Recently, the Beijing Publishing House has launched a set of popular historical reading materials "New History Series", which covers topics such as the history of dynasties, thematic history, political figures and events, cultural figures and monographs. Older readers will surely find this series of books somewhat familiar, yes, it is the "nirvana rebirth" of the "Small Series of Chinese History" published in the late 1950s. Wu Han, a famous historian and expert in Ming history, has made great efforts to popularize the knowledge of literature and history in New China, and is also the editor-in-chief of the "Small Series of Chinese History", but this ambitious popularization project was unfortunately interrupted due to the impact of Wu Han during the "Cultural Revolution", and even gradually forgotten.
"New History Series", Beijing Publishing House
The origin of the "Small Series of Chinese History"
In 1954, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee issued the Decision on Improving the Quality of Primary and Secondary Education in Beijing, which included improving the quality of teaching in various disciplines. At that time, surveys showed that the quality of history classes in primary and secondary schools was not satisfactory, and one of the main reasons was that history textbooks were boring and lacked extracurricular reading materials that could be used as supplements. The earliest initiative of the "Small Series of Chinese History" was to make up for this shortcoming.
By the autumn of 1958, Wu Han, then vice mayor of Beijing, proposed at a meeting of history teachers in Beijing middle schools that a set of popular historical books that could be read outside the classroom for primary and secondary school students, which was warmly responded to by the participants, which was the origin of the "Small Series of Chinese History".
Nowadays, it seems that the editorial board of the "Small Series of Chinese History" can be said to be gathered by everyone and unprecedented, Wu Han not only personally served as the editor-in-chief, but also invited Yin Da, Bai Shouyi, Ren Jiyu, Wu Tingxuan, He Ziquan, Wang Qi, Zhou Liang, Shao Xunzheng, Hou Renzhi, Zheng Tianting, Weng Dujian, Dai Yi and a total of 24 experts and scholars to form the editorial committee of the series, and at the same time decided that the History Teaching and Research Department of the Beijing Teachers' Training College (now Beijing Institute of Education) would participate in the editing, and be responsible for contacting middle school literature and history teachers, searching for authors and reviewing manuscripts. Zhonghua Bookstore is responsible for editing and publishing.
After the study of Wu Han, Jin Canran, general manager of Zhonghua Bookstore, and Gong Shaoying, deputy editor-in-chief, the topic of the "Small Series of Chinese History" was initially centered on historical figures and events, and in the later period, the content of local history and scientific and technological history was gradually added, and the compilation plan was also expanded to 300 kinds. During this period, Wu Han and the editorial board did a lot of work to open up the source of manuscripts and improve the quality of writing, and twice organized and held meetings of principals and teachers of 50 middle schools in Beijing to mobilize them to use their spare time to participate in the compilation of the series.
So, what standards should be met for the popularity of this series of books?
According to Wu Han's own words, "The first is to read to your own young children, and when the children understand it, they will pass it, and if there is something they do not understand, they must rewrite it; the second is to give it to laymen to read." We have many historical sayings, such as the history of steel, ceramics, Peking opera, medicine, etc. are very specialized, insiders can read it, only if even laymen can fully understand it, it can reach the point of popularity. ”
Through the joint efforts of many parties, the "Small Series of Chinese History" has been completed since January 1959. By 1962, the series had reached 100 titles. To this end, the Editorial Board also held an enlarged meeting in the Great Hall of the People to celebrate. At the same time, the authors and readers of the series of books are also developing and growing, the authors have developed from individuals to collectives, from writing in Beijing to submissions from other provinces and cities, mainly from middle school teachers to university professors to join; the target audience has also expanded from the initial group of primary and secondary school students to the ranks of workers, peasants, and soldiers with low education.
Partial shadow of the "Small Series of Chinese History"
By the time of the Outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, this series of books had been published more than 150 times, with a cumulative print run of more than 9 million copies, and was well received by all sectors of society. For example, many readers wrote to Hou Renzhi, the author of "Xu Xiake" in the series of books and a historical geographer, to express their love for the book, and some people expressed their desire to adapt the stories told in the book into a drama for public performance. During the Cultural Revolution, the book, along with other books edited by Wu Han, was falsely accused of being "poisonous weeds" and stopped publishing, only to resume publication in 1978.
Bibliography of the "Small Series of Chinese History Series"
Wu Han and Zhang Yinlin
The reason why Wu Han attached great importance to the popularization of history was not entirely due to the social environment at that time, but also partly because of his historical research and thinking during the Republic of China, especially the private interaction with the historian Zhang Yinlin, who died young.
