The Republic of China is an interesting and helpless era, just take these quarrelsome people in front of you, the confusion of ideas can be seen.

Wu Zhihui and Qian Xuantong actually belong to the "abolition of Chinese characters". They also know that the waste of Chinese characters cannot be achieved overnight, and they need to take their time, such as simplifying the characters first, and then transitioning to the Latin alphabet step by step.

This line of thinking is exactly the same as in the early days of New China, and our party is also preparing to simplify Chinese characters first, and finally make Chinese characters completely alphabetized.

After the meeting, Qian Xuantong took the initiative to find Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, are you interested in chatting about simplified characters together?" ”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "My foundation in Chinese studies is very bad, and I don't have much research in language and writing. ”

"No, no," Qian Xuantong waved his hand and said, "Mr. Taiyan has read your manuscript, and he said that it is full of simplified characters, and some of them are very excessive. From this point of view, you and I are fellow believers. ”

Qian Xuantong was also a student of Zhang Taiyan, and together with Lu Xun, he studied phonology, exegesis and "Shuowen Jie Zi" with Zhang Taiyan. Qian Xuantong used to be the editor of "New Youth", and actively promoted the vernacular literary movement, and it was precisely because he invited Lu Xun to write that the "Diary of a Madman" was born.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Mr. Sugu, we are not the same people. I would like Chinese characters to be moderately simplified, but I am firmly opposed to the abolition of Chinese characters, and our starting point is completely different. ”

"I don't want to abolish Chinese characters," Qian Xuantong said with emotion, "but with the development of the times, Chinese characters have gradually become outdated." Whether it is the expression and application of natural science or the dissemination of knowledge and information, Chinese characters are extremely inconvenient to use. The lettering of Chinese characters is a historical trend, and our generation is just a promoter, and I hope that future generations will benefit from it. ”

Zhou Hexuan was silent, he didn't want to argue anymore, because it was impossible to convince the other party.

Zhou Hexuan took the initiative to change the topic and asked: "I heard that Ling Gongzi is studying at Peking University?" ”

"You said the third child?" Qian Xuantong said with a smile, "He is studying in the preparatory department of Peking University, and he also takes undergraduate courses. The young man had a different idea, I wanted to train him to be a Chinese scholar, but he turned out to be more interested in physics. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "If you study physics well, the country needs science and engineering talents the most. ”

Qian Xuantong said: "I hope he can learn to be famous." ”

The "third child" discussed by the two is Mr. Qian Sanqiang, the father of the two bombs.

There are too many capable people in the "Qian family" of the Republic of China, Qian Xuantong, Qian Mu, Qian Weichang, Qian Zhongshu, Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Qian Zhonghan...... There are more than 10 academicians on both sides of the strait.

Zhou Hexuan and Qian Xuan chatted on the same road, and before they left Central University, Duan Xipeng, vice minister of education, caught up and shouted: "Mr. Zhou, please wait a moment!" ”

Zhou Hexuan turned around and asked, "What advice does Minister Duan have?" ”

Duan Xipeng said with a smile: "It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Education, I am now sending an invitation to Mr. Zhou in my capacity as the president of Central University, hoping that Mr. Zhou can serve as a visiting professor of history at Central University." ”

"I'm honored, but I'm afraid I don't have time to lecture here." Zhou Hexuan said.

"It doesn't matter," Duan Xipeng said, "as long as there is an opportunity, Mr. Zhou is always welcome to give lectures at Central University." The end of the semester is approaching, and Mr. Zhou happens to be in Nanjing, so why don't you talk about history to the students in the next few days. ”

Zhou Hexuan thought for a while and said, "No problem, it's up to Principal Duan to arrange the time." ”

"How about tomorrow afternoon?" Duan Xipeng asked.

"Yes." Zhou Hexuan said.

"That's great," Duan Xipeng said happily, "Central University is very short of scholars like Mr. Zhou who are proficient in Western history, and students have been looking forward to it for a long time." ”

The Central University of the Republic of China is the later Nanjing University, because of the strong support of the Ministry of Education, this school has an extremely strong faculty. Taking the history major as an example, Central University is not weaker than Tsinghua University and Peking University, and has invited many masters of Chinese studies to teach.

Unfortunately, in terms of world history, Chung-Ang University has not yet recruited top experts because of its short establishment time. It was not until Shen Gangbo and others joined that Central University made up for the shortcomings in the field of world history.

Duan Xipeng immediately invited Zhou Hexuan to visit the Department of History of Central University, and introduced Xu Ziming, Miao Fenglin and other history professors.

"Hello Mr. Zhou, I have admired my name for a long time!" Xu Ziming, head of the history department at Chung-Ang University and teaching Western history, was thrilled to meet Zhou Hexuan.

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "Hello Professor Xu. ”

Although Xu Ziming was well versed in Western history, like Gu Hongming, he advocated the preservation of the essence of the country and actively opposed the May Fourth Movement and the Vernacular Literature Movement. Back then, he had a very happy pen battle with Hu Shi, and also wrote an article "Hu Shi Cong Talk", denouncing Hu Shi's May Fourth Movement as a disaster that destroyed traditional culture.

A few people walked into a classroom with a smile, and the students inside heard that Zhou Hexuan was coming, and immediately surrounded them frantically. Just like meeting a celebrity, all kinds of handshakes to autograph, twitter pestered Zhou Hexuan and kept talking.

Zhou Hexuan coped with many students and picked up a textbook on the desk. This book is called "Western History", which is translated and sorted out from many historical books in the West, Zhou Hexuan roughly looked at the table of contents and found that the content was really rough enough.

"This is the Western history textbook at Chung-Ang University?" Zhou Hexuan frowned and asked.

Xu Ziming explained: "The compilation of Southeast University (the predecessor of Central University) was very hasty, and there were some errors and omissions. When I teach students, I have to add and correct some content on my own, otherwise I will be misleading. ”

The fact that the textbooks at Chuo University are so perfunctory shows how bad the overall situation is.

In the early and middle years of the Republic of China, the textbooks of domestic universities were solved on their own. The powerful schools are carefully compiled, and those that are not powerful will be directly messed up, especially the disciplines related to foreign countries, most of which are pirated translations.

The best Western history textbook during the Republic of China was Mr. Yu Xiezhong's "General History of the West", but it would take several years for that book to be published.

Zhou Hexuan turned his head to Duan Xipeng and said, "President Duan, I want to compile a textbook on Western history, I wonder if Central University is interested?" ”

"Of course I'm interested," Duan Xipeng said with a smile, "Mr. Zhou is a master of world history, and the textbook you personally edited must be an authoritative work." As soon as this book is compiled, Chung-Ang University will adopt it immediately! ”

Zhou Hexuan's goal is not only the Central University, he hopes that all universities in the Republic of China will adopt the Western history textbooks he compiled.

Textbooks are the easiest thing to carry private goods and imperceptibly transmit their thoughts to students.

This time, Zhou Hexuan plans to use Stavrianos's "General History of the World" as a blueprint, delete the advanced parts, and add some patriotic ideas.

Putting the "General History of the World" in the 30s of the 20th century is definitely another amazing work, which will not only affect school students, but also the world's famous historians. Later generations of scholars spoke highly of the "General History of the World", calling it "a new starting point in the compilation of contemporary world history, one of the 10 books that have influenced world history, and a classic work in the history of the development of human civilization".

In the 21st century, many universities in the United States have used "General History of the World" as a basic course textbook, and even some military schools have chosen it as a textbook.