Meliksetov history of China read. Chapter III
HISTORY OF CHINA
Edited by
A. V. Meliksetova
2nd edition, revised and expanded
higher educational institutions students studying history
PUBLISHING HOUSE OF MOSCOW UNIVERSITY
"HIGH SCHOOL" 2002
UDC 93/99BBK 63.3(5)
Authors of the textbook:
L. S. Vasiliev - ch. I-IV; Z.G. Lapina - Ch. V-VIII;
A.V. Meliksetov - ch. XIII-XVIII;
§ 5 ch. XIX, § 3 ch. XX;A.A. Pisarev - ch. IX-XII, XIX (except § 5), XX (except § 3)
Reviewers: Department of Oriental Studies at MGIMO Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; doctor historical sciences
, Professor A.A. Bokshchanin; Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.M. Grigoriev
« History of China; Textbook / Edited by A.V. Melik-I89 setova. - 2nd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, Publishing House graduate School
", 2002. - 736 p. ISBN 5-211-04413-4
The textbook outlines the history of China from ancient times to the present day. The authors of the book are famous sinologist historians, teachers of the Department of Chinese History of the ISAA at Moscow State University. For students studying world history
, as well as for everyone interested in the history of China.
UDC 93/99 BBK 63.3(5)
HISTORY OF CHINA
Educational edition
Edited by A.V. Meliksetova
Head edited by G.M. Stepanenko. Editors T.M. Ilyenko, L.V. Kutukova.
Binding by artist V.V. Garbuzova. Technical editor N.I. Smirnova.
Proofreaders G.A. Yaroshevskaya, V.A. Vetrov
Ed. persons No. 040414 dated 04/18/97.
Signed for publication on 12/18/01. Format 60 x 9O"/|b- Offset paper No. 1. Time typeface. Offset printing. Printing conditions. sheets. 46.0. Educational sheets. 47.29.
Circulation 3000 copies. Order No. 5247. Edition. No. 6993
Order "Badge of Honor" Moscow University Publishing House 103009, Moscow, Bolshaya Nikitskaya st., 5/7. Tel.: 229-50-91. Fax: 203-66-71. Tel.: 939-33-23 (sales department). Email:[email protected]
The MSU Publishing House operates the “BOOK BY MAIL” service
Tel.: 229-75-41 Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Higher School Publishing House",
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Printed in full accordance with the quality of the transparencies provided by JSC Mozhaisk Printing Plant.
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Preface Huge interest Russian public
to the past the present of our great neighbor, its culture and economic successes, to all aspects of its life today is satisfied with the publication of a significant number of books and articles on a wide variety of topics. Currently, Russian Sinology is one of the most fruitful branches of Russian Oriental studies. This is in to the fullest also applies to historians and sinologists, for last years who published books
to the past articles on almost all periods of a long and continuous Chinese history. However, there is clearly a lack of works of a general nature that could claim to present the entire history of our great neighbor. Meanwhile, the need for writing such books is obvious. “The History of China” is an attempt to fill an empty niche. Authors of the book - Chinese historians who have been working for many years on the study of various historical periods China, which made it possible to combine their efforts to achieve the task. In this sense, the writing of this book is a certain historiographical summing up of the previous one. research work its authors.
Being teachers of the Department of Chinese History at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, who for decades have taught and are teaching general and special courses on the history of China and the history of Asian and African countries, and who have participated in the writing of many teaching aids, the authors of the publication brought to the attention of the reader have accumulated considerable pedagogical experience, which served as a solid foundation when working on this book, which aims to give a summary summary of the entire history of China.
When starting work, the authors understood the complexity of the task assigned to them. We were talking about China - a country of history, a country of continuous cultural tradition, including the tradition of writing history. Beginning with ancient times, professionally skillful and diligent officials recorded on oracle bones, bronze vessels, bamboo strips and silk scrolls, and then on paper, everything that they saw and heard, that happened around them and deserved mention.
This state-sponsored chronicle has always been important integral part spiritual life of China. The first and titanic in nature generalization of such everyday historiographical work belongs to the brush of the great Chinese historian Sima Qian (who came from a family of hereditary historiographers) at the turn of the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. The book he created, “Shiji” (“Historical Notes”, or “Notes of a Historian”), is a work of enormous volume and deep thought, which has become a kind of sample, a didactic model for historical research in China. Over the next two millennia, Sima Qian's work served as the basis for the creation of so-called dynastic histories.
