Chapter 2 Preface to Bo Yang's Historical Research Series

one During the difficult and long period of nine years and twenty-six days, I immersed myself in sorting out the historical materials of China, and completed three manuscripts, the first and second "Genealogy of Chinese Emperors, Empresses, Princes and Princesses", and the third "Chronology of Chinese History" (there is also the fourth "Government System of Chinese Dynasties", in the spring of 1975, the officials asked us to "happyly celebrate the Duanyang Festival", search all reference books for safekeeping, and stipulate that every People are not allowed to own more than three books, so I only wrote half of them.) In April 1977, I returned to Taipei. After several twists and turns, the three manuscripts came back to me one after another.Facing the sweat-stained and withered paper book, I have infinite gratitude and enthusiasm.

But there seemed to be too many manuscripts, piled up from the floor almost to the waist.Thinking that after they are completed, each of them will be more than a thousand pages, I worry about the difficulty of publishing in a daze.Fortunately, Mr. Lin Ziyao, the manager of Starlight Publishing House, generously took the responsibility without hesitation, and named it "Bo Yang History Research Series", which moved me from the bottom of my heart.However, the three manuscripts were not published in order, but in reverse order.It is not intentional or willing to do so, for various reasons, it is only so.This is only a subsection. When the three books are published one after another, the order of publication time is not important.

two The most troubling aspect of Chinese history is the issue of reign titles.The era name was originally a major contribution of China in the history of civilization. Modern Japan and ancient Vietnam, Korea, Nanzhao, and Bohai all imitated China and used era names.However, Chinese reign names have gone crazy. In addition to the main function of marking the year, they also express blessings, praises, and dynasty changes.The rise of a new regime; or the ascension of a new emperor; or the occurrence of a festive event that one considers to be great, and which happens for no reason, will all result in a new year name.During the civil strife in China, there were many countries, and the reign names sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and it was too difficult to see. For example, in the year of 386, 16 reign names appeared in China.Even during the unification period, the atmosphere created by the reign title was very tense.For example, Li Zhi, the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty, reigned for only thirty-six years, but changed his year name ten times.The first emperor of the Southern Zhou Dynasty, Wu (shangmingxiakong) reigned for a shorter period of time, only 16 years, but changed his reign name 14 times.Sometimes, even within a year, it was changed again and again. For example, in 528, the Northern Wei Dynasty changed it three times in one go.As soon as the imperial edict to change the yuan for the first time came out of the gate, it was changed for the second time.The imperial edict to change the yuan for the second time just came out of the gate, and then changed the yuan for the third time, which annoyed the people of the country at that time.At the same time, it also shows the serious disadvantage of this year system, that is, it causes serious confusion in terms of time distance.We can try to do a check: how many years are there between the Yuan Dynasty and the Yuan first year, and the same Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan six year?The general answer is, of course, five years apart.This answer is correct, but not absolutely correct. In fact, it is exactly seventy-seven years apart, because the Yuan Dynasty has two Zhiyuan Years, one starting from 1264 and the other from 1335.Then try to do a second check: How many years are there between the third year of Tianshou and the first year of Ruyi, and the first year of longevity?The answer is that they are both in 1969, only a few months apart.If archaeologists unearth an ancient object in the ground with the inscription "made in the first year of Jianping", I am afraid that neither the most authoritative historians nor the most authoritative natural scientists in the world can determine its correct age, because it may be the era. The first six years may be 330 A.D., it may be 386, it may be 398, it may be 400, it may be 415, it may be 454, or It was 508 years.Therefore, a modern Chinese, living in an era of rapid changes and every second counts, really has no need to continue to be buried in this entangled era of ecstasy.We boldly bypassed the year name and adopted the AD calendar, hoping to understand the time and position of historical events in a simple, rapid and accurate manner.

