" With Mao Zedong's level, it was impossible to pass the Peking University exam at that time. "
After settling in the United States for many years, Hu Shi once gave such an evaluation when asked by reporters.
Before and after the "May 4th Movement" of the last century, the most famous reading book in China was called " New Youth ", and the most admired by young people was "Hu Shi and Mao Zedong".
This may be an exaggeration, but it is indeed a true portrayal of the 1920s. Mao Zedong, Hu Shi and others did have the power to influence a generation of young people in that era.
Although compared with Hu Shi, a university teacher, Mao Zedong had no position and had not even passed the college entrance examination, his thoughts and actions attracted countless students at the time, and their relationship was once a legend.
But Hu Shih commented so much on Chairman Mao in his later years, which is really shocking.
Why did Hu Shi say this? How did Mao Zedong respond?
Hu Shi was born in 1891, two years older than Mao Zedong. Their early relationship can be described as "both teacher and friend".
When Mao Zedong was still studying at Hunan Normal School, Hu Shi had already studied in the United States. Later, at the invitation of Cai Yuanpei, the president of Peking University, he returned to China and served as a professor of liberal arts at Peking University.
He co-founded "New Youth" with Chen Duxiu and others. This magazine promoted new culture and new ideas. At that time, it became one of the most popular magazines among young students, and Mao Zedong was also deeply influenced by this book.
At that time, Mao Zedong was full of enthusiasm and a very ambitious young man. He always hoped to get out of Hunan and see the wider world. The world is so big, and China can always find a way out in the darkness.
Under the influence of this kind of thinking, China has become a popular "going abroad craze". Many aspiring young people hope to visit the United States and other countries, learn more scientific and technological knowledge and advanced ideas, and come back to serve the country.
In order to support the ideas of these young people, Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, and He Shuheng established a revolutionary group Xinmin Society in Changsha, Hunan Province with the purpose of "transforming China and the world."
Cai Hesen
In 1918, Mao Zedong received a letter from Beijing. It was a letter from Yang Changji, his teacher at Peking University.
In the letter, Yang Changji said sincerely that France is recruiting workers in China. If you want to go abroad for work-study studies, this will be a good opportunity.
This is undoubtedly exciting news for others in the Xinmin Society. Mao Zedong immediately told the news to the students in Hunan who wanted to study abroad.
Not long after, he led more than 20 students to Beijing and found Teacher Yang Changji.
Under Yang Changji's arrangement, Mao Zedong became the librarian of Peking University, immersed in books every day, waiting for the opportunity to go to France.
However, when the opportunity to go to France finally came to him, Mao Zedong thought about it and rejected this golden opportunity.
It turns out that during this period of time, he came into contact with many books that he had never touched before in the library of Peking University. He carefully read " Communist Manifesto " , " Capital " and other books.
While reading these books, he couldn't help but think of what Hu Shi said to him when he visited Hu Shi a year ago.
As a liberal arts teacher who returned from studying in the United States, Hu Shi said: " If you want to find a way to save China, you don't have to study abroad. "
It was because of Hu Shi's "reminder" that Mao Zedong finally decided to give up the opportunity to go abroad, stay at home, observe the domestic situation, and find a development path suitable for China.
In a letter to his teacher Zhou Shizhao in 1920, Mao Zedong also said this: I feel that there is really no "reason why you need to study somewhere." The word "going abroad" is just a "mystery" in some people. Mr. Hu Shi and Mr. Li Shaoxi both agree deeply.
So Mao Zedong did not choose to study abroad, but stayed in China.
At that time, some people also advised him to get admitted to Peking University, but Mao Zedong had never participated in the examination of Peking University, and he did not even have the idea of getting admitted to Peking University.
Although he was a teacher from Peking University, Mao Zedong never claimed to be a Peking University student. Whether it was Hu Shi, Yang Changji or Zhou Shizhao, Mao Zedong always upheld a very respectful attitude and humbly asked them for advice. However, Mao Zedong had always been a very independent and thoughtful person. The difference between learning and thinking always had a scale in his heart.