Typically, each new dynasty, after its establishment on the throne, created a commission of professional historians whose task was to write the history of the previous dynasty. There are traditionally 24 such stories in total. They were compiled by highly qualified specialists who tried to present them fairly objectively historical events previous dynasty and lead the reader to conclusions that were supposed to confirm the legitimacy ruling dynasty. Naturally, proving the legitimacy of a new dynasty sometimes required a new interpretation of events from the distant past. In this case, the members of these commissions (they were not just historians, but officials in the history department!) dissected the historical material in the right spirit. However, this “rewriting” of history took place in strict adherence to the Confucian ethics and didactics accumulated over centuries, the moral precept: history always had to confirm that only those who possess the highest grace-virtue de could receive heavenly sanction to rule China (the Celestial Empire). It was the possession and loss of it that underlay the pattern of movement of dynastic cycles. Therefore, history, interpreted in the Confucian spirit, indirectly proved that people (primarily rulers) themselves determine the fate of the country and thereby create history. Heaven in this sense was only a regulatory and controlling authority.
The centuries-old work of historians has always been considered very important and highly valued in China. Canonical symbols (primarily Confucian) and historical works were the main subjects of humanitarian education (and traditional China knew no other education), which opened the way to filling bureaucratic positions, promotion social status and increased political prestige. At the same time, history is perceived
served as a school of life, a kind of collection of instructive stories about the actions of rulers and historical precedents. Appealing to history, to precedent, for example, to the example of the ancients, was one of the most powerful arguments in political disputes in imperial China. In the XIX-XX centuries. In turning to history, to antiquity, reformers looked for ideological support, and revolutionaries also turned to the same source.
Modern Chinese historiography genetically goes back, quite naturally, to its national historiographic tradition. The sharp ideological turn associated with the coming to power of the Communists and the formation of the PRC did not cancel most important feature Chinese historiography - it continued to be an official, state, party matter, important ideological and political weapon in the hands of the state-party leadership. Even before the seizure of power in April 1945, the 7th expanded plenum of the CPC Central Committee (sixth convocation), after serious discussion, adopted the “Decision on Some Issues in the History of Our Party,” which gave a Maoist version of the development of the CPC and the entire liberation movement of the Chinese people. This party document determined the development of the historiography of new China for many years. At the historical turning point from the utopian communism of Mao Zedong to the pragmatic policy of market socialism of Deng Xiaoping in June 1981, the VI Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPC (eleventh convocation) adopted the “Decision on some issues of the history of the CPC since the founding of the PRC,” which in many ways introduced new the ways of development of the Chinese revolution are comprehended. At the same time, which began in the late 70s. The gradual renewal of the entire spiritual life of the country has also affected modern Chinese historiography - new sources are being introduced into scientific circulation, a critical approach to the study of certain historical subjects is being developed, and fruitful differences are emerging in the interpretation of the historical process.
The authors treat the achievements of Chinese historiography with great respect and attention, striving to make full use of them when writing this book. However, despite all this, we remain Russian historians, striving to understand and interpret Chinese history from our modern positions.
Explaining the thousands of years of Chinese history in one book has always been a very difficult and complex task. And yet, despite the limitations of the book’s “territory,” we sought to fill it with the maximum possible amount of factual material. The goal was for the reader to find in
This book is not a schematic historical sketch, but it will powerfully and convincingly demonstrate character traits and features of the history of Chinese society and state.
No less (and perhaps more) difficult and important task there was a theoretical interpretation of a huge amount of material from positions common to the group of authors. Let us note that the authors of the book are like-minded in the main methodological approaches to the study of Chinese history, despite all the differences in the topics of their scientific and pedagogical activity. For many years, we have sought to avoid the oppression of the official “five-fold” formation concept, defended our right to consider the development of Chinese society on a certain historical stage as “Eastern”, “Asian”, developing according to laws very different from those that governed the formation European civilization. From here - great attention to the description and analysis of traditional public institutions, the specifics of the economic system.
For the authors of this book, the spiritual conditions of human life and the normative traditions by which he is guided in this life are of paramount importance. Therefore, religion, ideology, social thought are considered as no less significant factors historical development than methods of cultivating land or forms of land tenure and property relations. In this regard, we sought to devote Special attention problems cultural development, without studying which, in our opinion, it is impossible to sufficiently illuminate the historical process. Thus, the study of the processes and results of the “meeting” of Chinese civilization - after the “discovery” of China - Western culture and the penetration of European “machine civilization” into this country help to understand the features of the genesis and development of Chinese capitalism. The authors sought to avoid simplified approaches in the analysis of this interaction and give a real picture complex process civilizational interaction.
