Chapter 23 Addendum: Finding a place in history

Guyun: Your works have been popular in the world for a long time, but many readers know little about you personally.From the general introduction, I can only know that you have joined the team, worked as an editor and reporter, and are now the executive editor-in-chief of "Yanhuang Chunqiu".Can you talk about your life experience in detail? Wu Si: I was born in Beijing in 1957. My father was an editor of an army magazine, and my mother was a university teacher. Graduated from high school in January 1976, and went to the mountainous countryside to join the team in March. From 1978 to 1982, he studied in the Chinese Department of Renmin University of China.After graduation, he was assigned to the China Peasant Daily (later renamed "Farmer's Daily") under the Rural Policy Research Office of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

Guyun: How many years have you been in Farmers Daily? Wu Si: Almost ten years. In 1993, I went to a publication sponsored by the National Association of Journalists, and served as the vice president of the magazine and the editor-in-chief of the Chinese version.Before that, I was planning to study abroad. Beginning in the summer of 1989, I spent half a year reviewing English and taking the TOEFL test.I was accepted to graduate school at two upper-middle-tier universities, but with no scholarships.I can't afford to go to the United States to study.In addition, I was busy writing at the time, so I didn't bother with this aspect any more.

Guyun: So, after graduation, you worked in newspapers and magazines until now? Wu Si: No. The publication I went to in 1993 ceased publication due to various reasons.Afterwards, I edited a book for half a year in the Beijing department of a Hong Kong-owned holding company.He also worked as the executive editor-in-chief of "Oriental" magazine for half a year in preparation for its re-publication, speculated in stocks for two years, and wrote novels for one year.Except for stocks, everything else failed.The end result is that after giving up the iron rice bowl, he lost his job.So I took the opportunity to study history quietly.I was also interested in studying history, but I was half-hearted. After 1996, my heart was relatively quiet, probably because I had enough tossing and I knew what I could and couldn’t do.

Guyun: How did you get to the current unit? Wu Si: At the end of 1996, when I was working at Farmers Daily, an old leader dragged me to Yanhuang Chunqiu magazine.Editing this kind of history magazine is just in line with my desire to read history, so I found a place to live and work in history, and it has been seven years in a flash.In the past seven years, in addition to editing manuscripts for magazines, I have written two essays on history, one is and the other is.Right now, I still can’t see the end of reading history and writing history, and I’m very interested in it. There will probably not be any changes in the next few years, and maybe I will be involved in it all in this life.

Guyun: Going to the mountains and going to the countryside is a unique experience of your generation, and it will also have a unique impact on your future life choices.Can you talk about the things that impressed you at that stage.Is it because of this kind of thing that you are interested in history? Wu Si: For me, my life during that time consisted of a series of strong shocks.When I was a student, I had a serious tendency towards dogmatism, but after being exposed to reality in the countryside, this conceptual picture was immediately hit hard.With the dogma I am familiar with, it is impossible to analyze or even express this severe trauma.It was a long time before I found the logic and language to describe this situation in economics.

For example, the model Dazhai Brigade of the People’s Commune has 80 households, and for every 80 picks you dig, only one pick is yours.If you are lazy and skip 80 picks, you will only lose one pick, and the remaining 79 picks can be passed on to members of the same team.Therefore, from an economic point of view, the incentives provided by the people’s commune system are only 1/80 of that of private plots or contracted land. If the moral appeal of cadres and the deterrent power of administration cannot make up for the 79 points in a long-term and stable manner, in terms of efficiency, The people's communes are doomed to be defeated by the big contract.

