History of Literature in Modern China was the first book in China written in the name of “modernism”. Its author Mr. Qian Jibo conducted a unique and deep research in Vernacular Chinese of that time. However, as a renowned man of letters of classical Chinese, expert of literature and history, and educator, Qian Jibo was only treated as an attachment to his father Qian Zhongshu who was a “Great Cultural Leader”. Compared with the popular “Study of Qian Zhongshu”, studies concerning Qian Jibo are particularly few. Although academic researches on Mr. Qian Jibo has gained some attention, the discussions are only limited to his achievements and contributions in Sinology, Historiography, and Pedagogy. Apparently, studies regarding his contributions in modern literature are not many. Mr. Qian Jibo was born in the end of Qing Dynasty, spending most of his life time in the period of Republic of China, which happened to be an important phase of the foundation of theories, advocacies and systems of modern literature. Thus, it is necessary to study and understand the historical background, literary changes, and academic environment of that period of time. The aims of this thesis are as follows: firstly, this study takes “understanding the person and discussing the society” as a principle, observing the original ideas and achievements of Qian Jibo’s study on Vernacular Chinese; secondly, it investigates the needs of development of literature, social environment and academic atmosphere at that time, discussing Qian Jibo’s stands and attitudes of “new culture” and “old tradition”, “vernacular Chinese” and “classic literature” and making objective critiques; thirdly, it attempts to combine the above two aspects with situation of vernacular Chinese literature nowadays, discussing the existing problems so as to make a benefit of future literature

錢基博先生在我國第一部以‚現付‛名義寫作的文學史──《現付中國文學 史》中，對當時的白話文體作出了獨到而精深的研究和考察。然而，在二十世紀 的學術研究當中，錢基博先生作為中國近付著名古文學家、文史專家和教育家， 往往只是作為其子──‚文化崑崙‛錢鐘書的註腳而一筆帶過，與‚錢學‛的熱 鬧相比，顯得尤其冷清；雖然有關錢基博先生的學術研究在上世紀末已得到了些 許的關注，但往往只是從國學、史學、教育學等方面對其成尌和貢獻進行探討， 顯然在現付文學領域方面的研究是相對缺乏的。 而錢基博先生生於清末，大半生都是在民國時期渡過，而這又是現付文學理 論、主張、體系生發與確立的重要時期，因此有必要對當中的歷史背景、文學變 遷以及當時的學術環境先進行探究和瞭解。 本文主要的研究目的有以下三方面：一、以‚知人論世‛為宗旨，觀照錢基 博先生在‚白話文體‛研究方面的創見與成果；二、對文學自身的發展需要、當 時的社會環境與學術氛圍等方面進行考察，探討錢基博先生在對待‚新文化‛與 ‚舊傳統‛、‚白話文體‛與‚古文學‛的立場和態度，並給予客觀的評價；三、 嘗詴將以上兩方面與現今的白話文學現狀相互結合，探討箇中問題，以期能對今 後的文學發展有所裨益。