Wu Han (1909-1969)
A native of Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, Wu Han was admitted to the Department of Social History of the Chinese Public School in Shanghai in 1929, studied under Hu Shi, and soon followed Hu Shi north, compiling the "Annals of Hu Yinglin" during his tenure as a librarian in the library of Yenching University, which became the beginning of his history of the Ming Dynasty. Subsequently, Wu Han was admitted to the History Department of Tsinghua University and stayed on as a teaching assistant after graduating in 1934. Wu Han and Zhang Yinlin met in the History Department of Tsinghua University.
At that time, the head of the department, Jiang Tingdian, carried out a sharp reform of the history department and introduced a group of young teachers, including Zhang Yinlin, who returned from studying in the United States. In the same year that Wu Han stayed at the school, Zhang Yinlin published an article entitled "On the Current Responsibility of Historians" in the second issue of ta kung Pao Shidi Weekly under the pseudonym of "Su Yi", expounding his initial idea of compiling history textbooks and seeking partners from the academic community. After Wu Han saw it, he was invited to join.
Zhang Yinlin, a native of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, studied philosophy at Stanford University in the United States in his early years, but took historical research as his life's interest, for example, in 1933, he said in a letter to his friend Zhang Qiyun: "National history is a disciple's career, and he has ruled philosophy and sociology for many years, which is nothing more than preparation for this kind of work." From philosophy, we hope to transcend the self-consciousness of erudition and methods, and from sociology, we hope to understand the theory of personnel. ”
Zhang Yinlin (1905-1942)
In the article "On the Current Responsibility of Historians", Zhang Yinlin believes that "students are very responsible for the low intellectual knowledge of national history and the lack of good national history textbooks", "Therefore, we believe that the improvement of history textbooks is a prerequisite for improving history education." "Most historians who do not engage in textbook compilation cannot, must not, do not do. It is clear that this kind of work requires not only historical knowledge, but also popular (especially for young people) essay skills. And the combination of these two achievements has never been rare. "The compilation of good national history textbooks is an urgent need, and at present it seems that no historian dares to be confident that he can take on this matter independently and enjoy it... Then we must not think of a way to do its best to eliminate its disadvantages. We think that the choice of the purpose of the program, the collection of information, and the deliberation of the text must not fail to gather the strength of the people, but the initial draft and the final draft cannot be left alone. ”
In 1935, Zhang Yinlin was recommended by Fu Sinian to write history textbooks for high schools, junior high schools and primary schools. According to Zhang Yinlin's original plan, the high school history textbook should have been completed collectively, Zhang Yinlin himself was responsible for the pre-Qin to Han, Yang Liansheng was responsible for the Han to the early Tang, Wu Han was responsible for the Tang to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and Qian Jiaju was responsible for the history after the Opium War, etc. In 1937, the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War interrupted this compilation plan.
After the July 7 Incident, Zhang Yinlin went south alone, and before leaving, he entrusted all the completed ten chapter textbook manuscripts to his friend Wu Han. After that, Wu Han also went south to teach at Yunnan University, where he collated and transcribed Zhang Yinlin's manuscripts. In 1939, Zhang Yinlin arrived in Kunming, reunited with Wu Han, was very happy to see that he had been transcribed, and immediately wrote the eleventh chapter, which was later Zhang Yinlin's famous work" (also known as "Outline of Chinese History before the Eastern Han Dynasty").
Outline of Chinese History, 1944 edition, issued by Youth Bookstore
Popular reading of the literature and history of New China
The experience of compiling textbooks with Zhang Yinlin in the 1930s had a profound impact on Wu Han's subsequent teaching research and popularization of literature and history. After 1949, Wu Han served as the vice mayor of Beijing for a long time, in charge of cultural, educational and health work, and gradually changed his status from a scholar to a social activist, and the focus of his work was no longer on the study of Ming history, but he still had an undiminished passion for history, and mobilized resources from all sides to do a lot of organizational and coordination work for the popularization of knowledge.
After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong proposed to do three major historical projects, namely, punctuation of the "Zizhi Tongjian", punctuation of the Twenty-four Histories, and the redrawing of Yang Shoujing's "Map of Public Opinion in Past Dynasties", and Wu Han was the organizer of these three major historical projects. Among them, the task of redrawing Yang Shoujing's "Map of Public Opinion in Past Dynasties" was presided over by Professor Tan Qijun of Fudan University invited by Wu Han, and was published in the form of "Historical Atlas of China" after the "Cultural Revolution".
