After 1978, the situation has changed obviously: although there are few monographs in the field of early history, the number of papers has been considerable, the topics involved have gradually increased, and the research conditions have been greatly improved; At the same time, the focus and trend of early historical research in the future are gradually becoming clear.
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The early American history mentioned here refers to the American history before 18 15. Note that "America" here should be "America" instead of "The United States" in English. It is not a country name, and the scope of time and space is wider and more vague than that of the United States. There was no "America" during the colonial period, but it was still a part of "American history", not just the background or prelude of "American history". Early American history plays a very important role in the teaching of world history for history majors in China University. General world history textbooks usually use a chapter to tell the history of the North American colonies and the American revolution. In the book Modern History of the World (Higher Education Press, 1992 edition) edited by Wu Heqi, the length of American colonial period and revolutionary period is 44 pages, while the American history from that time to the beginning of the 20th century is scattered in various chapters, accounting for about 20 pages. However, in the field of American history research in China, early history has not been paid attention to. There may be less than 20 people who specialize in early American history, including graduate students. There seems to be a self-evident view among domestic researchers that the history of North American colonies is only the background of the founding of the United States, and the United States was just a "small country" in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China; The study of American history should be centered on the United States, which has become powerful since the Civil War, especially since the 20th century. Perhaps for similar reasons, diplomatic history has been particularly favored in American history since the Civil War, and the number of researchers and research works is almost equal to all other fields of American history. From 1989 to 2000, 585 authors published articles on American history (excluding American diplomatic history). In the same period, nearly 400 authors published articles on American diplomatic history (excluding the history of Sino-US relations). See China's American Studies in Recent Years, edited by Hu Guocheng, China Social Sciences Press, 2002, pp. 2 and 87. Until now, this situation has not changed much. Comparing the number of documents on similar topics in different periods can also explain why early history was relatively neglected. Among the articles in China Journal 1979-2007, there are 77 articles with Washington's name in the title and 7 articles with Jefferson's name. There are 186 articles containing Lincoln's name, including Franklin? There are more than 366 articles under Roosevelt's name. Among the periodical articles in the same period, only 108 articles were titled "War of Independence" (or "American Revolution"), while 170 articles were titled "Civil War". Note: According to the data of China Academic Journals Full-text Database on March 26th, 2007, the data in 2007 is incomplete. In addition, all the Chinese papers cited in this paper are downloaded from the full-text database of China academic journals, except the papers in the collection, and will not be explained below. At the end of the note, it can be seen that, in a sense, early history has become a victim of some kind of "ideological prejudice" and "academic snobbery".
In fact, China's study of early American history did not start later than other areas of American history. There is no doubt that the older generation of scholars have made pioneering contributions to this. Senior scholars such as Huang, Ding Zemin and Zhang Youlun published works on early American history. In particular, Professor Huang's History of Early American Development published in 1957 can be said to be a groundbreaking work in this field. Professor Huang later revised and expanded the book and renamed it "Outline of American History", 1492~ 1823, which was published by Chongqing Publishing House on 1985. At the end of the footnote, this book describes the American history of more than 300 years from Columbus' arrival in America in 1492 to the publication of the Monroe Declaration, covering "the historical background of North American colonies", colonial politics, economy, society, the war of independence, the constitutional convention, the early Republic of China and so on. Based on the development of American capitalism, the author constructs the framework of early American history, and describes and comments on various important events and trends in American history before 1823. Attach importance to the role of the "people" in early history, think that the people are the most determined force to promote independence and revolution and strive for democracy, and at the same time give positive comments to the leaders of the founding generation. The author refers to many representative works in various fields of early history and uses several basic historical data sets and historical figures. Under the research conditions at that time, it can be regarded as a well-documented and rich work. What is particularly worthy of recognition is that the book is accompanied by historical pictures, maps, chronologies of major events, bibliographies, translation tables and indexes, which are convenient for readers to read, and this advantage is exactly what many academic books lacked later.
Among the older generation of scholars, Professor Liu Youchang and Professor Qi specialize in early history. Professor Liu Youchang is the main founder of China's early American history study. In the 1950s, he published a 160 page history of the American War of Independence. Liu Youchang: A Brief History of American Revolutionary War, East China People's Publishing House, 1954. Watch the tail
Since the late 1970s, he has focused on the early history of the United States, and made great achievements in the study of the colonial political system, the origin of slavery, the American Revolution and Jefferson. Representative papers with annotations are: The War of Independence and the American People's Struggle for Democratic Reform, Journal of Shandong Normal University, No.2 and No.4,1979; On Thomas Jefferson's Democratic Thought, Historical Studies No.4,1980; The Origin of Slavery in America, No.4 and No.5 of Historical Monthly,1981; Parliamentary System in Colonial America, Historical StudiesNo. 1982,No. 1; On the Achievements of the First American Revolution, edited by China American History Research Association: Essays on American History 198 1~ 1983, Sanlian Bookstore,1983; On the Democratic Factors in the Political Structure of North American Colonies, No.3 and No.4 in Literature, History and Philosophy,1987; Jefferson and American Modernization, Historical Studies, No.2, 1994. At the end of the note, his exposition of the achievements and influence of the American revolution in the early 1980s challenged the views of American scholars in the 1950s and 1960s, and made up for the lack of domestic research, which still has important academic value. His exposition of Thomas Jefferson's democratic thought has attracted the attention of American scholars. Published Jefferson Biography 1990, and commented on Liu Youchang: Jefferson Biography, China Social Sciences Press, 1990. Watch the tail
In 2005, The Complete Biography of Jefferson with more than one million words was published. Liu Youchang: The Complete Biography of Jefferson, Qilu Bookstore, 2005. The latter is the most important early American history book in China at present. This masterpiece not only embodies profound literary and historical skills, but also reflects an China scholar's unique understanding of early American history. In his research and writing, he tried to pursue the "localization" of foreign historical research. On the one hand, he interpreted Jefferson's thoughts and personality by comparing China's historical figures and traditional values. At the same time, he used simple and fluent words in his expression, which reflected the distinctive local cultural characteristics. American historians may have different views on this attempt, but his good intentions to explore the "localization" of foreign historical research are undoubtedly admirable.
