| Hu Shih(1891-1962)is one of the most noted scholars and thinkers in modern China , whose thought and works left behind are mostly noted by scholars both at home and abroad . And they have become one of the foci for academic research .Hu Shih himself took academy but not politics as his own proper course for the latter he regarded as a ' forked branch '. Though his thought and works left behind can not classified just in two incompatible categeries ie politics and academy , the focus of this paper is still on his academic research.Athough Hu Shih was one of the sparking plugs in the New Cultral Movement, he devoted most of his energies to the reorganization the national heritage .As for the reorgaination of the national heritage , Hu Shih regarded it as an important and essential step to China's cultural construction and the rejuvenation of Chinese civilization . Since Hu Shih's focus of academic research was laid on the reorganization of national heritage , his life was irrevocably committed to the sifting of historical documents . And he has proposed many sparkling views in this field . However , it is in this regard that left less touched upon by present academic research.Therefore , this paper makes an attempt to tap into this area .By reorganizing national heritage , Hu Shih aimed at discarding the old traditions and introducing something new to Chinese culture. To different cultures, no matter Chinese culture or that of the West , he adopted the same approach. Also in the same approach , he re-evaluated the value of Chinses tradtional culture.Hu Shih drafted out the basic framework for the reorganization of the historical documents as the following: 1) To enlarge the scope of research ; 2) To compile indexical reference books -, 3) To make a comprehensive summary on the status of the documentary collation; 4) To classify and edit the documents according to subjects.The core of his approach on the reorganiztion of ancient historical documents was 'to hypothesize daringly and to demonstrate carefully. This so-called 'scientific method' is actually a combination of Dewey's pragmatism and the textual research method of the Chien-Lung and Chiaching periods, therefore, Hu Shih's core approach had an important influence on the reorganization of ancient historical documents in modern China.In practice, Hu Shih's 'scientific method' was mainly taken as a guideline for textual collation .At the same time, it also had a profound influence on his academic activities.Hu Shih, as a great scholar in Chinese national culture, his reserach covered both refined and popular culture. On the one hand, he advocated the Vernacular Movement, and made afforts to classify , sectionalize and punctuate the ancient writings in order to make them understood by those literate. In this regard, he attached equal importance to both the reorganiztion of historical documents and the spreading culture to the Chinese compatriots. On the other hand, he also devoted himself to the reorganization and improvement of Chinese refined culture . And he has made great achievement in this field.He wrote Compendium of Chinese Philosohpy History, reordered the history on Chinese Zen and made textual criticism on Shut Jing Zhu(The Records And Explanation on water ways) etc.The fact that historical data are important evidence for humane studies greatly influenced Hu Shih, therefore he put much emphasis on evidence in his academic research. And he kept sticking to this rule in the reorganization of national culture, either refined or pupular.The way that Hu Shih conducted himself in society was also a great help to his academic research. He had a large cirle of friends both at home and abroad, which provided him rich sources of historical data and some of which were quite precious. In his life, Hu Shih was adept in fostering successors who helped to make his influence even more far-reaching .To sum of, Hu Shih is not only one of the advocators of the New Culture Muvement,but also a great documentalist in modern China,...
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