Since the late Qing Dynasty, there have been all kinds of debates in the Chinese cultural circles, and literati who have never fought a pen war are embarrassed to go out.

For example, after the defeat of the Opium War, the Westernists who advocated "mastering the skills of the people" and the conservatives who advocated "loyalty, filial piety, courtesy, and righteousness" had a fierce debate over the introduction of Western learning. These controversies first took place in the court, and then as the newspapers gradually moved to the people, the folk literati also fought over them.

It was not until 1898 that Zhang Zhidong published the "Persuasion of Learning", which alleviated the contradiction between the two factions with the viewpoint of "Chinese style and Western use", and won the unanimous approval of the government and the opposition, and the study of advanced Western science became the consensus of the people.

However, during the period of the New Culture Movement, Kang Youwei and Gu Hongming, who once represented advanced intellectuals, had become outdated and backward in their ideological views, and were targeted by the new-school literati represented by Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi.

In this protracted new cultural debate, vernacular writing was popularized, punctuation and Chinese became the standard, and democracy and science entered the hearts of the general public.

These were two ideological polemics that had a profound impact on modern China, the first of which opened China's eyes to the world, and the latter accelerated the spread of Chinese science and culture.

Perhaps because of overkill, some people called for a serious confronting of traditional culture, and a new debate began. The "conciliators" (reconciling Chinese and Western cultures) and the "substitutionists" (all Westernized) quarreled fiercely, and the "scientific and metaphysical controversy" and "sorting out the national history" that appeared later were generally a continuation of this controversy.

From the polemics, we can see the context of the development of modern Chinese thought: stubborn conservatism - Shiyi long skills - Chinese style and Western use - all Westernization - Chinese and Western coordination......

This is the road of self-evolution of the Chinese nation.

The intellectuals of that era all had a kind of psychological cognition of "scholars". Even if he wears a single shirt and nibbles on steamed buns, he still has the world in mind, often pointing out the country, interfering in politics, criticizing the current situation, and playing an important role in modern history.

Probably after the establishment of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, the voice of intellectuals was much less than before, and the identity of "scholar" also went to the twilight.

The controversy of the last decade has been much more fragmented, and it is mainly divided into two types, namely, the dispute between literary ideas and the dispute over political ideas.

What is the Beijing faction and the Shanghai faction polemic, what is the Luliang controversy, and the Crescent faction bombards the Creation Society, the left-wing literati angrily criticize the royal literati, and the third type of people single-handedly challenge the left and right factions in the literary world...... Some of these seemingly personal contradictions are actually differences in literary and political ideas.

Everyone was looking for a way to save the country, but they had different ideas, so they quarreled.

Japan's aggression against China gradually unified China's ideological and cultural circles, which had been divided, and intellectuals began to reach a consensus. That is: let go of contradictions and unite to resist Japan!

The establishment of the Chinese nation's anti-Japanese united front was first realized in the ideological and cultural circles.

Don't think this thing is useless, it's just a bunch of literati making a fool of themselves. Thinking directs action, and in order to unify action, we must first unify our thinking. If there is unity of thought, and some people do not want to act in unison, they must conform to the trend of public opinion.

For example, Lao Jiang was forced to join forces to resist Japan, because the entire ideological and cultural circles demanded this.

As early as the spring of 1936, the most aggressive Left League was the first to abandon the original class struggle. The Nanjing government's repeated ban on the "Left League" voluntarily announced its dissolution and put forward the slogans of creating "national defense literature" and "popular literature of the national revolutionary war."

Subsequently, Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Bingxin and others jointly signed and issued the "Declaration on Freedom of Speech for Unity and Freedom of Speech among Colleagues in the Literary and Art Circles", advocating that the national literary circles should unite to resist Japan and save the country regardless of the old and new factions.

Now that the July 7 Incident broke out for more than half a month, various rescue groups have emerged in cultural circles across the country.

In Shanghai alone, there are more than 70 organizations and organizations, such as the Shanghai Salvation Drama Team, the National Salvation Singing Association, the Art Salvation Propaganda Group, the Student Wartime Service Group, the Entertainment Industry Salvation Association, the Wartime Photography Service Group, and the Shanghai Comics Salvation Association.

Almost subconsciously, after hearing the news of the 77 Incident, people spontaneously united with like-minded people around them to carry out rescue activities in their respective fields. Regardless of class strata or school of thought, all intellectuals and literary and artistic figures are united under the banner of patriotism.

Zhou Hexuan not only saw the national crisis, but also saw the invigoration and unyielding of a nation.

