Stamp Issue : 1990-12-17
Hu Shih (1891-1962), born and educated in Shanghai, went to the U.S.A. in 1910 and gained a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph. D from Columbia. Returning to China in 1917, he served first as professor and then as President of the National Peking University. He was appointed China's wartime Ambassador to the U.S.A. (1938-1942) and President of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan (1958-1962).
Hu Shih is best known as the prime mover of the Chinese Literary Revolution - a movement which aims at the adoption of the living spoken tongue of the people to replace the difficult classical language in literature, writing as well as education.
Hu Shih was the first man to write and publish a volume of poems composed in the spoken language. He also advocated application of the scientific methods in the research of great Chinese classical writings and novels.
His main writings include, Outline of the History of Chinese Philospphy, The Cllected Writings of Hu Shih, History of Spoken Chinese Literature.