It seems to us big role Correct coverage of the problem of dynastic cycles plays a role in interpreting the development of traditional China. In this context, we have tried in many ways to take a new look at historical role mass popular uprisings and protests associated with acute social problems China. When studying the relationship between revolutionary and reformist tendencies social development the authors sought to abandon a priori estimates, wanting to show real place these trends in Chinese history. Considering the enormous role of the utopian tradition, there is
significantly influenced the Chinese political culture, the book draws attention to the problem of the relationship between utopianism and pragmatism in public life countries. The collapse of “real socialism” made it possible to more critically and more objectively show to analyze and evaluate the relationship between “sinicized Marxism” and nationalism, the struggle between which is currently taking on the character of economic and social competition between mainland China (PRC) and Taiwan ( Republic of China). In this regard, the development of Taiwan for the first time in our historiography is considered as an integral part of the history of China in the second half of the 20th century.
We hope that the attentive reader will easily see the deep respect of the authors for our great neighbor, its history and culture, the desire to objectively and kindly understand and interpret Chinese history and convey this reading of Chinese history to the Russian reader as convincingly as possible.
The authors are deeply grateful to reviewers A.N. Grigoriev, A.A. Bokshchanin, V.A. Korsun - famous Chinese historians and experienced teachers - for their support and valuable professional comments, which we tried to take into account.
We are grateful to our colleagues K.M. Tertitsky and M.V. Karpov for his help in preparing this book for publication, as well as I.S. Spirina and N.P. Chesnokova for Attentive attitude to the manuscript of our book.
FORMATION OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE STATE
AND COMPANIES IN CHINA
1. ARCHEOLOGY ABOUT THE PREHISTORY OF CHINA
The achievements of modern anthropology and archeology - first mainly Western, then mainly Chinese - have made it possible to reveal powerful layers of Chinese prehistory. This does not mean those historicized legends with which many ancient Chinese sources are saturated, starting with the “Book of Documents” (“Shujing”), the chapters of the first (earliest) layer of which were written mainly at the beginning of the Zhou era (the rest a little later, and then they were all edited by Confucius). These legends will be discussed below. The true prehistory begins with the so-called Sinanthropus, i.e. a species of ape, or archanthropus, discovered in the Beijing area. Found at the turn of the 20-30s. our century in the Zhoukoudian cave, the bone remains of Sinanthropus, and above all its teeth, in particular the spatulate incisors, so common among Mongoloids, made it possible to put forward the hypothesis that the Zhoukoudian Sinanthropus, like the later discovered close to it Lantian and Yuanmou archanthropes, is a direct ancestor-predecessor Chinese. This hypothesis is not groundless, but doubtful (if only because modern physical anthropology is increasingly inclined to favor the point of view that Sinanthropus was a dead-end branch of the development of anthropoids and that, consequently, other ancestral lines should have played a significant role in the origin of modern sapiens Mongoloids, possibly mixed with the descendants of Sinanthropus). This, in particular, is evidenced by some clearly Western features and characteristics of the Lower Paleolithic culture of Dingtsun, dating much later than the era of Sinanthropus - approximately 200-150 thousand years ago.
The process of sapientation, as is known, took place about 40 thousand years ago, and therefore it is very difficult to say what role Dingtsun man played in it, whose bone remains were not discovered (only cultural material monuments were found), not to mention Sinanthropus. And this process took place in the Middle East, and not in China, where sapiens people arrived, judging by the finds of archaeologists, quite late. For both groups
Mongoloid neoanthropes, i.e. people of the sapient type in China (a skull from Liujiang in the south and three skulls from Shandingdong in Zhoukoudian in the north) are characterized by morphological vagueness, namely a combination of various racial traits in different proportions - with a noticeable, however, predominance of Mongoloids.
Considering all that has been said, we note that even those recognized experts, such as K. Kuhn, for example, who are considered supporters of the authentic process of the genesis of the Mongoloids on the territory of China, are forced to admit that there can be no talk of purity of lines and that in the process of mutations that contributed to the transformation of the pre-sapient Mongoloid into the sapient type of Shandindong, there was “someone else” who “interfered” in this process from the outside, i.e. from among sapiens people who arrived in China from outside.
Upper Paleolithic cultures, characteristic of the early Sapients, are poorly represented in China, as are the cultures of the developed Mesolithic, which replaced the Upper Paleolithic 14-12 thousand years ago. The Mesolithic microlithic of the northern steppes can be found on the extreme northern borders of the modern territory of China, and is somewhat different from it in culturally the south-east Asian Mesolithic with its chopper-type stone tools (tools made of pebbles) - in the extreme south of this territory. It is difficult, however, to say what role both played in the process of the genesis of the Chinese Neolithic.
