Mr. Zhang Taiyan (1869-1936) was a modern master of Chinese studies. He was called by Hu Shi the leader of the Qing Dynasty and the last "general in charge" of classical Chinese. Reading, revolution, and lecturing were the main threads throughout his life. Speaking of revolution, he was "hunted seven times and imprisoned three times, but his revolutionary ambitions never gave in." He was called a founding father of the Republic of China. Mr. Lu Xun praised him as "the spirit of the forefathers and a model for future generations." When it comes to reading, he is well-read in classics and history, and his wealth of knowledge is unparalleled. And lecturing was his main occupation. He gave lectures four times in his life. In his later years, he founded Zhang's Chinese Studies Seminar in Suzhou. He had students all over the world, many of whom were successful.
Zhang Taiyan's academic expertise lies in Confucian classics, especially the primary school, which is deeply rooted in the essence of the Qianjia school but even more so. As a scholar, Zhang Taiyan's academic attitude is "study for truth, not for application" and "academic for academic's sake". But he also has the side of being a revolutionary who helps the world and saves people, which makes him naturally pay attention to the realities of his family, country, world, and even life, and discuss them at the same time. In this discussion, talking about history and anecdotes is a major content.
Out of concern for the future and destiny of the country, he encouraged Chinese people, especially young people, to read history in many speeches. He personally respected Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi and others in the late Ming Dynasty. It was in the process of reading their works that he came up with the idea of ????revolution, which is the so-called "history of revolutionary seeds." At that time, many people believed that he was "spiritually similar" to an old man from the late Ming Dynasty. For example, in Mr. Cai Yuanpei's elegiac couplet to him, he said, "Hunt Taichong has been in Yanwu for more than 200 years, and he drove the Tatars back to China and stole the old man." Zhang Taiyan admired their spirit of being both knowledgeable and capable of doing things.
In Zhang Taiyan’s view, “If you don’t read history books, you can’t love your country.” “In the past, when people read history, they paid attention to the rise and fall of a generation. Today, the situation is different, and our eyes must also change. We should pay attention to the rise and fall of the whole country. . This is the essence of reading history." Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that in his speech at Yenching University on March 24, 1932, in the critical autumn after the "September 18th" incident, he deliberately emphasized "What is the most important study today? History is also ". He said to young students: "Today's young people should know when they are, what period China is in now, and what responsibilities they have towards the country. All these can be found in historical records." He believes that reading history can "enable readers to know the reasons for the strength and weakness of a country, the remote and proximate causes of victory and defeat in wars, and the changes in the rise and fall of nations, which are indispensable in life and life." He compared history to a "chess record". If you "play chess according to the chess record and use it well, you will definitely have a good chance of winning; if you are familiar with history and use it according to it, there will be no disadvantage." He hated that some people at that time were ignorant of historical facts and even argued that they had "abandoned the three northeastern provinces": "There is a difference between a vassal state and an inherent land. History has told us in detail. Unfortunately, today people regard the three northeastern provinces as vassals and sing The argument of "abandoning the three eastern provinces" is the reason why the historical records are unclear... The three eastern provinces were originally China's inherent territory. The Han Dynasty called them Turks, and the Song Dynasty called them Liao and Jin. The Han Dynasty is far away today, so let's ignore it. According to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the three eastern provinces in the Ming and Qing dynasties were all part of our country's inherent territory. However, due to unclear historical records, we now suspect that the territory we originally owned was a vassal territory. This would be even more harmful than if we did not read the classics." For this reason, he pointed out bitterly that for the Chinese people, history is “my anecdotes and my family tree. Although it is useless for others to obtain it, I have to prepare it. If I want to serve the country, this old family tree It must be studied right and wrong", and "Since it is very important for today's young people to know historical records, they should treat them as newly discovered treasures and watch them day and night!"
History is so important, what is the appropriate way to read it? ? Directly related to the application of managing the world, Zhang Taiyan believes that "we should pay attention to the evolution of systems and regional changes, and the causes of chaos. It is very easy to read, and you can gain experience by just reading one sentence. It is not like running an army requires strategy and drill in parallel." , so its achievement is also easy." From the perspective of everyone who is knowledgeable, reading historical books is naturally much easier than reading classics. However, the level of ordinary readers is limited after all. Therefore, he thought that if he felt that historical books were too complicated, then at least reading "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" would be simple and easy. In addition to "Tongjian", there are "Tongkao" ("Wen Tongkao", written by Yuan Ma Duanlin), "Tongdian" (written by Duyou of Tang Dynasty) and "Minutes of Dushi Fangyu" (written by Gu Zuyu of the Qing Dynasty) which tells the geographical evolution of the past dynasties. ) was also valued by him (but he thought "Tongdian" was clumsy and could not be read). He himself benefited deeply from these "three links". He once said: "I cannot comment on the books such as Tongdian, Tongkao, and Zizhi Tongjian", and gave an example: "Politics" Learning requires a deep understanding of history." "The famous generals and ministers of the past dynasties are inherently uneducated, just like Zeng (Guofan), Zuo (Zongtang), and Hu (Lin Yi), who are also so-called famous ministers, but what they have gained Li was in "Tongjian" and "Tongkao", Zuo was in "Tongkao", and Hu was in "Minutes of Dushi Fangyu". Is it true that Cheng Gongzhi is too much? "The "Three Tongs" add up to 500 volumes. According to He said, "Read two volumes a day and graduate in 250 days." It is really straightforward and clear, and it also makes us think deeply. Many leading cadres use busy work as an excuse to study less, but in fact it often becomes an excuse.
Some people may say that the historical society is too specialized and difficult to get started? Zhang Taiyan's answer was just the opposite. In his opinion, "the study of history is suitable for self-study and not suitable for teaching."
Because there are so many historical books, teaching alone is not enough. Even if you teach some "General Introduction to History" and "Historical Research Methods", if you don't read it yourself, you will have no foundation and it will be in vain. Therefore, in addition to teaching necessary historical regulations in schools, historical knowledge must be acquired through self-study. Moreover, "the literature and science of history are easy to understand, unlike the exegesis of classics, which is difficult to understand." "It takes three years to understand the whole of the Twenty-Four Histories." Therefore, he repeatedly stated: "This subject is suitable for self-study. It is not appropriate to explain it in a lecture hall." Let’s not discuss whether history is suitable for teaching in school lectures. However, the spirit of solid reading he advocated, especially pointing out to us that history reading can be practically started and obtained through self-study, is still very instructive and dispels the problem. All kinds of fearful emotions hidden in our hearts. Of course, the current situation is far from comparable to that of Taiyan's day. Reading history has also added more new content and is guided by Marxist theory. Therefore, our reading of history and our understanding of history are therefore better than those of our predecessors. It's better to make more progress. But his down-to-earth scholarly style is always worthy of our admiration, and I am afraid this will never go out of style.