Top 10 Masters of Traditional Chinese Culture
The traditional Chinese culture is extensive and profound. In Modern China, we have seen lots of masters of Chinese national culture who made great contribution in Chinese language, literature and culture studies or other fields. Below is a list of Chinese who are reputed as top 10 Masters of Chinese Cultures
1. Wang Guowei 王国维 (1877～1927)
Wang Guowei was a noted Chinese scholar, poet and historian. His main contributions are philological studies of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, as well as a concise history of the theaters of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Wang was the first to apply Western philosophy, aesthetics, and literary theory to the study of Chinese history and literature.
2. Qian Zhongshu 钱钟书 (1910～1998)
Qian Zhongshu was a modern writer and expert on classical Chinese literature. He is best known for his satiric novel Fortress Besieged and his groundbreaking study of the Chinese literary canon, Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters.
3. Hu Shi 胡适 (1891～1962)
Hu Shi was a Chinese philosopher and essayist. Hu is recognized as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform. He was also an influential radiology scholar and held the famous Jiaxu manuscript for many years until his death.
4. Lu Xun 鲁迅 (1881～1936)
Lu Xun is recognized as China’s greatest modern writer of 20th century and the founder of modern Chinese literature. He was also an important critic known for his sharp and unique essays on the historical traditions and modern conditions of China. His main works include Diary of a Madman, The True Story of Ah Q and Selected Stories of Lu Hsun.
5. Liang Qichao 梁启超 (1873～1929)
Liang Qichao was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist. He was the foremost intellectual leader of China in the first two decades of the 20th century. His important works include History of Chinese Political Thought During the Early Tsin Period and Intellectual Trends in the Ch’ing Period.
6. Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培 (1868～1940)
Cai Yuanpei was a Chinese educator and revolutionary. He was known for his critical evaluation of Chinese culture and synthesis of Chinese and Western thinking, including anarchism. He served as head of Peking University in Beijing from 1916 to 1926 and assembled influential figures in the New Culture and May Fourth Movements.
7. Zhang Taiyan 章太炎(1869～1936)
Zhang Taiyan was a Chinese philologist, textual critic, philosopher and activist. He is considered as one of the most prominent Confucian scholars in early 20th-century China. His famous philological work is Wen Shi, the first systematic work of Chinese etymology.
8. Chen Yinke 陈寅恪(1890～1969)
Chen Yinke was a sinologist and a fellow of Academia Sinica. His main works include The Origins of Sui and Tang Institutions: A Brief Account, On the Political History of the Tang Dynasty, and An Alternative Biography of Liu Rushi.
9. Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892～1978)
Guo Moruo is a famous Chinese writer and scholar. His representative works include the poetry collection The Goddesses (1921), historical play Ch’ü Yüan (1942). He also wrote numerous studies on Chinese archaeology, history, and literature.
10. Feng Youlan 冯友兰(1895～1990)
Feng Youlan is a philosopher, historian of Philosophy and educator. His two-volume History of Chinese Philosophy, which utilized Western historical methods, established his reputation and was the standard general history of Chinese philosophy until the late 20th century.
