This article is a compilation of notes from a Peking University history seminar. Additionally, I am considering changing the daily update frequency to weekly updates in the future while ensuring the quality of the posts, which will allow for more in-depth thinking and observations.
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"I opened the history book and found that there were no dates in history. On every crooked page, it was written 'benevolence and morality'. I couldn't sleep, so I carefully read through the night, and only then did I see the words between the lines: the entire book was filled with two words: 'cannibalism'!"
- Lu Xun, "The Diary of a Madman"
In the late dynastic years, cannibalism was rampant. For example, Zhuang Chuo of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his book "Jilei Bian": "Since the year Jingkang Bingwu (1126), when the Jin and Di tribes invaded China, over six or seven years, Shandong, Jingxi, Huainan and other regions were covered with thickets for thousands of miles. A dou of rice cost tens of thousands of coins, and yet was unavailable. Bandits, soldiers, and even civilians resorted to cannibalism. Human flesh was cheaper than dog or pig meat. A fat and strong person could be sold for no more than fifteen thousand coins, and their bodies would be dried as preserved meat. Fan Wen led loyal and righteous people across the sea to Qiantang in the year Shaoxing Gui-Chou, and some still ate human flesh upon arrival. Old and thin men were called 'extra firewood', young and beautiful women were named 'delicate lamb', and children were called 'bone-soft soup'; they were also generally referred to as 'two-legged sheep'."
So, how should we view our own country's history?
In the introduction of Qian Mu's "Outline of National History", some of his insights are presented. Qian Mu was a representative of Neo-Confucianism in the Republic of China era, with a deep love for traditional Chinese culture. During the War of Resistance against Japan, he compiled his lecture notes on general history from Peking University into a book to inspire national patriotism. Of course, the entire book has a very strong personal color. The following is part of the preface of the book:
All readers of this book should first have the following beliefs:
First, we should believe that the citizens of any country, especially those who claim to be above the level of knowledge, should have a basic understanding of their country's past history. Otherwise, they can only be considered as knowledgeable individuals, not knowledgeable citizens.
Second, those who claim to have a basic understanding of their country's past history must also have a sense of warmth and respect for it. Otherwise, they merely know some foreign history and cannot be said to have knowledge of their own country's history.
Third, having a sense of warmth and respect for one's country's past history means at least not holding a radical nihilism towards it, seeing no value in one's country's past history, or finding nothing satisfactory about it. It also means not believing that we are standing at the highest point of our past history, which is a shallow and arrogant view of evolution. And it means not attributing all our current sins and weaknesses to our ancestors. This is a seemingly plausible but false form of cultural self-condemnation.
Fourth, believe that each country must wait until a growing number of its citizens meet the aforementioned conditions before it can have any hope of further development. Otherwise, any improvements made will be equivalent to those of a conquered country or a semi-colony, having no relevance to its own nation. In other words, such improvements are essentially a form of cultural conquest, leading to the shrinkage and disappearance of its own culture rather than the transformation and flourishing of its own culture.