Within my own life, I read all the beloved novels by lamps of vegetable oil; I saw the Standard Oil invading my own village, I saw gas lamps in the Chinese shops in Shanghai; and I saw their elimination by electric lights.

During his tenure there he received support from Chen Duxiu editor of the influential journal New Youth quickly gaining much attention and influence. Hu Shih (17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962) was a Chinese philosopher essayist and diplomat. He also had a number of other noms de plume.

Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese. Hu Shih (17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962) was a Chinese philosopher essayist and diplomat. He was influential in the May Fourth Movement one of the leaders of China's New Culture Movement was a president of Peking University and in 1939 was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature.