民国学界的老辈

Scholars of the Older Generation in the Republican Period

按照新文化派后来的叙述编成的民国学术史,老辈学人除以遗老身份存在外,不仅无所作为,而且几乎无声无息。实则清季学术虽已中衰,仍然不乏名家,并以各种方式尤其是通过国学研究,影响着五四和后五四两代学人。他们的学术观念或可算是文化遗民,政治上却大都并非遗老。他们对于新派的批评,可以成为反省的借鉴,而他们的理解旧籍之道,不失为回到历史现场去认识中国历史文化的重要门径。

In the later academic history of the New Culture school, old scholars were not just of a previous generation: they had no achievements, and were virtually invisible. However, despite the decline of academic studies in the late Qing dynasty, there were still masters of old learning who influenced the May Fourth and the post May Fourth intellectuals in many ways, and particularly through their studies of guo xue(old Chinese learning). Their academic ideas were conservative in cultural but not in political terms. While their criticism of the new schools may serve as a mirror for self-examination for the latter, their approach to the classics is important in that it provides us with a route to understanding Chinese culture and history through historical settings