Predecessors In Former Times

At the beginning of 20th century, it occurs the most elite intellectuals at this significant moment of the beginning of the Chinese modern literature. A retro look at this history is helpful for us to inherit the tradition.The essay chooses Chen Yinque, Wu Mi and Hu Shi as the representatives. Through the analysis of their scholarly personalities, it sums up three quintessential and applicable types of personalities. T he first type, represented by Chen Yinque, indicates the personality that a person concentrates on learning and is perfect in both knowledge and personality. The second type, represented by Wu Mi, shows the personality that a person who intends to find a middle ground between the career and the scholarship, but one's ability is not equal to one's ambition and thus suffers a lot. The third type, represented by Hu Shi, demonstrates the personality that a person who undertakes both scholarship and politics and makes respective achievements without mutual influencing.The different life originates from their different understanding and choice in scholarship, the most important of which is the choice of scholarship and politics. A scholar, the natural identity and at the same time a social being, must make research in learning and meanwhile perform one's duty in the society. The character of practicing is the symbol of the modern intellectuals which is different from the traditional scholars. The scholarship which rejects politics is not helpful for its development. The modern scholarship should be open and a perfect modern one should de the marriage between the scholarship and the thoughts. The third type represented by Hu Shi shows the possibility of the combination.If the scholars can hold on the independent and purity of scholarship and meanwhile absorbs the innovation and creativity in thoughts, and turns the concern on one's life into the motivation of making research, and then one can make great achievements just like Hu Shi.