The impact of these facts, the failure of these concepts and theories forced me to search for new theories and new sayings that could explain Chinese society and its history.I have been searching for a long time, always wanting to find a new dogma that can solve my doubts, but after searching all the time, it is not ideal, so I was forced to invent it myself, and I also had the courage to invent it myself. Guyun: That is to say, you tried your best to find a set of methods that could explain the social reality you faced at that time, which made you search all the way to the present? Wu Si: That's right.In addition to looking for social theories to explain social reality, I am also looking for an explanation of the human heart and human nature.My views on humanity and myself have also been strongly impacted. At the age of 19, I became the instructor of the production team and the deputy secretary of the party branch of the brigade.There are 57 households in a production team. The annual work points are largely determined by my ability and efforts. I am responsible for arranging their production and life.I was so busy all day, I was in a mess.I was barely competent, but I felt very painful. I was clearly aware of the limitations of my own abilities and the inertia caused by the people's commune system, and I was very pessimistic about the prospects for improving China's agriculture and farmers' lives.

At the same time, I discovered another side of myself through hardships and hardships. It turns out that I am not what I imagined. It turns out that there are many dark places in me that I don’t know at all. It turns out that my nature is far from what I imagined.These perceptions also affected my perception of other people, of human nature in general. The weakness and flaws of the above theories have been my efforts to fill or reconstruct.From college until now, I feel like I've been doing this sort of thing.I am not so much concerned with Chinese history as with the interpretation of Chinese society and its history.I was coping with my own failures, trying to get back up after failures and breakdowns, and to rediscover perspectives that could grasp the real world.In this sense, the life of jumping the queue has had a profound impact on me. Until now, I am still dealing with and reacting to the failure of more than two decades ago.I know that, to a large extent, this is not my personal problem. My particularity contains a high concentration of universality.

Guyun: Such an experience is not uncommon in your generation, but you seem to have gained more insight. Wu Si: Self-feeling is an eye-opener. With a perceptual basis for understanding major historical changes, I have formed an intuition for major issues, so I have the courage to come up with my own answers.Looking at the old words that express our experiences, one cannot fail to be amazed at the dramatic changes in times and societies.From "red guards" to "jumping in the queue" and from "people's communes" to "production team instructors", the important concepts I used and what they refer to have almost disappeared. Every concept needs to be explained, and there are still many systems. Sexual introduction can be understood by posterity or outsiders.The vicissitudes of history have happened in the course of our lives, right in front of our eyes.

Guyun: And what has just been published, is it the result of your exploration of Chinese historical traditions over the years?Do you think that Chinese history is like a mirror, from which we can see the shadow of the society we live in and find the answers to our problems? Wu Si: The first book I completed independently was "Chen Yonggui Ups and Downs in Zhongnanhai—An Experiment to Transform China". That book directly discussed the reasons for the failure of the Learning from Dazhai Movement and the People's Commune Movement.If content to pursue this failure, one book would suffice for me.However, after the reform and opening up, we have encountered a large number of new problems. The old and new problems are intertwined, and a deeper and more convincing explanation is needed, and a framework with stronger explanatory power needs to be re-established. part.

"History is a mirror" is a good statement, but it is not accurate enough.The mirror is something external to us, and history is our yesterday.If you didn't sleep yesterday, it will have an impact on today.Not going to school when I was a child has an impact on my life and situation as an adult.When the ancestors drowned to death, the descendants have a different attitude towards swimming.In this sense, history is part of our lives today.At least, that's the kind of history that concerns me. Guyun: The contribution of the term "hidden rules" is that it provides a new perspective and a new tool for interpreting Chinese society.Through such a highly generalized term, the unscrupulous officialdom operating rules in history have a "clear" explanation, thus forming a new discourse mode that is different from "official history."This is very important, because those things referred to by the "hidden rules" have not been paid attention to by orthodox historians, or have been deliberately ignored.What do you think? Wu Si: There is indeed