The fact is that the Neolithic is not just quality stage in the history of Stone Age cultures. This is a great historical milestone for all of humanity, for it was during the era of the so-called Neolithic Revolution (X-VI millennium BC) that a decisive transition took place from the appropriating economy of gatherers and hunters characteristic of the Paleolithic to the productive economy of farmers and pastoralists. In this sense, the agricultural Neolithic is complex complex interrelated innovations and inventions, including the cultivation of cereals
to the past other plants, domestication various types animals, as well as the transition to sedentary lifestyle life, invention of spinning
to the past weaving, construction of houses and other structures, production of ceramic vessels for storing and preparing food
to the past etc. and so on. The results of the Neolithic revolution were a powerful population explosion, which led to the rapid spread of Neolithic farmers throughout the ecumene, as well as the emergence of a surplus product, which, in case of need, made it possible to have reserves or support a part of society not associated with food production.
As is known, traces of the Neolithic revolution in its entirety and over a number of millennia can be traced by archaeologists - within the Old World - only in one region, the Middle East. In all the rest, especially in remote areas of the Old World, including China, the Neolithic appeared in a more or less established form from the outside. Proving this, as in the case of China, is sometimes difficult. But one thing is certain: a Neolithic revolution of the Middle Eastern type has not been found anywhere else, although a similar process can be traced in the Southeast Asian region, but not in the grain, but in the tuber version, which dramatically changes things (it is known that to the urban, i.e. urban, The Neolithic did not bring this kind of civilization, finding itself in South-East Asia at a fairly primitive level).
If we leave aside the problem of the Sub-Neolithic, i.e. Mesolithic cultures familiar with separate elements Neolithic, then the first Neolithic cultures appeared on the territory of China (a complex of variants of Yangshao in the Yellow River basin and individual cultures such as Hemudu in the south) in the form of Neolithic painted ceramics, which in those days (VI-V millennium BC) was already well famous in the Middle East. And although the Chinese versions of the Neolithic series of painted pottery differed markedly from the Middle Eastern ones (the main grain was chumise, the domesticated animal was an East Asian pig, other forms of dwellings and some other important differences), what was common to all of them was the Neolithic complex as such, including barely Perhaps the most valuable thing about it for a researcher is the painting on the vessels. Painting elements, standard and reflective spiritual world and the mythological ideas of the Neolithic farmer, in the main and basically, were common and the same for everyone, which clearly indicates the unity of the process of genesis and spread throughout the ecumene of Neolithic man with his developed material and spiritual culture. However, in addition to the painting of vessels, the same unity is evidenced by the generally standard practice of burying the dead.
Variants of the Yangshao Neolithic of the Yellow River basin (Banpo, Miaodigou, Majiayao, etc.) have been well studied and described in detail by Chinese archaeologists. The dwellings are mainly square or round half-dugouts with a pole-earth covering, a small fireplace and an entrance facing south. Near the dwellings there are pens for pigs and barns for storing food. The village consisted of several houses, and there were also workshops for making stone tools, firing ceramics, etc. One of the buildings was usually sized
L.S. Vasiliev - ch. I-IV; Z.G. Lapina - Ch. V-VIII; A.V. Meliksetov - ch. XIII-XVIII; § 5 ch. XIX, § 3 ch. XX; A.A. Pisarev - ch. IX-XII, XIX (except § 5), XX (except § 3)
§ 5 ch. XIX, § 3 ch. XX;A.A. Pisarev - ch. IX-XII, XIX (except § 5), XX (except § 3)
Department of Oriental Studies at MGIMO Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.A. Bokshchanin; Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.M. Grigoriev
History of China; Textbook / Edited by A.V. Meliksetova. 2nd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, Higher School Publishing House, 2002. - 736 p.
ISBN 5-211-04413-4
", 2002. - 736 p. ISBN 5-211-04413-4
For students studying world history, as well as for anyone interested in the history of China. UDC 93/99
BBK 63.3(5) Educational publication HISTORY OF CHINA Edited by A.V. Meliksetova Head edited by G.M. Stepanenko. Editors T.M. Ilyenko, L.V. Kutukova.
Binding by artist V.V. Garbuzova. Technical editor N.I. Smirnova.
Proofreaders G.A. Yaroshevskaya, V.A. Vetrov Publishing House persons No. 040414 dated 04/18/97.
Signed for publication on 12/18/01. Format 60 x 90. Offset paper No. 1.
Headset Times. Offset printing. Conditional oven l. 46.0. Academic ed. l. 47.29.
Signed for publication on 12/18/01. Format 60 x 9O"/|b- Offset paper No. 1. Time typeface. Offset printing. Printing conditions. sheets. 46.0. Educational sheets. 47.29.
