Chapter 4: Symposia with Socrates

In November 1947, when the Chinese Civil War was in full swing, a dialogue appeared in the Beijing-based Wenxue zazhi 文學雜誌 (Literary journal) announcing the arrival in the former capital of a special guest—Socrates. Yes, that Socrates: the Athenian philosopher, the teacher of Plato. Professor Zhŭ and Mr. Lin, the other participants in the dialogue, pass Socrates on a Beijing street, recognize him by his snub nose and wide mouth, and cannot believe their eyes. The foreigner, however, not only claims to be Socrates but also acts like Socrates. Invited to a gathering, he gets lost on the way, just as he does in Plato's Symposium. Even more convincingly, he shows an unrivaled drinking capacity. Plato records that Socrates is a great wine drinker, and no one ever sees him drunk. Who could fake such an ability?This must be Socrates himself. In the turbulence of the Chinese Civil War, a turbulence that left civil and intellectual life unsettled, he comes to Beijing. Not bothering to inform anyone of his arrival, he lodges in a small apartment and talks to people on the street, as he used to do in the Athenian marketplace. Undoubtedly, he is waiting for China's serious minds, and Professor Zhŭ and Mr. Lin, two intellectuals perplexed by the ongoing catastrophe, cannot afford to let Socrates go. They immediately engage him in a conversation about the cultural and intellectual problems in China, problems that the war has exacerbated. This conversation becomes the dialogue “Sugeladi zai Zhongguo: Tan Zhongguo minzuxing he Zhongguo wenhua de ruodian” 蘇格拉底在中國——談中國民族性和中國文化的弱點 (Socrates in China: The national character of China and the weakness of Chinese Culture).1 The person who recorded the conversation is Zhu Guangqian, an established scholar, who presents himself in the discourse as one Professor Zhŭ. In the first days of 1948, Shen Congwen, the greatest nativist novelist of the 1930s and ’40s, published his essay “Sugeladi tan Beiping suoxu” 蘇格拉底談北平所需 (Socrates discusses what Beiping needs),2 recounting a conversation with the philosopher that took place on Christmas Eve of 1947.Thus, in imitation of Plato's Symposium, the two Chinese intellectuals wrote the Socratic essays at a critical moment in China's history. The brutal eight-year war with Japan had ended, and they had returned from China's hinterland to the old capital. But peace was short-lived. A civil war had begun almost as soon as the Japanese withdrew, and in 1947, it was difficult to predict which side would prevail. This was a time of turbulence and aporia, in which every Chinese heart was filled with equal parts of hope and despair. Evoking the voice of Socrates, the first icon of the Western philosophical tradition, the writers made efforts to understand the history unfolding before them. They came from different backgrounds and had different approaches to the same foreign tradition, but both responses, in words and deeds, epitomized the strivings and tragedies of one generation on the eve of China's epochal change in 1949.However, before we set out to investigate the a was Socrates to to Beijing in the Zhu and Shen to him to in moment of China is was in the with the Chinese intellectuals about China's as a who his with China and who in does for both Socrates and the Chinese as as for the Chinese intellectual that and the a drinking in the of the first as a in the the of in the the at the of Athenian immediately the just one which to the of Athenian at the of the moment was and The of a for a In Plato's is and and and is the and at the he becomes a in of the Athenian The of the Socrates and his to their and the the people to the of the of in Plato's Symposium. the and and and the different of from the to They as for in of But we do not in a of the drinking we of it an a a Socrates who him to the the of the Symposium, of Socrates, to the of about the out to the he first that his is he has it from and Socrates himself has of in Plato's as a for of the on the of the from to of the voice of who for he in the to the same of of him about about Socrates. is when Socrates his conversation with from also a the dialogue at the of the Symposium. with which not to be as he has the same to just the This as a to the conversation with the of the Symposium, with the of and the to the of and does Plato The to also be the to with his Chinese The Socratic dialogue Socrates as a in the of as Plato and the first writers of the it is the character Socrates in their is is the a to the philosophical the Socratic came to the philosopher his Socrates such a is his when we in a philosophical also an in the dialogue his is in the of who is on the of the Symposium, the the of the of Socrates in his for the of the of the his a the is by his two that his as of Socrates is and it has at in the dialogue, to the for This is a as an of the and dialogue in the and in the same and the same as the dialogue the of the the of Socrates. Not only for but also as as the in the dialogue with Socrates. a that the does in in the dialogue that records his Socrates a a himself is at that a moment in Plato's of Socrates. that he to his with his to a to to him by their Socrates he not and both and we not to it to life is of his with his to his to the on their in the is not he The that is at is the of the The Socratic dialogue must Socrates for to the of the and to and a The of Socrates is also a of the The of the Symposium, from his The which the which the more the of the the of a it is the Socratic