Fu Ssu-nien (; 26 March 1896 – 20 December 1950), was a Chinese historian,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, and writer. He was one of the leaders of the

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chinese ...

in 1919. He was also one of the creators of the

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

, and was named director of the Institute of History and Philology upon its founding in 1928.

Early years

Fu was born on 26 March 1896 in

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, immediately after the First Sino-Japanese War, a time when the traditional systems were being challenged and revolutions were about to happen. In 1909, Fu entered the secondary school set up by

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

government, excelling in mathematics, English, and Chinese. In 1913, Fu was accepted by the preparatory school of

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

where he ranked first upon graduation in humanities division.Wang, Fan-shen, ''Fu Ssu-nien: A life in Chinese history and politics.'' New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000 In 1916, Fu went on to the Chinese Department of Peking University to pursue his bachelor's degree. During his time at the university, Fu gradually changed from a conservative to a radical. In 1919, Fu participated in the famous

and was one of the major students leaders. On the morning of 4 May 1919, Fu led a group of approximate 3000 students to protest the Chinese government's weak response to the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, which ceded the Shandong province to Japan. In 1920, Fu went to Europe to continue his education. His first stop was

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, but then went on to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. Fu registered in the department of Psychology and took most courses at undergraduate level. He also spent a considerable amount of time in medical school courses. In June 1923, Fu traveled to Berlin and studied at

Berlin University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

because the high inflation in Germany after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

gave him a favorable exchange rate. It seemed that Fu never intended to obtain a B.A degree at these overseas institutions. Instead, he advised his friends to utilize this rare chance to pursue as much learning as possible.

Academic career

In October 1926, Fu accepted an offer from

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

and joined the faculty of humanities and social science. He became the department head in 1928. On the national scene, he established the Institute of History and Philology (IHP) of

, and remained as director until his death. In 1929, Fu moved the Institute of History and Philology to Peking and started to teach at

, his alma mater. In 1945, Fu was appointed as acting president of Peking University at the age of 50. In 1946, his second year as the acting president, he excluded many "turncoat" professors who supported the

Wang Jingwei Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...

government, a puppet government controlled by Japanese forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During his term, Fu also recruited many famous scholars at that time, such as

Ji Xianlin Ji Xianlin (; August 6, 1911 – July 11, 2009) was a Chinese Indologist, linguist, paleographer, historian and writer who has been honored by the governments of both India and China. Ji was proficient in many languages including Chinese, Sanskr ...

and

Zhu Guangqian Zhu Guangqian (朱光潛; 19 September 1897 – 6 March 1986) was one of the founder of the study of aesthetics in 20th-century China. History Zhu graduated from the Anhui Province Tongcheng Secondary School. After earning his BA from Hong Kon ...

. Fu did not shy away from controversy. After the organization of the path-breaking Yinxu excavations, he published his

East Yi West Xia East Yi West Xia () is an obsolete theory about the origin of prehistory culture in current China which says that the culture of Shang dynasty was established by two ethnic groups; namely, that the Western part of the Shang dynasty was developed by ...

theory about the origin of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

culture in China. This theory has not been accepted by later scholars, but Fu's approach and techniques were widely influential. He is known due to his pioneering historico-philological research of the concepts of "nature" (''xing'' 性) and "destiny" (''ming'' 命). Rather than making arguments based on philosophy, he developed interpretations proceeding from the archaic morphemes 生 and 令. His condemnation of the

Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

''guoyi'' as being not scientific remains a point of debate. Despite his own call for historical objectivity, Fu opposed the

Japanese aggression This is a list of regions occupied or annexed by the Empire of Japan until 1945, the year of the end of World War II in Asia, after the surrender of Japan. Control over all territories except most of the Japanese mainland (Hokkaido, Honshu, Ky ...

with the quasi-historical claim that Manchuria and Mongolia were not entitled for independence from China. In 1947, after witnessing the drastic deterioration of the economy, Fu published three famous articles calling for the resignation of

T. V. Soong Soong Tse-vung, more commonly romanized as Soong Tse-ven or Soong Tzu-wen (; 4 December 1894 – 25 April 1971), was a prominent businessman and politician in the early 20th-century Republic of China, who served as Premier. His father was Char ...

. Soong resigned some days later due to mounting public pressure. In 1948, Fu attempted suicide but was saved because of the retreat of

KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

forces in the civil war. Fu went to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in the earlier part of 1949. On 20 January 1949, he was appointed President of

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

. In July, Fu was accused of recruiting faculty members with communist backgrounds. An article published in a local newspaper said that, under Fu's leadership,

had turned into a base for communists. Despite Fu's deep belief in academic freedom, he was forced to compromise his beliefs with the political pressure of the day and fire those scholars alleged to have communist ties.歐素瑛〈貢獻這個大學于宇宙的精神－談傅斯年與臺灣大學師資之改善〉 In December 1950, Fu died in the Taiwan Representative Council at the age of 55 due to

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

. Soon after answering questions from assembly member on 20 December, Fu sat down and said to the assembly's secretary-general

Lien Chen-tung Lien Chen-tung (; 23 April 1904 – 1 December 1986) was a Chinese statesman and politician who was the tenth Republic of China Minister of the Interior. Lien was also the first official county magistrate of Taipei County, a representative of ...

, "I’m done! I’m done!", and fell. The announcement of Fu's death by interim assembly chairman the next day caused a protest led by NTU students. Lee stated that "Fu had left this world", but his Hoklo accent made it sound as if Fu had "died of anger" caused by Kuo's questioning.

Legacy

The Fu Ssu-nien Library of the Institute of History and Philology of the

in Taiwan was named in his honor. Fu was known for saying, "There are only 21 hours available per day because the remaining three hours are reserved for self-reflection." Scholar

Hu Shih Hu Shih (; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962), also known as Hu Suh in early references, was a Chinese diplomat, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, and politician. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese libera ...

said that Fu Ssu-nien is one of the best educators and charismatic leaders of his time.

Selected articles written by Fu

*《歷史語言研究所工作之旨趣》(The Life of Working in the Institute of History and Philology) (1928) *《周頌說》(Zhou Song)(1928) *《大東小東說》(The Story of Da Dong and Xiao Dong) (1930) *《論所謂「五等爵」》(Discussion of the Social Stratification) (1930) *《姜原》(Jiang Yuan) (1930) *《明清史料發刊例言》(The History of Ming and Qing Dynasty) (1930) *《夷夏東西說》(

) (1933) *《周東封與殷遺民》(Zhou-Dongfeng and Yin-Yimin) (1934) *《自由與平等》(Freedom and Equality) (between 1948 and 1950) *《蘇聯究竟是一個什麼國家？》(What is the Soviet Union really like?) (between 1948 and 1950) *《我們為什麼要反共？》(Why Are We Anti-communist?) (between 1948 and 1950) *《共產黨的吸引力》(The Attraction of the Communist Party) (between 1948 and 1950)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fu, Sinian 1896 births 1950 deaths 20th-century Chinese historians Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of University College London Chinese anti-communists Deaths from hypertension Educators from Shandong Historians from Shandong Linguists from China Linguists from Taiwan Members of Academia Sinica National Taiwan University faculty National University of Peking alumni Presidents of National Taiwan University Presidents of Peking University Republic of China historians Scientists from Shandong Sun Yat-sen University faculty Taiwanese educators Taiwanese people from Shandong Writers from Liaocheng 20th-century linguists Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan