The Characteristics of France (People and Things - Part 1)

Author: (French) Fernand Braudel, translated by Gu Liang and Zhang Zeqian
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Features: In the second part of this book, "Man and Things," I chose to depict the basic framework of Chinese history from both demographic and economic perspectives because population and economy are the most apparent and graspable signs in the deep currents of history. How many people were there? How did the production of goods make human survival and reproduction possible? Or, how did they force people to move forward, break away from this or that path, and abandon these or those acquired positions? André Piguet called population "human resources," while G. Poivre further argued that population is the primary "indicator data," the "standard with the least arbitrariness." In light of this, the first two chapters of this part will explore the issue of population, namely "French Population from Prehistoric Times to 1000 AD and Its Long-Term Cycles" and "French Population Since 1000 AD and Its Long-Term Evolution." Chapters three and four will focus on economic issues, with titles "Peasant Economy Until the 20th Century—Infrastructure" and "Peasant Economy Until the 20th Century—Superstructure."