Author ｜
Yunshu Xi
Abstract ｜
American scholar J. B. Grieder argued that Hu Shih’s concept of the “Chinese Renaissance” is more similar to the European Enlightenment than to the Renaissance; Mr. Yu Ying-shih also agreed that, when compared with Italian humanism, Hu Shih was a more direct heir to the French Enlightenment. Based on a systematical analysis of the “Chinese Renaissance” in Hu Shih’s English works, this article first distinguishes Hu Shih from other intellectuals who studied in Japan during the May Fourth Movement and establishes the differences between the European Renaissance and the Enlightenment. It then offers a different perspective from those of J. B. Grieder and Yu Ying-shih by comparing Hu Shih’s concept of the “Chinese Renaissance” with similar materials discussing the French and German Enlightenments. In doing so, this article demonstrates that Hu Shih’s concept of the “Chinese Renaissance” did not originate from the 18th century European Enlightenment, as Hu Shih argued China was experiencing a rebirth of humanism and rationalism that could be traced back to the Song Dynasty, and this movement is parallel with the European Renaissance from the 14th century to the 16th century.
keywords ｜
Hu Shih, Renaissance, Enlightenment, humanism, rationalism