking.
But this "out of order" is the starting point for a complete understanding of the relationship between China and the West.
We commemorate Fu Gaoyi today because even in his old age, he still actively advocates for the maintenance of Sino-US relations.
He has repeatedly emphasized that the United States should recognize the achievements made in China's modernization process.
This attitude seems to some people to be too "accessing the WTO", but "accessing the WTO" is not a responsibility that a scholar should bear.
Although Fu Gaoyi passed away, it is certain that people will not forget the record of this "Mr. China".
This is not only because Fu Gaoyi's book "speaks good things about China", but also because his book reflects China's modernization process.
For the history that is on the move, Fu Gaoyi embodies the honesty of a scholar.
□ Xu Lifan (media person)