In this Book
- The Hall of Three Pines: An Account of My Life
- Book
- 2000
- Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
The Hall of Three Pines begins in the 1890s, during the Chinese empire, and extends to the 1980s. According to Feng, "No age before was swept up in such a maelstrom of convoluted change." The son of a district magistrate, Feng left his home in 1910 at the age of fifteen to study in the provincial capital of Kaifeng and later at the China Academy in Shanghai. During the warlord and Kuomintang years, he graduated from Peking University, obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy under John Dewey at Columbia University, and became a professor of philosophy at several of Chin's most prestigious universities. Fleeing the Japanese invasion, Feng, along with many of his university colleagues, moved south to Changsha and Kunming. After Japan's surrender, he returned to teaching in Beijing and there witnessed the chaos of the Kuomintang-Communist civil war. Feng suffered the fate of many prominent intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution and was rehabilitated after Mao's death. His remaining years were spent in Beijing, at his long-time residence, The Hall of Three Pines, where he continued to work despite the gradual loss of his eyesight. Feng completed The Hall of Pines shortly before returning to the U.S. to receive an honorary degree from Columbia in 1982.
The book is divided into three parts: The first is entitled "Society," which Feng describes as a record of his environment. "Philosophy" concerns Feng's work as an original philosopher and historian of Chinese philosophy and includes extensive excerpts from his own writings and discussions of these by himself and others. The final section, "Universities," is a discussion of education and delves into details of Chinese academic affairs.
The Hall of Three Pines is a monumental work of personal and intellectual history spanning nearly nine decades in the life of modern China's one great philosopher.
Table of Contents
- Translator's Preface
- pp. vii-x
- Author's Preface
- pp. xi-xii
- Part One: Society
- Chapter Two. The Period of the Republic
- pp. 36-133
- Chapter Three. The PRC Period
- pp. 134-201
- Part Two: Philosophy
- Chapter Four. The Twenties
- pp. 205-220
- Chapter Five. The Thirties
- pp. 221-252
- Chapter Six. The Forties
- pp. 253-286
- Chapter Seven. The Fifties and Sixties
- pp. 287-310
- Part Three: Universities
- Chapter Eight. Beijing University
- pp. 313-331
- Chapter Nine. Qinghua University
- pp. 332-348
- Chapter Ten. Southwest Union University
- pp. 349-364
- Chapter Eleven. Conclusion
- pp. 365-374