The titles of dynasties and countries in Chinese history are the second biggest problem.In the 19th century, foreigners ridiculed that China was just a geographical term, which aroused the anger of the Chinese people.In fact, before the Kingdom of Sarnia took Italy as its country name, Italy was also a geographical term.Now that the Republic of Sri Lanka is established, Ceylon has also become a geographical term.In fact, before the founding of the Republic of China in the twentieth century, none of the dynasties in China had "China" as their legal or official country name.Whenever a new dynasty rises, the first thing to do is to determine a country name. When this dynasty unifies China, its country name will be far above China. For example, the official country name of the Qing Dynasty is the Great Qing Empire.When China is divided, like the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Five Dynasties... all countries coexist, and no one is China anymore.This is a very important sight, that is, in the more than 4,000 years of history, from the Yellow Emperor to the puppet Manchukuo, there have been a total of 83 dynasties in China, whether decent or not—that is, 83 countries and 500 dynasties. Among the fifty-nine emperors, none of them used "China" to show their nature.The "Sino-Japanese War" that we are most familiar with is the "Sino-Japanese War" in the official documents of the Sino-Japanese War. In this situation, the title of the dynasty and the country, like the title of the year, caused confusion in historical records. Because no one For the sake of marking China, there has been a dispute over who is "orthodox" in China's historical status. This dispute has infiltrated from politics into academics, making historians engaged in historical work seem to have a giant ax hanging over their heads. Sima Guang in his In his annals, he went to great lengths to explain why he used their year titles as official names and their dynasties as their orthodoxy for some usurpers and regicides. The great work listed as one of the "official histories", if the emperor had not written a preface for it, I am afraid that it would have been banned and destroyed. Therefore, Zhu Quanzhong, who is a traitor, bandit, robber, and villain, is obviously just a The situation of separatist rule of a small piece of land, but the year name became Zhengshuo, but the dynasty became orthodox, thus giving rise to a shameful view of history in China that "the success is the emperor, and the failure is the bandit". Right and wrong are black and white, and they have been reversed, destroyed, and even obliterated by vicious strokes. Now we have all the titles of dynasties, countries, and years—including all reckless heroes who have been recorded, and their dynasty names. , country title, and year title, make a thorough and extensive arrangement, arrange them, and summarize them by classification, providing a tool-like reference material that can quickly and easily find the answers you need. At the same time, we will make a It is an unprecedented bold attempt. That is to use "century" as the unit and the year of the Christian era as the chronology, and put the dynasty name, country name, and year name in a secondary position. There is only one country in our country, and that is China. We Be proud of being a Chinese, not a dynasty. When China was as strong as the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty, we were always proud of being a Chinese. When China was weak like the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, we were still proud to be a Chinese. China - our mother, is our only foothold. All dynasties are just Chinese dynasties, and all countries are another kind of China Appellation. We use "century" as the unit to emphasize that China will always exist and will not be affected by any dynasty. We never think that the Later Liang Empire is orthodox, while the former Shu Empire is a tyrant; Pirates. The fall of the Tang Dynasty is not the fall of China, but the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the Tang government. The fall of the Qing Dynasty is not the fall of China, but only the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the Qing government. China stands firm as before.

The Chinese imperial examination system had its functions and contributions, but one of its by-products was the cultivation of a uniquely Chinese "official" social class in which flattery to the emperor became a major issue.The strongest expression is the coquettish titles added to the heads of living emperors and posthumous titles added to the heads of dead emperors (for the convenience of writing, we use "zunhao" to include "posthumous title").In ancient times, these honorary titles were just one or two characters. For example, Jifa, the first king of the Zhou Dynasty in the 12th century BC, was honored as "King Wu".With the continuous improvement of flattery technology, after the fifteenth century, such as the third emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Fulin, his honorary title was "Li Tian, ​​Long Yun, Ding Tong, Jian Jiying, Rui Qin, Wen Xianwu, Great Virtue, Great Merit, Benevolence, Pure Filial Piety" ", there are as many as twenty-five characters, all of which are the most beautiful words selected from the dictionary.Some people have never been emperors, and they will pile up a lot of emperor titles on their heads. When the Tang Dynasty sacrificed "Emperor Xuanyuan", no one knew that he was a philosopher who was famous for his book "Lao Tzu" Li Er.When citing the original text in historical books, this kind of appellation shows an unprincipled side. For example, when it comes to Cao Cao, he was only the prime minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty until his death, but in the official history, he was called "the great emperor" for a while. Ancestor", and he was called "Emperor Wu" for a while. The degree of confusion made us not know who he was talking about and where he was.We certainly understand and sympathize with the sad situation of ancient historians, but we do not hide our disappointment.The same is true for queens, from the simplest "princess" to Nalalan'er "Xiaoqin Cixi Duanyou Kangyi Zhaoyu Zhuang Chengshou Gongren presents Chongxixian Queen".This woman of the Qing Dynasty who used all her strength to destroy her leadership has such a long and funny title, which makes us laugh.But our greatest suffering is not eliminated by disappointment and laughter, so what we have done is to treat the five hundred and fifty-nine emperors of China and some people who are not actually emperors but have been given the title of emperor, as well as more queens and concubines. Do a carpet search with the countless princes and princesses born to them, and carefully sort out their titles, ages, reigns, and their relationship positions in the royal family, so that anyone You can have a clear understanding of their life experience without having to search hard.

