What is the purpose of Liang Qichao's advocacy of "new historiography"?

The most prominent feature of Liang Qichao's new historiography is the spirit of criticism and innovation. His view of new historiography was formed in the reflection and criticism of feudal old historiography, and it is precisely because of this that Liang Qichao's pioneering achievements of "new historiography" were displayed. In the late Qing Dynasty, in the face of foreign invasion and internal corruption, the autocratic politics of imperial power represented by it also came to an end. So society began to transform from traditional society to modern society. Compared with today's "reform and opening up" China, the social transformation in the late Qing Dynasty is characterized by leading political transformation and lagging economic transformation. Therefore, the social and political changes in the late Qing Dynasty largely became an important factor that decided and influenced the ideological, cultural and academic development in this period. It is against this background that a large number of progressive intellectuals with the consciousness of saving the country have emerged. They are eager to understand the west and learn the factors of the western political system, so their demands for reform are getting stronger and stronger. From constitutionalism to harmony, from reform to revolution, with the impact of social and political thoughts, the traditional political culture in the late Qing Dynasty is constantly disintegrating. This political situation profoundly influenced the ideology, culture and scholarship of the late Qing Dynasty, which led to the inadaptability of China's traditional historiography with modern society. It is in this sense that scholars represented by Liang Qichao deeply feel the pain of being without history: "If the revolutionary trend of thought in China's historiography circle can't afford it, China will never have history, and there will be no country without history." The so-called "no history" does not mean that China has no history, but that China has no historiography suitable for modern social life. In the eyes of advocates of new historiography, there are no historical books centered on "civil history", "national history" and "belief history", and there are no historical books that can be related to national independence and progress and national prosperity and development. This means that China's traditional historiography must be reformed. It was at this time that the introduction of western liberal and democratic ideas greatly inspired the thoughts of progressive intellectuals, and the concepts of state, nationality, civil rights and equality gradually replaced the hierarchical concepts of court, emperor, autocracy and feudalism, providing valuable content for new historiography. Therefore, while criticizing the disadvantages of the old historiography, a group of scholars put forward the problem of establishing a new historiography in China. In the main battlefield where China historians criticize the old historiography, its standard bearer is not a "radical revolutionary", but Liang Qichao, who was once regarded as a "reformist". Liang Qichao's new historiography creation did not appear in a "conservative" posture, but began with a revolutionary critical position. As early as the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao pointed out that absolute monarchy was the general source of China's weakness. In view of the old historiography, he emphasized the traditional "history of the monarch" and only focused on the reasons for the rise and fall of a surname, which failed to give people insight into the "strong and weak reasons" of a country and did not help save the modern national crisis. "The history of monarchies is extremely embarrassing today." 1902, Liang Qichao serialized New History in Xinmin Congbao, which was divided into six sections: Old History of China, Definition of History, Relationship between History and Race, On Orthodoxy, On Calligraphy and On Chronology. In the spirit of criticism and innovation, it strongly criticized feudal historiography. In this important historical treatise, Liang Qichao clearly put forward some important ideological propositions, such as "historical revolution", "seeking historical justice" and "the unity of the country is not in the monarch", which embodies his historical thoughts. 1897, Liang Qichao clearly distinguished "the history of the monarch", "the history of the country" and "the history of the people" in his continued translation of Chronicle of National History and Politicians, and proposed that "the history of the people" and "the history of the country" were the main contents of modern western historiography. He said: "Civil history works are very prosperous in the West, but few in China"; "Middle-earth in two thousand, if the official, if the chronicle, if a memoir, if a biography, if at the end of the notepad, if imperial edicts, strong half are monarch history also. For example, books such as General Canon, General Records, General Examination of Literature, Tang Yaohui and Han Hui are close to the national history, but the organization has not yet been completed. " He clearly pointed out in the article "New History" that history is "the mirror of the people and the source of patriotism". Today, European nationalism is so developed, countries are so civilized, and historiography contributes half of it. "It can be seen that he wants to use the reference role of history to deduce the reasons for political changes. Liang Qichao emphasized that China's historiography should be reformed in times of national crisis in order to give full play to its role. He said: "Today, if we want to advocate nationalism and make my 40 million compatriots stand in this world of survival of the fittest, then the history of our country is really a subject without age, youth, men, women, wisdom, fools, sages and all kinds of unscrupulous people, and it is urgent to treat it as a hunger and thirst. ..... historical revolution, then our country is hopeless. Everything is long, but it is huge. " Liang Qichao was deeply involved in a kind of political care complex when he advocated the historical revolution. Zeng Kunhua, the editor of history books, also pointed out in 1903: "Historians are the largest, richest and most important discipline in academic circles, the turtle of society, the principle of civilization and the initiator of national patriotism." "History is the focus of the soul of the Chinese nation and the source