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Hu Shih Quotes

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About Hu Shih

Hu Shih (1891-1962) was a prominent Chinese philosopher, politician, and linguist who significantly contributed to China's modernization during the early 20th century. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, on February 15, 1891, Hu Shih was the eldest son of a prominent local family. His education began at home under his father's tutelage before he attended the prestigious Tongwen Guan School in Beijing, where he developed an interest in Western thought and languages. In 1910, Hu Shih went to study in the United States, earning degrees from Cornell University and Columbia University. There, he was exposed to pragmatism, behaviorism, and other modern Western philosophical movements that would later influence his own thoughts. He returned to China in 1917, determined to help his country embrace modernity and Western ideas. Hu Shih's most significant contribution was advocating for the use of vernacular Chinese (baihua) in literature and academic writing, breaking away from the classical Chinese style that had been used for centuries. This movement, known as the New Text school or "New Cultural Movement," aimed to make education more accessible and relevant to everyday life. In politics, Hu Shih served as Minister of Education under the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) government, promoting Western-style education reforms. He also played a key role in drafting the 1946 Constitution of the Republic of China. His political career was marked by his advocacy for democracy and his opposition to authoritarian rule. Hu Shih passed away on January 8, 1962, leaving behind a rich legacy that continues to influence Chinese thought and education. Notable works include "The Significance and Value of Translating Western Literature" (1910), "China's Crisis and China's Prospects" (1935), and "The Development of the Chinese Language" (1942). His famous quote, "Chinese characters are not suited for expressing modern science; it is necessary to use a phonetic writing system," encapsulates his vision for a more progressive China.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Learn English well and speak it as your mother tongue."

This quote by Hu Shih emphasizes the importance of mastering the English language to such an extent that one can use it fluently, naturally, and instinctively, just as if it were their native or mother tongue. This demonstrates a deep commitment to understanding and adopting Western culture, education, and communication in China during his time, as English was (and still is) a primary medium of international discourse. It also suggests a belief that proficiency in English can open doors to global opportunities, fostering cultural exchange and intellectual growth.

"The purpose of studying a language is to speak it, not to translate it."

This quote emphasizes that the true objective of learning a language is for communication rather than just translating words from one language to another. It encourages mastering a language enough to engage in spoken or written discourse, fostering cultural understanding and connections between people.

"A nation's culture resides in the hearts and souls of its people."

This quote by Hu Shih highlights that a nation's culture is not merely a collection of artifacts, traditions, or customs, but rather it is deeply embedded within the people who make up the nation. It emphasizes the intangible yet profound impact that cultural values, beliefs, and identity have on a people, shaping their collective consciousness and guiding their actions. In essence, Hu Shih suggests that a nation's culture is not something static or tangible, but rather it is a dynamic force that lives and breathes within the hearts and souls of its people, continually evolving and adapting over time.

"The only way to make China strong is through Western learning."

Hu Shih's quote suggests that modernization, progress, and strength for China can be achieved through adopting Western knowledge, culture, and technology. In other words, he advocates for a blending of traditional Chinese values with contemporary Western ideas to create a stronger, more progressive China. This perspective was influential during the early 20th century when China was undergoing significant political and social changes.

"Invention is the mother of necessity." (This quote was originally said by Plato, but Hu Shih adapted it to Chinese context.)

Hu Shih's adaptation of Plato's quote emphasizes that innovation and invention are necessitated by a need or desire for improvement, progress, or change. In the context of China, he was suggesting that new ideas (inventions) were essential to addressing the pressing needs and challenges of modernization in his time. This quote is especially relevant today as we continue to innovate and adapt to meet the evolving demands of society.

And revolutions always mean the breakdown of old authority.

- Hu Shih

Mean, Always, Revolutions, Breakdown

No student of Chinese history can say that the Chinese are incapable of religious experience, even when judged by the standards of medieval Europe or pious India.

