From Vernacular to Transcendence: The life History of an Obscure Intellectual of Modern China.

摘要

This thesis studies the life history of an obscure intellectual in modern China, Peng Zhaoliang (1901-63). He was born in Haimen of Jiangsu, and spent most of his time working as a journalist in Shanghai. I analyze Peng's life in terms of two dimensions: ''external life history'' and ''internal life history,'' the former referring to a chronological record of major events in Peng's life: his birth, growth, aging and death, the latter referring to Peng's self-reflection and his pursuit of moral perfection.;Peng's external life history is relatively straightforward. When he was twenty years old, Peng went to Shanghai the first time to pursue higher education at Fudan University. After graduation, he stayed in Shanghai, working as a journalist for a number of magazines. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, he took refuge with his wife and children in his Haimen hometown. After the war, he went back to Shanghai again to continue his journalism career. I study Peng's writings to examine his views on politics, economy, military affairs, literature and gender-related issues, science and technology, as well as numerology and spiritual belief.;Peng's internal life history is more complex, it is related to his external life history but also heavily affected by his self-reflection and intellectual twists and turns. Throughout his life, Peng endeavored to find out ''the true nature of himself,'' or, in Buddhist term, the ''prakrti.'' Between 1929 and 1930, Peng vaguely realized the existence of his ''inner self''. However, it was not until a dozen years later that he explicitly acknowledged its existence. Buddhist theory about one seeing one's nature by engaging in introspection, and Ming philosopher Wang Yangming's theory are used to analyze Peng's psyche. Between 1946 and 1949, Peng devoted himself to studying the Buddhist scriptures. He also kept paying close attention to the ''soundless sound'' made by his ''inner self.'' Meanwhile, he presented what he thought and knew to the public through his journal articles, an act of ''benefiting oneself and others'' according to Buddhist teaching.;This thesis concludes that the material life and intellectual landscape of Peng Zhaoliang are closely connected, but the linkage is subtle and complex, and cannot be satisfactorily solved by positivist research. Metaphysical issues like values and significance require researchers to equip themselves with intuition and imagination, in addition to positivism.;I conclude with a mapping of Peng's intellectual landscape.