Speaker

Yu Yang

Host

Tang Xiaolin

Introduction

After a brief comparison of the lives of modern thinker Liang Shumin and historian Gao Hua, young scholar Jiang Xulin (who died in 2016) raised the important question of ‘mental strength resilience and tradition’ in response to the so-called ‘crisis’ of liberalism in mainland China. This report will adopt  this question  as a guide, and from the perspective of ‘tradition and modernity’, through He Zhaotian’s comprehension and commentary of Liang Shuming, aim to grasp He’s many thoughts on the relationship between ‘the comprehension and reconstruction of ethnic traditions  and  culture’ and ‘mental strength’. On this basis, Yu Yang hopes to respond to Jiang Xulin’s partner Vivian’s somber commentary regarding Jiang’s tragic death: ‘It is by chasing this idealistic brilliance that you transcend the real suffering of childhood. However, it is this same idealistic brilliance that draws a chasm between you and real life.After all, its purity cannot extend to life, because life itself grows out of the soil. You chase it away, and you put me, and your sister, outside the world of your dreams; However, you can’t transcend  yourself, and your struggle is so thrilling that you finally extinguish the fire of life.’