A few days ago, I read The Modern History of China by Professor Zhang Ming of Renmin University, and shared some thoughts.
For our generation, history may be just a few words in history class, and the sentences in textbooks are already so vague. However, whether it is a whole or an individual, the memory of history is indispensable. There is a very interesting metaphor: one morning you suddenly lost your memory and forgot who you are. Think about how to live in the future. You don't know anyone, which means you have forgotten your own history. History is the memory of a nation. If you don't want to be in a state of amnesia, it is necessary for everyone to reread history!
The so-called modern history, according to China's traditional historiography, is the history of the late Qing Dynasty. China's traditional historiography is the history of dynasties, Tang Shi, Song, Ming and Qing. Professor Zhang believes that the essence of the history of the late Qing Dynasty is the process that the West pulled China into their world system. The west has a world system, and we have a world system, or a tribute system. But our system is introverted and introverted. Instead of conquering a colony and then establishing a tribute system for others to obey, we use a cultural way to make neighboring countries admire our culture and then pay tribute to us. However, the export-oriented system has been formed in the west since the18th century. It constantly exports this system to the outside world, colonizes the countries it encounters, and incorporates the non-colonial ones into its own system. In the collision between these two systems, our world system obviously collapsed. That is, we are familiar with the history called humiliating the country.
Today, how should we look at this period of history, look at the past calmly, and then look forward to the future, learn to be smarter as soon as possible, and don't always toss and turn in a pit. We should learn lessons and avoid past tragedies. Perhaps only when we get out of our middle age psychologically can we have a future and the glorious history of the past be valuable.
The second article
After reading Professor Zhang Ming's Restatement of China's Modern History, I feel that for our generation, the words in history class and the sentences in textbooks may have been so vague. However, whether it is a whole or an individual, the memory of history is indispensable. There is a very interesting metaphor: one morning you suddenly lost your memory and forgot who you are. Think about how to live in the future. You don't know anyone, which means you have forgotten your own history. History is the memory of a nation. If you don't want to be in a state of amnesia, it is necessary for everyone to reread history!
It took me ten days to finish reading "Talking about Modern History of China" by Professor Zhang Ming of Renmin University intermittently. In these 230,000 words, the original vague framework of modern history, such as from 2 million pixels to 5 million pixels, is not perfect, but it has made great strides.
At the beginning of this book, three kinds of mentality of China people are pointed out: the "resentful wife" mentality, the "shrew" mentality and the "mistress" mentality. This is a little hard for me to accept, but as I read deeper and deeper, I found that what the author said is not unreasonable. Moreover, many places described in the book are not biased towards China people, but point out many stupid and unreasonable places in China. This made my head, which was burning at the sight of modern history, calm down a little. After all, no matter how China people cover it up, this is the fact: the country was conquered in the late Qing Dynasty. What about us? Out of a kind of "patriotism", that is, boasting about how cunning and arrogant foreigners are, and ignoring China's mistakes lightly, this led to a misunderstanding in my mind. Thinking has also become one-sided, thinking that China people are innocent and everything is the fault of foreigners invading us. However, if China is not weak, how can foreigners get China's idea? If China takes the right measures, how can foreigners' plans succeed?
This is to restate the charm of China's modern history! In addition to these refreshing ideas in the book, I have concluded that this book has the following characteristics:
First of all, it surpassed its predecessors in status. The purpose of this book is to write history, with almost no personal political position or emotion, and it is completely neutral. This is very valuable. In the past, I have read many history books of contemporary authors, either acting as the mouthpiece of the current regime or strongly opposing it. It is impossible to write a history of letters with distinct political tendencies. I'm not saying that everything written by Professor Zhang conforms to objective history, because even what happened today, different people have different interpretations. If Professor Zhang has any position, he is completely on the position of a historical researcher and objectively and fairly analyzes historical facts.
