Abstract：The existing narrative of modern academic history was nearly dominated by the School of New Culture and the Movement for Rearranging the National Heritage. However, the School of New Culture was not the only one in the group of modern Chinese classics studies, and the old generation of scholars has occupied an important position in the academic circle of the Republic of China for quite a long time.
On July 29, 1937, when Beiping was occupied by the enemy, Jiang Chaozong, Li Jingming, Qian Tong gathered up the old scholars of the former Qing dynasty and frustrated politicians living in Beiping to establish “the Beijing Ancient Academy”. After many setbacks, “the Beijing Ancient Academy” was formally established on November 1, 1938, with Jiang Chaozong as the president, Zhang Yanqing as the vice president, and Wu Tingxie, Yang Zhongxi, Qu Xuanying, Zhou Zhaoxiang, Huang Binhong and others as the members of the council. “The Beijing Ancient Academy” declared that with the purpose of “preserving the traditional culture”, the Group of Confucian Classics, the Group of History, the Group of Various Schools of Thought in pre-Qin, the Group of Literature, the Group of Inscriptions on Ancient Bronzes and Stone Tablets, the Group of Catalogue Collation, and the Group of Art were set to make academic research. At the same time, “The Beijing Ancient Academy” compiled the Journal of Traditional Culture, organized examinations, and set up lecture places. Based on the overall sequence of modern traditional culture studies, this paper fully absorbs the advanced research of the old generation of scholars in the Republic of China. Taking the newly published Li Jingming Archives in the Collection of the Institute of Modern History as a clue, and combining relevant collected works, newspapers, archives, memories, biographies and other documents, this paper focuses on the origin of the establishment of “the Beijing Ancient Academy”, the discussion on grouping and discipline division, the disagreement on the compilation of the Zizhi Tongjian of the Qing Dynasty and the eventual reorganization into the Academy of Chinese Classics Studies. Therefore, it can be seen that due to the embarrassment of the political identity of the old scholars and the divergence of their respective academic positions, the group was destined to be in a dilemma in the practice of traditional culture studies, and there were many constraints causing the difficulty continuing the academic concepts of the old scholars in the mid- and late-Republic of China. “The Beijing Ancient Academy” and the Academy of Chinese Classics Studies advocated the rescue and revitalization of Chinese classics studies in the occupied areas, which displayed the suspicion of presenting a false appearance of peace and prosperity.
Through a systematic and in-depth examination of the operation and academic interests of “the Beijing Ancient Academy”, this paper explores the academic practices and survival situation of the old generation of scholars in “the Beijing Ancient Academy” and assists in showing the complexities of Chinese classics studies in the 1930s and 1940s, revealing the diversified paths of modern academic changes, and providing references for the exploration of the effective ways of traditional academic transformation.
马运娟 张凯. 北京古学院与民国老辈的国学研究[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 0, (): 1-.
Ma Yunjuan Zhang Kai. “The Beijing Ancient Academy” and the Study of Chinese Traditional Culture by the Old Scholars in the Republic of China. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 0, (): 1-.
