Historians' Tea House (Volume 2)

Author: Wang Zhaocheng, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: When people mention history, images of desolate ruins, primitive tools, and yellow-bound books often come to mind, associating it with words like ancient, outdated, and vanished. Historical writing is not a direct reproduction or simple replication of the past; history is not "discovered," but rather reconstructed. History is not preserved as perfectly as a mammoth frozen in northern ice for thousands of years, a buried corpse in the desert, or terracotta warriors in tombs, silently waiting to be excavated and discovered. History is already like a broken jar, with missing lips and handles, shattered beyond repair. History has become a relic—how can it be made to reappear? Without magical photography technology to freeze historical events in time, or special recording equipment to replay the words of the ancients, history can only be reconstructed by historians based on the present. The present is the fulcrum from which we look back at history and grasp the past. Only through this lens can we see the past and understand it. Thus, what historians study is not a dead past, but a living past; history is not a study of death, but a study of life. Due to the specialization and institutionalization of academic research since modern times, the task of understanding history has fallen on the shoulders of the "historians" group. This does not, of course, mean that knowledge and wisdom about history should be confined to the realm of pure historiography or circulate only among historians. On the contrary, the value of a perspective often lies in its eventual as common sense. If it becomes common sense, then the goal of historiography is to reach a broad and active society at large. The Historian's Tea Party is willing to serve as this bridge, passing on this torch, in hopes of bringing more knowledge, joy, and well-being to our society.