a problem of "discourse mode".The predecessors of Chinese historians have not many records of the operation of unspoken rules, and they have also made efforts to express and summarize them.Mencius once said such things as "propriety that is not propriety, righteousness that is not righteous".However, traditional Chinese historical theory or social theory did not carry out this analysis.Not only has this aspect not been developed, but compared with the various social theories and historical theories introduced to China by the West in the last century, many Confucian views are still in the chaotic stage, many sprouts have not grown up, and many branches have not been drawn out.Europe before the Renaissance was similar to China.In this regard, we are relatively lucky. We have a broader vision, more diverse discourse systems, and more refined analysis tools. It is possible to discover some things that were overlooked by the predecessors and give more thorough explanations. Guyun: Then, what is the "law of blood reward"?What aspects of your efforts in historical exploration does it reflect? Wu Si: When human beings exchange their lives for money, or at the moment of buying their lives with money, how do they evaluate the gains and losses?This is a very old and very basic question.Perhaps I am ignorant and have not seen the senior scholars raise and answer this question.The law of blood reward wants to uncover the calculation method hidden in people's hearts and answer this question. We know that the income obtained in exchange for labor is called wages, the income obtained in exchange for land is called rent, and the income obtained in exchange for capital is called interest. Then, what is the income obtained in exchange for bloodshed?I call it "blood pay".The value of blood reward depends on the value of the object of struggle.If the object of the competition is the person himself, such as a kidnapping ticket, the "ticket" price depends on the party's ability to pay and willingness to pay.This is the law of blood reward.During this process, people's core calculation is: for a certain amount of survival resources, how much risk of casualties can be taken?To what extent can you damage yourself as a resource demander? I think this concept can explain the rise and fall of the past dynasties concisely and powerfully.The process of conquering the world is the process of exchanging life for resources for survival.The system of sitting in the country is a system that uses violence to grab living resources.This concept can also explain the nature of money extracted by means of harm, including the nature of gray income brought about by "hidden rules". Guyun: In what areas have you further explored? Wu Si: First of all, I went deeper. I continued to pursue the legal right to harm on which the unspoken rules are based. Along this road, I found out the blood payment, that is, the money for buying and selling one's life.Secondly, it is broad. The unspoken rules mainly deal with the relationship between officials, the people and the emperor. The law of blood remuneration has added violent groups such as bandits and gangs. Survival Strategies in , exploring the impact of these survival strategies on the identity and nature of the client. Guyun: As you said, in China, the reason why we pay attention to the bureaucratic group in history is because “this social group has monopolized violence, mastered the law, and controlled huge human and material resources. The fate of society is decided by the upper hand.” In the article, more than half of the pages are about the folk ("agricultural, industrial and commercial production groups") and the lower class ("illegal groups that rely on violence to make a living"). Can this explain your focus? The way of survival of ordinary people transferred from officialdom rules? Wu Si: It has indeed expanded.What was not discussed in the previous book, this book will talk about some more.But this is not a plane movement. If I want to dig deeper, I need to expand the scope of excavation and draw a larger circle to dig down. Guyun: It can be argued that Yu Nai entered the core of history from two different paths, thus outlining the panorama of Chinese society.This is the "global vision" you mentioned in the article, right? Wu Si: He is written in a slanted way, focusing on one road and ignoring others.In these two books, I feel that I have written more in-depth, especially the law of blood reward. I really have the feeling that I have penetrated into the core of history.However, these two books did not outline a panorama of Chinese society. They went deep, but they were not broad enough, let alone complete.The problem that I am fascinated by recently happens to be a global problem, and maybe I can draw a more complete panorama in the future. Guyun: There is also a new term that should be mentioned—meta-rules.According to your statement, "All the rules are established, in the final analysis, to follow one fundamental rule: the most violent has the final say. This is a 'meta-rule', the rule that determines the rules." Does this mean that it actually Is it the creative fundamental principle that governs the entire view of history above the unspoken rules and the law of