Mei, Guangdi
(Anhui 1890-1945) : Schriftsteller
Subjects
Index of Names : China
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Literature : China
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Periods : China : Republic (1912-1949)
Chronology Entries (4)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
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| 1 | 1915 |
Irving Babbitt acquired a dedicated disciple, Mei Guangdi at Harvard University. In addition to teaching Chinese at Harvard, Mei returned to China to lead a Chinese crusade based on Babbitt's concept of humanism, a movement closely linked with the attempt of the Chinese people to work out a political future during the transition from monarchy to democracy. Mei Guangdi : "[Babbitt] regularly stayed away from the commencement exercises at the University, and when his duty as a father required his presence at his son's graduation, he laughingly announced: 'This is the first commencement I have attended in many years.' Babbitt was a solitary figure in a crowded metropolis of learning." "Confucius was perhaps the teacher with whom Babbitt had the closest temperamental kinship." Ong Chang Woei : Mei Guangdi, besides praising Babbitt as a 'teacher of men' following the Chinese tradition, claimed that if Babbitt had been born in China not later than the seventeenth century, he would merit the extraordinary honor of being elevated to membership in the most exclusive of Chinese national institutions, the Temple of Confucius : an honor conferred on only a limited number of great men throughout Chinese history who were believed to have truly transmitted the Confucian way. |
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| 2 | 1922-1931 | Gründung der Vereinigung Xu cheng durch Mei Guangdi, Hu Xiansu und Wu Mi in Nanjing. Sie führen Romantik und Realismus und westliche Klassiker in China ein. |
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| 3 | 1922 |
Mei, Guangdi. Xian jin xi yang ren wen zhu yi [ID D28806]. Mei Guangdi discussed New Humanism as a 'valuable doctrine' with direct relevance to contemporary China. He praised Irving Babbitt for his attempt to counter populism by stressing the need for discipline, restraint, and leadership. Mei turned Babbitt into 'Baibide', a foreign expert who offered answers to Chinese questions. Inspired by a reading of Babbitt's writings, Mei found that although political discussions in China often claimed to include the masses into the political process, few people had paid attention to the danger of equating quantity with quality. While he admitted that populism was indeed part of 'the global current' (shi jie chao liu), he remained his traders that only the well-educated elites could appreciate the 'permanent truth' (jiu yuan zhi zhen li) of humanity. |
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| 4 | 1924 |
Liu Yizheng wrote an essay to say goodby to Wu Mi, when Wu Mi left Nanjing for Shenyang in 1924. In : Yu seng shi wen ji. (Shanghai 1934). 雨僧詩文集 From the last years of the Qing dynasty, schools have sprouted up and there have been many students going abroad to learn some craft and be useful to their country. But many there have not been who are able to delve deep into the profundities of Western learning and institutions, nor to find all that is in accord with the teachings and objectives of our sages with the purpose of benefiting the people and purifying the customs. Mr. Mei Guangdi of Xuanzheng has been the first to espouse the lessons of the American scholar Irving Babbitt to show where the truth is. Mr. Wu Mi joins him and goes further by tracing back to the literature, arts, and philosophy of ancient Greece. Only then have students been made to know that the literature and institutions of Europe and America have their sources, and to realize that those who try to overwhelm the public with new-fangled nonsense have actually gained little from their opportunities in the West. Messrs. Mei and Wu cofounded the Xue heng (Critical review) to awaken the world. When their writings first came out, they were attacked by many a shallow scholar. As time goes on, what the two have had to say becomes more and more persuasive and confirmed. Mr. Mei has since gone to the United States to propagate Chinese learning. Mr. Wu is now leaving for Shenyang. While they travel to different places, their purposes are identical. Scholars in the United States having long had the teaching of Babbitt will be enlightened by Mr. Mei's Chinese knowledge. Scholarship in Shenyang has barely begun. Mr. Wu will be going there to start a new Greece. He is therefore the Babbitt of China. |
Bibliography (2)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1922 | Mei, Guangdi. Xian jin xi yang ren wen zhu yi. In : Xue heng ; 8 (Aug. 1922). [Humanism of the contemporary West. Erwähnung von Irving Babbitt]. | Publication / Babb14 | |
| 2 | 1953 |
Mei, Guangdi. Kalai'er yu Zhongguo. (Taibei : Zhong yang wen wu gong ying she, 1953). (Zhongguo wen hua cong shu). [Abhandlung über Thomas Carlyle und China]. 卡萊爾與中國 |
Publication / Carl15 |