Order of the Badge of Honor Moscow University Publishing House
103009, Moscow, B. Nikitskaya st., 5/7. Tel.: 229-50-91. Fax: 203-66-71.
Tel.: 939-33-23 (sales department). E-mailclass="underline" Tel.: 939-33-23 (sales department). Email:
The MSU Publishing House operates the “BOOK BY MAIL” service
Tel.: 229-75-41
Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Higher School Publishing House"
Tel.: 229-75-41 Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Higher School Publishing House",
E-mailclass="underline" Tel.: 939-33-23 (sales department). Email: http://www.v-shkola.ni
Printed in full accordance with the quality of the provided transparencies
at JSC Mozhaisk Printing Plant.
143200, Mozhaisk st. Mira, 93. ISBN 5-211-04413-4 © Moscow University Publishing House, 2002
143200, Mozhaisk st. Mira, 93.
The enormous interest of the Russian public in the past and present of our great neighbor, its culture and economic successes, in all aspects of its life today is satisfied by the publication of a significant number of books and articles on a wide variety of topics. Currently, Russian Sinology is one of the most fruitful branches of Russian Oriental studies. This fully applies to Chinese historians, who in recent years have published books and articles on almost all periods of the long and continuous Chinese history. However, there is clearly a lack of works of a general nature that could claim to present the entire history of our great neighbor. Meanwhile, the need for writing such books is obvious. “The History of China” is an attempt to fill an empty niche. The authors of the book are historians and sinologists who have been working for many years on the study of different historical periods of China, which made it possible to combine their efforts to achieve the task. In this sense, the writing of this book is a certain historiographical summary of the previous research work of its authors.
Being teachers of the Department of Chinese History at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, who for decades taught and teach general and special courses on the history of China and the history of Asian and African countries, and who participated in the writing of many textbooks, the authors of the publication offered to the reader’s attention have accumulated considerable pedagogical experience, which served as a solid foundation for the work on this book, which aims to provide a consolidated summary of the entire history of China.
When starting work, the authors understood the complexity of the task assigned to them. We were talking about China - a country of history, a country of continuous cultural tradition, including the tradition of writing history. Since ancient times, professionally skillful and diligent officials recorded on oracle bones, bronze vessels, bamboo strips and silk scrolls, and then on paper, everything that they saw and heard, that happened around them and deserved mention.
This state-sponsored chronicle has always been an important part of the spiritual life of China. The first and titanic in nature generalization of such everyday historiographical work belongs to the brush of the great Chinese historian Sima Qian (who came from a family of hereditary historiographers) at the turn of the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. The book he created, “Shiji” (“Historical Notes”, or “Notes of a Historian”), is a work of enormous volume and deep thought, which has become a kind of sample, a didactic model for historical research in China. Over the next two millennia, Sima Qian's work served as the basis for the creation of so-called dynastic histories.
Typically, each new dynasty, after its establishment on the throne, created a commission of professional historians whose task was to write the history of the previous dynasty. There are traditionally 24 such stories in total. They were compiled by highly qualified specialists who sought to fairly objectively present the historical events of the previous dynasty and lead the reader to conclusions that were supposed to confirm the legitimacy of the ruling dynasty. Naturally, proving the legitimacy of a new dynasty sometimes required a new interpretation of events from the distant past. In this case, the members of these commissions (after all, they were not just historians, but officials in the history department!) dissected the historical material in the right spirit. However, this “rewriting” of history took place in strict adherence to the Confucian ethics and didactics accumulated over centuries, the moral precept: history always had to confirm that only those who possess the highest grace-virtue de could receive heavenly sanction to rule China (the Celestial Empire). It was the possession of de and its loss that underlay the pattern of movement of dynastic cycles. Therefore, history, interpreted in the Confucian spirit, indirectly proved that people (primarily rulers) themselves determine the fate of the country and thereby create history. Heaven in this sense was only a regulatory and controlling authority.
The centuries-old work of historians has always been considered very important and highly valued in China. Canonical symbols (primarily Confucian) and historical works were the main subjects of humanitarian education (and traditional China knew no other education), which opened the way to filling bureaucratic positions, increasing social status and increasing political prestige. History was perceived as a school of life, a kind of collection of instructive stories about the actions of rulers and historical precedents. Appealing to history, to precedent, for example, to the example of the ancients, was one of the most powerful arguments in political disputes in imperial China. In the XIX-XX centuries. In turning to history, to antiquity, reformers looked for ideological support, and revolutionaries also turned to the same source.