Professor Qi not only made unique achievements in the history of colonial education and American revolutionary history, but also set up a master's degree program in early American history in Peking University, which pioneered the training of early American history researchers in China. Since the early 1980s, she has supervised more than 65,438+00 early history graduate students, some of whom went to the United States for further study and made new academic development. These graduate students' graduation theses cover Virginia Colonial Parliament, tobacco cultivation in Chesapeake, Puritanism in Massachusetts Bay Colony, Quakers in Pennsylvania, the "Glorious Revolution" in North America, the "labor rent" in colonies, women in colonial times, the relationship between Britain and colonies, the British "Renaissance" and colonial immigrants in North America. Note The abbreviations of these papers or the papers derived from them are mostly included in Exploration of American History (China Social Sciences Press, 2000) edited by Qi. These problems belong to the period before the founding of the United States, and this period has no independent significance in China's previous teaching and research of American history, but only serves as the background of the American revolution. She advocated the study of colonial history in order to break through this "old framework". Note Qi, editor-in-chief: An Inquiry into American History, preface, p. 1. At the same time, she conducted the discipline construction of American history in Peking University, focusing on early history, and established extensive academic contacts with foreign scholars, inviting Oscar Gandlin, Stanley N Katz, Michael? Carmen, Mary Norton and Bohr give lectures in Peking University; She collected a large number of books and materials and still plays an important role in research and teaching.
Since 1978, China's study of early American history has experienced a gradual development process. From the end of 1970s to the end of 1980s, it can be regarded as the real initial stage. During this period, the number of authors involved in early history increased, and about 150 papers were published. According to the statistics of the articles listed in Yang Yusheng and Hu Yukun's Essays on Aesthetic Studies in China, 1979~ 1989 (Liaoning University Press, 199 1 version) (excluding graduate dissertations). At the end of the note, most of the papers belong to the field of political history, involving the major institutions, major political events and founding fathers of the early United States, including early slavery, "indentured slaves", Puritanism, parliamentary system, the formation of the American nation, the War of Independence, the 18 12 war, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Thomas Paine, Hamilton, Mai. Since 1990, there has been no obvious change in the field of early historical research, focusing on the aforementioned important events, systems and people, especially colonial politics, American revolution, federal constitution, 18 12 war, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton and Paine. The outstanding changes are shown in three aspects: First, the number of papers has increased greatly, and the total number of papers in 17 years has reached about 3 10. According to the data retrieved in "China Journal Full-text Database" on March 25th, 2007, the notes are calculated (the data in 2007 is incomplete; Not including graduate dissertations). Footnotes are calculated on an average of 10 years, which is much higher than any previous 10 years; Second, the research level has improved, the issues discussed are more specific, and the original documents used have increased; Third, views and explanations are becoming more and more open, and dogmatism dogmatism begins to fade out of early historical writing. This shows that although the number of specialized researchers has not increased significantly, there have been some gratifying changes in the quantity and quality of works.
