Big history will not shrink

Author: Ray Huang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: With the rise and introduction of American middle-range theories, historical research has become increasingly social-scientificized. This is evidenced by the current popularity of social history studies. If historical research is not grounded in micro-level empirical studies, thereby internally developing analytical frameworks such as the concept of the public sphere, it may be criticized by academia as a "grand narrative"—a hollow and even ideologically driven historical writing. Compared to this mainstream trend in historical research, Huang undoubtedly stands as a "heretic." The recently published A Short History of the World is a voice calling for "reform and rectification." In response to criticisms of his "big history" perspective, Huang did not easily surrender, abandoning his unique perspective on observing history. In my view, Huang's is that as historical researchers who observe history, one should more actively "engage" with the historical processes of the time. Through the careful examination of historical events, even in a "travelling in the heavens" manner of connection, one should strive to view history as a reproductive process of interconnected spatial and temporal elements, thereby effectively revealing the "true stories" behind complex historical appearances. At the same time, historians should strive to avoid adopting a meta-ethical stance, extracting individual historical figures or events from their contexts and making hasty moral or value judgments. Such judgments often demand too much of the past, as the saying goes, "speaking from a height without feeling the pain." Hence, Huang candidly criticizes in his writings: "Chinese people place great emphasis on praise and blame, often portraying as either perfectly virtuous or utterly evil when writing history. This easily turns writing history into a tool for expression." China has a tradition of historians who record history while making moral judgments. The role of historians has often been intertwined with ideology in their historical writings. Ultimately, ideological modes of simple binary opposition often dominate historical accounts. Such historical writing, by overlooking the myriad aspects of history, imposes pre-designed labels on it, resulting in either forcing a square peg into a round hole or missing the mark entirely. Perhaps, as Huang suggests, historians should prioritize causal relationships over personal biases, only then can history be purified, focusing on how history unfolds rather than condemning its unfolding. In other words, historians can truly embrace a moderate warmth and respect for history, as Qian Mu advocated, achieving "empathetic understanding" without crudely and absurdly diagnosing history. This point is evident in Huang's positive evaluation of modern Chinese history and his critiques of Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek. A key conclusion of Huang's research on Chinese history is that China lacks a system of quantifiable management, a view he maintains even in his studies of modern history. Notably, while he emphasizes understanding history from the perspectives of technology, economy, and law, he never advocates for the complete empiricization of historical studies. History is a construction of relationships, and this construction is intertwined with the complexities of human nature. Thus, history becomes a generative space with immense possibilities, rather than a linear progression as previously believed. Perhaps only in this way can historical writers truly reach the dark and divergent spaces of history itself, making history a super-text capable ofing differences. This, of course, is a subversion and revolution against the historical writing modes dominated by ideology, while also opening a new path for us to understand our historical memory. Unlike other historians, Huang once served as a junior officer with an experience described as "half like a bandit, half like a beggar." This gave him a deep understanding of the lower strata of Chinese society, and his historical writings can be said to grow from daily life, adding more human warmth and flesh to them, unlike some contemporary histories that resemble "revolutions in the study." If Huang's historical writings resist the tendency to micro-analyze historical research, then this rebellion, in the form of "grand narrative," may bear good fruit—combining the personal narratives of lived history with grand imaginative reflections, allowing history to reveal its own threads through storytelling. (Translated from Tang Xiaobing's The Eastern Morning Post)
Ray Huang, a renowned historian, new collection, aims to highlight his "big history" concept, revising ancient and modern Chinese history, personal reflections, and biographies. Since the Opium War, China has undergone a long and arduous process of self-strengthening movements, the First Sino-Japanese War, the Hundred Days' Reform led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, the establishment of the Republic of China, the May Fourth Movement, warlordism, the Northern Expedition, and the War of Resistance Against Japan. In this long journey, the old system has collapsed. The agrarian system of the past often became an obstacle to reform, so it had to be transformed. Here, the author proposes the character "" (upright): the long horizontal stroke at the bottom of the character represents the lower social structure, while the dot and horizontal stroke at the top represent the higher-level structure of the state and society. The current task is to fill in the two dots, which is to define the rights and obligations of individuals in commercial transactions before the law. This book is a collection of the author's brilliant speeches, visits, and reviews. It supplements the views in all his works and explains the doubts of the readers, offering a concise interpretation of the essence of all his writings.