Chapter 2 Preface to the first edition in 2006

——Zhang Yihe (famous writer and scholar) Last winter, I read "So-called Intellectuals" written by the famous contemporary British historian Paul Johnson (Johnson) in Taipei.The subjects studied in the book, such as Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Russell, etc., are all familiar figures who have had a major impact on the world.Starting from the idea that "people are more important than concepts", the author re-examines it on the basis of historical data and explores it in depth.It's shocking to read along the way—it turns out that these thinking characters are not only ordinary people, but also rather humble characters.For example, Rousseau, while advocating children's education, sent his five biological children to abandoned baby asylums.The author’s intention is obviously not to maliciously vilify the sages, but he hopes that thoughtful people will continue to explore along his narration——when “intellectuals” appeared as universal spokespersons of conscience and reason, have they really promoted Times go forward?A fact that cannot be ignored is: "Since the Second World War, the global education system has expanded, and the 'intellectuals' who were originally scattered among the people and established their lives for the ancestors have begun to be incorporated by the system. The 'conscience intellectuals' have begun to abdicate, and the 'policy-oriented Intellectuals have become the new mainstream under the name of specialization. They no longer put forward different visions for anything in politics or society, but only engage in thinking and researching on various trivial matters. What's more, they are Under the circumstances that colleges are increasingly simulating enterprises, everyone is busy looking for topics to receive subsidies, traveling to speak and appearing on TV shows." (Nanfang Shuo "Recovering Sharp Teeth from Stigma") Yes, when you understand yourself What kind of social background we are in can we understand "The So-called Intellectuals" written by historian Paul Johnson.In fact, it transcends the narrow sense of the "intellectual" role object, thereby leading readers to deeply reflect on the direction of the development trend of contemporary thought.Gain inspiration in the shock, generate associations in the inspiration: When will we have a similar book here?

In Beijing this spring, I read Zhang Hongjie's manuscript of an alternative biography of a historical figure from a friend.The author may not have as clear an academic and ideological writing intention as Western scholars, but his writing state and method of narrating historical events and depicting historical figures with a normal voice excites me.For example, Hai Rui in his works is a very good and honest official, but at the same time, he is also a paranoid patient.What needs to be explained is that most of the performances of important characters in the book are based on historical data and are by no means "joking".Recently, his historical essay collection "Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty" was published. These "seven faces" are the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the usurper Zhu Di, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, the upright official Hai Rui, the traitor Wu Sangui, the loyal minister Zheng Chenggong and the rebel Zhang Xianzhong.Seven people, seven sides.These different angles provide us with a complete picture of the feudal autocracy of the Ming Dynasty.I think this combination is very meaningful, enough for people who love history and think to see and think about it.

Shou Yuzhai in Beijing in July 2005 ——Ding Dong (Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) Zhang Hongjie lives in Huludao, and I live in Beijing. The two places are only a four-hour drive away.However, the first time we met was in a foreign country across the ocean. It was the early winter of last year. I went to the east coast of the United States to attend an academic seminar. I arrived in the university city of Princeton two days in advance, and I was going to travel with a couple of Chinese scholars living in the United States.In the living room of their home, I saw a young man with a shaved head and glasses. According to the owner, he was Zhang Hongjie, a scholar and writer from Liaoning who attended the same meeting.The hostess made a special addition, and the historical essays were well written.