dialogue, that Socrates. and of in the Socratic dialogue, as other in their and to and to be by the as as the the dialogue is Socrates to The dialogue becomes the that Socrates and him to the Socrates also the of the the that the his is not to the Socrates comes to life to that would be like his as in tradition, in Socrates came to two Chinese when the perplexed by the their and that of their Zhu and Shen with Socrates, the and the Socrates and his Chinese had a to which the of to China, a that had begun in the In Socrates appeared as a was in an in an history in an of in history in when his in a his to the by which Chinese people him the In and essays that Western he a of the in from a to a soon he a in This the for a more in Chinese intellectual the of Chinese intellectual the for both the and of the at a time when their the intellectual and In cultural when the of the for Plato is one of the writers on A intellectual and for China's that every Chinese and the about and of Plato's in his of Western a of cultural to Socrates. The of the the of former of In the first of their the the of Socrates was that of The to what they as the of the cultural in by from tradition, and they Socrates as as both the of the they a of the and China was in essays The Socrates and Chinese essays from that a essay about the way, The of not their as only their A was for the their for the and the of to the They and to and who by that they had their and had their that they be the but not to for their with their that it not be but not it with a to their of the anyone Not only has no one but also who to it and Plato is the first of great as an for the Chinese of the foreign philosopher and his This be as of the the two But from essays like the one Plato and his as a to the Chinese of and a to a foreign in the of the Symposium, as as in the two Socratic a a foreign on a in the two different first Chinese of the in was also published in the The was an of the of the in In more he has an of his essays has But in the he was a in the to the about the of Chinese was in both Chinese and Western A is his of and he from and Zhu Guangqian, at with Professor the former of the But Zhu every for the In his to a of the In in him to his former to the of also in in to to In when he returned to China at for a he was one of a of Chinese at that time who could and had with and at in but his was in when he was the that two and published with and in a great of The the and of Socrates by of the in the to the that he his on and and also to for his and not only to but also in and the in that a of foreign not the of the great does not which he it is from in the their that both and used a in his by the just like the by the The in was by the in an that before the took place and is used by to the of the the the by the The of is in which is in the is that he from the is in In the no more a the of the as the for the was the used in the the of Chinese it to the of the as the of the the a Chinese The to be by the Chinese tradition, at on the the of the of the for who is such an old and great no has ever a of The two and and in and is and as is a with the of the and In way, is the Chinese that has history foreign This of to to Chinese in the they in the from the and was a in a way, a his and in with a he with from that by his the and that a he was the Symposium, he to the same and made the to Chinese of a that is with the that the of other not be it was in In the to both the and the the the of that In the his that his not Plato to The two to This the of who the problems of to in The is the in the of in to the the their the a time they had and they and not the but as the he the the as made no as the the of the he the and the of with a to the and in the of the foreign to China, does in a as to the as he was and to the first to the is no and the in the This is a with the of a great foreign to China and it to Chinese his life a the of the as an he with his on a of the a in In the when Zhu and Shen wrote their Socratic and which and published by a in was the only for who not foreign had a the of Chinese in the of Zhu Guangqian, only of was he to in the In his Zhu the by to and a his he to be to for a when in to Chinese they a they must the was an of that but he would of to his in a Zhongguo of Chinese from he of and difficult for as they and that people to But in tragedies and of they of and they the of The is immediately by a of a great Chinese and a The of the in his is a for his in the same essay he who the old and of the to as they do on the of they understand that and not to the of This was a to essays Beijing and one of the at that a of intellectuals in the and other of which as the of the But Zhu has an the of tragedies and their to a Chinese could the of and Chinese as as the of that Chinese But Zhu in the of both and as The is for a Chinese intellectual who and both and him to be and at the same the different would not In Socratic dialogue, we would the dialogue that the Chinese to his as a of and the of the and was to to the of both Western and Chinese In a from In a published to a Zhu out a from a by the and the the of This who the could be from the in which the was to an In the of civil it was no other the that the from his when the was filled with and would with the Zhu made when he was in in the the same in from the who to be is to recognize just in the of his Socratic dialogue, in China: the of China and the of Chinese a we Zhu to about and other of the Symposium, but what Professor and Mr. is the