This book was written in the hard years of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and the author's worries are vividly on the paper. Published by Commercial Press in June, 1940. At that time, Luoyang paper was expensive and became a history textbook of universities, which was popular all over the country and played a positive role in students' active resistance to Japan and strengthening national cohesion. The revised edition was published by Taiwan Province Commercial Press, 1974. To 1992, it was published in 18, and the second revision was published in 1994. June 1994 Beijing Commercial Press printed the second revised edition, and then reprinted it several times. This book is also included in The Complete Works of Mr. Qian Binsi published by Taipei Lianjing Publishing Company.
The author Qian Mu (1895- 1990) is a famous master of Chinese studies. He was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. His original name was Binsi, and later he was renamed Mu. The family was poor and lost his father when he was a child. After graduating from high school, I was unable to study, so I had to teach myself a famous teacher. Former primary and secondary school teachers, teaching in institutions of higher learning after 1930. He has been a professor in yenching university, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beiping Normal University, National Southwest Associated University, Wuhan University, Huaxi University and Jiangnan University, and founded Hong Kong New Asia College. Representative works include: Chronicle of Liu's Father and Son, Chronicle of Pre-Qin Scholars, Academic History of China in the Past 300 Years, Outline of National History, Political Gains and Losses of China in Past Dynasties, Private Comments on Political Science, New Learning Case of Zhu Zi, Academic General Meaning of China, Series of China Academic Thought History, etc. He wrote more than 70 kinds of books, about 6.5438+0.4 million words. He has made many achievements in the general theory of China culture and China history, especially in the fields of pre-Qin academic history, Qin and Han history, Han Confucian classics, Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism and modern ideological history.
The introduction of the Outline of National History is very important, which expresses the author's cultural view, historical view and methodology. He pointed out that the purpose of studying history and writing a general history of China lies in two points: first, it can clearly show the truth of the past cultural evolution of our nation and provide necessary knowledge for those who are interested in understanding the past political, social and cultural evolution of China; Second, it is a necessary reference for those who are interested in innovating reality to reflect all kinds of complicated and thorny issues in China today in the historical integration. The former lies in actively seeking the source of the permanent life of the country and the nation, which is endowed by the spirit of promoting all history; The latter lies in passively pointing out the symptoms of the recent illness of the people, which is the basis for improving the current plan. This is the theme of Qian Mu's book.
Qian Mu pointed out that the primary task of studying the history of China is to find its unique spirit within the nation. The basic spirit of the evolution of China's history is the evolution of academic ideology and culture, which is different from other nationalities. Qian Mu earnestly warned: China people are lazy to explore the true meaning of national history, but dare to follow people's words, so they wantonly destroy and lightly talk about reform at their own risk. He repeatedly stressed that the evolution of Chinese and Western cultures is different. We should not simply copy China's history from Western history, but affirm the cultural particularities, differences and relativity of cultural values of different countries and nationalities.
The author pays attention to the changes of the times, such as the changes of academic thoughts in the Warring States, the changes of political system in Qin and Han Dynasties, and the changes of social economy in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Among them, the sixth chapter is "the rise of folk freedom" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the eighth chapter is "the evolution of the unified government" in the Western Han Dynasty, the tenth chapter is "the new position of the gentry" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the eighteenth chapter is "the feudal forces in disguise", the twentieth to twenty-first chapters are about land system, military system and religious thought, the twenty-third to twenty-fourth chapters are about the political institutions and social conditions in the Tang Dynasty, and the thirty-second chapter is about the Northern Song Dynasty. The author of this book can extend a problem for one or two thousand years, from a point to a comprehensive and systematic combing. For example, the farmland system can integrate the rent-seeking tone and the two tax laws from the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty.
The author sublates the traditional reciting school, innovative propaganda school and scientific textual research school in the study of modern history, and analyzes their advantages and disadvantages. The author believes that historiography is not equal to technology, historical knowledge and historical materials, and cannot be purely calligraphy and ethnography; History is the history of "people", so we can't do historical research without "people" who are called "objective"; Historiography must be related to the current reality, but it should not be rushed to connect with reality. It is not a propaganda slogan, but a tool to reform reality. He emphasized the importance of national historical and cultural identity. If a nation has no knowledge of its past history and lacks minimum respect, it will become a nation without culture, historical consciousness and wisdom. He advocates trying to tap the unique historical and cultural resources and internal vitality and motivation within the nation. Without a deep understanding of the cultural spirit behind the nation, the country can disappear and the nation can disperse.
The conclusions of various schools in the study of modern history in terms of political system, academic thought and social economy are as follows: politically, the history since Qin Dynasty is autocratic and dark; Culturally, two thousand years after Qin and Han Dynasties, cultural thoughts stagnated and made no progress, or Confucius and Laozi were blamed for the current morbidity; Socioeconomically, China was backward after Qin and Han Dynasties.
Qian Mu's research on general history is opposed to a half-knowledge of western history and advocates a deep understanding of the personality and characteristics of the historical development of national culture. He also believes that national history is a constantly changing process with integrity and dynamics. He believes that China's social economy, political system and academic thought have been developing and changing for thousands of years, rather than being static.
As far as the political system is concerned, the political evolution has gone through three stages, from feudalism (enfeoffment system) to unified counties (completed in Qin and Han Dynasties), from the government composed of imperial clan consorts to the literati government (completed in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty), and from aristocratic families to the imperial examination movement (completed in Sui and Tang Dynasties). Examination and election have become the two pillars to maintain the government discipline in China. Qian Mu is very concerned about the selection system of administrative officials in China, the position of literati in the civilian government, and the relationship between the political power and the four people's society. As far as academic thought is concerned, the pre-Qin philosophers are not only divorced from religious forces, but also independent from political forces. It originated in the pre-Qin weekend and spread to the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and lasted for a long time. The rise of scholarship in the Northern Song Dynasty is actually a new atmosphere for the free development of academic thought in the second civilian society after the pre-Qin period. As far as economy is concerned, the progress after Qin and Han dynasties is manifested in the gradual expansion of economic regions, while economic development goes hand in hand with cultural exchanges and political construction. Although the speed is different in history, the general trend is to move forward in peace.
Qian Mu believes that there is an idea behind the political and economic operation of ancient China society. Under the guidance of academic thought, the political society after Qin dynasty developed in a reasonable direction. For example, the civil service selection examination is caused by what Li Yun called "the world is for the public, selecting talents and appointing people". Give the people of the whole country a reasonable education, and under this education, select talents to serve the country, and those who have achieved results can be promoted. This is the embodiment of the political thought of the late Zhou scholars. Politics after Qin and Han dynasties generally evolved in this direction. According to Dong Zhongshu's proposal, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed a hundred schools and established a doctor of the Five Classics, making his disciples the only way to be an official. Since then, academic status has been detached from political forces, and they often do their best to guide politics. The unified government of the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty perished, but the government scale and the founding theory of the Eastern Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties continued in the Han Dynasty. The spiritual origin of the establishment of the unified government in Sui and Tang Dynasties is the thought of literary records, which comes down in one continuous line with Confucius and Dong Zhongshu. The unification of Sui and Tang Dynasties proves that although China has experienced hundreds of years of long-term war, there is still a spiritual force behind it to make China embark on a bright road again. This kind of spiritual strength mentioned by Qian Mu is an excellent cultural tradition dominated by Confucianism and a driving force to promote national culture, that is, "vitality".
Qian Mu also analyzed the "morbid state" that hindered the historical development of China. For example, the society after the middle Tang Dynasty is a chaotic society, and politics is still a peaceful and unified politics. The royal family is above, and the society is too far away from the government, which easily leads to the arrogance and monopoly of the royal family and the government. For another example, although the society is becoming more and more equal, it is poor and weak, and affairs cannot be completely dependent on the government, while the people suffer from the inability to mobilize themselves. For another example, the communication between the government and the people lies in the imperial examination, and corruption occurred after the imperial examination became an official. This is all morbid after the middle Tang Dynasty. Song Confucianism's lectures are mainly aimed at these diseases. But after the Song Dynasty, China's politics was further damaged. The abolition of the prime minister, respect for the monarchy and the rule of the Qing dynasty in the Ming Dynasty all deviated from the spirit of traditional scholar-bureaucrat politics and civilian government. These are all pathological conditions in the history of China.
Saving these pathologies requires a kind of "rehabilitation". This revival is the development and growth of new vitality within the nation. Qian Mu believes that the national cultural spirit of our nation, which has been watered with blood and cultivated with lean meat for hundreds of years, has tenacious vitality and is full of vitality. It can not only cure diseases and save lives, but also meet the challenges of western culture and strive for a brilliant future.
Finally, we have to point out that due to the special background of the Anti-Japanese War, the layout of this book is more detailed than that of Han and Tang Dynasties, but slightly more detailed than that of Liao, Jin, Yuan and Qing Dynasties, more detailed than that of the Central Plains and slightly more detailed than that of neighboring brotherly peoples, more detailed than that of the system, more detailed than that of personnel, more detailed than that of culture and slightly less than that of the war, and the words and expressions used are "Hongyang Rebellion". Judging from the author's original intention, his inner complex is: If we don't distinguish between internal and external chaos, can't Japan, which invaded China, rightfully own and rule our vast territory and people according to the story of Liao, Jin, Yuan and Qing Dynasties? (1) Although I can understand the author's painstaking efforts, reading this book today can't help jumping out of the positions of Han centralism, Huaxia centralism and orthodox historical view, and affirming that the neighboring brotherly nations and the Han nationality jointly govern the Central Plains and the country, which has injected vitality into China's history and culture and played a positive role in the history of Chinese nation development. The history of the Chinese nation was jointly created by all ethnic groups in China.
This general history book of Qian Mu supplements his research on departmental history (such as political history, academic history, cultural history), historical figures and historical geography, and also invents his historical research methodology and China's historical research method. Through this book, we can understand the interaction between historical heart and historical knowledge, wisdom and skills advocated by Qian Mu. To read this book, please read another book by the author, An Introduction to the Cultural History of China, the revised version of which is printed by Beijing Commercial Press, tel: 1994. (Guo Qiyong)
(1) See He Yousen: Mr. Qian Binsi's Scholarship and China's Philosophical Thought, 69 pages, Taipei, Shepherd's Press, 1978. 129
Editor Ma Baozhu. Summary of China's historical masterpieces in the 20th century. Beijing Normal University Press, April 2007, 1.