Fu Sinian

Early years

Fu was born on March 26, 1896 in Shandong, 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 government, excelling in mathematics, English, and Chinese. In 1913, Fu was accepted by the preparatory school of Peking University where he ranked first upon graduation in humanities division.

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 May Fourth Movement and was one of the major students leaders. On the morning of May 4, 1919, Fu led a group of approximate 3000 students to protest the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, which ceded the Shandong province to Japan.

In 1920, Fu went to Europe to continue his education. His first stop was University College London. 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 because the high inflation in Germany after World War I 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 Oct 1926, Fu accepted an offer from Sun Yat-sen University 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 Academia Sinica, and remained as director until his death.

In 1929, Fu moved the Institute of History and Philology to Peking and started to teach at Peking University, 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 government, a puppet government controlled by Japanese force during World War II. During his term, Fu also recruited many famous scholars at that time, such as Ji Xianlin and Zhu Guangqian.

Fu did not shy away from controversy. After organization of the path-breaking Yinxu excavations, he published his East Yi West Xia theory about the origin of prehistory culture in current China, 1933. 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 concepts "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 guoyi as being not scientific remains a point of debate. Despite his own call for historical objectivity, Fu opposed the Japanese aggression 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 Soong's resignation of T. V. Soong. Soong resigned some days later due to mounting public pressure. In 1948, Fu attempted suicide but was saved because of the retreat of KMT forces in the civil war. Fu went to Taiwan in the earlier part of 1949. On 20 January 1949, he was appointed President of National Taiwan University. In July, Fu was accused of recruiting faculty members with communist backgrounds. An article published in a local newspaper said that National Taiwan University 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.

In December 1950, Fu died in the Provincial Assembly of Taiwan at the age of 55 due to hypertension. The Fu Ssu-nien Library of the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan was named in his honor.

Famous quotes

"There are only 21 hours available per day because the remaining 3 hours are reserved for self-reflection."

Comments from Fu's friends

Famous Chinese scholar Hu Shi said that Fu Sinian is one of the best educators and charismatic leaders of his time.

Selected articles written by Fu