In the end, he did not get admitted to Peking University, but gradually embarked on the road of revolution.
He promoted new trends of thought in the " Xiangjiang Review " he founded, and analyzed and commented on various thoughts at the time, including Hu Shi's experimentalism.
Such an approach was strongly supported by Hu Shi. In the early days, Mao Zedong and Hu Shi were like-minded to some extent. Hu Shi insisted on supporting the "Xiangjiang Review" and Mao Zedong's work regardless of the persecution of the reactionary warlords.
In 1920, after Mao Zedong led the "Driving Zhang Zhang Movement" in Hunan and achieved effective results, he wrote a letter to Hu Shi, explaining the great situation in Hunan. It can be said that the relationship between Mao Zedong and Hu Shi at that time was very close.
However, with the establishment of the Communist Party, the relationship between Mao Zedong and Hu Shi began to crack. Hu Shi returned from studying in the United States and insisted that only by learning from the American model can the country develop. He did not support the ideological theories of the Communist Party.
Mao Zedong once tried to promote the ideology and theory of the Communist Party to Hu Shi, but Hu Shi did not take Mao Zedong's words to heart. He had never supported Marxism-Leninism, and believed that the Communist Party's approach was violent revolution. Having believed in evolution and reformism throughout his life, he was unwilling to accept Marxist ideas in any case.
But Mao Zedong came from the "May 4th Movement" and came into contact with the people at the lowest level of society. Having experienced everything firsthand, he understood best what China needed and what needed to be changed.
Therefore, after a series of baptisms, he firmly chose Marxism and became a communist.
The two sides parted ways and began to drift apart.
Hu Shi, who advocated improving the country and society bit by bit, began to get closer and closer to the Kuomintang . Although he did not support the Kuomintang's dictatorship, he believed that only the Kuomintang was the country's orthodoxy. Driven by this idea, Hu Shi and Mao Zedong's thoughts deviated even more.
Hu Shi even tried to persuade Mao Zedong and others to put down their arms, participate in competition with the Kuomintang as the second largest political party, and simply participate in political activities.
Such an idea is completely contrary to the ideas of the Communist Party. Naturally, Hu Shi's idea was severely rejected by Mao Zedong and others.
Although Hu Shi expressed his unwillingness to join the Kuomintang and participate in political activities, in the eyes of the outside world at that time, Hu Shi seemed to have sided with the Kuomintang and became the opposite of the Communist Party.
Until the end of the Anti-Japanese War , Hu Shi still insisted on his own ideas.
As early as April 1945, Hu Shi was appointed as a member of the Chinese delegation to the United Nations Constitutional Convention in San Francisco, and the representative of the Communist Party was Comrade Dong Biwu.
After Chairman Mao learned about this incident, he wrote a letter to say hello to Hu Shi and instructed Dong Biwu to try his best to win Hu Shi's support for the Communist Party.
Although the positions of both parties have changed, he still admires Hu Shi very much and hopes that he can see the situation clearly and realize that only communist theory can save China. After all, Chairman Mao once told the American reporter Snow without hesitation: "When I was studying at the Normal College, my favorite read was "New Youth". I admire Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi very much. articles, they became my role models for a while."
On April 22, after receiving Chairman Mao's instructions, Dong Biwu specially had a conversation with Hu Shi on China's issues. However, this all-night conversation did not have any effect. Hu Shi remained stubborn and wrote a telegram according to the tone of the conversation with Dong Biwu and sent it to Chairman Mao.
However, Hu Shi's letter did not receive a response from Chairman Mao, because Chairman Mao was busy negotiating matters for Chongqing at the time. He, Premier Zhou and others focused all their energy on this negotiation. Therefore, although Chairman Mao received Hu Shi's letter, he did not reply.
When he learned about the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Hu Shi was undoubtedly extremely excited. He believed that this negotiation was likely to be an "inflection point" in the relationship between the two parties. Perhaps the Communist Party could really become the second largest party according to his ideas.
But his idea was still too naive. Not to mention the significance of communist thought, even Chiang Kai-shek could not tolerate the existence of the Communist Party. From the time when Chiang Kai-shek sent troops to encircle and suppress our party, it was enough to see how ruthless he was.
Therefore, not long after the Chongqing negotiations ended, as the Kuomintang tore up the Double Ten Agreement , the Liberation War broke out.
After several years of fighting, the Liberation War finally ended with the victory of the Communist Party. The Kuomintang was defeated and fled to the mainland. At this time, Hu Shi faced a dilemma.
Chairman Mao missed his old friendship, and taking into account Hu Shi's literary achievements, he also tried to persuade him to stay in the mainland, continue to serve as the president of Peking University and the director of the library, and stop following the Kuomintang everywhere.
After one of Hu Shi's students knew what Chairman Mao meant, he took the initiative to find Hu Shi and conveyed the Chairman's meaning to him. When Hu Shi heard that Chairman Mao wanted him to stay in the mainland, he did hesitate for a moment, but after hesitating, he suddenly smiled and felt grateful. Sighing: " people, do you believe me? "
After leaving these words, Hu Shi took Chiang Kai-shek's special plane to Nanjing in 1948, and then went to the United States in 1949.
After the founding of in New China, Hu Shi, who was far away in the United States, did not respond much. He lived in a small apartment rented in New York after retiring as ambassador to the United States. His life was not comfortable, and he was even a little poor.
Chairman Mao still did not give up his work to win Hu Shi's return to China.
In 1956, when Cao Juren, a former reporter from the Kuomintang Central News Agency, visited Beijing, Chairman Mao received him very warmly. He asked Cao Juren to write a letter to Hu Shi, asking him to return to Beijing for a visit, but Hu Shi refused again.
Although Hu Shi never meant to wake up, Chairman Mao was very pertinent to Hu Shi's literary attainments. When he discussed Red Studies with some philosophical workers, he compared Cai Yuanpei's views and believed that Hu Shi's views were more appropriate. This shows that Chairman Mao really cherishes talents.
But what does Hu Shi think of Chairman Mao? It can be seen from one interview.
During that interview, the reporter asked Hu Shi: " As Mao Zedong's teacher, what do you think of him? "
Hu Shi obviously did not expect that the reporter would ask this question. He hesitated for a moment and said: " I can't be considered a Mao Zedong’s teacher was just a librarian at Peking University, not a student. With his level at the time, he would not have been able to get into Peking University. ”
Hu Shi’s words quickly reached Chairman Mao, but Chairman Mao paid little attention to them because he knew very well that Hu Shi’s attitude was simply that he did not want to have too much involvement with them.
But whether this evaluation is accurate or not, I am afraid only Hu Shi himself knows, because Chairman Mao’s friend Luo Zhanglong later explained the reason why Chairman Mao did not get admitted to Peking University.
Luo Zhanglong is an alumnus of Chairman Mao at Peking University, and he knows very well about Chairman Mao’s time at Peking University. Although Chairman Mao never went to Peking University, he was still a popular figure at the time. Many students and teachers admired him as a librarian.
Luo Zhanglong became a little angry after learning about Hu Shi's evaluation. He said: "The reason why Mao Zedong didn't get into Peking University was not because he couldn't pass the exam, but because he was very independent."
It turns out that Mao Zedong had been thinking very long-term when he was young. Although he respected the teachers of Peking University very much, he believed that the courses at Peking University were too decadent and were not the way to save the country and the people. Peking University was not his best goal, so Mao Zedong gave up studying at Peking University.
It can be seen that Chairman Mao did not have the strength to get into Peking University, but he chose the path that was most suitable for China's development in his mind at that time.
If, like Hu Shi, we only look at academic ability and ignore the person's own talents, it is obviously inappropriate at that time. It is said that times make heroes. In that era, those who can lead China on the right path are the real heroes.
