New Meaning of Comprehensive History

Author: He Bingsong
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2005-01-01
Features: "The master of the craft becomes a star, measuring materials against the yin and yang; the renowned physician formulates prescriptions, roasting and frying to transcend the creation of ghosts and deities. Historians interpret and arrange the words of others, and it is thus. Therefore, when literature and documents are collected, then searching and consulting are not easy tasks. Observing Zheng Qiao's eight methods of seeking books, it is not something ordinary people can achieve. Observing Sima Qian's journey eastward and southward, it is not possible without understanding his intentions. These are the preliminary tasks before writing. When they are, then the importance lies in selecting and discarding, people only see the essence and goodness of what is written in books, but do not know the painstaking effort that cannot be revealed in what is cut and discarded. After editing, the importance lies in transformation and change. People only see the unity of those who recite the words, but do not know the adjustment that others do not know. As for cutting and discarding, the mediocre literature and trivial matters are not worth mentioning. Among them, there are those who can take the middle path but cannot avoid one path; there are those who dislike the damage of two beauties but cannot bear to part with their love. Good articles may be deviated, and matters may be sufficient but feared to be questioned by the text. All of these are the painstaking effort that cannot be revealed. As for transformation and change, ancient words cannot be entered into the present, so they should be explained to make them clear; folk words cannot be mixed with elegance, so they should be tempered to make them smooth. Words must match their style, and language must match their person. The rustic cannot use literary language, and the vulgar must be deleted; the urgent cannot be complete words, and the twists and turns are still visible. The text must follow the formula, but the case files are not suitable for inquiry; the proud and beautiful do not fit historical editing, and the edicts and memorials can also be discarded. All of these are the adjustment that others do not know. "—Zhang Xuecheng Since the late Qing Dynasty, when the imperial examination system was abolished and schools were established, the general students and people in society have urgently needed a comprehensive history of China and the world to draw lessons from. However, so far, it has been more than twenty years since the works of Western comprehensive history have achieved considerable success, while the compilation of domestic comprehensive history has been extremely rare in meeting the modern concept of new historiography. Why is this? Is it because our country's historical talent is inferior to that of the West? Then, like the Qing Dynasty historian Zhang Xuecheng, his historical insights are so outstanding and subtle that in the eyes of the author, they sometimes surpass the famous historians of the West. The discussion on the recording and writing of historical notes and the writing of historical principles in the "Book Education" chapter of "The Literary and Historical Method" discussed by Zhang Xuecheng, that is, the relationship between historical materials and works and the distinction between subjective and objective in what is called new historiography today, is a perfect example of his meticulous and penetrating insights. However, we still do not have a satisfactory comprehensive history of China to this day. Why is this? In the author's opinion, this is because the people in our country who compile comprehensive histories have not yet been able to utilize the new methods of Western historians. This is due to the academic environment in our country, not the fault of our country's historians. Our country's historical records are rich and are recognized by the world. This is a fact, not a boast. However, since Liu Zhi first proposed the theory of biographies and annals in the Tang Dynasty, the realm of materials and works in our country's historical records has been unclear. Liu Zhi said in the "Wind of History and the Two Systems" chapter: "Qiu Ming recorded the 'Spring and Autumn Annals', and Zichang wrote the 'Records of the Grand Historian'. The style of writing has been completed here. Later generations followed suit. If there are changes, the names are changed. The scope is limited, who can be sure? If you are pleased with Yue, Zhang Bo, Qiuming, and the party of Qiuming; Ban Gu, Huai Luo, and the school of Zichang. The two systems of Ban and Yue, competing for the first place; wanting to abolish one, it was also difficult." After this theory was proposed, the two systems were separated and became the standard of our country's historical record categories. Therefore, in the preface to the "General Catalogue of the Four Treasuries" in the history section of the "Chronicles" category, it is also said: "Sima Qian reorganized the annals into biographies, and Yue Yue changed the biographies into annals. Liu Zhi deeply understood the methods of history, and in the "Wind of History", he narrated the six schools and unified them into two systems, so that the annals and biographies were all correct histories." Because of Zhang Xuecheng's outstanding historical insights, in the article "Exemplification of Historical Exemplification", he could not help but say: "Liu's two systems regard Ban and Yue as the originators. Biographies and annals, ancient people did not have a preference. Therefore, the 'History of the History' divides