Chapter 822 821 [National Evolution Theory]

Since the late Qing Dynasty, there have been various debates in the Chinese cultural circles, and literati who have never fought with pens are embarrassed to go out.

For example, after the defeat of the Opium War, the Westernization faction who advocated "learn from barbarians to improve their skills" and the conservative faction who advocated "loyalty, filial piety, propriety and righteousness" had a heated debate on the issue of introducing Western learning. These debates first took place in court, and as newspapers gradually spread to the people, folk literati also followed suit.

Until 1898, Zhang Zhidong published "Encouraging Learning", which eased the contradiction between the two factions with the viewpoint of "Chinese body and western application", which was unanimously recognized by the ruling and opposition parties, and learning advanced western science became the consensus of the people.

However, during the period of the New Culture Movement, Kang Youwei and Gu Hongming, who once represented advanced intellectuals, had become obsolete and outdated in their ideas and views, and were attacked by the new school of literati represented by Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi.

During this protracted new cultural debate, the creation of vernacular Chinese became popular, punctuation marks and Mandarin became the standard, and democracy and science came to the hearts of the general public.

These were two ideological debates that had a profound impact on modern China. The former debate opened China's eyes to the world, and the latter debate accelerated the spread of Chinese science and culture.

Perhaps because of overcorrection, some people called for facing up to traditional culture, so another new debate began. The "reconciliation theorists" (reconcile Chinese and Western cultures) and the "replacement theorists" (all Westernizations) were at odds with each other, and the subsequent "science and metaphysics debates" and "reorganization of national heritage" that emerged were largely continuations of this debate.

From this debate, we can see the context of the development of modern Chinese thought: Stubborn Conservation—Learning from the barbarians to learn skills—Chinese style and Western application—All Westernization—Chinese and Western coordination...

This is the road of self-evolution of the Chinese nation.

The intellectuals of that era all had a mental cognition of "scholar". Even if he is wearing unlined clothes and eating steamed buns, he still has the world in his heart. He often points out the country, interferes in politics, and criticizes the current situation, playing an important role in modern history.

Probably after the establishment of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, the voice of intellectuals was not as good as before, and the status of "scholar" also went into twilight.

The debates in the last ten years have become much more fragmented, mainly divided into two types, namely: the controversy of literary ideas and the controversy of political ideas.

What is the debate between the Beijing faction and the Shanghai faction, what is the Luliang debate, and the New Moon faction bombarded the Creation Society, the left-wing literati angrily attacked the imperial literati, and the third type of people singled out the left and right literary circles... Some of these seem to be personal conflicts, but in fact they are all It is the divergence of literary thought and political idea.

Everyone was looking for a way to save the country, but they had different ideas, so they quarreled.

Japan's aggression against China made the originally fragmented Chinese ideological and cultural circles gradually move towards unity, and intellectuals began to reach a consensus. That is: Let go of contradictions and fight against Japan in unison!

The establishment of the anti-Japanese united front of the Chinese nation was first realized in the ideological and cultural circles.

Don't think that this stuff is useless, it's just a bunch of literati messing around. Thoughts command actions, and if we want to act in unison, we must first unify our thoughts. If thoughts are unified, even if some people do not want to act in unison, they must follow the trend of public opinion.

For example, Lao Jiang was forced to unite with the Communist Party to fight against Japan, because the entire ideological and cultural circles demanded this.

As early as the spring of 1936, the most aggressive Left League took the lead in abandoning the original class struggle. The "Leftist League", which the Nanjing government has repeatedly banned, automatically announced its dissolution, and put forward the slogan of creating "National Defense Literature" and "Popular Literature of the National Revolutionary War".

Subsequently, Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Bing Xin and others jointly signed and published the "Declaration of Colleagues in the Literary and Art Circles to Unite and Resist Insults and Freedom of Speech", advocating that the national literary circles should unite to resist Japan and save the country, regardless of old and new factions.

It has been more than half a month since the July 7th Incident broke out, and all kinds of national salvation groups have emerged in the cultural circles across the country.

In Shanghai alone, there are more than 70 groups and organizations such as the Shanghai National Salvation Drama Troupe, the National Salvation Singing Association, the Art World Salvation Propaganda Group, the Student Wartime Service Group, the Amusement Industry Salvation Association, the Wartime Photography Service Group, and the Shanghai Comic Salvation Congress. .

Almost subconsciously, after hearing the news of the July 7th Incident, people spontaneously united with like-minded people around them to carry out national salvation activities in their respective fields of expertise. Regardless of class or stratum, regardless of school of thought, all intellectuals and literary figures are united under the banner of patriotism.

Zhou Hexuan not only saw the national crisis, but also saw the unyielding spirit of a nation.

The Anti-Japanese War was like a big melting pot, throwing all kinds of strange ideas and forces into it, and finally refining an immortal artifact called "the soul of the nation".

As Lenin said: "War has reborn the nation and awakened the masses of the people."

The "Shanghai National Salvation Association of Literary and Art Circles" that Zhou Hexuan came to participate in today is composed of more than 70 national salvation groups in the cultural and art circles of Shanghai. It will bring together the power of the entire Shanghai literary and art circles, including film, drama, comics, music, literature, sculpture and other fields.

Finally, there is no need to cover up and sneak around this inaugural meeting, because it has the unanimous support of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and intellectuals from both the left and the right are present. Moreover, most of the operating funds of the Shanghai National Salvation Association of Literary and Art Circles are provided by the National Party.

The framework of the entire association has been determined in advance and is divided into four departments: general affairs, economics, organization and publicity.

The National Party is in charge of the General Affairs Department and the Economic Department of the association, that is, in charge of the overall situation and providing funds. The Communist Party is in charge of the Organization Department and the Propaganda Department, that is, responsible for organizational planning and propaganda.

The second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party has not yet begun in terms of military politics, but it has already been realized culturally, and each has found its right position. Both sides are extremely satisfied with this.

Don't think that the Shanghai National Salvation Association of Cultural Circles is just doing creations, performances, and standing up and shouting. It actually has the function of saving the nation. For example, the organization department in charge of the Communist Party has a training team, an ambulance team, a lane team, a construction team, and so on.

The training team is responsible for training people with common sense in wartime, such as how civilians should respond to Japanese soldiers, such as how to avoid artillery bombardment in advance. The ambulance team is responsible for collecting medical supplies and property, and setting up an ambulance team to rush to the front line to treat wounded soldiers and civilians. The Lane Group is responsible for organizing residents to carry out national salvation activities, such as establishing street mutual aid associations, organizing residents to sew clothes for soldiers, and so on. The Public Works Group is responsible for providing relief to unemployed workers during the war, helping unemployed workers find employment, and so on.

As soon as Zhou Hexuan and Xu Zhimo entered the venue, they attracted everyone's attention.

"Crack clap clap!"

There was a burst of thunderous applause, and everyone applauded spontaneously, which was to pay respect to Zhou Hexuan.

Xu Zhimo took the initiative to stand away, because this moment belonged to Zhou Hexuan.

Zhou Hexuan predicted at the poetry meeting that an incident would break out in Peking within a week, and the news had spread throughout the cultural circles of Shanghai. In addition, the articles he published about Japan's imminent full-scale invasion of China, which he has sponsored the "Non-Gong" magazine for many years, are extremely accurate when re-reading. And a few months ago, he was assassinated by Japanese secret agents for promoting anti-Japanese ideas along the way. These are enough to win everyone's respect.

Cai Yuanpei, Mrs. Sun and five others came over.

Mrs. Sun shook hands with a smile and said, "Mr. Zhou, I've been waiting for a long time!"

"Hello Madam Sun!" Zhou Hexuan greeted.

Cai Yuanpei shook hands with Zhou Hexuan enthusiastically, and said, "Mingcheng, you are finally here! Let me introduce you, these five are Mr. Pan Gongzhan, Mr. Wu Han, Mr. Zhou Hanmei, Mr. Qian Junrui and Mr. Zhang Zhirang."

Pan Gongzhan, Wu Han, and Zhou Hanmei are members of the Kuomintang, serving as the chairman of the association, the minister of general affairs, and the minister of economics. Qian Junrui and Zhang Zhirang are members of the Communist Party and pro-Communists, serving as the organization director and propaganda director of the association respectively. For example, Zhang Zhirang, the Propaganda Director of the Association, is the elder brother of Zhang Tailei, the veteran of the Communist Party, and served as the defense lawyer for the "Seven Gentlemen".

By the way, Pan Gongzhan, the chairman of the association, is also the deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department of the National Party, which shows that the National Party attaches great importance to this association.

After everyone shook hands for a moment, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Hu Yuzhi, Ouyang Yuqian, Zhou Jianyun, Shen Zijiu and others also came to say hello to Zhou Hexuan.

After a while, Hu Shi also came, standing in the corner chatting with Xu Zhimo.

Hu Shi's current thinking is very contradictory. On the one hand, he is thinking about peaceful negotiations, and on the other hand, he is busy saving the country and trying to survive. Or in his view, the two are unified, and only peaceful negotiations can save China, while war can only bring China to an end.