Gu Hongming (1856–1928) was a renowned scholar, translator, and cultural conservative during the late Qing and early Republican periods. Having received a Western-style education from an early age, he was fluent in several European languages. He translated Confucius classics “The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius”, “Higher Education” and “The Universal Order or Conduct of Life” into English, introducing Eastern civilisation to the West. He also translated foreign poetry and other works into Chinese. He authored books including “The Spirit of the Chinese People”, advocating the use of traditional Chinese morality and humanistic spirit to remedy the ills of Western material civilisation.
During his early years studying abroad, Gu Hongming would observe traditional Chinese customs during festivals by setting out food offerings and performing the ritual of kneeling and bowing to worship his ancestors.
His foreign friends mocked him, saying, “Do you really think your ancestors can eat the food on the altar?” To which Gu retorted, “When you place flowers at your ancestors’ graves, can the dead actually smell their fragrance?”
In the late Qing and early Republican era, when everyone else was cutting off their queues, he instead grew his back again. When his students at Peking University burst into laughter at the sight, he calmly remarked, “The queue on my head is tangible, but the queue in your hearts is intangible,” thereby satirising the blind adherence to Western ideas prevalent at the time.
#45 辜鸿铭轶事二则
辜鸿铭（1856年—1928年），是清末民初著名的学者、翻译家和文化保守主义者。因为从小接受西式教育，他精通多门欧洲语言。他将儒家经典《论语》《大学》《中庸》等译成英文，向西方介绍东方文明；另一方面将外国诗歌等翻译成中文。他著有《中国人的精神》（又名《春秋大义》）等书，主张用中国的传统道德与人文精神拯救西方物质文明的弊病。
辜鸿铭早年在国外读书时，每逢节庆就按照中国传统，摆设供品、行跪拜礼祭祀祖先。
他的外国朋友们嘲笑他：“这样做，你的祖先就能吃到供桌上的饭菜了吗？”
辜鸿铭反问：“你们在先人墓地摆上鲜花，难道死去的先人还能闻到花的香味吗？”
清末民初，在所有人都纷纷剪去辫子的时候，他反而重新留起了辫子。当他在北大上课引发学生哄笑时，他平静地说：“我头上的辫子是有形的，你们心中的辫子却是无形的。”，以此讽刺当时对西方思想的盲从。