東亞日報
- The Chinese Revolution and Mr. Hu Shi's Speech
- The Way to Rebirth
This partial reading of the Tonga Ilbo's front page for October 14, 1926 covers two pieces. One article took up a foreign cable reporting that Hu Shi had told a celebration of the Chinese republic's fifteenth anniversary, held by Chinese students in Britain, that the revolution had failed. In his view it had only changed the outward form of government, and the Chinese had neglected modern civilization and the training of youth. The article granted that this was no new principle but called it a weighty lesson. It then argued that a political revolution bears fruit only when it carries economic meaning. The page also carried the eighteenth installment of Choe Hyeon-bae's serial on the rebirth of the Korean nation. It gave four causes for Korea's bare mountains: soil and rainfall less favorable than Japan's, little reason to grow large timber, a lack of forestry knowledge and foresight, and the wood-hungry ondol furnace.
This edition covers only two front-page excerpts that could be read in part: the article on Hu Shi's speech and installment 18 of Choe Hyeon-bae's serial. The Hu Shi text has a garbled stretch in the middle and breaks off mid-sentence. The forestry passage has several gaps. Illegible words are shown as [?] or […]. The rest of the page's body columns are too small and blurred to transcribe, and names and numbers in them were not reconstructed.
Translation
The Chinese Revolution and Mr. Hu Shi's Speech
Thursday] October 14, Taishō 15
1
According to a foreign cable, Mr. Hu Shi gave a speech at a celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of China's republic, held by the Central Union of Chinese Students in Britain. In it he said that the revolution of the Republic had plainly failed, and that it amounted to no more than a change in the outward form of government. He is also said to have pointed out that the Chinese people had made no effort to understand the modern world and the new civilization, and had not been zealous in training the young. The cable is so brief that its meaning is hard to interpret fully in many places. Moreover, it was generally acknowledged that Mr. Hu Shi, as a student of the authoritative '[?]s' in China, […]. Therefore, this is no special principle newly discovered through Mr. Hu Shi's opinion. But because he cries it out once more out of deep experience, we believe the suggestion it offers us is far from ordinary. Namely, a political revolution produces the effects of revolution only when it carries economic meaning. If it is to do so, its leaders must have a correct […] concerning the relationship between the economic and political organization of their society and concerning economic realities
The Way to the Rebirth of the Korean Nation 【18】
Rousing Vitality – Establishing Ideals – Conviction of Rebirth – Unceasing Effort
By Choe Hyeon-bae, Bachelor of Letters
It is said that forests show the degree of a nation's civilization. When we consider why Korea's mountains are bare, we find several causes. The first is that Korea lacks the natural blessing that Japanese land enjoys, in which soil, rainfall and the like suit the growth of trees. (Of course this is not an absolute cause. Korean land is by no means a barren land so poorly favored by nature.) The second is that, however well the people raise their forests, they cannot freely build fine houses with the timber as beams and pillars, so there is little need to grow large timber. The third is that the people's knowledge has not been opened, so they lack knowledge of afforestation and the foresight to think of the future; for this reason they know only how to [?] and not how to plant. The fourth is the ondol fireplace, which is said to remain hungry even after devouring this mountain and that. It bears some of the responsibility for the bareness of the forests.
Context
Why Hu Shi judged the 1911 revolution a failure
The cable summarized in the Tonga Ilbo matches views Hu Shi had held since he returned from the United States. At Columbia he studied under John Dewey, became Dewey's translator and was strongly influenced by him. Hu returned to China in 1917 and found that the country had not changed radically from the one he had left seven years earlier, even though the 1911 revolution had produced a republic. He and other intellectuals who had studied abroad concluded that traditional Chinese culture had to be totally regenerated for the new Western-style government to succeed. In 1917 the Peking intellectuals agreed to keep away from politics for twenty years and devote themselves to educational, intellectual and cultural work. The speech as the paper reported it restates that program: only the outward form of government had changed, and the Chinese had neglected modern civilization and the training of youth. The paper calls Hu a disciple of an authority whose name cannot be read on the page. The independently documented fact is that Hu was Dewey's student and translator.
How the article's economic lesson departs from Hu Shi's own method
The second half of the article draws a conclusion the cable does not attribute to Hu. A political revolution, the writer argues, produces results only when it carries economic meaning, and its leaders must understand how a society's economic and political organization relate. This emphasis on economic structure belongs to the Seoul writer. Hu was known for advocating gradual change and solving individual problems through cool, reflective study. He also believed it was futile to hope that abstract formulas such as Marxism and anarchism would solve all of China's problems. The article therefore uses Hu's authority and his verdict of failure as the starting point for its own argument about economic organization. Readers should keep apart what Hu is reported to have said and what the paper concluded from it.
China's war for reunification as the anniversary passed
Hu's verdict reached Seoul while China was at war over the unfinished business of 1911. The Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition to reunify a country that had fragmented after the 1911 Revolution. Chiang Kai-shek formally opened the campaign on 9 July 1926 when he accepted command. In the weeks before this issue appeared, the expedition had reached the Yangtze. Wu Peifu's remaining troops in the walled city of Wuchang held out for more than a month until the city was taken on 10 October. The legible part of the article does not mention the fighting. It treats the revolution's failure as a matter of culture, the training of youth and economic organization, while armies in central China were deciding by force who would govern the republic.
Choe Hyeon-bae and his serial on national rebirth
Choe Hyeon-bae signed himself a Bachelor of Letters. He had graduated from the philosophy department of Kyoto Imperial University in 1925 and began teaching at Yonhee Technical School in 1926. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, he wrote 'The Way to the Rebirth of the Korean Nation' in 1925, as his ten years of study in Japan came to an end. The Dong-A Ilbo ran it in 66 installments in 1926, and it came out as a book in 1930. The core third chapter set out the principles of national rebirth, first rousing national vitality and then establishing national ideals. It also stressed the need for firm conviction in rebirth. These principles match the subtitle printed over this eighteenth installment. The work has been described as combining pedagogy with nationalist enlightenment ideals. In this installment Choe applies that approach to deforestation. He sets aside climate as an absolute cause and blames the people's lack of forestry knowledge and foresight, as well as the fuel demands of the ondol. He treats bare mountains as a measure of the nation's civilization.
The Dong-A Ilbo as a channel for foreign ideas under colonial rule
Both pieces appeared in a Korean-owned daily that existed only because of a limited concession. After suppressing the March First Movement of 1919, the colonial government announced that it would allow a small number of Korean-owned newspapers to be established. The Dong-A Ilbo, founded in 1920, became highly popular as a place to share foreign ideas. That role explains why a cable about a Chinese thinker's speech in Britain could open a front-page discussion of revolution. The paper also worked under the constant threat of suspension. In March 1926 it published a speech about the anniversary of the March First Movement, and another suspension followed. The page dates itself by the Japanese era name, Taishō 15. Within those limits, the paper drew lessons for Korean readers from China's failed revolution and ran a serial on how the Korean nation could revive.
Original
中國革命과胡適氏의演說
木曜】 大正十五年十月十四日中國革命 과 胡適氏 의 演說一外電 에 依 하면 留英中國學生中央聯合會 가 開催 한 中國 의 共和國成立十五周年記念祝賀會席上 에서 胡適氏 의 一場演說 이잇섯다 는 中民國 의 革命 이 明白 히 失敗 하엿다하고 單只表面的政府 의 形體 가 變更 하엿슴에 不過 하다 고하엿다 그리하야 中國民 이 近代世界 와 新文明 의 理解 에 努力 하지안코 靑年養成 에 熱心 하지 안엇슴을 指摘 하엿다고한다 電文 이너머 簡單 하야 文意 를 充分 히 解釋 하기어려운 點 이만흔뿐아 니라 胡適氏 는 中國 에잇서서 權威 잇는 『[?] 스』 의 學徒 인 點 으로미 허쓰지못하던바에 잇섯다는것 은 一般 이 認定 하는바이엇슴은 나 四 그럼으로 胡適氏 의 意見 에 依 하 야새로 發見 되는 特別原理 는아니 지만은 다시 深刻 한 體驗 을 通 하 야 부르지지느니만큼우리에게 주는 暗示 는 不凡 하지아니한줄을 밋는다 即政治革命 이라는것은 經濟的意味 를가지는 時 에비로 소 革命 의 効果 가나는것이오 그리하라고하면 그 先導者 는그 社會 에잇는 經濟組織 과 政治組織 의 關係及經濟的實際 에 關 한 正
更生의道
朝鮮民族更生 의 道 【十八】 生氣振作 - 理想樹立 - 更生確信 - 不斷努力文學士崔鉉培山林 은그 國民 의 文明程度 를 示 하는것이다고하는 朝鮮山 의 濯濯 한 原因 을생각하야보면 려가지의 原因 이잇다 첫재는 質 과 雨量等 이 樹木 의 生長 에 當 하기 日本土地 와 가튼 天惠 잇지아니한것 (勿論 이것이 絶原因 은못된다 朝鮮土地 가 決 그다지 天惠 가적은 不毛 의 地 가 니다) 이오둘재는 人民 이아모 山林 을잘길우어노하도 棟樑 의 하게집을잘지어볼수가업기때문 에 大材木 은기를 必要 가 적은것 이그한아이오 셋재는 民智 가열니지못하야 造林 에 對 한 智識 이업스며 또 將來 를생각하는 遠慮 가업기때문에 [?] 줄만알고 심을줄은모르는것이그 한아이오 넷재는이 山 저 山 다잡아먹어도 어훌하다는 溫突 의아궁지가 山林濯濯 에 對 하야 多少 의 責任 을진다