China's national character for the two about a of problems in China, such as the and the of Socrates as a to the they recognize that the of problems is the in China's cultural In the of the dialogue, they to a in the of Chinese Socrates to a for other the of which in the of Chinese the dialogue Socrates and his Chinese at a A his with China, Socrates is as in Plato's to be an equal of his Chinese their and in their conversation in to the problems in The Chinese intellectuals with Socrates is to the intellectual Socrates as in But at the two intellectuals by Socrates and In other the moment in which they the philosophical the of from the of Zhu Guangqian, to the for in the Western in in a The to de of one of his on is in a dialogue with Western the from to and and on the and of on a that had as as the in is also that with ongoing dialogue the a not only the of the Western but also his to be a in the conversation Zhu to as a the dialogue in at the moment when Socrates to the for his and the of Chinese Socrates a in of in Western is his Chinese him that Socrates about in the of we a to Socrates to the out to be Zhu the to for his to the of shows the by a who a from the in a when different parts of the efforts to an equal his to the of to his his tradition, as he the different and his Western and Chinese cultural the of he does at the to The in his Socratic in to be a Socratic the of the dialogue, the participants that it was in and Socrates for to the of the the dialogue is to the of to the it is in as a of in a that Socrates a is what the two intellectuals Socrates the and in the to that of and he does not with the that Chinese is to Western but the that both in the and in Socratic has more the of the from and Professor Zhŭ an intellectual with the of his This is the Zhu to himself. Zhu had to the war Beijing in the of he at in China's hinterland and had with both the intellectuals and his on in and before the Zhu an of the and in when the the his as a at of he a the in to his for the at that time and of national to in a of he a of the in 1947, an that would from the 1948, Zhu published an essay and of in which he life to a and people who and people who The former and other who of in the and who history. In the 1930s Zhu had on the of the first but he to his of the an established scholar, essay is his on his he on the of a for the first time in his life to from his to In essay from the same he himself as who to in and that who in do the Zhu more in the and and wrote more essays with China's in the in to the national life in one no one could the that an in to the of life and that Plato's Socrates, the philosophical is in the the philosopher to and to the of is more just a of it is such a that is in Socratic The and in dialogue that in the Socrates who to in and from who only to it in and Socrates that they of to be as as in a The of is an intellectual his in a as his In is the of The of a philosopher from and and from what in The In the Socrates in The recorded by does and is with the the and in the the and to his in of his of used his life to his of what to be a The that a Socratic philosopher a to and This is an critical that to in to a of that had the Athenian the In a a which was in a place out of the was a of and came to be with and and In Plato's Symposium, the and Athenian as a is by the of one of which is to be the of the in the of with and and by a is and to drunk. in the by Socrates as an of to the of the Socrates in his Socrates, who to be and the of the the on Socrates in was the as in The But in the of the was not just that he was a like the of The but that he was the the time of who had a of Socrates and a of at the time of the had the in the history of the was the of the an to more But at the of that when to for he to the of in the War, and an The out to be a that to the of the was a the history of the In the of the Athenian Socrates could not as his a the The about the Socrates and In the Socrates that he and as a the of the the The Symposium, the of Socrates, to as of his about his of his the that Socrates was the Plato Socrates was ever from the Athenian the of in the Symposium, that moment of Athenian history the the of in the philosophical a philosopher be as to a in an Athenian the words of Zhu what about not but the a philosopher, is the on which he his as an the that him a Socrates in the when China's intellectuals by the of the could not more In the Zhu Guangqian, as as Shen Congwen, to a the by of and at in Beijing. the War and a to the of the intellectuals in the was as a from the of life in China, had Zhu and had a from their A of a Zhu his at an in a in and his at de The him to the Shen his in the as a and for a time a in he who had in the and the was to about China's more the to by their But as writers and by at a critical from the civil war a of to a China by of the two which the that they both and of the of the was a difficult in the of 1948, the of the and was in of the the of the was to Beijing. the old writers and had to what they would who had from the Zhu and Shen Congwen, with Socrates a in published an essay the and In the Beijing out both Shen and Zhu as of and his in who in the not their They would cultural in the of the for the with the of the intellectuals before the In other in for their in the the intellectuals would to with the of the Socrates his life to The of Socrates was not from their their to Shen In the of Zhu Guangqian, his in the could not the The from in the of on and his published that Zhu to