When discussing various issues in early American history, China scholars showed clear political stance and theoretical orientation. The concepts and analytical tools they use are basically from Marxist classic writers. However, there is an obvious change: before the 1990s, the words and expressions in the works of Ma, Engles, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong were often used as direct quotations or even as arguments in many articles; Since 1990s, Marxist theory has been more transformed into a method and analytical tool, or internalized as an element to construct an interpretation framework. The History of Early American Development, which was written by Huang Jiao in 1950s, combs the context of early American history with the principle of historical materialism understood at that time, and explains the nature and significance of various events and systems in early history with the principle that relations of production must be suitable for the nature of productive forces. For example, the War of Independence was regarded as the struggle of the "North American colonial bourgeoisie" and "demanded the establishment of an independent capitalist country suitable for the vigorous development of productive forces at that time". Note Huang: A History of Early American Development, People's Publishing House, 1957, p. 1. Footnote Marxist class theory is often used in early history. For example, the industrialists and businessmen in the northern United States are called "bourgeoisie"; The American revolution is characterized as "bourgeois revolution"; The regime established by the American revolution is called "bourgeois democracy and system"; The conflict between the lower class and the social elite is regarded as the struggle between the "people" and the "bourgeoisie". In the early 1980s, some scholars tried to explain the process of American War of Independence with Mao Zedong's "protracted war" theory, arguing that the war must go through four stages: armed uprising, strategic defense, strategic stalemate and strategic counterattack. The victory of America is inevitable. Note Li Shiya: On the Internal Logic of the Process of American War of Independence, edited by Yang et al.: Selected Works of American History, Tianjin People's Publishing House, 1984, pp. 60-68. China scholars pay more attention to the role of ordinary people, blacks and women in the war of independence, because they believe in the theory that "people are the real driving force of history". Note Liu Youchang: Reasons for the Victory of the North American War of Independence, History Teaching,No. 1957,No. 25~3 1 p. Watch the tail
Since the 1990s, some China scholars have tried to absorb and draw lessons from the theoretical concepts of sociology, cultural anthropology and political science to study the related issues of early history. A doctoral thesis attempts to analyze the operation and significance of the Confederate Congress by using the theory of nation-building, trying to explain the stage and continuity of early American nation-building, and fully affirming the status of the Confederacy as the initial national form of the United States. Note: Lei Fang: Confederate Congress and Early State Building in the United States, doctoral thesis of Nankai University, 2006. At the end of the note, some scholars tried to study early political thoughts with the help of the concept of political culture, in order to break through the limitation of one-sided attention to elite texts and bring the political ideas and opinions of ordinary people into the field of vision of political thought history research. Note: Li Jianming: Political Debate before the American War of Independence and Its Significance, Historical Research, No.4, 2000; The significance and influence of the constitutional movement in Massachusetts during the American War of Independence, Historical Research,No. 1 2004; The Evolution of Democratic Concepts during the American Revolution, Historical Studies,No. 1 2007. At the end of the note, some scholars use the theories of sociology and religion to study the changes of slavery and black culture in North America from the "transatlantic perspective". Note: British historical tradition and the origin of slavery in North America, Historical Studies No.2, 20065438+0; Slave religion in North America from the Atlantic perspective: a cultural mixture, submitted to the international symposium on "Re-examining American history from an international perspective" held in August 2006. Of course, this kind of attempt is generally in the "primary stage", and there are still obvious limitations and shortcomings. Because China's local social science theory is not developed enough, most of the theoretical resources available to China scholars come from European and American academic circles; How to obtain the research results with China characteristics with the help of foreign theoretical resources is still a problem that needs serious consideration and hard exploration.
In the study of early American history, the lack of information was once a huge problem. China's study of American history started late, and the data accumulation was seriously insufficient, especially in the field of early history. Therefore, when most scholars write, they mainly rely on quoting historical materials from American and Soviet scholars' works. Professor Huang wrote in the early 1980s: "Borsting's book" Americans: Experiences in Colonial Times "contains rich information on politics, war, religion, science, publishing, language style, medicine and art in colonial times. When we study American history in the colonial era, we have to refer to and choose specific historical materials. " Note Huang: Create a new situation in the study of American history, edited by China American History Research Association: Essays on American History 198 1~ 1983, Sanlian Bookstore, 1983, p. 12. According to strict standards, boorstin's book is a general work, so we must be very cautious in quoting historical materials; But under the conditions at that time, it was the envy of many researchers to see boorstin's original works. It is very valuable to use Madison's Minutes of Debate at the Federal Conference 1787 and Heinman's Essays on Politics during the Founding of the United States when studying the formulation of the American Constitution. Personal documents of American Founding Fathers can be found in some domestic libraries, but most of them are incomplete. In addition, due to the limitation of conditions, many researchers have not received formal training in American history, lack understanding of the importance of using original documents, and have limited ability to interpret historical materials, so some first-hand documents available in China have not been effectively used.
Since 1990s, the channels for China scholars to obtain early American historical materials have been gradually broadened, the construction of American historical documents has been continuously improved, and the conditions for using historical materials have been obviously improved. Professor Liu Youchang's study of Jefferson made full use of various versions of Jefferson's literature collection and works collection; Most articles on Hamilton cite Hamilton's literature and works. Especially with the development and popularization of network technology and the progress of digital data construction in colleges and universities, it is becoming more and more convenient to obtain early historical materials and research documents through the network, which is of inestimable significance to improve the research level. In recent years, Nankai University and other university libraries have successively opened Readex's "American Archives" series database, Gale's "18th Century Literature" database and "Early English Books" database. Coupled with "JSTOR", "EBSCO" and "ProQuest" series databases and a large number of free digital literature websites, researchers can make great use of various historical materials and master relevant research information. Recently, a project about John? Winslow's doctoral students found various versions of Winslow's works through various channels, as well as archives compilation of Massachusetts Bay colonies and some villages and towns; A doctoral student who studies the Confederate Congress has obtained a full set of Confederate Congress journals and a full set of letters from Confederate congressmen from the Internet. None of them got the opportunity to do research in the United States, but it was unimaginable to reach such a level in data work a few years ago. To a certain extent, early history, like diplomatic history, has become the best field for the study of American history in China, and its development potential is really exciting.