- Hu Shih

Student, Religious, Medieval, Religious Experience

Another important historical factor is the fact that this already very simple religion was further simplified and purified by the early philosophers of ancient China. Our first great philosopher was a founder of naturalism; and our second great philosopher was an agnostic.

- Hu Shih

Fact, Another, Very, Purified

Life and human society are the chief concern of Confucianism and, through it, the chief concern of the Chinese people.

- Hu Shih

Through, Chinese People, Human Society

It is true that the Chinese are not so religious as the Hindus, or even as the Japanese; and they are certainly not so religious as the Christian missionaries desire them to be.

- Hu Shih

Desire, Religious, Certainly, Hindus

It is only through contact and comparison that the relative value or worthlessness of the various cultural elements can be clearly and critically seen and understood.

- Hu Shih

Comparison, Through, Clearly, Critically

Only when we realize that there is no eternal, unchanging truth or absolute truth can we arouse in ourselves a sense of intellectual responsibility.

- Hu Shih

Intellectual, Sense, Arouse

On the basis of biological, sociological, and historical knowledge, we should recognize that the individual self is subject to death or decay, but the sum total of individual achievement, for better or worse, lives on in the immortality of The Larger.

- Hu Shih

Death, Immortality, Larger, Sum Total

After learning the language and culture of the Chinese people, these Jesuits began to establish contacts with the young intellectuals of the country.

- Hu Shih

Country, Chinese People, Establish

The rise of the dramas in the thirteenth century, and the rise of the great novels in a later period, together with their frank glorification of love and the joys of life, may be called the Third Renaissance.

- Hu Shih

Love, Frank, Period, Novels

Within my own life, I read all the beloved novels by lamps of vegetable oil; I saw the Standard Oil invading my own village, I saw gas lamps in the Chinese shops in Shanghai; and I saw their elimination by electric lights.

- Hu Shih

Own, Standard, Lamps, Novels

On July 26, 1916, I announced to all my friends in America that from now on I resolved to write no more poems in the classical language, and to begin my experiments in writing poetry in the so-called vulgar tongue of the people.

- Hu Shih

Tongue, Experiments, So-Called

Confucius was a humanist and an agnostic.

- Hu Shih

Confucius, Humanist, Agnostic

Practically all the prominent leaders of thought in China today are openly agnostics and even atheists.

- Hu Shih

Thought, China, Prominent, Agnostic

In the year 1915 a series of trivial incidents led some Chinese students in Cornell University to take up the question of reforming the Chinese language.

- Hu Shih

Question, Some, Reforming, Incidents

India Conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

- Hu Shih

Border, Centuries, Having, Send

For all the social changes in China can be traced to their early beginnings in the days when the new tools or vehicles of commerce and locomotion first brought the Chinese people into unavoidable contact with the strange ways and novel goods of the Western peoples.

- Hu Shih

Changes, Vehicles, Brought, Novel

The Jesuits had learned that a Christian mission to China could never succeed if it were not in a position to show and convince the Chinese intelligentsia of the superiority of the European culture.

- Hu Shih

Superiority, Could, Learned, Intelligentsia

But I wish to point out that it is entirely wrong to say that the Chinese are not religious.

- Hu Shih

Wish, Chinese, Religious, Entirely

Historically, there had been many periods of Chinese Renaissance.

- Hu Shih

Been, Chinese, Periods, Historically

What is sacred among one people may be ridiculous in another; and what is despised or rejected by one cultural group, may in a different environment become the cornerstone for a great edifice of strange grandeur and beauty.

- Hu Shih

Beauty, May, Rejected, Despised

And lastly, the political revolutions from 1911 to the present time have done more to bring about tremendous social changes everywhere than even the economic and industrial changes and the new schools.

- Hu Shih

New, More, Social, Industrial

In such diffused changes of culture two factors are necessary: contact and understanding.

- Hu Shih

Culture, Changes, Necessary, Contact

The Chinese people, too, went through all kinds of vicissitudes in their religious development.

- Hu Shih

Through, Chinese People, Chinese

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