them into departments, showing equality." This shows that Liu Zhi's two systems have been firmly established as the standard and have become the benchmark of our country's historical record categories. I think that from the perspective of historical materials, our country's historical records are abundant, why should they be limited to two systems? According to the example of the "Four Treasuries", it can be divided into fifteen categories; or according to what Zhang Xuecheng said in his letter to Sun Yuanru, "Everything in the world that involves writing is history". This is also acceptable. After all, as long as they are all historical materials, the classification examples, whether simple or complex, are all irrelevant to the grand theme of history. Since the two systems were regarded as the orthodox after our country's historical records, not only have all the documents been wandering between the two systems forever, but even the comprehensive history has lost its independent hope. Zheng Qiao once clarified the difference between historical books and books, and also raised the banner of comprehensive history, but the number of people who understood his intentions was very small. In the "Separate History" category of the "Four Treasuries", although they are mostly of the comprehensive history, according to the preface to the "General Catalogue", they are roughly similar, never revealing the meaning of comprehensive history, only briefly mentioning the origin of comprehensive history in the "Outline of the General History". In terms of knowledge, it seems that he has not noticed the comprehensive history that can stand alone. The distinction between historical materials and works has not been clearly made, and the consequences can be endless. Later historians, seeing Sima Qian's ability to gain fame for his biographies and notes, often aimed to follow the predecessors and track the famous history, resulting in works such as "The Records of the Three Kingdoms", "The New History of the Five Dynasties", and "The History of the Ming Dynasty", which were neither like notes nor like writings. Too complex for people to read, not enough to organize the stories; this is what Zhang Xuecheng said, "His wisdom is neither taken from the past nor from the future, but his knowledge of the future is like the spirit of the circle." Therefore, the "General Catalogue of the Four Treasuries" in the history section of the "General History" category says: "The example of comprehensive history originated with Sima Qian. Therefore, Liu Zhi's 'Wind of History' describes the two systems as one, and describes the six schools as two; one describes the affairs of one generation, and the other summarizes the affairs of all generations. It summarizes the words of the past and unites them into one; it is not enough for the knowledge to be comprehensive and the articles to be melted, then it is difficult to write a book. Emperor Wu of Liang wrote a comprehensive history of 620 volumes, but it was soon scattered and lost. Therefore, later writers were reluctant to pay attention to it." Zhang Xuecheng's "General History" theory is based on our country's original works; as for the truth of Zhang Xuecheng's comprehensive history concept, it is still more than this. On the negative side, Zhang Xuecheng's extreme praise for Zheng Qiao's "General History" and Yuan Shu's "Chronicles of Events" is extremely intentional. Zhang Xuecheng's history is very deep, and his laws are very strict. Historians like Ouyang Xiu, writers like Han Yu, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, and scholars like Dai Zhen and Wang Zhong were criticized by him for not being familiar with history; but he praised Zheng and Yuan even more: one was called "the master of the world", and the other was called "sacred creation". There is no other reason except that the two were experts in comprehensive history, so Zhang Xuecheng unconsciously regarded them as peers. His praise for Zheng Qiao was so much that he even wrote an article called "Apology to Zheng" imitating Liu Zhi's "Apology to the Left", saying that Zheng Qiao "alone took the three thousand years of, used different knowledge and ingenuity, and inherited the family style of comprehensive history, and made a family style of his own", "After Sima Qian and Ban Gu, historians had no different knowledge and ingenuity, and they only sought in their affairs and their words; only Zheng Qiao had a little ambition to seek meaning". His praise for Yuan Shu was detailed in the "Book Education" chapter of "The Literary and Historical Method", saying that "the body of the events is not a regular pattern. Only those who deeply understand the general situation of the past and the world can collect and summarize without omission or excess. The text is simpler than the biographies, the events are clearer than the annals, the decision to choose and discard, the body is round and the use is divine, this is the true legacy of the 'Book of Documents'". When discussing the revision of the "Song History" with Shao Eryun, he even said: "The 'Book of Documents' is a sacred creation that can be admired for thousands of years and cannot be reached. Now it can be pursued. Isn't this because of the transformation and transformation of the long-term, there is its meeting." As for the essence of the two books of "General History" and "Chronicles of Events", Zhang Xuecheng also knew that they could not fully meet people's expectations, so he said that the "General History" was "not worthy of the name", and the "Chronicles of Events" was "without deep meaning". But its "creation of several examples, extraordinary arguments, so that it