blood reward? Wu Si: Meta-rules naturally determine unspoken rules and various other rules.Whoever has a strong ability to truly harm can expand the boundaries of his own interests.But the law of blood reward is the connotation of meta-rules, not two things.The law of blood reward discusses the exchange of life and survival resources.Meta-rules say that violence determines the distribution rules of survival resources, adding a rule factor, that is, using blood and life to create distribution rules for survival resources, and using violence to protect these rules.Is it worthwhile or not to use violence in this way and exchange life for resources?Gained or lost?This needs to be calculated according to the law of blood reward. Meta-rules can explain major institutional changes and seem to have fundamental significance, but I dare not say that this is the most fundamental.Which is more fundamental, productivity or violence?I didn't think it through, so I couldn't answer well.It seems that productivity is more important, violence itself does not create value.But not necessarily.If we look further, the monkeys do not plant trees, but only pick fruits. The violent groups and individuals can obtain richer survival resources and survive in the survival of the fittest.Perhaps it is wrong to ask the most fundamental way of thinking, just like the way of thinking about the question "which came first, the chicken or the egg".There is yin and yang, and yin and yang correspond to each other, and there is no precedence. Guyun: Maybe you are right, the ebb and flow of yin and yang is a common law in the world.However, there is still one thing I don’t quite understand. The core connotation of the meta-rule is "the most violent has the final say." This sentence seems familiar, but in the process of reading the work, it makes people feel completely new.I can't tell why this is, can you explain the subtleties? Wu Si: Probably because of the thoroughness of the theory.Marx said that only thorough theory can conquer people.Carrying out a logic to the end, using this logic to explain many historical phenomena, and interrelated phenomena, is obviously more powerful than a single or two proverbs, and it is easier to leave a deep impression on people.What's more, the phrase "the most violent has the final say" has not been integrated into any social and historical theory, at least I don't know of such a theory. "Hobbesian Jungle" is very famous, but its basis is the theory of contract, everyone discusses it, and "the most violent person has the final say" just happens to hit you without discussion.Mao Zedong said that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun", which was regarded as heresy by the orthodox theory of Marxism-Leninism represented by the Soviet Union, because Marxism-Leninism does not promote violence so much.And Mao Zedong’s words are also placed within the historical materialist framework of productivity and production relations, economic base and superstructure, classes and class struggle. Not that fundamental. Guyun: After reading, I am particularly interested in the content about the folk and the bottom.For example, "Common People Use Hidden Weapons", it is said that the common people have their own "calculation of interests and harms". This principle just explains the confusion you encountered in Dazhai that you mentioned above. "Selling Heroes" further illustrates the contest between justice and "calculation of interests".There are countless examples in history. Wu Si: I think the article on "Land Hegemony and Order" is also very meaningful.In the past two years, when explaining the phenomenon of the underworld, academic circles often refer to "Sicilianization". This statement is an improvement, because it proposes a model of civil violence to control society.The disadvantage is that the political system of contemporary Sicily is different from ours, and the survival and development strategies of the underworld are also different.China has such a rich history, if we can discover the pattern of civil violence controlling society from our own history, and explain the ins and outs clearly, wouldn't it be more explanatory? Guyun: There are also several articles, such as "Hard Partner Enterprise" and "The Value of Foreign Flags", mentioned that the abnormal transaction costs that enterprises had to pay at that historical stage are still unnegligible today. Practical significance.Can you talk about the implications of these two stories for improving the market economy? Wu Si: These two stories portray a kind of enterprise with Chinese characteristics.I don’t know if you have noticed, but Chinese companies actually have hierarchical status.According to the public statement, everyone should be equal, and everyone should be equal as a legal person. However, if the enterprise is run by the son of the county magistrate, he can enjoy the privileges that ordinary people in the county can't enjoy at all like the county magistrate.In the same way, royal enterprises have royal privileges, and underworld enterprises have the privileges actually enjoyed by underworld figures.Every enterprise has its own identity and corresponding rights, and the weakest is the civilian identity without