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The Melancholy of Empire: What's the harm in "interestingly talking" about history

January 20, 2006 16:48 China Reading Newspaper

Works by scholars Sales were always limited, with only three to five thousand copies usually printed. "The Melancholy of Empire" written by Yi Zhongtian, a professor at the School of Humanities of Xiamen University, was printed six times in less than half a year, with hundreds of thousands of copies printed. Only the most recent print run (January 2006) was for 42,000 copies. According to a report in Southern Weekly on December 8, 2005, Yi Zhongtian also has "fans". Some of them call themselves "spaghetti" and some call themselves "ether". It is rare for a scholar to have a social impact similar to that of a film and television star.

Some people may say that this work is a popular work rather than an academic work, so it has many readers and large sales. This may be a misunderstanding. People are used to equating popularity, interest and non-academic nature. In fact, academic works may not be popular and interesting. According to the author's opinion, this work is not only quite academic, but also has some unique academic insights. It not only provides historical knowledge, but also conducts deeper research; it not only answers "what?" but also solves "why".

Excellent writing skills

Indeed, the book's ability to arouse widespread public attention is inseparable from the author's appearance on CCTV's "Hundred Schools of Thoughts". This book is based on that series of lectures. However, the most important reason for its popularity is probably its own charm. If it doesn’t look good, who would buy it? The author bought it because of its "good looks". The first sentence at the beginning of the book aroused the author's great interest. It said: "Chao Cuo was killed in the execution ground wearing the clothes of the previous court (chao robe)." What a good beginning. Thrilling and unforgettable! As a rule, a criminal should wear prison clothes to the execution ground because he is being escorted from prison. As a senior official of the imperial court (according to the book, he was equivalent to the deputy prime minister and minister of supervision), Chao Cuo was hurriedly taken to the execution ground without trial. The book said that this was "taking human life lightly." Why was the court so eager to put Chao Cuo to death? The author sets up a suspense, and then changes his writing style to get to the crux of the issue, leading to a major political event at that time (during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty), which was also an event that played an important role in the long history of China, that is, the "cutting down of feudal vassals". The book says: "The direct reason why Chao Cuo was killed was to 'cut down the vassal'." It was he who persuaded Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty to issue the order to cut down the vassal state, trying to reduce or cancel the jurisdiction of the vassal state, which angered the owners of the vassal state. That is, the vassal king named Liu. The princes and kings were unwilling to be deprived of their power and territory, so they rebelled in the name of "Qingjunzi", targeting Chao Cuo, the "villain" around the emperor. Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was eager to retreat from the rebels, so he killed his loyal minister Chao Cuo as a scapegoat. However, the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu did not end with Chao Cuo's death ("Qing Jun side" was actually just an excuse to rebel). The court was using After suppressing the rebellion by force, Chao Cuo's wish to reduce the feudal vassal was finally realized. However, the question is why should we reduce the vassal status? This involves a system since the Qin and Han Dynasties. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed the six kingdoms, it abolished the feudal system and implemented the system of prefectures and counties. In the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang adopted the policy of "one dynasty, two systems", that is, the county system and the county system (that is, the feudal system) were parallel. However, the feudal vassal surnamed Liu could not be eliminated, which seriously threatened the centralized rule. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Jing, the court was determined to reduce the vassal. This was a historical necessity. The result of the reduction of vassal states was that the subsequent national system was basically based on the county system, thus consolidating the centralized rule.

According to the popular way of writing textbooks or academic works, the narrative method of this matter should be as follows: first explain the background of the system, explain why the imperial court wanted to reduce the vassal state, and then introduce the "removal of the vassal state" and "seven These two major events, "National Rebellion", their processes and their results.

It can be seen that it is precisely for the broad readers in society to feel the charm of academics that such successful works come out.

In addition to Yi Zhongtian, there are also some scholars who strive to bring academics into society, such as Pan Xulan who wrote "Taiping Miscellanies" and Wu Si who discovered "hidden rules". Most of them are scholars who are not majoring in history. This phenomenon is enough to cause us to think deeply. Since the reform and opening up, historical circles have always emphasized that history should be oriented to society and give full play to the function of history in serving society. However, most of these ideas remain in words and few are actually put into practice. However, Yi Zhongtian, Pan Xulan and others have achieved what historians have not been able to do as "interdisciplinary people" (some people ridiculed Pan Xulan for "interpreting history" because he is a literature professor. So Pan Xulan simply calls himself an "interdisciplinary person") . There are many literate people in society who love history and care about history. However, for a long time, historians have only discussed issues that interest them, paying less attention to the reading needs of readers outside the history circle. The results of history are circulated in the circle, and they are produced and consumed by themselves, which is a bit like the self-sufficiency of the small farmer economy. No matter how important breakthroughs and discoveries are, they are limited to the narrow scope of academia. Pan Xulan said that the function of history is shrinking, which really hits the mark. The public has different levels and needs. Some people need general historical knowledge, while others need high-level academic results. They are not satisfied with just accepting the conclusions of professionals, but also want to participate. They care about history and pay attention to history, hoping to promote the development of history, which is completely in line with the nature of history. Because history originally belongs to the whole nation and the whole society, and is not exclusive to a few professional scholars.

I hope that our historians, like Yi Zhongtian and Pan Xulan, can write academic works that everyone likes to read with the broad readers in society in mind. (Huang Minlan)

("The Melancholy of Empire - Politics and Human Nature in Traditional Chinese Society"/by Yi Zhongtian/Wenhui Publishing House, first edition in August 2005, sixth printing in January 2006/ 26.00 yuan)