Enlightened through his father’s love
Born in Qing-era Chuansha County, Jiangsu Province (now Pudong New Area, Shanghai) on December 17, 1891, Hu was doted on by his father, who was 50 at the time of Hu’s birth. When Hu Shih was just two years old, his father, Hu Chuan, brought him to Taiwan, where the elder Hu was stationed in Tainan and Taitung.
With a three-year-old Hu Shih at his side, Hu Chuan composed a book in classical verse called Conduct of Life, teaching his young son to conduct himself with propriety. Unfortunately these idyllic times were to be short-lived, and the following year Hu Chuan fell ill and died.
Hu Shih’s mother, Feng Shundi, was Hu Chuan’s third wife, and his junior by quite a margin. In the large extended families of the late Qing era, a young widow with a small child was expected to grit her teeth, stay low-key, and focus on raising her child. And so it was that Hu Shih learned forgiveness and forbearance from his mother, growing up to become a man of integrity and kindness, committed to teaching in word and deed.
Hu later recalled how his mother fretted over him when he suffered from an eye infection as a child and, having heard that one could cure such infections by licking the affected part, set to work for the sake of her child doing just that. Such great maternal love left an indelible mark on Hu’s spirit, and his deep gratitude to her shines through his writings.
In many fine details of his writings, we can see clearly how diligent a young man Hu was, and the expectations and rigor with which his mother raised him. On display at the Hu Shih Memorial Hall is a Chinese pronunciation guide which Hu copied by hand himself at the age of 13. From the precise and neat handwriting, we can see how dedicated and assiduous he was in his studies.
Once-in-a-generation master Hu Shih created numerous scholarly masterpieces.