Linguistic Interpretation of Hu Shi's Biography and Differences and Similarities between Chinese and Western Biographies

As a founder of modern Chinese biography theories,Hu has exerted a tremendous impact on the development of modern Chinese biography by virtue of his biography theory.In this paper,the linguistic form of Hu Shi's biography is explored and its language is explicated while the language features of the biography is analyzed and Hu Shi's great contribution to and far-reaching impact on Chinese biography writing is demonstrated.Moreover,the stylistics of Hu Shi's biography is probed into and the rejuvenation of biography writing brought about by the style of Hu Shi is elaborated.Finally,an analysis is made of the differences and similarities between Chinese and Western biographies in terms of narrators,writing methods,material selection,etc.and an exploration is presented of diverse causes for such differences and of their demonstration at the linguistic level.