After the end of World War II, old history gradually declined and was completely replaced by modern history. "General History of the World" is a masterpiece of modern history, covering politics, economy, military, culture, education, religion, science and other aspects.
content.
During the Republic of China, both Western and Eastern historiography uniformly divided human history into "ancient times - medieval times - modern times", which was called the "Three-Part Rule".
However, according to this method of historical division, China's modern history began with the Opium War in 1840, hundreds of years later than modern Western history. This is really embarrassing, as it makes the Chinese before 1840 uncivilized.
There is serious Eurocentrism in the trichotomy.
"General History of the World" abandons the existing "dichotomy" principle and uses 1500 AD as the dividing line to describe the isolated world before 1500 and the world with the rise of the West after 1500.
Of course, since the original author is an American, this book's narration of Chinese history is very problematic.
For example, the "General History of the World" does not admit the existence of the Xia Dynasty, and says that there are no dense forests on the Loess Plateau. These are obviously wrong views. According to geological research, it has been found that thousands of years ago, the Loess Plateau had dense vegetation and a large number of forests.
The most outrageous thing is that the "General History of the World" believes that the Shang Dynasty people were a small group of Mongoloid people (ethnic concept, non-Mongolians) who emerged in the northwest prairie. By mastering the bronze smelting and chariot manufacturing technology in the Middle East, they used technology to
brought military superiority to invade North China and conquered the local Neolithic tribes.
This is so fucking nonsense. If Zhou Hexuan directly copied the original work without modification, he would probably be criticized by the Chinese people after writing this book.
How come our famous descendants of Yan and Huang became the descendants of nomadic conquerors in the writings of Western historians?
During his stay in Nanjing, Zhou Hexuan lived in the teachers' dormitory of Central University. He first outlined the outline of "General History of the World", then wrote the previous chapters, and gave two academic lectures at Central University. Suddenly a Japanese came
visit.
The visitor was about 50 years old, with a thin build and a horse face. When meeting him, he bowed ninety degrees and said: "Mr. Zhou, I am Kato Shigeru, whose name I have admired for a long time!"
Duan Xipeng introduced: "Mr. Zhou, this is Mr. Shigeru Kato, a Japanese expert on Chinese economic history. He is also the first person in Japan to study Chinese economic history."
"Hello, Mr. Kato." Zhou Hexuan smiled and shook hands with the other party.
Kato Shigeru is still very famous in the field of history. It is impossible that Zhou Hexuan has not heard of it. During the Republic of China, there were several Chinese historians who were his students.
Kato Shigeru specializes in studying the economy of past dynasties in China, such as the land-mu system in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the town economy in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the tax calculations in the Qin Dynasty, the commercial taxes in the Song Dynasty, and the manor economy in the Tang Dynasty. He has made great contributions to the history of Chinese economics.
The basic historical data method for the study of ancient Chinese economic history in later generations was pioneered by Kato Shigeru.
By the way, Kato Shigeru is a loyal supporter of the Japanese Emperor. His loyalty to the Emperor has nothing to do with politics. It is more like a belief flowing in his blood. But whether it is politics or belief, Kato Shigeru has not engaged in academic research.
A small move, unlike another Japanese historian Naito Konan who advocated co-prosperity in Greater East Asia.
This is a relatively pure scholar.
Duan Xipeng said with a smile: "Mr. Kato is here for inspection this time. He wants to visit some small towns in the south of the Yangtze River. He just arrived in Nanjing yesterday."
Kato Shigeru explained: "I am planning to conduct an on-the-spot inspection of village and town markets in China. After the inspection in Jiangnan, I will also go to Zhili, Shandong, Henan and other places."
"Mr. Kato is really rigorous in his studies." Zhou Hexuan praised sincerely.
The pioneer of research on the economic history of Chinese towns was pioneered by the historian Quan Hansheng, who published "An Investigation of the History of Chinese Temple Markets" in 1934. Kato Shigeru did not lag behind for too long, and in the same year published "The Periodic Period of Villages and Towns in the Qing Dynasty"
"City" also does groundbreaking qualitative research.
Kato Shigeru said: "China has a long history, and the economic history of China that I have studied is just a drop in the ocean. The deeper I understand Chinese history, the more I can feel its charm, especially the economic strategies of ancient China, which still have a reference for today."
"
Zhou Hexuan is not a imperialist. He hates Japanese warmongers, but he has no prejudice against pure Japanese scholars. What's more, this Japanese scholar has also made great contributions to the development of Chinese historical research. He took the initiative to invite: "Waiting for Mr. Kato
When you go to the north for inspection, I can help you contact the local university to facilitate your collection of historical materials."
"Thank you so much!" Kato Shigeru said happily.
Duan Xipeng glanced at the manuscript on his desk and couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Zhou, has your world history textbook been started?"
"Well, I have written more than 10,000 words." Zhou Hexuan nodded.
"The speed is too fast," Duan Xipeng was extremely surprised and asked, "Can I take a look?"
"Of course." Zhou Hexuan said.
Duan Xipeng first looked at the outline, and saw that the main body was divided into two parts: "The World Before 1500" and "The World After 1500". The subdivisions include: "Humans Before Civilization" and "Ancient Civilizations in Eurasia"
, "Classical Civilization in Eurasia", "The End of Classical Civilization", "Medieval Civilization in Eurasia"...
The title that shocked Duan Xipeng the most was "Medieval Civilization in Eurasia". Because according to the current historical classification method, only Western civilization has the Middle Ages, and there is no such thing as the Middle Ages in China.
Is Zhou Hexuan trying to redefine the "historical trichotomy"?
Kato Shigeru also came over to take a look. When he finished reading the outline list, he was equally shocked and didn't even need to read the text.
Just by looking at the outline titles, you can tell that Zhou Hexuan's "Global History" is completely different from the current popular historical research methods, but it is similar to several of his other works.
However, completely denying the "historical trichotomy" is too shocking and is likely to attract collective condemnation and criticism from Western historians.
Kato Shigeru sincerely admired him: "Mr. Zhou's historical research is really admirable."
According to the principle of "Historical Trichotomy", Japan's modern history is also very late, and it suffers from the same discrimination as China. Zhou Hexuan's "Global History" will definitely be recognized by the Japanese historians, at least Kato Shigeru strongly agrees with this approach.
Duan Xipeng carefully read the 10,000-word text he had written, shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "Mr. Zhou, you are not writing a history textbook. You are clearly creating a world history monograph."
No wonder Duan Xipeng was so surprised. The opening chapter of "General History of the World" redefines the nature of world history. There is a very clear and straightforward sentence in it: World history is not just the sum of the histories of various regions in the world. If it is divided and divided again, it will change.
Its properties are just like that once water is decomposed into its chemical components, it is no longer water but becomes hydrogen and oxygen.
This sentence explains the "global view of history", which understands the history of all countries in the world as an organic unity that affects each other and is inseparable. This view is also of groundbreaking significance today.
Once this textbook is promoted in various universities in China, the academic views and academic vision of Chinese history college students will definitely far exceed those of Western students.
History is not just for research. It is said that "reading history makes people wise". As long as you study and read "Global History" carefully, the "globalization" ideas and concepts in it can definitely expand the views of people in the Republic of China and even affect the development of the country.
