Xia Zengyou

Xia Zengyou

Xia Zengyou (1863-1924) was named Sui Qing and Sui Qing. He was named BIE Shi and Sui fo, and his pen name was BIE Shi. Hangzhou county (now Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province) people. Guangxu 16 years (1890) Jinshi, the Ministry of rites. Modern poets, historians and scholars. He had a profound study of jinwenjing and Buddhism, and had a considerable accomplishment of Qianjia textual research and poetry. In addition, he also paid attention to learning foreign historical and geographical knowledge and natural knowledge.

In 1897, Guowen Bao was founded in Tianjin with Yan Fu to promote new learning and reform. Later, he devoted himself to the study of ancient Chinese history. He compiled the latest Chinese Studies and the textbook of Chinese history in Chapter style, which was renamed "ancient Chinese history" when it was reprinted. It was the first book in modern China that tried to study Chinese history with evolutionism.

In the Republic of China, he was director of the General Education Department of the Ministry of education. Later transferred to be the curator of Beijing Library.

Life

Guangxu 16 years (1890) Jinshi. He was once the head of the Ministry of rites, the magistrate of Sizhou, and the governor of Liangjiang. After entering the Republic of China, he once retired, and later served as director of the Social Education Department of the Ministry of education and director of the Peking library. In his early years, he had close contacts with Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong, discussed "new learning" together, and participated in reformist activities.

In 1896 (the 22nd year of Guangxu), Wang Kangnian, Liang Qichao and others founded the current affairs newspaper in Shanghai to publicize the "reform and preservation". At the end of the year, he and Yan Fu founded Guowen Bao in Tianjin, actively publicizing the academic culture and political thoughts of the western bourgeoisie, advocating reform and reform, which played a role in promoting the reform movement of 1898. After the failure of the political reform, Guowen Bao was forced to stop publication, depressed and politically close to the Westernization Movement.

At the end of 1899 (the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he served as the magistrate of Qimen County, Anhui Province, and lived in Shanghai after his tenure. Soon, he was appointed Zhili Prefecture magistrate.

In 1902 (the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he lived in Shanghai because of his mother's death. During this period, he engaged in the study of ancient Chinese history.

In 1905 (the 31st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), the Qing government "prepared to establish a constitution" and appointed five ministers, including zaizaze, to go abroad for investigation. Xia was one of the entourage.

In 1906 (the 32nd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he went to Japan to study and returned to China. He served as the prefect of Sizhou and the governor of Liangjiang. He once wrote articles to create public opinion for the "constitutionalism" of the Qing government.

After the revolution of 1911, he was appointed director of the Social Education Department of the Ministry of education of the Beiyang government and later transferred to the Beijing library director.

He wrote the latest textbook of Chinese history for middle school and later changed its name to ancient Chinese history, which played an important role in education. Although he only wrote about the Sui Dynasty, the book was written in Chapter style, which broke through the traditional compilation method. According to the evolution and evolution of history, Chinese history was divided into three periods and was known as "the first famous new general history" in the history of modern Chinese history. In addition, he has a deep study of jinwenjing and Buddhism, and can also write poems.

At the beginning of the Republic of China, he participated in the initiation of the "Confucian Association".

He studied ancient Chinese history from the perspective of evolutionism, and his Chinese history textbook is quite influential. After reading the book, Hu Shi "deeply understands Mr. peixia's skill and insight" (Hu Shi's diary, August 14, 1930). Lu Xun commented: "we don't have to look at his other papers, just look at his two" Chinese history textbooks ", we can see how clear he sees the Chinese people.". (talking about the so-called "Da Nei archives" is included in just a collection). Today, it is evaluated as "the first famous work of the new general history of China in the 20th century" (review of the compilation of general history of China in a century, author: Wang Jiafan).

historical thought

Like many people at that time, Xia Zengyou accepted the view of "natural selection, survival of the fittest" earlier. He formed the theory of historical evolution earlier and tried to apply it to the study of history. The reason why he formed this kind of thought is naturally inseparable from Yan Fu's influence.

After he met Yan Fu in Tianjin, Xia Zengyou once vowed to "fully understand the meaning of tianyanlun, and then recall it as a book", but he failed in the end. Until his later years, he also praised Yan Fu for "once a few volumes are published, all kinds of strange things begin to appear", and praised Yan's theory of Tianyan translation. Therefore, at the beginning of the textbook, he mentioned Darwin's theory of provenance. He thought that although the theory was "based on the investigation of the fossils of the living creatures and strata of the present age", it was "analyzed in detail to see if it could be understood, so as to get the reason of the evolution of things and things." It is believed that this theory can break the ancient view of God making history. In the section of Shennong, he clearly pointed out that the evolution of a civilized country must be nomadic and farming from a fishing and hunting society, but it is only too late. In the section of social changes at the end of the Three Kingdoms, it clearly affirms that the principle of the superior winning the inferior losing is the world's public rule. In the analysis of specific historical issues (such as the reasons for the extinction of Rangers), he always tries to explain that "there is a reason for heaven's evolution". Moreover, he further believes that the historical evolution phenomenon can not be measured according to the moral standards. In the section of Yu's politics and religion, he clearly wrote: "to Yu is to establish the law of succession. The gradual consolidation of authoritarian power is also the result of the progress of the world movement, and there is no need to change virtue. "

Interestingly, Xia Zengyou believes that the evolution of history is guided by academic thought, and other historical factors can only follow. For example, the section of "changing the past in the Warring States period" says: "the great example of the evolution of ancient and modern people, must be the first theory, and politics is from behind." He also thinks that not all historical things have evolved. Some historical things not only do not evolve, but also degenerate.