I have quite a few friends in the domestic intellectual circles, but I have never heard of this name.Of course, there are too many people who are called writers and scholars nowadays, and I don't know what level Zhang Hongjie is. We are all visiting the United States for the first time, and everything about this continent is very new.Thanks to the kindness of the host, he drove us to visit Princeton University.This well-known university, which ranks among the best in the United States, has a history of 250 years, which is longer than the history of the United States.Together, we visited the open campus covered with ivy, browsed the school art gallery that lists art treasures from all continents, and visited the very ordinary-looking advanced research institute where Einstein worked.What impressed me the most was that there was a large virgin forest in front of the institute.We wandered through the forest, littered with giant trees that had died of natural causes, where Einstein used to take his walks.That day coincided with the announcement of the U.S. general election, with Bush defeating Kerry, and this naturally became a topic of discussion.Zhang Hongjie didn't talk much, but he was quite assertive in just a few words.Later, in the dining room of the scholar's husband and wife, we repeatedly discussed Chinese history including the "Cultural Revolution". This young man's thinking about history once again left an impression on me.He has a sympathetic understanding of the active participants in the "Cultural Revolution" while reflecting and criticizing, which is rarely seen among his peers.After the meeting, I traveled with him to New York and Niagara Falls.Walk all the way, talk all the way.Knowing that he once traveled to South Korea, he wrote a book "What are Chinese people less than Koreans", which was published in China and South Korea at the same time.This time he came to the United States, he had an idea, he wanted to work in the United States for a few days, experience the ups and downs of the Chinese in the United States, and write a book about the United States after returning home.He did find a distant relative in the United States to help him contact him, but because he planned to stay in the United States for too short a time, he failed in the end.Through this incident, I feel the diligence of this young man in writing.

Not long after returning to China, I received a historical essay "The Other Side: Alternative Notes of Historical Figures" from him.I finished this book in one sitting.The writing in this book is vivid and fluent, with flashes of thought from time to time. When the book was closed, I already understood why he was so highly regarded by the couple of scholars.Especially the hostess, who is a good writer, she has a special sympathy for Hongjie.For Hongjie, I also felt a sense of hatred for the late acquaintance because of this book. Later, when Hongjie came to Beijing, we met a few more times. I recommended his article to "Social Science Forum".The editor of the journal said that when the publication was typesetting, ordinary employees in the printing factory were attracted by Zhang Hongjie's works, and told him that Zhang Hongjie's article was the only good article in the entire publication.I think it's not that the articles of other scholars are not good, but that Zhang Hongjie's writing style is more friendly.After the publication was published, it was seen by Feng Keli, executive editor-in-chief of "Old Photos" of Shandong Pictorial Publishing House. He immediately called Zhao Hong, editor-in-chief of "Social Science Forum", and asked: Where is Zhang Hongjie and how can I contact him?This little incident once again proves the charm of Zhang Hongjie's writing.

This spring, Zhang Hongjie told me that he had completed several more articles on Ming Dynasty figures. He described seven different characters in this historical drama of the Ming Dynasty: the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the usurper Zhu Di, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, the upright official Hai Rui, and the traitor Wu Sangui , loyal minister Zheng Chenggong and rebel Zhang Xianzhong.The portraits of these seven people together roughly form the outline of the Ming Dynasty. More than 20 years ago, I studied history in college.But I was studying history, but I was enthusiastic about reading novels at the time.One of the reasons is that the history textbooks at that time were too boring, and the available monographs on history were also too boring.Most of them are explanations and attachments to some rigid dogmas.If you want to read interesting books, you have to look outside your major.The novels at that time were at the climax of "scar literature", and of course they were more attractive to me.Later, when I read Huang Renyu's by chance, it was like discovering a new world. It turns out that historical works can also be written with great interest.But I immediately thought that the writing could be so witty and full of wit. Because Huang Renyu is a Chinese historian living in the United States, his works can be unrestrained.

Some scholars are bound by a unified mode of thinking, and they can only face readers with the same instructive tone, and there are very few exceptions.With the process of ideological emancipation, the historians gradually got rid of the shackles of dogma and recovered the ability to reflect on history and think independently.Especially in recent years, a group of non-academic historians such as Wu Si have emerged.Their appearance is enough to prove that writing history alive is not the patent of ancient masters such as Sima Qian, nor is it the patent of overseas scholars such as Huang Renyu and Tang Degang. Contemporary scholars living in mainland China can also possess the same wisdom and ability.

