Lu's General History of China

Author: Lu Simian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Professor Lu was rigorous in his scholarship and diligent in writing. His research on the history of Chinese culture was pioneering at the time, and Lu's General History of China is considered his masterpiece in this field. The first volume of this book focuses on cultural history, describing the historical development, interrelationships, and characteristics of China's socio-economic, political, and cultural-academic systems. It is comprehensive, insightful, and offers valuable references for contemporary scholars. The second volume covers political history, presenting a concise yet thorough account of historical changes, with clear logic and engaging arguments, greatly benefiting general readers in understanding Chinese history. This book holds significant value and is a must-have for all history enthusiasts! Lu's General History of China is one of Professor Lu's historical works. He wrote two general histories of China: the first, titled Colloquial History of Our Country, was published by the Commercial Press in September 1923. This Lu's General History of China was compiled to meet the teaching needs of universities during the War of Resistance against Japan when Shanghai became an "island" under Japanese occupation. Due to the difficult publishing conditions at the time, the first volume was published by the Kaiping Bookstore in 1940, while the second volume was delayed until 1944. This book was tailored to the learning needs of liberal arts students in Shanghai universities at the time and did not adopt the conventional structure of general histories. The entire book is divided into two volumes: the first volume systematically and categorically describes the development of socio-economic, political, and cultural-academic systems; the second volume, arranged chronologically by chapters, narrates the changes in political history. The author believed that the general histories popular in Shanghai at the time, while mentioning some institutional details in the process of describing historical rise and fall, often lacked organization and coherence, making it difficult for beginners to grasp the overall picture and form systematic historical knowledge. Especially for liberal arts students who needed systematic historical knowledge for further research, it was necessary to adopt this special structure for writing a general history. Today, such a structured general history of China still serves a purpose for beginners, as it greatly helps readers gain a preliminary understanding of various aspects of Chinese history, particularly the systematic historical knowledge of socio-economics, political institutions, and academic culture.