any hard relationship.In China, identity is an element of what constitutes a business. Please note: What is a business?According to Coase, the Nobel laureate in economics, an enterprise is a set of contracts, contracts on factors of production such as capital, labor, and land. This set of internal contracts replaces market transactions.For example, I rent a two-story building facing the street to open a restaurant, hire more than a dozen chefs, dozens of small workers, and hire a general manager to give him some management shares. This enterprise is investors and managers, chefs, small workers and landlords. A set of contracts between.But what have we found in Chinese companies?We found a dry salary for law enforcement officials or gang bosses, or we found a foreign face that no one dared to bully, otherwise it would cause diplomatic disputes.These people have nothing to do with production. However, these things that European and American countries regard as public office, public equipment or public safety have entered Chinese corporate contracts like private items, and their identities have also become corporate characteristics.Just ask: What kind of business should such a company be called?What kind of society should such a society be called?Let me ask another question: those dry stocks are likely to be forced to give away, which is the result of "the lesser of two evils" under the situation of giving money or killing their lives. Can this also be regarded as a "contract"?Is the business really a set of contracts?Such a question can force us to face up to the characteristics of Chinese society and Chinese enterprises, and perhaps expand our understanding of the nature of general enterprises. Coase's definition of firm is still based on contract theory.But the contractual relationship is not innate, just as the so-called natural human rights cannot actually fall from the sky.The establishment of a contractual relationship requires real and strict conditions, that is, methods such as fraud, theft, or violence are not cost-effective, and are not as cost-effective as free trade.Before this condition is met, Chinese enterprises are not enterprises in the sense of Western economics. Guyun: When talking about the masters of Western thought and academics, you have mentioned "based on contract theory" twice, and you are very disapproving.So, what do you think it should be based on? Wu Si: There is a deeper way of understanding history and a more flexible and broad wisdom.Although there are different terms and names in different eras, the idea is generally the same.For example, yin and yang and five elements, the mutual generation and mutual restraint of one thing and the other, what is this theory?Yin and Yang theory?Fighting theory?There is also the theory of contradiction that we are all familiar with, and what is popular today is game theory, or game theory, etc., both in ancient and modern China and abroad.In comparison, contract theory is narrower.If both parties in a martial arts can choose one hundred moves, only ten are included in the circle of contract theory.You can bargain, but you are not allowed to cheat, use a knife, smash glass, or fly a plane into a building.As an ideal norm, what should be, research based on contract theory is certainly good, but our goal is to explain history realistically.Standing on the narrow basis of contract theory, understanding society and explaining history will inevitably be stretched. Guyun: It is said that the book written by Chen Yonggui caused a lawsuit later. Chen Yonggui's descendants sued you for infringing the right of reputation? Wu Si: That's right. The book was serialized in Beijing Youth Daily in April last year, which mentioned that Chen Yonggui had participated in the "Xingya Association", a peripheral organization of Japanese and puppet secret agents, and had been a representative of the puppet maintenance association in Dazhai Village.Chen Yonggui's wife and son sued me and the Beijing Youth Daily for infringing on Chen Yonggui's right of reputation, accusing me of fabricating plots out of nothing.In April of this year, the Xicheng District Court of Beijing made a first-instance judgment that found me and the Beijing Youth Daily infringed, and ordered me to compensate Chen Yonggui's relatives for mental damage of 20,000 yuan, and the Beijing Youth Daily to pay 2,000 yuan.But we refused to accept it and have already appealed to the Intermediate Court. Guyun: In your opinion, what is the reason for losing this lawsuit? Wu Si: The court held that the four pieces of evidence I submitted were not authoritative enough to prove the fact that Chen Yonggui had participated in the Xingya Conference and served as a false representative.But I think my evidence is strong, and several pieces of evidence support each other.The strongest piece of evidence came from Xie Zhenhua, then director of the Shanxi Provincial Revolutionary Committee and Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, who was also the leader of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.He wrote in his memoirs that during the review of the qualifications of representatives to the Ninth National Congress, Chen Yonggui once cried to him, saying that