Zhang Hongjie is a newcomer who surfaced under such a background.He studied at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, majoring in investment economic management, and worked for the Huludao Branch of China Construction Bank.As of today, his job is still an account manager of CCB, and his writing style is completely amateurish.He studies history without any utilitarian purpose, purely out of interest.It is his advantage that he did not receive professional training in history at a Chinese university.I was fed a head full of formatted dogma in history class, but he had no frame, nor was he bound by academic norms.He uses his own heart and intuition to talk to the ancients, and uses his life experience to understand the joys, sorrows, sorrows and joys of the ancients.He also absorbed the ideological achievements of Chinese and foreign historiography, but he took various schools of thought and used them for his own use, instead of worshiping and respecting only one technique.Szej Croce famously said that all history is contemporary history.Historical research, in the final analysis, is the understanding and perception of the past by today's people.The excavation and textual research of historical materials is not Zhang Hongjie's forte, nor is it the focus of his efforts.His interest lies in feeling the complex environment of historical figures from the perspective of a contemporary person, and inferring their hidden inner world with "sympathetic understanding".In his works, the emperors, generals, thieves and ministers in history have changed from cold historical materials to vivid images, allowing us to directly experience the wisdom, strategy, helplessness, cruelty and blood of the ancients.Wu Si and I belong to the same generation, and I will not be surprised no matter how profound and sophisticated his reading of history is.And Zhang Hongjie is only 33 years old this year, so young, but with such a sophisticated eye for reading history, he has to look at him with admiration.

The contemporaneity of historiography, I think, has another meaning, which is to read reality from history.Learn the new by reviewing the past, this is the fun of reading history.People today don't see the moon in ancient times, but this month once illuminated the ancients.Originally, the difference between ancient people and modern people is far smaller than the difference between people and other animals.You can feel that ancient China is a shadow of today's China, and you can also feel that today's China is a continuation of ancient China.Chinese intellectuals in the period of transition have witnessed drastic social changes and experienced too much ups and downs, so it is easier to understand the rise and fall of history.This sense of reality in studying history has also effectively narrowed the psychological distance between Hongjie's writing and ordinary readers.

Here are a few examples from Zhang Hongjie's book: In order to reduce the burden on farmers, the central government requires local governments to issue farmers "understanding cards" so that farmers understand what they should bear.This is not an invention of our time. This method was conceived as early as the Qing Dynasty.This "clear card" was called "money and grain easy-to-know list" at that time, "showing the amount of money and grain is fixed", telling the common people the fixed amount of money and grain to be handed over, so as to prevent officials from being deceived and overcharging in private.

In the past two years, such billboards have been erected on the streets of many parts of the country. The content is "twenty characters of the basic moral code of citizens": "Patriotic and law-abiding, honesty and integrity, unity and friendship, diligence and self-improvement, dedication and dedication." nothing new.As early as the Ming Dynasty, there were monuments of Liuyu lying on the streets of villages all over the country. The content is the "twenty-four characters of moral code" stipulated by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang for the people all over the world: "Be filial to your parents, respect your elders, be harmonious in the village, and teach your children a lesson. , keep your physiology safe, and don’t do anything wrong.” Hongjie said that a few years ago, the historian Professor Dai Yi read his works and expressed his willingness to be his doctoral supervisor and accept him as a closed student.But he was afraid that learning a foreign language would take unnecessary energy and time, so he didn't respond in time.In recent years, as his exploration of history has deepened, this lifestyle of amateur writing in the banking system has finally made him feel limited.He talked to me about this issue, and considered whether to obtain the entry qualification of the college through the examination and doctoral examination, which may be convenient for future research. I recommended his work to two friends who are qualified as doctoral supervisors. They both appreciated Hongjie's talent and expressed their willingness to help him enter the academic world in this way.However, whether it is because he is afraid of learning a foreign language or because he is afraid of the limitations of his academic style of work, he has not made up his mind so far.No matter what Zhang Hongjie's final plan is, I sincerely hope that he can obtain a more free and satisfactory platform and write better works. end of August 2005