Peking University professor with long pigtails: Gu Hongming

■He is a mixed-race boy with long braids

■He was called "China's first language genius" by Sun Yat-sen and Lin Yutang

■He is very fond of Chinese Confucian culture is "loyal"

■He is proficient in 9 languages, but opposed to Western culture

Wearing a worn-out mandarin jacket and a small melon-skin hat, his long braid is held down , and Gu Hongming, a great eccentric who is famous for his bizarre stories about foot-binding and concubinage. He claims to be a "people from the east, west, north and south" who were "born in Nanyang, studied in the West, married in the East, and served in the Beiyang."

He is knowledgeable in both Chinese and Western languages, and is proficient in 9 languages ??including English, French, German, Latin, and Greek. With his impeccable tongue, he lectured on Confucius to Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi. Study; corresponded with literary master Leo Tolstoy, discussing world culture and political situation; was called "the most noble Chinese" by India's Mahatma Gandhi, and was called "China's first language" by Sun Yat-sen and Lin Yutang genius".

No wonder there was a saying among Westerners at the beginning of the 20th century: "You can't go to China without seeing the Three Great Halls, but you can't miss Gu Hongming."

The ticket price for his lectures is higher than that of Mei Lan Fang's theater tickets are still high

On July 18, 1857 (some say 1856), Gu Hongming was born in Penang Island in the northwest of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. The Gu family belonged to immigrants from Fujian and had become the most prominent local overseas Chinese family by the time Gu Hongming was born.

Gu Hongming’s father, Gu Ziyun, was once the general manager of a rubber plantation run by the British and could speak English and Malay; his mother was a blond and blue-eyed Westerner who could speak English and Portuguese. Growing up in this kind of family environment, Gu Hongming had an amazing understanding and memory of language since he was a child. It is said that when he was over 60 years old, he could still recite the long blank poem "Paradise Lost" with more than 6,100 lines, and he was good at every word.

As his father Gu Ziyun had a good relationship with the British man Brown, as soon as Gu Hongming was born, Brown recognized him as his adopted son and named him Tang Sheng. Since childhood, Brown has trained him to read the works of Shakespeare, Bacon and others.

But later Gu Hongming advocated Confucianism and opposed new culture; he supported the monarchy, opposed democracy and peace, and advocated polygamy. Therefore, people regarded him as an "old stubborn" at that time, and Zhou Zuoren said that he was "the most eccentric person" in Peking University.

However, before the May Fourth Movement, Gu Hongming was the only scholar who had the weight to actively promote Chinese culture to the West. He once translated the Confucian classics "The Analects", "Mencius", "The Doctrine of the Mean", etc. into English and German. It was published abroad and had a huge impact.

Gu Hongming is not only famous in China, but also more famous in the Western world, even to the point of being deified. For a time, Gu Hongming almost became synonymous with Chinese culture.

Once, Gu Hongming gave a lecture on "Spring and Autumn Days" in English at the Liuguo Hotel in Dongjiaomin Lane, Beijing. Chinese people never sell tickets for their speeches, but Gu Hongming did, and they were very expensive. At that time, the highest ticket price for Mei Lanfang's plays was only 1 yuan and 20 cents, while his tickets were sold for 2 yuan, which shows how magnificent he was.

After studying in the UK and becoming a well-known scholar, he decided to learn Chinese and return to his motherland

In 1840, British gunboats opened the door to China, and China suffered humiliation ever since.

Mr. Brown, Gu Hongming's adoptive father, said to him: "Do you know that your motherland has been put on the chopping block, and the vicious invaders are wielding butcher knives and preparing to eat it in pieces. I hope you Learn both China and the West, take up the responsibility of enriching and governing the country, and civilize Europe and America."

When the Browns returned to England in 1867, they brought the ten-year-old Gu Hongming to the most powerful Western empire at the time. Before leaving, his father burned incense in front of his ancestors' memorial tablets and warned him: "No matter where you go, whether you are surrounded by British, German or French people, don't forget that you are Chinese."

When he arrived in the UK, under the guidance of Brown, Gu Hongming started with the most classic Western literary masterpieces and quickly mastered English, German, French, Latin and Greek by rote memorization, with excellent results. He was admitted to the famous University of Edinburgh and appreciated by the president and famous writer Carlyle.

After more than ten years of studying abroad, the talented Gu Hongming became a young scholar proficient in Western culture. In 1879, after completing his studies, Gu Hongming met by chance Ma Jianzhong, a Ph.D. who had returned to China on Li Hongzhang's orders. After a long conversation for three days, Gu Hongming decided to wear a long mandarin jacket, eat Chinese food, learn Chinese, immerse himself in the study of Chinese culture, and return to China. motherland.

In 1885, Gu Hongming was hired by Zhang Zhidong as an interpreter for the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi, and later served in Zhang Zhidong's shogunate for twenty years. Because he was often bored, he entertained himself by translating the "Four Books" into English. The translated "Analects of Confucius" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" became famous in the intellectual circles at home and abroad.

In his later years, Gu Hongming had a wife and a concubine. The wife was a Han woman with bound feet, and the concubine was a Japanese woman.

He has made great contributions to the cultural exchange between the East and the West

Gu Hongming studied in the West since he was a child and received a systematic Western education. His lifestyle and way of thinking were completely Europeanized, but in the end he had no regard for Western civilization. Very repulsive and vigorously safeguarding China's feudal culture and ethics.

This Peking University professor with long pigtails publicly said to the students during his lecture at Peking University: "Why should we learn English poetry? That is because after you learn English well, you will behave like Chinese people. Principles, gentle and honest poetry, to educate those barbarian countries." From 1901 to 1905, Gu Hongming published 172 "Notes on China" in five times, repeatedly emphasizing. The value of Eastern civilization. In 1909, the English book "The Oxford Movement in China" was published, which had a huge impact in Europe, especially Germany. Some university philosophy departments listed it as a required reading reference book.

As a translator, Gu Hongming also made great contributions to the cultural exchange between East and West. His contributions mainly include two aspects: on the one hand, he translated Chinese classics "The Analects of Confucius" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" into English, introducing Chinese traditional culture to the Western world with great enthusiasm and creativity; on the other hand, he translated foreign poetry into English. Other works were translated into Chinese, mainly William Cobb's "The Riding Song of the Fool" and Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". He became a pioneer in translating Western poetry into China in modern China.

Luo Jialun, a student of Cai Yuanpei, said in "Remembering Mr. Gu Hongming": "When Mr. Gu taught us British poetry, he sometimes said to us, "I will teach you foreign elegance today." Sometimes He said, "Today I will teach you foreign elegance." Sometimes he said, "Today I will teach you foreign style." One day, he whimsically said, "Today I will teach you foreign style."

The Analects and Doctrine of the Mean translated by Gu Hongming have made a qualitative leap compared with previous translations of Confucian classics by Western missionaries and sinologists. It can be said to be a milestone in the history of Western translation of Confucian classics.

Gu Hongming, an overseas Chinese born in Malaysia, contributed to the birth of the world’s first Confucius Institute. Although some of his ideas are wrong, he has contributed a lot to the promotion of Chinese culture.