Hu Xiansu mistakenly identified as Chen Duxiu in photo alongside Hu Shih
（译：胡适旁边的胡先骕被错认为陈独秀）
by Jeremy Brown
Hi everyone,
Following up on Joseph W. Esherick's "Tracking an
Iconic Photograph" (PRC History 1, no. 3, Dec. 2015), I feel compelled
to write this self-criticism because I have been mistakenly using a
different iconic photo circulating on the internet. I don't remember
how I originally found the image, but I've been using it on PowerPoint
slide in my modern China class to discuss Chen Duxiu and Hu Shih, even
asking the students to analyze the mens' clothing and bearing. Two days
ago, after a fruitful discussion about gowns, top hats, canes, glasses,
and leather shoes, an undergraduate named Walter approached me and
said, "That's not Chen Duxiu, it's Hu Xiansu." He showed me Hu Xiansu's
Wikipedia page. I thanked him, promised I would look into it, and...it
looks like Walter was right:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4c2373c30102vkoa.html
http://wap.sciencenet.cn/blogview.aspx?id=943544
Many
Chinese books, as well as the New World Encyclopedia online, reproduce
this error, confirming Esherick's point that scholars should treat
photos as critically as we treat textual sources. Time to revise my
lecture slides. Hu Xiansu des erves it.