be a who was not to do to the as people But the of the was his could a his the that not for the we about and from we be that he in and and himself as a of his and is a small published in The essay from the who of other the of and which he claims is when an is the the of like The of the essay could be as a of for the but in the of the civil it also could his with and his for Zhu and of his Beijing a for Zhu made to the but he in Beijing and would of the of his life November two the with Socrates and two the of the of China, Zhu published a in the In a he for his for the as a he also on his from the of in the of the was an the a to the who would in him with a in the the of of his the of Zhu was with to the he a at and was as a a in the when was in the when the had a he a In the he was also in a great with a who a In Zhu his of and of the and his the of the as he himself we his the Socratic we that to the his of and in the and his and In the he was the of history and was to full and the Socratic of a from their both and his Zhu was a of the tradition, but his of not his in the the two at the of the Socratic is the of and the foreign and Chinese in their cultural and also a life of both their and This is the Socrates, and not came to Chinese they to Socrates in Socrates was a and The arrival of Socrates in China the of in a of and in the of of a and to with the the same time when Zhu him in the Beijing Socrates, with his and the he was on China's This be for the of Zhu Socrates. In the Zhu with the and the Symposium, from the in which the former intellectuals the the of an the that Zhu to Socrates and the Socrates to Socrates was The Socrates and the of Shen in his was the Shen and the in his his which to A who to a his he about Even in essay about Socrates, he of the and that Socrates, in Beijing in 1947, would be on himself Socrates to The of Beiping was by the Chinese to a with the Western essay was just one in the of Shen in the In 1948, a the of the Socratic he was Zhu Guangqian, from the the Zhu could be more to the with Shen more The had two of in the his people and their for and in the first of the War, of the writers and cultural in and he his about the of and his who the of But is a of to that Shen a when the national for the of the was Shen of that Shen wrote is to be by In the the from his set on a great In the two he to and essays about his in the used to and of and in The of the to Chinese a of China's Shen was of his and himself a of the in the that his In the of 1948, he his that he was to be the and at that the not in the Shen was also for to a from an and a his at a was a of for him and the for his the in The the of the of the in the old Chinese of a and a the the in the Shen and was not as as it appeared from the The was in in the he a and a not to the The essay which of his with different and to the of the in China out to be of by the to a at the of the In Shen him a a but to of that he to in the of in Beijing and would as a for the in Shen to his old life and two in is a on the history on an which is for to his and as to the of an the of history. is a of a in the of a a of that in the when he to be in with in an has that the of and his to in his and This an of a by his for of he was as as on the eve of an in the Shen to his and But his efforts to to be and in the a of Shen also that his in the of him to a an in of is not an of his he to a Chinese the Socratic essay just before the is not to him as a but to a to a The is not only of his but also of the of an intellectual such a time from to must and a different The Socratic essay he as one of the before his he was when the The by Shen as a to the of his Socrates to Christmas to his of to the of Beiping at the and of the old In the Socratic of a the the of the and the the of is for of for published with an of to the in which was first Chinese in from the is a from a the and a of a a In Beiping is a a of Socrates that the be a of a and be for Shen in the the the turbulence in of the and essay The of essay is from Socrates, the philosopher who by drinking two to the the old what was different from the and more and more different from the from The and the had is by to be from the capital for and not it to be like could and be only has life in the capital but also the people more The in Socrates to not but the of Zhu Shen about in the and him to a in the hope of with essay the of of Socratic a made by the in a to the Shen Socrates as who by the of A is and does it in who the it Shen like Zhu Guangqian, be from the to his would Socrates was for he had in China to the efforts of it was only the came from Plato's is the and the that place on is to and of a from the is by was with of Plato when he wrote his but in and no to in the to the at the of The to in the is when the In about a But in when to the do we the of and that with to to on and But The of the such as and of in to would a for his to and at the approaches of his perplexed a in his is the of a a for Shen and his Socrates. Christmas Eve a to to the it would the he in and the could But as we Socrates, like has to his to the in is a a serious and one in in two to it is such a that has it from the a which the has for more and has the with on his that the of the of the of to what we to do and what we to it we understand the of as a that but also to of This in and his on Socrates. Socrates Zhu the an has for he is also to in the of the Socrates is one of the from which has and and the of dialogue and in which and Socratic dialogue as