The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was like a melting pot, throwing all kinds of strange ideas and forces into it, and finally refining an immortal artifact called the "soul of the nation".

As Lenin put it: "War gives a new life to the nation and a broad awakening of the masses of the people." ”

The "Shanghai Literary and Art Circles Salvation Association," which Zhou Hexuan is participating in today, is jointly formed by more than 70 rescue groups in Shanghai's cultural and artistic circles. It will bring together the strength of the entire Shanghai literary and art circles, including film, theater, comics, music, literature, sculpture and other fields.

Finally, there was no need to hide and sneak around at this inaugural meeting, because it had the unanimous support of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and both leftist and right-wing intellectuals came to attend. Moreover, most of the operating funds of the Shanghai Literary and Art Circles Salvation Association are provided by the Kuomintang.

The framework of the Association as a whole has been determined in advance and is divided into four departments: General Affairs, Economy, Organization and Publicity.

The Kuomintang is responsible for the association's general affairs department and the economic department, that is, the overall situation and the provision of funds. The Communist Party is responsible for the Organization Department and the Propaganda Department, that is, it is responsible for organizing planning and propaganda.

The second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had not yet begun militarily and politically, but it had already been realized culturally, and each had found its place, and both sides were extremely satisfied with it.

Don't think that the Shanghai Cultural Circles Salvation Association is just engaged in creation, performances, and standing up and shouting a few times, it has an actual function of saving lives. For example, the organization department in charge of the Communist Party has a training group, an ambulance group, a lane group, a public works group, and so on.

The training team is responsible for training common sense personnel in wartime, such as how to respond to civilians when they encounter Japanese soldiers, such as how to take shelter in advance in the face of artillery bombardment. The ambulance team is responsible for collecting medical supplies and goods, and setting up ambulance teams to rush to the front line to treat wounded soldiers and civilians. The alley group is responsible for organizing residents to carry out rescue activities, such as setting up street mutual aid associations, organizing residents to sew clothes for soldiers, and so on. The Public Works Section is responsible for relieving unemployed workers during the war, helping them to regain employment, and so on.

As soon as Zhou Hexuan and Xu Zhimo walked into the venue, they attracted everyone's attention.

"Bang bang bang!"

A burst of thunderous applause rang out, and there was spontaneous applause, which was to pay tribute to Zhou Hexuan.

Xu Zhimo took the initiative to stand away, because this moment belonged to Zhou Hexuan.

Zhou Hexuan predicted at the poetry meeting that an incident would break out in Beiping within a week, and the news had spread throughout Shanghai's cultural circles. In addition, the articles he published about Japan's imminent full-scale invasion of China by the magazine "Non-Offensive" for many years are extremely accurate when re-read. And a few months ago, he was assassinated by Japanese spies for propagating anti-Japanese ideas along the way, which is enough to gain everyone's respect.

Cai Yuanpei, Mrs. Sun and five other people walked over.

Mrs. Sun smiled and shook hands and said, "Mr. Zhou, you have been waiting for a long time!" ”

"Hello Mrs. Sun!" Zhou Hexuan greeted.

Cai Yuanpei shook hands with Zhou Hexuan warmly and said, "Mingcheng, you are finally here!" Let me introduce you to Mr. Pan Gongzhan, Mr. Wu Han, Mr. Zhou Hanmei, Mr. Qian Junduan and Mr. Zhang Zhirang. ”

Pan Gongzhan, Wu Han, and Zhou Hanmei are members of the Kuomintang and serve as the president of the association, the minister of general affairs, and the minister of economy, respectively. Qian Junduan and Zhang Zhirang, on the other hand, were pro-communist figures and served as the head of the association's organization and propaganda respectively.

Yes, the latter two are just pro-communist people, not the real communist party, and Lao Jiang still has precautions against the communist party. For example, Zhang Zhirang, the propaganda director of the association, is the brother of Zhang Tailei, a veteran of the Communist Party, and serves as the defense lawyer of the "Seven Gentlemen".

By the way, Pan Gongzhan, president of the association, is also the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, which shows that the Kuomintang attaches great importance to this association.

Everyone shook hands and greeted each other for a while, and Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Hu Yuzhi, Ouyang Yuqian, Zhou Jianyun, Shen Zijiu and others also came over to greet Zhou Hexuan.

After a while, Hu Shi also came, standing in the corner and chatting with Xu Zhimo.

Hu Shi's current thinking is very contradictory, on the one hand, he thinks about peace negotiations, and on the other hand, he is busy saving the world. Or, in his view, the two are unified, and only peaceful negotiations can save China, and war can only make China irreversible.