Modern Chinese historiography genetically goes back, quite naturally, to its national historiographic tradition. The sharp ideological turn associated with the coming to power of the Communists and the formation of the PRC did not cancel the most important feature of Chinese historiography - it continued to remain an official, state, party matter, an important ideological and political weapon in the hands of the state-party leadership. Even before the seizure of power in April 1945, the 7th expanded plenum of the CPC Central Committee (sixth convocation), after serious discussion, adopted the “Decision on Some Issues in the History of Our Party,” which gave a Maoist version of the development of the CPC and the entire liberation movement of the Chinese people. This party document determined the development of the historiography of new China for many years. At the historical turning point from the utopian communism of Mao Zedong to the pragmatic policy of market socialism of Deng Xiaoping in June 1981, the VI Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPC (eleventh convocation) adopted the “Decision on some issues of the history of the CPC since the founding of the PRC,” which in many ways introduced new the ways of development of the Chinese revolution are comprehended. At the same time, which began in the late 70s. The gradual renewal of the entire spiritual life of the country has also affected modern Chinese historiography - new sources are being introduced into scientific circulation, a critical approach to the study of certain historical subjects is being developed, and fruitful differences are emerging in the interpretation of the historical process.
Chapter V. China in an era of political fragmentation148
Chapter VI. Restoration and rise of the empire: the Sui and Tang dynasties..165
Chapter VII. China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279)...199
Chapter IX. China during the reign of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).243
Chapter X. The Chinese Empire in the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries..261
Chapter XI. Inclusion Chinese Empire into world economic, political and spiritual connections296
2nd edition,
PUBLISHING HOUSE
MOSCOW UNIVERSITY
"HIGH SCHOOL" 2002
UDC 93/99 BBK 63.3(5) I89
L.S. Vasiliev - Ch. I-IV; Z.G. Lapina- Ch. V-VIII; A.V. Meliksetov- Ch. XIII-XVIII;§ 5 ch. xix, § 3 ch. xx; A^.A.. Pisarev - Ch. IX-XII, xix (except § 5), xx (except § 3)
§ 5 ch. XIX, § 3 ch. XX;A.A. Pisarev - ch. IX-XII, XIX (except § 5), XX (except § 3)
Department of Oriental Studies at MGIMO Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A^.A^. Bokshchanin; Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.M. Grigoriev
143200, Mozhaisk st. Mira, 93.
The enormous interest of the Russian public in the past and present of our great neighbor, its culture and economic successes, in all aspects of its life today is satisfied by the publication of a significant number of books and articles on a wide variety of topics. Currently, Russian Sinology is one of the most fruitful branches of Russian Oriental studies. This fully applies to Chinese historians, who in recent years have published books and articles on almost all periods of the long and continuous Chinese history. However, there is clearly a lack of works of a general nature that could claim to present the entire history of our great neighbor. Meanwhile, the need for writing such books is obvious. "History of China" is an attempt to fill an empty niche. The authors of the book are Chinese historians who have been working for many years on the study of different historical periods of China, which made it possible to combine their efforts to achieve the task. In this sense, the writing of this book is a certain historiographical summary of the previous research work of its authors.
Being teachers of the Department of Chinese History at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, who for decades taught and teach general and special courses on the history of China and the history of Asian and African countries, and who participated in the writing of many textbooks, the authors of the publication offered to the reader’s attention have accumulated considerable pedagogical experience, which served as a solid foundation for the work on this book, which aims to give a summary summary of the entire history of China.
When starting work, the authors understood the complexity of the task assigned to them. We were talking about China - a country of history, a country of continuous cultural tradition, including the tradition of writing history. Since ancient times, professionally skillful and diligent officials recorded on oracle bones, bronze vessels, bamboo strips and silk scrolls, and then on paper, everything that they saw and heard, that happened around them and deserved mention.
This state-sponsored chronicle has always been an important part of the spiritual life of China. The first and titanic in nature generalization of such everyday historiographical work belongs to the brush of the great Chinese historian Sima Qian (who came from a family of hereditary historiographers) at the turn of the century. BC. The book he created, “Shiji” (“Historical Notes”, or “Notes of a Historian”), is a work of enormous volume and deep thought, which has become a kind of sample, a didactic model for historical research in China. Over the next two millennia, Sima Qian's work served as the basis for the creation of so-called dynasty histories.
