Zhou Hexuan threw away the chalk and started talking:
"From today on, we begin to talk about the decline of civilization. This issue is very easy to understand. Among the 28 civilizations we mentioned before, at least 18 have died and been eliminated. The remaining 10 civilizations are: Chinese Civilization
The theme part is China, as well as the branches of Chinese civilization, Japan, as well as Western civilization in Europe and America, as well as the Orthodox main body of Western civilization in the Near East, the branch of Western civilization in Russia, as well as Islamic civilization, Indian civilization, Polysinia
Civilization, Eskimo civilization and nomadic civilization.
If we carefully examine these 10 existing civilizations, we will find that the Bosnian civilization and the nomadic civilization are already in a dying stage. The remaining 7 civilizations, including the Chinese civilization, are being continuously eliminated or assimilated by Western civilization.
By the way, the Eskimo civilization is a special case. This civilization stopped growing in its infancy. It has not matured at all, let alone declined..."
Qian Zhongshu was sitting in the classroom. Instead of taking notes, he opened a novel and listened to the lecture while reading.
When Zhou Hexuan talked about the seven major civilizations, including the Chinese civilization, being eliminated and assimilated by Western civilization and gradually declining, Qian Zhongshu couldn't help but frown. He finally closed his novel and listened carefully to Zhou Hexuan's lecture.
The views expressed next by Zhou Hexuan are very different from Toynbee's original work.
Toynbee believed that the sign of the decline of civilization is the emergence of a unified country. He used the Roman civilization as an example. The Roman unification used force to extend the life of civilization, and the same is true for other civilizations. For example, the Chinese civilization began after the great unification.
It has declined, which is manifested in the fact that the contention of a hundred schools of thought no longer exists, social ideas tend to solidify, civilization no longer grows and rises, and the rest of the time is spent on extending its life.
As for Western civilization, Toynbee believed that Western civilization has never been unified and has always been on an upward trend. Therefore, except for Western civilization, all other existing civilizations are in a state of decline.
Zhou Hexuan only partially agreed with these views. He felt that Chinese civilization has a unique inclusiveness. The great unification did make the development of Chinese civilization slow, but it continued to absorb foreign civilizations in the process. Now if Chinese civilization wants to continue, it must retain the characteristics of civilization.
The core, inclusiveness and absorption of the advantages of Western civilization, makes Chinese civilization destroy the old and establish the new, glowing with new vitality.
Finally, Qian Zhongshu couldn't help but raise his hand and asked: "Teacher, what is the core of Chinese civilization?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "One word and!"
"He?" Qian Zhongshu was a little confused.
Zhou Hexuan said: "Harmony is not peace, nor is it harmony, nor is it a doctrine of moderation. To put it bluntly, it means inclusiveness. On the anniversary of the Western Zhou Dynasty, when Boyang's father and Zheng Huan Gong were discussing the political situation, they proposed that 'harmony will lead to living things, and the same principles will prevail.
I think the point of "not following" is very subtle. "He" means tolerance; "same" means exclusion. In my course "Human History and Civilization", Professor Toynbee believes that grand unification means the decline of civilization. His theory of grand unification cannot
When explaining Chinese civilization, he confused "tong" with "harmony". Many people think that Confucianism is regarded as "tong", which means assimilating ideas and rejecting heterodoxy. In fact, China only respects Confucianism as "harmony" and regards Legalism as "harmony".
The thoughts of others are also included in it, and later it is absorbed into Taoism and Buddha's thoughts. Now it is natural to absorb Western civilization. "Being equal to others is called harmony, so it can be abundant and things can return to each other. If we use the same benefit and the same benefit, everything is the same."
Abandon it.' To put it more bluntly, Chinese civilization can be 'renewed day by day, renewed day by day, and renewed day by day'. Confucius also had a saying, 'Gentlemen are harmonious but different, villains are homogeneous but not harmonious'. Personal recommendation
As for the country and civilization, it is to pursue a kind of diversity, allowing different thoughts, different viewpoints, and different civilizations to merge together to realize the self-evolution and renewal of Chinese civilization."
Qian Zhongshu asked again: "Chinese civilization can indeed absorb foreign civilization, but what if this foreign civilization, such as the current Hope Civilization, is far more powerful than Chinese culture? If it absorbs too much, China will become a foreign civilization.
It's summer, and Chinese civilization has completely become Western civilization, and will eventually decline and perish."
