English Writings of Hu Shih: Literature and Society (Volume 1)

197 Pages·2013·1.14 MB·English

by  Hu Shih (auth.)

China Academic Library
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/11562
Academic Advisory Board:
Researcher Geng, Yunzhi, Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences, China
Professor Han, Zhen, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China
Researcher Hao, Shiyuan, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China
Professor Li, Xueqin, Department of History, Tsinghua University, China
Professor Li, Yining, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, China
Researcher Lu, Xueyi, Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
China
Professor Tang, Yijie, Department of Philosophy, Peking University, China
Professor Wong, Young-tsu, Department of History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, USA
Professor Yu, Keping, Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, China
Professor Yue, Daiyun, Department of Chinese Language and Literature,
Peking University, China
Zhu, Yinghuang, China Daily Press, China
Chih-P’ing Chou Editor
Hu Shih
English Writings of Hu Shih
Literature and Society (Volume 1)
Editor Author
Chih-P’ing Chou H u Shih
East Asian Studies Department
Princeton University
08542 Princeton, New Jersey
USA
ISSN 2195-1853 ISSN 2195-1861 (electronic)
ISBN 978-3-642-31183-3 ISBN 978-3-642-31184-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31184-0
Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
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Acknowledgments
Hu Shih’s English writings, except his doctoral thesis T he Development of the
Logical Method in Ancient China 1 and The Chinese Renaissance 2 (adopted from his
Haskell Lectures at Chicago University in 1933), were rarely published in a book
format. The rest of his essays, speeches and articles were all scattered in various
journals, magazines, and newspapers. The wide time span and geographic distance
from the original publications have made the task of collecting Hu’s English writings
extremely dif fi cult.
In his later years, Hu had planned to organize his scattered English writings and
edit some of them for publishing. The fi rst person who proposed this idea was Yang
Liansheng, a professor at Harvard University at the time. Yang fi rst brought up this
idea in a letter to Hu on February 11, 1961. In the letter Yang wrote:
I’ve now obtained an offprint copy of your speech at Harvard on immortality in Chinese
intellectual history. Initially I wanted to post it to you, but since you are coming soon, I may
well present it to you in person when we meet. I am also thinking about your article on
religious history—the one for the 300th anniversary of Harvard University—and the one
about Zen (maybe there are others that I don’t remember, only your English articles). If you
agree, it might be good to put these articles together and publish a collection, so it would be
easier for students to read. For this purpose, an approval from Harvard University might be
necessary. Maybe I should just ask President Pusey. The second question is where to publish
this book. If you don’t have a speci fi c preference, I can discuss with the press to which I’ve
recently agreed to be an editorial advisor. To be honest, English language materials about
Chinese religion and thought are too scarce, so this book will de fi nitely be very popular
among students. 3
1 Hu Shih (Shih Hu), T he Development of the Logical Method in Ancient China (Shanghai: The
Oriental Book Company, 1928).
2 Hu Shih, The Chinese Renaissance (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1934).
3 Hu Shih Memorial Hall edited, L un xue tan shi er shi nian: Hu Shih Yang Liansheng wang lai shu
zha (correspondence between Hu Shih and Yang Liansheng), Taipei Linking, 1998: 390.
v
vi Acknowledgments
Hu Shih was hospitalized for a serious illness at that time, so he asked Lao
Gan to reply to Yang’s letter regarding the publication of his English writings.
The letter said:
Mr. Hu is interested in the idea of publishing a collection of his articles. The articles you
selected were all fi n e. Furthermore, there are a few other pieces on religion, culture and
thought that might well be included in such a collection. These articles need copyright
clearance, but Dr. Hu is ill and could not go over them one by one. In any case, these articles
are all in journals and magazines, so it should be easy to fi nd. Please arrange for publishers
at your discretion. Dr. Hu would only be most appreciative of your help. 4
Yang replied to this letter on April 21 to report on the compilation progress:
I’ve discussed with Karl Hill, editor from Beacon Press, about your book. I showed him
your “Immorality” and the article on Zen history in P hilosophy East and West , and I told
him that we should also include “Indianization” and the one on Zen published in the J ournal
of North China Branch of Royal Artistic Society . The editor suggested enlarging the content
to 300 pages or even slightly more. They want to publish a hardcover copy. If we can deliver
the manuscript in January then it could be published in 1962. I wonder how you feel about
this arrangement. The publisher also would like you to write an introduction for the book.