of national patriotism." Obviously, the new historiography advocated by Liang Qichao rose to the height of national destiny in order to save the nation and survive. Liang Qichao believes that the service object of traditional historiography is extremely backward and the research purpose is biased. He pointed out that traditional historiography has four disadvantages: knowing that there is a court without a country, knowing that there are individuals without a group, knowing that there are historical records without current events, and knowing that there are facts without ideals. Therefore, traditional historiography can be described but not cut, copied but not created. While clarifying the old feudal history, Liang Qichao dismissed feudal historiography as "genealogy of emperors and princes", "mutual calligraphy", "epitaph" and "wax man's courtyard", which can be described as profound and incisive, fully embodying the essence of critical spirit in Liang Qichao's early historiography thought. In a word, Liang Qichao believes that traditional historiography is centered on imperial politics, serving the court and individuals, and has nothing to do with the public. Therefore, such a history book can only make readers "read the whole history, but it will never be enough to arouse their patriotism and unite the strength of living in groups to stand on the world to cope with today's situation." Liang Qichao put forward: "reunification is not in the country, but in the people, not in one person." There is no reunification at all, let alone justice. " Only the country is orthodox, and only the people are orthodox. Like Britain, Germany and Japan, only the system determined by the constitution and recognized by the people is truly orthodox. Although Liang Qichao's exposition is not devoted to historical issues, it fully embodies the brand-new political vision and national rights consciousness endowed by western democratic thoughts. Liang Qichao held that "nation is the brain of history" in the Review of Chinese History published in 190 1. He divided the whole history of China into "China in China" (the last history, the unification of the Yellow Emperor and the Qin Dynasty), "China of Asia" (the middle history, the unification of the Qin Dynasty to the end of Qianlong) and "China of the world" (the recent history, the end of Qianlong to the present), taking the trajectory of the establishment and development of the Chinese nation and its position in the world as the main line throughout the whole history. Liang Qichao argued that in the modern world, there is no "national power" without "civil rights"; It is believed that "a country with one-person private ownership cannot be dominated by a world of advantages and disadvantages." However, today we are asking for the will of the country, and it will be embarrassing to give up the people! In the traditional concept, "country" refers to the dynasty and imperial power, but in Liang Qichao's historical vision, especially in his "group" thought, "country" is clearly defined as the "aggregate" of all the people in a certain geographical area. 1900, he published "On young chinese", expressing the following views: "What is a husband and a country? "? If there are land and people, the people living on their land should manage the affairs of the land where they live, formulate their own laws and maintain their own laws; Sovereignty, obedience, everyone's sovereignty and everyone's obedience. If the husband is like this, it is called complete founding. ..... I China domain in the past, or have a taste of the country? But there is a court's ear. "From then on, Liang Qichao's modern national view with nationals as the main body was formed. Liang Qichao, under the guidance of the modern national view with nationals as the main body, believes that the main body of historical activities is no longer emperors and princes. Accordingly, the main object of historical research and historical service must also shift from the emperor to the people. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a revolution of China's modern history consciousness. Liang Qichao pointed out in China Historical Research Law published in the early 1920s that "the history needed today is just a mirror of state-owned assets or human resources". ..... It is obvious that the purpose of history is for the general public, not for a certain power class or a certain intellectual class. ".This theory has practical significance, as if it is a powerful denial of the historical view of political parties and classes advocated by the" red memory "in China today. Historian Deng Shi once pointed out that "human history" is "a way to describe the contact, communication, competition and unity of a group of people. On the one hand, it invents the principle of social and political evolution in the past, on the other hand, it enlightens the glorious civilization of future human beings, so that future generations can enjoy the joy of eating groups and enjoy the common interests of the group." It can be seen that "people's history" is also the history of all people, and "people's history" replaces "monarch" politics because Liang Qichao attaches importance to managing history. Although Liang Qichao paid attention to "national", "nation" or "country", his ideal "national" mainly refers to political citizens with modern constitutional ability or qualification, so Liang Qichao did not deny the historical role of heroes. It is precisely because there are heroes who create the times that "society is active and life is meaningful". Saving the country requires reform, which is based on the whole; Saving the country needs political guidance, which calls for the role of "hero". Liang Qichao's criticism of old historiography holds that old historiography is the resistance and trap of new historiography. The more thorough the criticism of the old historiography, the clearer and more open the prospect of the new historiography. Liang Qichao's historical thoughts such as "new historiography" and "historical revolution" are based on his criticism of the old historiography. Under the circumstances at that time, criticizing the old historiography fiercely has the function of emancipating the mind and opening the way for social innovation. At the same time, Liang Qichao's new historiography is based on the theory of evolution, which is full of human rights consciousness and historical view of social evolution, and has a very obvious foundation significance for the renewal of China's history and social transformation.