In the end, I can only use a few words to explain our position, and our position is the position of the Chinese people.It is different from the position of officials who "edit history by decree", and it is also different from the position of focusing on the dynasty, the emperor and generals, and the position of the ruling class themselves-they put the dynasty from which their interests come from first, and put the China is in second place.We oppose the view of history that "success is an emperor, failure is a bandit". In that view of history, many ugliness are beautified, and many wisdom and bravery that are evocative and represent the majestic strength and vitality of the Chinese people are vilified.For example, when the Sanbao eunuch went to the West, the traditional history blamed him for wasting the people and wasting money, and made great achievements, so that there are very few historical materials. We think that he is the first and greatest sea hero in China.The standards we uphold are the nation, humanity and human rights, and do not cover up stains, just like the history of the United States does not cover up the Hanging Tree. At the same time, it also demonstrates China's dignified contribution to all human civilizations in the world.

It should be taken for granted that Chinese people understand Chinese history.However, many Chinese only know a fragment of Chinese history, and most of this fragment comes from novels and dramas.The number of Chinese history books ranks first in the world, but it gives people a sense of chaos.Even if the official history can be memorized backwards, it is still not very helpful to understand the context of China's historical development.What's more, we don't have time to finish reading the official history, nor do we have the cultivation of classical Chinese to read the official history.Sima Qian created a new form of historical records that simpler pre-epochal societies could handle.But historians have been stuck with this form, and it has been used until the twentieth century.Worse, it was changed to Dynastic History.Fortunately, China's dynasties are constantly changing. If there is a continuous lineage like Japan's, according to the practice of "recording history only when the country (dynasty) dies", China may become a country without official historical records.The official histories compiled after the death of these countries (dynasties) are nothing more than bound volumes of biographies of a large number of people, and most of these biographies are based on one-sided words such as the epitaph, biography, and family tree of the person.As a result, epitaphs have played an important role in the history of Chinese literature for thousands of years.All writers who are good at flattering the dead, such as Han Yu of the Tang Dynasty, enjoy considerable status and wealth.Mussolini's son said his father in an article in memory of his father. "I like classical music. I was very happy when I started to play the piano. He was very kind and gentle to people." What the son offers, is more believable.Therefore, when we use official historical data, we all make judgments one by one.

three I can't say enough, and finally, I would like to talk about my wishes for the treatment of the series.I reverently dedicate the first volume to Mr. Sun Guanhan.The second "Genealogy of Chinese Emperors, Empresses, Princes and Princesses" was presented to Ms. Liang Shangyuan.The third "Chronology of Chinese History" was given to Ms. Chen Lizhen to express my endless gratitude. I have not met Mr. Sun Guanhan, a world-renowned physicist, yet, but my words of gratitude from all over the world cannot express my heart.Insignificant characters like me and bizarre encounters are just a speck of dust in the great era, blown by the wind, insignificant.But Mr. Sun Guanhan has been the only one since ancient times.Some people compare Mr. Sun Guanhan to Zola, but Mr. Sun Guanhan is greater and more difficult than Zola.He is like a lonely boat in the sea, to rescue a friend who has never met, he sacrificed his tears, dignity, time, money and health, and it has been ten years.More importantly, his morality and courage are not only for me alone, but for his loyalty to the motherland and his love for mankind.There is a Western proverb that says: "It is easy to die for a friend, but difficult to find a friend worth dying for." But I found it, which is my luck and my honor.Heaven can learn from me, for Mr. Sun, I die without hatred.

When I met Ms. Liang Shangyuan, she was a female student with hair matching her ears.The first time she wrote to me, I was struck by such fluidity and depth.But nine years and twenty-six days later, when she picked me up at the Taipei airport, she was already a university professor.The growth of age, knowledge, wisdom and social experience has made her more determined to help me—both spiritual and material, as well as her love for the nation, love for humanity and respect for human rights.Her character can be shown in one thing, she is a dutiful daughter. One of my readers is Ms. Chen Lizhen, who became my student after she first visited me fifteen years ago.When my family was broken and my wife and children were separated, she has been taking care of my life, visiting me, sending me clothes and food, and finally guarantor for me.In order to help me, she suffered a storm that other friends did not suffer, and almost made her insane; but after countless times of fear and crying, she did not give up her original intention, so that I still enjoy the warmth of life in loneliness and friends.The consolation of love, that is the greatest support to keep me alive.

Four I wrote the series of books word by word in my furnace-like small room, squatting in a corner, or sitting on the ground, with paper-pasted boards on my knees and beads of sweat.The paucity of reference books makes me ashamed, but there is nothing else I can do.And I was in a panic, and I didn't dare to imagine what fate these hard-written manuscripts would suffer.So it is inevitable that there will be many mistakes, so I can only beg the Fang family to correct me. Now, finally, they are being printed one after another, and when the series of books are all published, I feel that I have fulfilled my greatest responsibility and expressed my greatest gratitude to my nation and my friends.

August 20, 1977 in Taipei