Whether it is long or short will be up to you. I believe this is a reasonable request.
I think your “Natural Law in the Chinese Tradition” article should be included and I
have yet to see “Authority and Freedom in the Ancient Asiatic World.” If we wish to enlarge
the book content by adding some articles on law, there is this speech about Wang Huizu and
some others on Song Dynasty scholars and law. Would it be possible for you to edit these
speeches as well? Please also instruct on how many papers should be included and I shall
discuss with Hill again.
We also need permission from Harvard University for publication. If you are too busy
to tend to these matters, you could authorize me to write them a letter on your behalf. 5
On July 29 Yang wrote to Hu Shih again on this matter:
Beacon Press is very enthusiastic about publishing your book, they’ve asked twice about
our progress. I told them that your health condition does not allow you to engage in writing at
present. My suggestion is that we do not limit our selection to journal and magazine articles.
We can also include chapters in your other books (for example the “Chinese Renaissance”
speech at Chicago). What do you think? I truly hope that you could write me a letter in
English to authorize to solicit copyrights for your articles. You may wait until the whole list
of content is completed to write an introduction. 6
On October 12, Yang wrote yet another letter to Hu Shih to inform him of
the publishing progress, indicating that the publisher had been secured and the
copyright with Harvard University had been settled as well. The publishing contract
would be signed immediately once the manuscripts are ready, but according to
available evidence, Hu Shih never answered Yang’s letters himself. After Hu’s
sudden death from a heart attack on February 24, 1962, the publication of Hu
Shih’s English writings was suspended.
4 I bid ., 393.
5 I bid ., 394.
6 I bid. , 395.
Acknowledgments vii
Yang was one of the persons appointed by Hu Shih to collect and publish his
English works. On October 20, 1986, a letter was sent to Wu Daqiu, president of
“Academia Sinica” in Taiwan at the time, stating that the Hu Shih Memorial Hall
intended to invite Yang to edit the collection of Hu’s lectures at the University of
California on Chinese intellectual history. However, Yang replied with signi fi cant
apprehension:
The English manuscript sent to me earlier by Mr. Wang Zhiwei might be an un fi nished
manuscript on Chinese intellectual history and it is different from Hu’s lecture notes. This
un fi nished manuscript still requires a lot of amendments, notes and updates. But ten years
ago when I just recovered from a serious illness, and I had no energy to fi nish it, so I asked
Professor Yu Ying-Shih to handle it. But given the current academic conditions, it takes a lot
of discretion to fi nd a way to get the best out of Hu’s works. I am afraid it probably will even
compromise Dr. Hu’s academic reputation if we take an easy option here and just publish
this manuscript as it is. This matter must be handled prudently. 7
So, until as late as 1986, there was still no one to fi nish collecting and editing
Hu Shih’s English writings.
Before Yang, the fi rst person who had a vision to collect Hu Shih’s English
writings was an American, Mr. Eugene Livingston Delafi eld. He died in Florida on
April 6, 2001, at the age of 96. Dela fi eld initially met Hu Shih in the 1940s when
they were living in the same apartment complex, located at 104 E, 81 Street in New
York City. Dela fi eld worked as a rare books dealer then, and he often purchased
books for Hu. The two men struck up a friendship throughout the years based upon
mutual respect. Their close relationship lasted until 1958 when Hu returned to
Taiwan. Occasionally, Hu would also ask Dela fi eld to help him gather some
research materials. On October 1, 1950, Hu gave an article to Dela fi eld as a gift.
On the cover he wrote: “To Eugene Delafi eld, who has been very helpful to me in
obtaining the materials I needed in writing this essay. Hu Shih, Oct. 1950.”
Gradually, Dela fi eld was extremely impressed by Hu’s integrity and erudition and
arrived at the intention to compile a collection of Hu’s English writings. This idea
got Hu’s approval. Then, starting from the 1940s, Dela fi eld started collecting Hu’s
articles published in various English language books, journals and newspapers.