"It is indeed possible," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "It depends on whether Chinese civilization can persist. Maybe in a few decades, Chinese people will wear Western clothes, eat Western food, see Western medicine, and imitate Western customs in weddings and funerals. But
There is one thing that cannot be changed, and that is Chinese characters. Losing Chinese characters means losing Chinese history, losing the inheritance of civilization, and losing the bond of national unity."
Another student raised his hand and said: "But now many scholars are calling for the abolition of Chinese characters, because Chinese characters can no longer keep up with the development of the times. Western Latin characters can be easily typed out with a typewriter, but the output efficiency of Chinese characters is very low. This is not
Conducive to the dissemination of culture and science.”
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Technology is advancing. Maybe we will come back and invent a new machine that can perfectly and conveniently output Chinese characters and type and print them?"
This sentence is unconvincing. The students attending the lecture are not time travellers, so how could they have anticipated the emergence of electronic computers.
After a lecture, some students were convinced, while others were skeptical of Zhou Hexuan's views.
Zhou Hexuan packed up the lecture notes and was about to leave. Suddenly a young man came from below and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, my name is Qian Mu. I am very inspired by your course."
"It turns out to be Professor Qian. Your article "Chronology of Liu Xiangxin and His Son" also benefited me a lot." Zhou Hexuan shook hands with him.
Qian Mu is a newly emerging figure in the field of Chinese history. He published "Chronology of Liu Xiangxin and His Son" earlier this year, which solved a major mystery in modern academic history. This article clarified a mystery that lasted for more than 2,000 years through just one "Hanshu"
He started the debate between modern and ancient Chinese literature and slapped Kang Youwei in the face, pointing out 28 errors in Kang Youwei's "New Study of Apocrypha".
Qian Mu also became famous because of this article. He was invited to be a Chinese lecturer at Yenching University, and also lectured part-time at Tsinghua and other universities. He came to Tsinghua today to finish his lectures, and came here to listen to Zhou Hexuan's lecture on "History of Human Civilization"
.
Zhou Hexuan looked at Qian Zhongshu who was leaving the classroom, and then looked at Qian Mu in front of him, and suddenly felt extremely funny.
Now Qian Mu has written his masterpiece "Introduction to Chinese Studies" and is going to ask his good friend Qian Jibo to write the preface. Qian Jibo fully agreed, but asked his son Qian Zhongshu to ghostwrite it. Qian Zhongshu, who was less than 20 years old, wrote the preface.
It is written clearly and logically, as if it was written by a master historian.
It was not until a few years later that Qian Mu found out that the preface to his work was actually written by a young boy. From then on, his relationship with Qian Zhongshu and his son was estranged. Later, when "Introduction to Chinese Studies" was republished, he simply deleted the preface. Obviously, he was deeply concerned.
dissatisfied.
"Mr. Zhou, I still have some unclear points that I would like to ask for advice on the historical research theory you proposed." Qian Mu said.
"Ask for advice, let's communicate with each other," Zhou Hexuan said, "Let's talk while walking."
Qian Mu took out a thin booklet called "Modern Historical Research Methods". This was the content of Zhou Hexuan's first lecture at Tsinghua University. The content of historical research was divided into politics, history, economy, ethnicity, and diplomacy.
There are seven elements of culture and individuals, and there are four elements of studying the causes, processes, results and influences of history.
This book was recently compiled and published by Peking University Press. The sales volume is not very good, barely selling more than 1,000 copies. However, it has caused great repercussions in Chinese historians, and some historians have begun to follow the method proposed by Zhou Hexuan.
Studying history, these historians were later classified as the "Zhou School".
Although Qian Mu did not completely follow this method in conducting historical research, he borrowed part of the content and could barely be considered a member of the "Zhou School".
Zhou Hexuan and Qian Mu chatted all the way, and finally went to the pavilion of Tsinghua University to talk in detail. They did not end the discussion until it got dark.
"Listening to what you have to say is better than ten years of studying. Goodbye, Mr. Zhou!" Qian Mu smiled and shook hands.
"No, I'm just proposing some novel methods. My achievements in Chinese history are far inferior to Mr. Qian's." Zhou Hexuan said sincerely.
Many people have read "Hanshu", but only Qian Mu could solve the unresolved "controversy between modern and ancient texts" with just one "Hanshu" for more than 2000 years. He is a super master of history.
After leaving Tsinghua University, Zhou Hexuan did not go to Peking University to stay, but went to Meng Xiaodong's natal home for dinner, and accompanied Meng Xiaodong to visit Yu Shuyan the next day.