After all, Toynbee was an Englishman. Like most European and American historians, he conducted academic research centered on the Western world.?
The original version of "Historical Research" started in the United Kingdom, gradually expanded to Europe and the United States, and finally extended to the whole world. Moreover, when discussing ancient India and ancient China, Toynbee had prejudices and prejudices, and his thinking was also limited.
For example, Toynbee forcibly applied the theory of the Grand Unified Religion of Europe to ancient China. His original words were: Ancient Chinese society also became the intimate society of today's Far Eastern society through a church, namely Mahayana Buddhism.
This is a bit nonsense, including some of Toynbee's discussions on China's pre-Qin thought, which are also specious.
Zhou Hexuan had to make revisions, deleting and adding some of his own ideas while keeping the overall framework of the original work unchanged.
Zhou Hexuan wrote Toynbee's name on the blackboard and began to narrate: "There is a British historian named Arnold Joseph Toynbee. He used to be a reporter for the Manchester Guardian and later switched to studying history. In 1925, he became a historian.
He is a professor of international history at the London School of Economics and serves as the director of research at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. He published several papers last year on the study of major civilizations in the world and proposed some definitions of research fields and terms. These
The paper inspired me a lot, and what I am going to talk about next is based on the theory proposed by Professor Toynbee..."
"When we come into contact with civilized society, we will have a question: Why did civilized society arise? How did it arise? Professor Toynbee generally summarized the civilizations in history as societies. In my opinion,
This civilized society can be divided into two categories. It is obviously the daughter of another seven civilizations. The seven parent civilizations are directly produced from primitive society. Which seven parent civilizations are they? They are ancient Egypt and Sumer.
(Mesopotamia Civilization), Minoans (Bronze Civilization before Ancient Greece), Ancient China, Maya, Andes (Ancient South American Civilization) and Ancient India..."
Most of the people here are top students in the history department. When Zhou Hexuan said this, someone immediately raised their hands and said: "Teacher, aren't there four major ancient civilizations? How come you have become one of the seven major civilizations? Where is ancient Greece?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "The Minoan civilization is the pre-civilization of ancient Greece. We will discuss the two together next."
Another student asked: "Teacher, what kind of civilization was the Minoans?"
"South America is an ancient civilization that grew on its own." Zhou Hexuan explained.
As expected of these top students, some students immediately raised their hands and said: "Teacher, the modern history community unanimously believes that ancient American civilization originated in some places in Central America and Mexico. After the Mayan civilization spread to South America, it was introduced in the Andes.
It has led to the rise of several Indian civilizations. According to your theory just now, the Andean civilization should be regarded as a descendant of the Mayan civilization, right?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "You are talking about the archaeological and historical perspective seven or eight years ago. Now more and more archaeological findings show that the ancient civilizations of South America were independently exhibited. From a geographical perspective, we can see that the Andes and China
The Americas are naturally isolated, and it is difficult for ancient societies to spread over long distances. Moreover, it can be found from some archaeological remains in South America that the early artistic styles of South America and the Ming Dynasty are very different."
The student asked: "Is this a new view in Western history?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and shook his head and said, "No, it's my new point of view."
As soon as this statement came out, the classroom was instantly in an uproar.
Zhou Hexuan was actually telling them a new point of view, a new point of view that is not recognized by the current historical circles.
"If you are interested and have the opportunity to go abroad, you can try to do relevant research. Maybe it can prove my point." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile. Today, the research on South American civilization by historians and archaeologists is still at a very primitive stage.
, as long as you are determined to do fieldwork, you can easily achieve results.
Zhou Hexuan went on to say: "What is the difference between primitive society and civilized society? The difference does not lie in whether there is a system, because the system is a means of expressing personal relationships between people, and it exists in all types of societies.
Yes. Social division of labor is not the fundamental difference, because primitive society also has divisions of labor such as chiefs, wizards, and craftsmen. In my opinion, the fundamental difference between primitive society and civilized society is the direction of imitation. In primitive society, the object of imitation is the elderly.
The first generation is the ancestors who have died, and tradition occupies the strongest position. In a civilized society, people imitate creative and successful people, and society moves forward along a path of change and growth..."
As Zhou Hexuan talked more and more deeply, many students in the audience were already dizzy.
Because the content of Zhou Hexuan's lectures is not linear history, nor is it conventional historical research, but a reflection and analysis of history and human civilization from a philosophical perspective.
Some students were confused and drowsy while listening; some students were very energetic after listening with their eyes wide open.
This is a non-mainstream history lesson, different from any current research in historical circles. It is like a bolt of lightning striking out from the dark night sky.
"Okay, get out of class is almost over," Zhou Hexuan finally said with a smile, "It doesn't matter if you don't understand, this is an elective course anyway, you just think I'm talking nonsense. Interested students can go back and think about it slowly, maybe it's right Your academic research has been enlightened."
After class, Zhou Hexuan left directly.
However, several students surrounded him, and one of them said: "Mr. Zhou, can I borrow your lecture notes to copy them down? I couldn't remember a lot of the content during the lecture just now."
"Okay, give it back to me next time in class," Zhou Hexuan handed over the handout and asked, "What's your name?"
The student replied: "My name is Wu Jinding, from Shandong."
Zhou Hexuan: "..."
Damn, why are they all awesome people when asked casually?
Wu Jinding, the discoverer and namer of "hua".
The most terrifying thing is that although Wu Jinding was still studying in Tsinghua University at this time, he had already used his winter and summer vacations to investigate and study Longshan culture.
Wu Jinding said: "Mr. Zhou, I passed by a site in Longshan Town, Zhangqiu County, Shandong Province in April this year, and a lot of black pottery was found there. The pottery is dark in color, has a smooth surface, and is extremely exquisite in style. I think it should be a prehistoric relic.
But it is different from the known Yangshao culture."
Zhou Hexuan said casually: "Maybe it is another source of Ming like Yangshao culture."
"I think so too," Wu Jinding said excitedly, "My mentor, Mr. Li Ji, is applying for archaeological funds from the school. As long as the funds are approved, large-scale excavation work can be carried out."
"I wish you good luck!" Zhou Hexuan smiled.
Longshan Culture was a ground-breaking discovery in the Chinese archaeological community, and Zhou Hexuan could be considered a witness to history. 8