can weigh the words of the masses as the essence of history", which is exactly in line with Zhang Xuecheng's view of the comprehensive history, so Zhang Xuecheng could not help but praise it to the fullest extent. On the positive side, Zhang Xuecheng wrote an article called "Discussion on the Examples of Historical Records", indicating to us the way to organize our country's old history. It is believed that the two systems of our country's old history are very refined in terms of examples and very rich in articles, but the biographies are suffering from the division of chapters, and the annals are suffering from the combination of years. We should grasp the main points, add a separate record after the existing bibliography, so that it is interwoven with the original bibliography. The content is based on events, and the biographies, tables, chronicles, and biographies related to events are noted in the separate record; then the detailed and brief can be mutually corrected, and the complex and repeated can be checked and saved. This argument of Zhang Xuecheng is indeed a very moderate, practical and feasible method for organizing our country's old history, and a bridge for us to reach the ideal comprehensive history. It is said that "the person who holds a rich historical material may not be hurt even without a comprehensive history, but the comprehensive history must be based on historical material. This is the second reason why comprehensive history cannot be the only one. In short, comprehensive history is a book for convenient reference, and historical materials are the storehouse of comprehensive history. If you only seek a book for convenient reference and are willing to destroy the storehouse of historical materials, it is like losing the fish and losing the net, and pursuing the branch and neglecting the root, which is not an open and fair argument! The noble people who read this book may suddenly realize that this statement is not without basis. This is another reason for the author's writing of this book. In conclusion, the sole purpose of the author's writing of this book is to introduce the new comprehensive history examples of the West, because they are based on various new humanistic social scientific research, more practical and applicable than our country's original ones, and are worthy of domestic historians to adopt, but the author does not dare to regard them as the golden rules because they come from the West. In addition, the author does not hesitate to use this book to discuss three views with the people of our country: that the division of historical materials and works should be separated before the concept of comprehensive history becomes clear, the comprehensive history examples currently popular in our country seem not to be true, and comprehensive history should not be the only one. A little bit of ignorance may not be entirely correct, and I hope the readers can correct it. This book is divided into two parts. The first part consists of ten chapters, specializing in the study method of social historical materials, and the theory and application of historical material authentication and fact compilation are systematically discussed. The second part consists of eleven chapters, specializing in the study method of social history, and the writing of social comprehensive history and its relationship with other kinds of history are explained in a simple and clear manner. At the same time, the various examples that seem not to be true and are not complete are also evaluated accordingly. There is a detailed table of contents at the beginning of the book, and readers can quickly find it, so I will not outline it here. As for the principles described in this book, most of them are adopted from the book "La Méthode Historique Appliquée aux Sciences Sociales" written by the famous French historian Ch. Seigonbos. Although the author has made some explanations and proofs, he has not dared to hide the beauty of others. After the book was completed, the friend Wang Boshang reviewed it once and made many discussions. I also wrote a few words to express my appreciation. October 10th of the Republic of China, the author wrote in Shanghai, Jinxi North. Having taken into account the shortcomings of traditional Chinese historiography, He Bingsong vigorously advocated the study and writing of comprehensive history to make historiography adapt to the needs of social development in "The New Meaning of Comprehensive History". In "The New Meaning of Comprehensive History", the author draws on the thought methods of Western historiography, summarizes and develops the traditional historiography theory of ancient historians such as Sima Qian, Liu Zhi, and Zhang Xuecheng, and deeply thinks about the methods of historical material research and the principles of compiling comprehensive history, establishing his new comprehensive history theory system, and making a major contribution to the construction of modern new historiography in China. The author analyzes the similarities and differences between historical research and natural science research, proposes the attitude and methods that historians should have, and, through the comparison between Western historiography principles and traditional Chinese historiography, clarifies the relationship between comprehensive history and other historiography, forming a set of more systematic historiographical theoretical understanding. The book is divided into two parts, the first part consisting of ten chapters, specializing in the study method of social historical materials, and the second part consisting of eleven chapters, specializing in the study method of social history.