Hu Shih (simplified Chinese: ??; traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: H煤 Sh矛; 17 December 1891 鈥?24 February 1962) was a Chinese philosopher; essayist and diplomat. 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. 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. He had a wide range of interests such as literature; history; textual criticism; and pedagogy.