Hu Shi was an academic confidant, obsessed with the study of red studies, and compiled the contents as historical materials. Why was he called a liar in his later years?

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is one of China's four great masterpieces. It is the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels and has a high influence around the world. "A Dream of Red Mansions" takes the rise and fall of the four major families of Jia, Wang, Shi and Xue as the background, and the love tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu as the main story line, depicting various aspects of life that are both real and illusory.

Both the basic necessities, food, housing, transportation, and poems and songs in the book are of extremely high historical research value. Coupled with the author Cao Xueqin’s unique writing style of “hiding the real things and telling lies in the village”, the Dream of Red Mansions has become the “Dream of Red Mansions”. Encyclopedia of Chinese Feudal Society".

Therefore, since the last century, the Chinese literary circle has produced the study of "A Dream of Red Mansions" - Redology. A large number of outstanding red scholars also emerged, the most famous of which was Zhou Ruchang. However, there is no lack of criticism in the literary circles for such a leading figure in Red Studies. Some people even say: Ignore Zhou Ruchang, he is just a liar!

"Iron No. 1" with extremely strong language skills

The study of red studies is carried out around "Dream of Red Mansions". Researchers have profound cultural and historical backgrounds and have extremely high requirements for expression and writing skills.

Although "A Dream of Red Mansions" is a fictional novel, the historical culture and famous poems in it have extremely high artistic value, so the red scholars who can be named must be people with extremely high literary attainments. . Zhou Ruchang is such a person.

Since elementary school, Zhou Ruchang has shown amazing learning ability and ranked first in every exam. This is where the nickname "Iron No. 1" comes from. When he was a student, he was what his parents called "other people's children." His grades were always among the best, and he was eventually admitted to Yenching University, the predecessor of today's Peking University, with excellent results.

In addition to his excellent academic performance, Zhou Ruchang is also extremely talented in language. When he was in middle school, the original English books were no obstacle in his eyes, and his exploration of poetry and songs began to take shape. Articles were readily available, and they were published in newspapers when he was in junior high school.

He has an innate literati temperament. He always shows great interest in anything related to literature and writing. When listening to a piece of music, you should also chew the lyrics carefully, read a book, boil oil and light a lamp until dawn, chew slowly and savor every word in the book.

These studies and studies made Zhou Ruchang deeply loved by many famous people at the time after he entered university. Qian Zhongshu once commented that he was a genius. He could enter and leave Zhang Boju's home at will without even saying hello. Zhang Boju even Give him a farewell banquet at home.

Even Hu Shi expressed his appreciation and support for him. In the book "Mr. Hu Shi and Me" published by Zhou Ruchang in his later years, he not only reflected the profound friendship between the two, but also praised Mr. Hu Shi's great contribution to Red Studies.

Inspiration from childhood and help from Hu Shi

As for the connection between Zhou Ruchang and Hongxue, there are two key figures, one is his mother and the other is Hu Shi.

When Zhou Ruchang was young, his mother often read "Dream of Red Mansions" to him. As an enlightenment reading book for language, "Dream of Red Mansions" left a deep memory for Zhou Ruchang. Zhou Ruchang also read the ancient book "Stone" in his mother's hands. remember".

My childhood experience can be regarded as the enlightenment of Hongxue. The person who really made Zhou Ruchang enter the Red School was Hu Shi.

When Zhou Ruchang was still studying at Yenching University, his friend asked Zhou Ruchang to search for information for him in the school library after seeing a textual research article about Cao Xueqin by Hu Shi.

After Zhou Ruchang found the information, he wrote an article about this discovery and published it in a newspaper. After Hu Shi saw it, he immediately got in touch with Zhou Ruchang. From then on, the two began to exchange letters frequently and discuss red studies.

Under the influence of Hu Shi, Zhou Ruchang had a deeper understanding of Hongxue, which became his lifelong passion. The letters between Zhou Ruchang and Hu Shi about Red Studies were praised as letters that promoted the development of Red Studies. Zhou Ruchang said that he was extremely lucky to meet an academic confidant like Hu Shi.

After deciding to focus on the study of red studies, Zhou Ruchang's "New Evidence of the Dream of Red Mansions" is the most famous.

If Mr. Hu Shi set the precedent for the study of Red Mansions, then Zhou Ruchang's "New Evidence of the Dream of Red Mansions" is the essential content of the study of Red Mansions.

Since then, Redology has had a research model, and red scholars at home and abroad cannot deny that "New Evidence of the Dream of Red Mansions" is one of the most important and epoch-making works in the history of Red Mansions research.

As Zhou Ruchang's research on red science deepened, Zhou Ruchang's fame also grew. Not only in the Chinese literary world, but also in the world literature, Zhou Ruchang occupies an important position.

He has been invited to give lectures at many universities in the United States to promote the culture of red culture. According to students who have attended his lectures, all seats given by Mr. Zhou are always packed. Not only are our overseas Chinese students interested, but many foreigners also come here to listen to his lectures. The influence of Zhou Ruchang is evident.

He still persists in academic research at the age of ninety

When Zhou Ruchang was young, his feelings for Hongxue could be said to be love, while in his old age, Zhou Ruchang's feelings for Hongxue could be said to be obsession. Zhou Ruchang's hearing has never been very good. As he gets older, he can only wear hearing aids so that he can hear others speaking loudly in his ears. Not only that, Zhou Ruchang's vision is getting worse and worse due to excessive use of his eyes.

Already nearly blind in 1975. Even in extremely poor physical condition, Zhou Ruchang still did not give up his research on red science. At first, she couldn't see clearly, so she used a magnifying glass to write. The daughter recalled that by then, each word her father wrote was as big as a walnut.

Later, after I became completely blind, I relied on dictation and let my two daughters be responsible for recording. Through this primitive method, Zhou Ruchang can still write two to three thousand words of articles every day.

The research on red science is the force that supports Zhou Ruchang in his fight against disease. When Zhou Ruchang was ninety years old, he would not refuse anyone who invited him to give lectures on red studies. What Zhou Ruchang hopes to see is that more people can learn about Hongxue and enter Cao Xueqin's spiritual world.

Confusing the real with the fake leads to controversy

Zhou Ruchang’s research on red studies is not superficial, but truly goes into "A Dream of Red Mansions". He called Cao Xueqin "Brother Qin" as if he was an old friend, and "A Dream of Red Mansions" was a generous gift given to him by his friend, which is worth savoring in his lifetime. How well does Zhou Ruchang know Cao Xueqin?

He once added a fragment of a poem by Cao Xueqin, which was considered to be Cao Xueqin's original work by Wu Shichang, who is also a red scholar, and this caused quite a joke. We can also see from this incident that Zhou Ruchang has integrated "A Dream of Red Mansions" with himself. But everyone has their own ideas, and what you think is good may not be recognized by everyone.

Some people have raised doubts about some of Zhou Ruchang’s articles in his later years, believing that he used the content he compiled as historical materials and confused the truth with the truth, which is really a shame for the red academic community. Yu Pingbo even said: "Ignore this kind of people!"

In any case, the study of red studies is based on "A Dream of Red Mansions", expanded, verified, and drawn to conclusions. Different people are bound to have different opinions. Perhaps only the humble Cao Xueqin can make a judgment on what is right or wrong.

Zhou Ruchang has studied red studies all his life and loves Xiangyun the most because of her heroism, magnanimity and tolerance. Maybe Zhou Ruchang saw the spirit of his admiration in Xiangyun!