The"Beijing Ancient Academy"and Chinese Classics Studies by the Old Scholars in the Republic of China
The existing narrative of modern academic history was nearly dominated by the School of New Culture and the Movement for Rearranging the National Heritage.However,the School of New Culture was not the only one in the group of modern Chinese classics studies,and the old generation of scholars had been occupying an important position in the academic field of the Republic of China for quite a long time.On July 29,1937,when Beiping was occupied by the Japanese invaders,Jiang Chaozong,Li Jingming,Qian Tong gathered up some old scholars of the former Qing dynasty and frustrated politicians living in Beiping to establish the"Beijing Ancient Academy".After many setbacks,Beijing Ancient Academy was formally established on November 1,1938,Jiang Chaozong served as president of the academy,Zhang Yanqing as vice president,and Wu Tingxie,Yang Zhongxi,Qu Xuanying,Zhou Zhaoxiang,Huang Binhong and others as the members of the council.Beijing Ancient Academy declared that with the purpose of"preserving the traditional culture",the Group of Confucian Classics,the Group of History,the Group of Various Schools of Thought in pre-Qin,the Group of Literature,the Group of Inscriptions on Ancient Bronzes and Stone Tablets,the Group of Catalogue Collation,and the Group of Art were set up to conduct academic research.At the same time,Beijing Ancient Academy compiled the Journal of Classical Learning,organized examinations,and set up lecture places.Based on the overall landscape of modern Chinese classics studies,this paper fully incorporates the research findings of the old generation of scholars in the Republic of China.Taking the newly published Li Jingming Archives in the Collection of the Institute of Modern History as a clue,and combining relevant collected works,newspapers,archives,memories,biographies and other documents,this paper focuses on the origin of the establishment of Beijing Ancient Academy,the discussion on grouping and discipline division,the disputes on the compilation of the Zizhi Tongjian of the Qing Dynasty and the eventual reorganization into the Academy of Chinese Classics Studies.Therefore,it can be seen that due to the embarrassing political identities of the old scholars and the divergences of their respective academic positions,the group was destined to be in a dilemma in the practice of their studies on Chinese classics,and there were many constraints causing the difficulty in implementing their academic concepts in the mid-and late-Republic of China.Beijing Ancient Academy and Academy of Chinese Classics Studies advocated the rescue and revitalization of Chinese classics studies,which seemingly presented a false picture of peace and prosperity in the Japanese-occupied areas.Through a systematic and in-depth study of the operation and academic tastes of Beijing Ancient Academy,this paper explores the academic practices and survival efforts of the old generation of scholars in Beijing Ancient Academy and contributes to demonstrating the complexities of Chinese classics studies in the 1930s and 1940s,revealing the diversified paths of modern academic evolutions,and providing insights for the exploration of the effective ways of traditional academic transformation.
the Beijing Ancient Academyold scholarsChinese classics studiesLi Jingming
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