he had participated in the Xingya Conference and served as a false representative, and said, "I want to go to Beijing to plead guilty to Chairman Mao." Another piece of evidence comes from Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Yinhuai, an author of the famous newsletter "The Road to Dazhai". He said that he was ordered by the Xinhua Headquarters to find out when Chen Yonggui joined the party. The Organization Department checked the files and found the registration form of Party members at that time. In the column of what reactionary organizations he had participated in, it was filled with "Participated in Xingyahui".Fan Yinhuai wrote an article devoted to this matter.Also, Chen Yonggui's eldest son wrote in the article "My Father Chen Yonggui" that his father had been a false representative. He said that in that special situation, this behavior objectively protected everyone. There is still a lot of evidence, at least seven or eight can be found. At that time, I thought it was enough, and I was too lazy to look for it, so I handed in four.Unexpectedly, I lost.This time the second trial did not dare to take it lightly, and hired a famous lawyer, Mo Shaoping, to add new evidence, including materials from the county annals, and a document forwarded by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1980, "Conclusion on the Review of Comrade Chen Yonggui's Historical Issues ", and finally signed by Chen Yonggui himself.The historical issues of Chen Yonggui mentioned in my book are included in this document, and they are more specific. Guyun: How do you feel about this?What do you think this means for a scholar who studies the "hidden rules" of history? Wu Si: Losing the lawsuit is of course not a good thing. The loss of 20,000 yuan is worth my salary for a year.Add in legal fees, and half of the manuscript fee for a book is gone.But I also got something else.The biggest gain is the understanding of the judicial system and the real experience of the state of mind of the loser.Generally speaking, I understand many things, I understand them theoretically, and I am quite familiar with the unspoken rules of the past and present, but knowledge and experience are different after all.Only when it really happens to me can I experience very full emotions, surging emotions, and subtle states of mind. In addition, to write about one thing, how strong is the evidence for history and news writing to be considered legal?The law has very strict requirements for evidence. If the strength of evidence required by history and news writing is 60% or 70%, the strength of the legal requirement is 90% or 10%, which is very different.The coverage was far weaker than the legal verdict.If you write with the intensity required by law, the journalism and history industries will probably be stuck.If my case applies to others, the professional risks faced by Chinese journalists and scholars will be greatly increased. This is an industry-wide standard issue, which is also very meaningful in itself.There must always be someone who comes forward to seek justice for this industry. This responsibility falls on my head. I can neither escape nor want to escape. Guyun: In addition to and, what other works have you created? Wu Si: My first book was a survey on the rise of the self-employed in China co-written with Wang Taico, deputy editor-in-chief of "Farmers Daily", published by Nationalities Publishing House in 1987.The second is "How to Make a Truce with Your Children", which I took the lead in translating, which was published by China Social Sciences Press in early 1992.The third is "Chen Yonggui Ups and Downs in Zhongnanhai——An Experiment to Transform China", published by Huacheng Publishing House in 1993. Guyun: What are your personal hobbies? Wu Si: Reading.In the mid-to-late 1960s, because the school was closed for a long time, I was locked at home by my parents. While taking care of my younger brother, I read books in a mess, mainly novels and memoirs.The reading hobby was probably developed at that time.Since then, for more than 30 years, I have read books in my spare time, and I can't put them down.In the middle, I became addicted to playing Go for a few years, which delayed my study, and then quit. Guyun: Can you create a bibliography and talk about the books that have influenced your thinking? Wu Si: The first book, I was very reluctant, but I have to admit that it had a great influence on me.At the age of seventeen, I copied Paul's famous saying "Life belongs to us only once" on the title page of the diary.Around the age of 20, I put this book by my pillow and often read the section of Paul Xiu Railway.At that time, I was building roads in the mountains. The work I did was similar to that of Paul. It was trivial and difficult, and I couldn’t get enough to eat. I really needed to support myself with words such as the meaning of life. However, when I re-read this book six years ago, I couldn't bear to read it.I was taken aback by Paul's narrowness and conceit.Could this be my idol back then?How could I try to imitate this kind of person?I feel very embarrassed.I wouldn't recommend this book to my daughter, and I won't read it again, except to find fault. 