In the section of the origin and development of literature, it is said that there are as many as 9000 names in Shuowen, while there are only more than 2000 names in modern times, which shows that the present is not like the old. "The more knowledge is, the more complicated names are used.". After the Han Dynasty, Chinese learning has been degenerating day by day. This conclusion is, of course, ridiculous. In fact, terms have their own historicity. New things and new ideas emerge constantly. When the old language concepts are not enough to express, new terms will appear, and the old language will be eliminated naturally. This is the performance of the progress of learning. Shuowen appeared in the Han Dynasty, of course, it can not completely summarize the language phenomenon after the Han Dynasty. How can we judge its academic situation according to the number of names and objects it contains?

Xia Zengyou sometimes revealed his thought of historical circulation. In his letter to Song Shu, he said, "the way of heaven circulates, and you will return." The analysis of the alternation of peace and revolution in the history of China in the reign of Emperor Wen and Huang Laozhi is actually saying that there is a circular public example in the history of China.

It is the thought of historical function and historical cause and effect that adapts to the above ideas. Xia Zengyou said, "wisdom is better than knowledge. How can we know? According to the past, I thought it was just pushing. Therefore, scholars of history are indispensable to human beings. " This is his attitude on historical function.

Xia Zengyou also believes that there are historical reasons for the development and changes of the real society. Therefore, if we find the historical reasons, we will find the basis of realistic changes. In other words, the reason why today's flowers and fruits, all because of the seeds sown by the ancients. This shows that he affirmed the continuity of historical development and expressed his views on the relationship between history and reality. The textbook "Xu" says: "if the games are destroyed, personnel will change. At present, the fruits we eat can not be proved by the ancients one by one, that is, there is no way to know the danger of the future. " The second volume of "the gist of history in this issue" says: "as for today, people in the world meet around each other, each holding its inherent culture, taking the phase as the top and bottom. If he wins or loses, how can he fulfill the responsibilities of the present people and eat the rewards of the ancients? " Therefore, "taking the Qin and Han Dynasties as the cause, in order to achieve today's results, China's future should also be measured."

This kind of opinion is a bit like advocating karma. If we push it to the extreme, it will become the so-called "historical basis" to defend some unreasonable phenomena in reality and weaken people's confidence in changing reality. "The origin of the publication of the first outline of constitutionalism" puts the responsibility of China's failure to implement the constitutional system as soon as possible on history, saying that "if it is too big, it will be too late to be moved; if it is too old, it will be too conservative. If it is too late or too late, then its constitutionalism will be the end of all nations, and there is no wonder that it is natural. " He believes that the transformation or change of reality must take into account the historical and cultural background of his country. He once wrote a special article entitled "on reform must be based on history", which is right, but it is harmful for him to defend reality based on his understanding of historical function.

Xia Zengyou acknowledged the existence of objective historical laws. On the relationship between China and Japan, the article said: "there is a natural trend in the world, which cannot be escaped by human beings. After thousands of years, the divine light is separated and United, and the ups and downs are endless, but in the end, it still belongs to this natural situation. This is why we lament that heaven has decided that we can't escape. " The so-called "Tian Ding" refers to the laws of nature. There is also a law similar to Tianding in history, that is, "Gongli". "History, there is a case," he said This kind of public law is made up of causality, so the book "the origin of Chinese society" says: "there is no result without cause in the world." It's easy to think that everything is right.

Because he believed in cause and effect, Xia Zengyou always looked for deep reasons when he narrated or analyzed historical phenomena. For example, "religion before Confucius" lists many "things about ghosts and gods", pointing out that the reason why the ancients believed in ghosts and gods was that they did not understand human perception and some natural phenomena, which can be described as Xia's brilliant comments. The explanation of "the origin of various theories" in Confucius' anecdotes and the explanation of the rise and fall of the three schools of Lao Kong and Mo in the general introduction of the three schools of thought are all examples of explaining specific historical phenomena based on the thought of causality.

From the perspective of textbooks, the most admirable thing about Xia Zengyou is his thought of historical stages. We can't help sighing that Xia's ability to grasp the pulse and clue of historical development is very strong and rich in historical abstraction. This is prominently reflected in his division of historical development stages.

The textbooks of "general rules", "ancient rules"

Chinese PinYin : Xia Ceng You