|
|
|
| An Explanation of the Relationship between the Late Qing Dynasty and “the Argument of Abolishing Classical Chinese” during the May Fourth Period |
| Zhang Weizhong |
| (School of Chinese Language and Literature， Jiangsu Normal University， Xuzhou 221116) |
|
|
|
|
Abstract The principle of prioritizing efficiency in modern society makes it impossible to use two written languages at the same time. The movement of vernacular Chinese should essentially be a life-and-death struggle between the classical Chinese and the vernacular Chinese. Therefore， the abolition of classical Chinese is the fundamental issue that this movement needs to address. Restricted by the era and environment， although intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty proposed the slogan of “abolishing classical Chinese and celebrating vernacular Chinese”， they only expanded the influence of vernacular Chinese and did not pry the foundation of classical Chinese. During the May Fourth Movement， Hu Shi started from the place where intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty stopped——the language issues in poetry. His contribution to the May Fourth vernacular movement was not only his proposal of abolishing classical Chinese， but more importantly， his successful reversal of people's understanding of classical Chinese and vernacular by showing that even in poetry， vernacular could outvalue classical Chinese， which provided a solid logical basis for the abolition of classical Chinese. In fact， the purpose of the May Fourth vernacular movement was not to recognize vernacular as the authentic language， but to abandon classical Chinese as a whole. Although there are rich studies on the vernacular movement， it is difficult to understand the internal logic of the movement without discussing the purpose of “abolishing classical Chinese”.
|
|
Received: 08 December 2023
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2023, Vol. 62 