Typically, each new dynasty, after its establishment on the throne, created a commission of professional historians whose task was to write the history of the previous dynasty. There are traditionally 24 such stories in total. They were compiled by highly qualified specialists who sought to fairly objectively present the historical events of the previous dynasty and lead the reader to conclusions that were supposed to confirm the legitimacy of the ruling dynasty. Naturally, proving the legitimacy of a new dynasty sometimes required a new interpretation of events from the distant past. In this case, the members of these commissions (after all, they were not just historians, but officials in the history department!) dissected the historical material in the right spirit. However, this “rewriting” of history took place in strict adherence to the Confucian ethics and didactics accumulated over centuries, the moral precept: history always had to confirm that only those who possess the highest grace-virtue de could receive heavenly sanction to rule China (the Celestial Empire). It was the possession of de and its loss that underlay the pattern of movement of dynastic cycles. Therefore, history, interpreted in the Confucian spirit, indirectly proved that people (primarily rulers) themselves determine the fate of the country and thereby create history. The sky in this sense was only a regulatory and controlling authority.
The centuries-old work of historians has always been considered very important and highly valued in China. Canonical symbols (primarily Confucian) and historical works were the main subjects of humanitarian education (and traditional China knew no other education), which opened the way to filling bureaucratic positions, increasing social status and increasing political prestige. At the same time, history is perceived
served as a school of life, a kind of collection of instructive stories about the actions of rulers and historical precedents. Appealing to history, to precedent, for example, the ancients was one of the most powerful arguments in the political disputes of imperial China. In the xix-xx centuries. In turning to history, to antiquity, reformers looked for ideological support, and revolutionaries also turned to the same source.
Modern Chinese historiography genetically goes back, quite naturally, to its national historiographic tradition. The sharp ideological turn associated with the coming to power of the Communists and the formation of the PRC did not cancel the most important feature of Chinese historiography - it continued to remain an official, state, party matter, an important ideological and political weapon in the hands of the state-party leadership. Even before the seizure of power in April 1945, the Seventh Enlarged Plenum of the CPC Central Committee (sixth convocation), after serious discussion, adopted the “Decision on Some Issues in the History of Our Party,” which gave a Maoist version of the development of the CPC and the entire liberation movement of the Chinese people. This party document determined the development of the historiography of new China for many years. At the historical turning point from the utopian communism of Mao Zedong to the pragmatic policy of market socialism of Deng Xiaoping in June 1981, the VI Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPC (eleventh convocation) adopted the “Decision on some issues of the history of the CPC since the founding of the PRC,” which in many ways introduced new the ways of development of the Chinese revolution are comprehended. At the same time, which began in the late 70s. The gradual renewal of the entire spiritual life of the country has also affected modern Chinese historiography - new sources are being introduced into scientific circulation, a critical approach to the study of certain historical subjects is taking shape, and fruitful differences in the interpretation of the historical process are emerging.
The authors treat the achievements of Chinese historiography with great respect and attention, striving to make full use of them when writing this book. However, despite all this, we remain Russian historians, striving to understand and interpret Chinese history from our modern positions.
To present the millennia-long history of China within the framework of one book has always been a very difficult and complex task. And yet, despite the limitations of the book’s “territory,” we sought to fill it with the maximum possible amount of factual material. The goal was for the reader to find in
This book is not a schematic historical sketch, but a powerful and convincing demonstration of the characteristic features and features of the history of Chinese society and state.
No less (and perhaps even more) difficult and important task was the theoretical interpretation of the vast material from the general positions of the group of authors. We note that the authors of the book are the same in the main methodological approaches to the study of Chinese history, despite all the differences in the topics of their scientific and pedagogical activities. For many years, they tried to avoid the oppression of the official “five-fold” formation concept, defended their right to consider the development of Chinese society at a certain historical stage as “Eastern”, “Asian”, developing according to laws very different from those that governed the formation European civilization. Hence the great attention to the description and analysis of traditional social institutions and the specifics of the economic system.
For the authors of this book, the spiritual conditions of human life and the normative traditions by which he is guided in this life are of paramount importance. Therefore, religion, ideology, and social thought are considered as no less significant factors of historical development than methods of cultivating the land or forms of land tenure and property relations. In this regard, we sought to pay special attention to the problems of cultural development, without studying which, in our opinion, it is impossible to sufficiently illuminate the historical process. Thus, the study of the processes and results of the “meeting” of Chinese civilization - after the “discovery” of China - by Western culture and the penetration of European “machine civilization” into this country helps to understand the features of the genesis and development of Chinese capitalism. The authors sought to avoid simplified approaches in the analysis of this interaction and give a real picture of the complex process of civilizational interaction.