According to Dela fi eld’s account, Hu would often give him copies of speeches that
he presented at conferences and other occasions. After decades of continuous
effort, Dela fi eld gathered a signi fi cant amount of Hu Shih’s speeches and a few
manuscripts. In order to further understand Hu Shih’s thought, Dela fi eld expanded
his own knowledge by purchasing and reading a large number of English books
related to Hu Shih’s work.
In 1957, Dela fi eld and the famous late Chinese librarian Yuan Tongli co-edited a
“Selected Bibliography of Dr. Hu Shih’s Writings in Western Languages,” which
was published in the 28th volume of the B ulletin of the Institute of Phonology and
History, “Academia Sinica. ” This bibliography was an indispensable reference for
compiling Hu Shih’s English writings.
7 The original letter is kept in Hu Shih Memorial Hall, Taiwan.
viii Acknowledgments
In 1993, while compiling the Collection of Hu Shih’s English writings, I had
contacted Dela fi eld by telephone. On September 20, 1996, I met him for the fi rst
time at my of fi ce in Princeton University. I gave him a set of the three-volume
Collection of Hu Shih’s English Writings (Taipei Yuan-Liou, 1995) that I edited as
a gift. On May 27, 1998, he wrote me a registered letter in which he kindly expressed
his desire for me to take care of his collection of Hu Shih’s works. Part of the
speeches included in A Collection of Hu Shih’s Unpublished English Essays and
Speeches (Taipei Linking, 2001) were provided by Mr. Dela fi eld.
During the Christmas holiday season of 1998, I went to Florida to visit Mr. and
Mrs. Delafi eld and to express my profound gratitude for their generosity. I spent one
afternoon in their apartment carefully listening to his recollections of how he met Hu
Shih, the erudite and hardworking scholar who also possessed a great sense of humor.
I was deeply moved by the extreme effort, sincerity, and painstaking work he had put
into collecting Hu Shih’s writings, all of which were evident as he showed me each
of Hu’s original, autographed manuscripts. Hu Shih’s pictures had also been neatly
arranged next to the three-volume Collection of Hu Shih’s English Writings that I
had presented to him. Dela fi eld devoted so much to collecting Hu Shih’s English
works; all those who have studied Hu Shih’s thought should salute his efforts.
Hu Shih’s English articles were scattered in various university journals and
magazines. The fi rst published collection of his works was the photo-engraved
copy of A Collection of Hu Shih’s English Writings (three volumes and 1,589 pages
altogether) edited by me and published by Taipei Yuan-Liou in 1995. This edition
has been out of print for years and copies are very dif fi cult to fi nd now. Articles
included in this collection were photocopies of journal and magazine pages;
some were already blurry and illegible. In 2001, Taipei Linking Press published
A Collection of Hu Shih’s Unpublished English Essays and Speeches , which was
677 pages long compiled by me. At that point, the collection and compilation of
Hu Shih’s English writings had essentially reached completion. When Anhui
Education Press published Complete Works of Hu Shih , they also relied on these
two titles as English resources.
In memory of the 120th anniversary of Hu Shih’s birth in 2012, Mr. Wu Hao
from the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in Beijing proposed to
select and re-edit the best of Hu Shih’s English articles and to publish them under
three themes: “Chinese Literature and Society,” “Chinese Philosophy and Intellectual
History,” and “National Crisis and Public Diplomacy.” This three-volume collection
differs from the previous editions in that it aims to represent the gist of Hu Shih’s
academic thoughts rather than providing a comprehensive collection. Hence, only
the most important and most representative pieces of Hu Shih’s are included in this
collection.
It should be noted that traces of historical backgrounds and social contexts at the
time of composition could be found in details of the works, such as dynasty appel-
lations, national relationship descriptions and the use of Wade-Giles Romanization.
These are kept intact to present the original style of his work. Because the collected
articles were written and published at different times, they may not be completely
consistent with each other in format and style (or even spelling of certain words).
Acknowledgments ix
2012 is also the 50th anniversary of the death of Hu Shih. I hope that the
publication of this three-volume collection of Hu Shih’s English writings will, to a
certain extent, contribute to enhancing and popularizing the research of Hu Shih’s
scholarship and his thought. This short article is to commemorate the formation
of this collection.
Princeton University Chih-P’ing Chou
17 January 2012