Second, the evaluation of historical events does not provide standard answers, and readers are encouraged to think independently. For example, the Taiping Rebellion, the author objectively analyzed the ins and outs of the uprising, on the one hand, discussed some inevitability of the uprising, but did not give too many positive comments. Even from a revolutionary point of view, the author does not think that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is revolutionary. On the contrary, it is a continuation of the feudal monarchy, or even worse.
The third is some sympathy for the legitimacy of China's traditional social inertia. According to Marxist viewpoint, China society must develop along primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society, socialist society and capitalist society. In my opinion, compared with western society, China society has its own uniqueness. According to the official statement, it has its own characteristics. I don't think we can simply divide it by class. China society can be divided into tribal society (before Xia and Shang Dynasties), feudal society (from Western Zhou Dynasty to Qin Dynasty), traditional society (from Qin Dynasty to the Republic of China) and modern society (from the Republic of China to the present). It is worth mentioning that the feudal society in China refers to the "enfeoffment" society, while the traditional society in China is mainly the county system under the royal family. Go back to Professor Zhang. Professor Zhang believes that the reason why China's traditional society has lasted for more than 2,000 years must be reasonable, and completely denying tradition is not conducive to social stability and people's peace. For example, during the social transformation in China, Professor Zhang sympathized with the constitutional monarchy. This not only satisfies the people's demand for the emperor, but also conforms to the times, and will not cause great social fission. Of course, sympathy belongs to sympathy. Because at that time, China revolutionaries had greater right to speak, and the whole society had a revolutionary hostility, so it was impossible to think about revolution.
Fourthly, the historical figures are objectively evaluated. Professor Zhang fundamentally abandoned the concept of class, and he always stood in the historical situation at that time to hide the characters. For example, Lin Zexu, the first historical figure mentioned in China's modern history, has traditionally overestimated him and thought that he was the first person to open his eyes to see the world. The destruction of opium in Humen is very popular. But I think Lin Zexu is still a traditional bureaucrat in China. Although I have opened my eyes, I know very little about western society and even have many jokes. Another example is Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who suffered many defeats and wars, but his ambiguous relationship with Japan, the Soviet Union and the Communist Party and his personal worship damaged his image. Another example is the northern warlords. Professor Zhang believes that not all northern warlords are bad people. Some of them have no room or money after they step down. It can be seen that they are not without an ideal glutton. Wait a minute.
The so-called modern history, according to China's traditional historiography, is the history of the late Qing Dynasty. China's traditional historiography is the history of dynasties, Tang Shi, Song, Ming and Qing. The book holds that the essence of the history of the late Qing Dynasty is the process that the West dragged China into their world system. The west has a world system, and we have a world system, or a tribute system. But our system is introverted and introverted. Instead of conquering a colony and then establishing a tribute system for others to obey, we use a cultural way to make neighboring countries admire our culture and then pay tribute to us. However, the export-oriented system has been formed in the west since the18th century. It constantly exports this system to the outside world, colonizes the countries it encounters, and incorporates the non-colonial ones into its own system. In the collision between these two systems, our world system obviously collapsed. That is, we are familiar with the history called humiliating the country.
Today, how should we look at this period of history, look at the past calmly, and then look forward to the future, learn to be smarter as soon as possible, and don't always toss and turn in a pit. We should learn lessons and avoid past tragedies. Perhaps only when we get out of our middle age psychologically can we have a future and the glorious history of the past be valuable.
Reading this book will give us an alarm. It tells us to think! Just like we live in an inherent world, suddenly someone broke your thinking mode for decades, subverted your cultural structure for decades, and told you that you have always been a fool and a manipulated person. Maybe, you will be depressed and you will be lonely. At the same time, you should feel lucky, because you are sober, have your own choices and have the right to start from scratch. Even if it's so hard, at least your mood is clear! The sky is blue, the ground is brand new, and it can be released. ...
Thank you for the inspiration this book has brought me!