It seems to us that correct coverage of the problem of dynastic cycles plays a major role in interpreting the development of traditional China. In this context, we also tried in many ways to reconsider the historical role of mass popular uprisings and protests related to the acute social problems of China. When studying the relationship between revolutionary and reformist trends in social development, the authors sought to abandon a priori assessments, wanting to show the real place of these trends in the history of China. Considering the enormous role of the utopian tradition, there is
significantly influenced Chinese political culture, the book draws attention to the problem of the relationship between utopianism and pragmatism in the public life of the country. The collapse of “real socialism” made it possible to more critically and more objectively show to analyze and evaluate the relationship between “Sinicized Marxism” and nationalism, the struggle between which is currently taking on the character of economic and social competition between mainland China (PRC) and Taiwan (Republic of China). In this regard, the development of Taiwan for the first time in our historiography is considered as an integral part of the history of China in the second half of the 20th century.
We hope that the attentive reader will easily see the deep respect of the authors for our great neighbor, its history and culture, the desire to objectively and kindly understand and interpret Chinese history and convey this reading of Chinese history to the Russian reader as convincingly as possible.
The authors are deeply grateful to reviewers A.N. Grigoriev, Bokshanin, V.^ Korsun - well-known to Chinese historians and experienced teachers - for their support and valuable professional comments, which we tried to take into account.
We are grateful to: our colleagues K.M. Tertitsky and M.V. Karpov for his help in preparing this book for publication, as well as I.S. Spirina and N.P. Chesnokova for her attentive attention to the manuscript of our book.
Original language: Russian
Publisher: Higher School, Moscow, 2002
", 2002. - 736 p. ISBN 5-211-04413-4
For students studying world history, as well as for anyone interested in the history of China.
Chapter I. Formation of the foundations of the state and society in China
Chapter II. Eastern Zhou: Chunqiu period
Chapter III. Eastern Zhou: Zhanguo period
Chapter IV. Creation of the Chinese Empire of the Qin and Han Dynasties
Chapter V. China in an era of political fragmentation
Chapter VI. Restoration and Rise of the Empire: Sui and Tang Dynasties
Chapter VII. China during the Song Dynasty
Chapter VIII. China during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
Chapter IX. China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644)
Chapter X. The Chinese Empire in the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries.
Chapter XI. Inclusion of the Chinese Empire in world economic, political and spiritual relations
The textbook outlines the history of China from ancient times to the present day. The authors of the book are famous sinologist historians, teachers of the Department of Chinese History of the ISAA at Moscow State University.
For students studying world history, as well as for anyone interested in the history of China.
L.S. Vasiliev - ch. I-IV; Z.G. Lapina - Ch. V-VIII; A.V. Meliksetov - ch. XIII-XVIII; § 5 ch. XIX, § 3 ch. XX; A.A. Pisarev - ch. IX-XII, XIX (except § 5), XX (except § 3)
§ 5 ch. XIX, § 3 ch. XX;A.A. Pisarev - ch. IX-XII, XIX (except § 5), XX (except § 3)
143200, Mozhaisk st. Mira, 93.
The enormous interest of the Russian public in the past and present of our great neighbor, its culture and economic successes, in all aspects of its life today is satisfied by the publication of a significant number of books and articles on a wide variety of topics. Currently, Russian Sinology is one of the most fruitful branches of Russian Oriental studies. This fully applies to Chinese historians, who in recent years have published books and articles on almost all periods of the long and continuous Chinese history. However, there is clearly a lack of works of a general nature that could claim to present the entire history of our great neighbor. Meanwhile, the need for writing such books is obvious. “The History of China” is an attempt to fill an empty niche. The authors of the book are historians and sinologists who have been working for many years on the study of different historical periods of China, which made it possible to combine their efforts to achieve the task. In this sense, the writing of this book is a certain historiographical summary of the previous research work of its authors.
Being teachers of the Department of Chinese History at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, who for decades taught and teach general and special courses on the history of China and the history of Asian and African countries, and who participated in the writing of many textbooks, the authors of the publication offered to the reader’s attention have accumulated considerable pedagogical experience, which served as a solid foundation for the work on this book, which aims to provide a consolidated summary of the entire history of China.
When starting work, the authors understood the complexity of the task assigned to them. We were talking about China - a country of history, a country of continuous cultural tradition, including the tradition of writing history. Since ancient times, professionally skillful and diligent officials recorded on oracle bones, bronze vessels, bamboo strips and silk scrolls, and then on paper, everything that they saw and heard, that happened around them and deserved mention.
This state-sponsored chronicle has always been an important part of the spiritual life of China. The first and titanic in nature generalization of such everyday historiographical work belongs to the brush of the great Chinese historian Sima Qian (who came from a family of hereditary historiographers) at the turn of the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. The book he created, “Shiji” (“Historical Notes”, or “Notes of a Historian”), is a work of enormous volume and deep thought, which has become a kind of sample, a didactic model for historical research in China. Over the next two millennia, Sima Qian's work served as the basis for the creation of so-called dynastic histories.