Tan Qijun once recalled the role played by Wu Han in the compilation of the "Historical Atlas of China": "Comrade Wu Han is the main person in charge of the ('Yang Tu') Committee, I am the specific person in charge of the compilation and drawing work, and we trust each other. I believe that without his serious responsibility to preside over his affairs, so many units and so many people (including several well-known people in academia) could not be organized to come together and spend so much time on this very difficult work. At each meeting, he presided over most of the meetings himself, and he devoted himself to coordinating the differences of opinion between the various units and resolving as many obstacles and difficulties as possible in practical work; after the meeting, he often had to pay for a meal for the participants. ”
It can be seen that Wu Han is not only a historian, but also has quite outstanding leadership skills and abilities. In addition to the "Small Series of Chinese History", Wu Han also edited several large-scale popular books on literature and history before the "Cultural Revolution", such as "Small Series of Foreign History Series", "Small Series of Language Series", and "Small Series of Geography".
In 1962, Zhou Enlai met with Wu Han in Guangzhou and asked him to compile a set of popular "small series of foreign history" while compiling a "small series of Chinese history." Therefore, Wu Han consulted with Chen Hanbo, editor-in-chief of the Commercial Press, and decided that the Commercial Press would undertake the publishing task. By the first half of 1966, a total of 59 titles had been published, also interrupted by the Cultural Revolution.
"Foreign History Small Series" book shadow
In 1964, the series of books began to be distributed by the Beijing Publishing House, and a total of 18 kinds were published before the "Cultural Revolution", including "Knowledge of Chinese Characters", "Characters That Are Easy to Misread", "Characters That Are Easy to Write Wrong", "Writing Methods of Expository Texts", "Figurative Common Sense", "Rhyme Common Sense", "Dialectics of Idioms", "A Brief Discussion of Exhortations" and other practical books.
The "Geography Series" is published by The China Youth Publishing House and is divided into three aspects: Chinese geography, foreign geography and geography, such as "The City of Beijing in History", "The Desert of Our Country", "China's Monsoon", "Nature in Xinjiang", "Danube" and so on.
Popularization is an ability
Wu Han said in "On the Popularization of Historical Knowledge": "It must be pointed out that at present there is a view that only writing special papers and special works is academic research work, scholars, and experts. As for writing popular articles, writing pamphlets for popularizing knowledge, that is inferior, it is another kind of person's work, let them do it, I don't engage in this... This perception is wrong... Of course, special papers and special works must be written, popular articles and popular pamphlets must also be written. Moreover, each person further refines his or her own special papers and special works, so that they can be popularized and accepted by the broad masses of the people. Isn't it better to kill two birds with one stone and do more with less? ”
However, after many years, many professional researchers in the ivory tower still do not realize this, and usually do not pay attention to training their popular writing skills, only write high-headed sermons and professional papers, and if they really want to write statements to the public, they will seem stretched. All popular literature and history books that can withstand the test of the market must be in-depth and simple, both interesting and narrative, in fact, it is a great test of the author's daily accumulation and public expression ability.
This time, the Beijing Publishing House has republished the "Small Series of Chinese History" edited by Wu Han, which can undoubtedly prompt people today to relive how the older generation of scholars carried out academic popularization work. Needless to say, due to its age, this set of books naturally has some limitations, the most obvious of which is the ideological imprint of the time, for example, Wu Han's evaluation of Hai Rui in "The Story of Hai Rui" is full of class struggle: "Today, today, in building a socialist society, we need Hai Rui who stands on the stand of the people, the position of the working class, Hai Rui who wages an indomitable struggle to build a socialist society, the Hai Rui who opposes the nostalgia of the old era and the bureaucracy of today, go deep among the masses, lead the masses, and muster up all the energy." 3. Strive for the upstream of Hai Rui. Such a pan-politicized formulation is clearly no longer suitable for the intellectual audience in today's society.
Another example is Dai Yi's "Beiyang Navy", when writing this book in the 1960s, the archival materials that can be consulted are very limited, after the reform and opening up, the research in this field has advanced by leaps and bounds, and a group of young scholars represented by Jiang Ming, Chen Yue and others have made strong clarifications to many problems in the Beiyang Navy and the Sino-Japanese War. Although Dai Yi has enough knowledge of this in the preface to the reprint, due to his advanced age, it is not realistic to ask him to expand and revise the original work, which is regrettable.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the death of Mr. Wu Han, in the context of "knowledge payment" has become the tide of the times, the majority of literary and historical workers should inherit Wu Han's cause, using the new technologies, new resources and new platforms of the mobile Internet to "popularize knowledge to the people".