2. Tolstoy's or "Anna Karenina".In the protagonists Andre, Pier and Levin, I saw my own soul.I think Tolstoy's sentences can go straight to the bottom of my heart, allowing me to live a few more times in different states. 3. "Three Hundred Tang Poems".This book is a representative of Chinese classical poetry. I have already flipped through one, and I will read it again and again in the future.Ancient poems can quickly mobilize my sense of the vicissitudes of life and call out my "fundamental anxiety".Life is short and time is fleeting. This kind of feeling makes people's mind deep and heavy, surpassing the flies and dogs, and entering the depths of good fortune, so that words are few and far between.Nineteen Ancient Poems, Song Ci, and Yuan Qu also have similar functions. 4. Becker's "Resisting Death".This book has influenced me more than the works of various schools of psychology.This book, along with Tillich's The Courage to Be, helped me understand the human heart and human nature—beyond the peculiarities of animals. After reading this book 10 years ago, I was amazed and never read psychology books again. Fives,.Zhuangzi paints a wonderful picture of life and the universe that can pull us out of the quagmire of ego and awkwardness, and allow us to face the issues that matter most without sinking so deep that we forget our true place in the universe. 6. Microeconomics, any book.Although the book analyzes the market, the reason is clear and the analysis is exquisite, which is of great help to my understanding of the general state of the human heart and the equilibrium state of interpersonal relationships.After reading it, I felt astigmatism with glasses. 7. Institutional economics, any book.Using the clarity and rationality of microeconomics to analyze institutional changes is a good skill that history can borrow. Once you understand this kind of thinking, it is difficult to forget it. Eight, Huang Renyu's. When I read this book in early 1986, I felt that history could still be written like this.Years later I also turned to history, somewhat influenced by this book.I also imitated the writing style of this book, but it was not as smooth as my original writing style, so I had to give up.As for the depth of writing, the light of "image is greater than thought" leaves readers with room for opinions, and there is generally no problem.However, when it comes time to say a few hard words to explain history, Mr. Huang's generalizations are often scarred. 9. Linda's.This book allowed me to understand the essence and evolution history of the United States and its political and legal system.The most rare thing is that I feel that I seem to have lived in that world with Linda, and I have learned and thought very deeply. If I refine it further, beyond professional or professional needs, among the above-mentioned books, "Three Hundred Tang Poems" and "Tang Poems" are the most important to me, followed by Tolstoy's books.There is no limit to knowledge, but there is only one soul, which cannot be allowed to wither. Guyun: Which books have influenced your method of analyzing history?Is it because of the introduction of new methods such as institutional economics in the work that the work is so unique? Wu Si: Microeconomics and new institutional economics have influenced me, as have game theory and evolution theory.Many ideas in biology, behavior, ecology also influence me.Ancient Chinese sages, such as Han Feizi and Sun Tzu, were very good at calculating benefits and harms, and their calculations of benefits and harms also had a great influence on me.However, as a philosophy of history, historical materialism is the most familiar to us, and it is the background color of school education.When I analyze and write, I must deal with the relationship with historical materialism, accept or partially accept it, and if I want to adjust it, I need to come up with a reason.In this sense, the most influential one is historical materialism. Uniqueness is probably caused by nondescriptness.To say that literature is not literature, to say that history is not historiography, to say that social theory is not social theory.The classification number of the first edition is essays, which belong to the literature category, and the classification of the second edition is changed to social issues.But when I went to the National Library to check it, it was placed on the shelf of general history.I don't rely on institutionalized academics for a living, and dare to write according to my temper, based on my interests and my understanding of readers' interests, so I have this kind of non-donkey and non-horse stuff. Guyun: What do you think is the significance of the work you have done? Wu Si: Re-understand Chinese history and reconstruct the interpretation of Chinese history.The explanations of the past are not enough to answer the questions of the contemporary people, and as a result, the Chinese people have fallen into a situation of aphasia in the face of their own history.We can't find the right words, and it's not easy to tell where we came from and where we are now.So it is not easy for us to know who we are.For a nation, it is too serious a problem if it does not know itself, cannot understand itself, and cannot explain its own problems clearly.