How to evaluate Hu Shi comprehensively?

Hu Shi is one of the most influential thinkers and scholars in China in the last century. Although his influence has negative elements, its main aspect is positive progress. This is because he advocated democracy, free thought and rationalism all his life.

It is this kind of thinking that has helped many young people to establish an independent and free personality, form a way of thinking independently and respecting facts, and become people with democratic and scientific literacy. It can be said that Hu Shi contributed to the growth of democratic forces in China after the May 4th Movement.

Hu Shi is a compromise liberal who does not oppose power and government. He will not be a martyr of liberalism. He wants to reform gradually and adjust slowly. Hu Shi's character is also very gentle. For example, during the period of free China, he could talk less about the opposition party. He only wrote one article about the opposition party, that is, from fighting for freedom of speech to talking about the opposition party.

However, this article emphasizes the fight for freedom of speech. He believes that even if an opposition party is organized, it will not be an opposition party aimed at seizing political power. Hu Shi is well aware of the risks of democratic reform and Chiang Kai-shek's bottom line.

He must step on the bottom line and hope to make the greatest progress possible. Between "sitting and speaking" and "starting and walking", Hu Shi chose "sitting and speaking". If he really wants to form a party against Chiang Kai-shek, he will have great scruples.

Hu Shi's influence on literature

1, Hu Shi is a pioneer of literary revolution who advocates vernacular Chinese and opposes classical Chinese. He has made great contributions and is known as "the father of China's cultural revolution".

2. In terms of poetry, from the first collection of vernacular poetry "Trial Collection", Hu Shi began his own attempt of vernacular poetry in terms of language, form and poetic style. This is a far-reaching poetic innovation, which is essentially different from the "poetic revolution" of the previous generation.

Marked by Hu Shi's "bridge between old and new" vernacular poems before the May 4th Movement, China's poems ended the development and changes of classical forms for thousands of years, initially established a new artistic form of China's poems, transformed the classical and modern types of China's poems, and opened a great "new poetry era".

After decades of evolution, the overall structure of China's lyric poems has changed dramatically.

3. In terms of drama, Hu Shi not only translated Ibsen's Nora with Luo Jialun, but also created his own drama "The Event of Life". Hu Shi's drama translation and creation are inseparable. Translation enabled Hu Shi to absorb the nutrients of foreign dramas and created China's first modern drama.