Revisiting "Learning from History"
Text \ Ann Aspire
Needless to say, the "jian" of "taking history as a mirror" is a mirror, whether it is a bronze mirror or a glass mirror, the person in the mirror is himself. The mirror has a good or bad point, the face and the mirror, no damage, no distortion, the same inside and outside, is a good mirror. Because of this, there is Liu Yuxi's "Faint Mirror Words" ("Liu Yuxi's Collected Notes", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1989, p. 561), beautiful nature likes the mirror of "Kyaukyoru", and the ugly prefer to buy the "Fogru" mirror. Tang Taizong's "taking copper as a mirror" and "taking the ancient as a mirror" have the same reason, "taking history as a mirror", and there is also the problem of choosing "history". Li Shimin was very concerned that "if there is something unkind, Qing also remembers it" (Zizhi Tongjian, Tang Dynasty XII), so he broke the previous practice that the emperor was not allowed to view the "Notes on Living".
Canadian historian Macmillan points out: "When people talk about the necessity of 'proper' history, as they often do, what they really mean is that they will only choose historical narratives that they expect to see and like." (The Use and Abuse of History, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2021, p. 145) "Expectation" and "like" are obviously subjective rather than objective of historical facts, and "false history" is also the result of selection.
Under the imperial dictatorship, as the author of history books, there was a distinction between straight books and curved pens; the history books formed had the difference between the history of faith and pseudo-history, and "the ancients only heard the straight pen to see the curse, and did not hear the words of the song to be convicted" (Shi Stone Complete Translation, Guizhou People's Publishing House, p. 394). Therefore, false history is inevitable. As a ruler, he will also consider and choose historical facts, both those who ask to be remembered and those who want to forget; those who add flowers to the cake and those who have Buddhas with dung on their heads; those who move flowers and trees, and those who steal beams and change pillars... Distortion and falsification can only be followed by false history.
The truth of historical facts is the first and foremost, and the Italian historian Croce famously said that "all true history is contemporary history." (TheOry and Practice of Historiography, The Commercial Press, 1982, p. 3) People often omit the word "true" when quoting this famous quote. Liang Qichao also stressed that "the purpose of history is to give new meaning or new value to the true facts of the past for the resources of modern people's activities." (Chinese Historical Research Law (Outer Two Kinds), Hebei Education Publishing House, 2000, p. 162) It is both "fact" and "true", which shows its concern about "false history".
Macmillan argues that the abuse of history cannot avoid false history, and that "creating a history that is beneficial or even false in order to rationalize our mishandling of others" or "when we make lies or write history from a single point of view" is an abuse of history. (The Use and Abuse of History, Introduction) She uses several "key words" here, and the result of "creating" history can only be a "lie" - "false history".
In fact, before her, Croce had analyzed three kinds of "false history", namely linguistic history, poetic history, and rhetorical history. Macmillan, a woman with a more tactful line, refers to "fake history" as a "bad work of history" and sporadically lists several situations:
"Those bad historical works will only tell people part of the truth about complex historical facts." Such works also describe a large number of historical details that cannot be verified,......" (ibid., p. 48) "When people find that certain evidence may challenge their preferred historical views, they deliberately ignore or even suppress that evidence." (Ibid., pp. 92-93) She changes the subject to state, "We will prove by distorting the truth of past events that our actions are always justified and that our enemies are always wrong." (Ibid., p. 123) Such an enumeration is clearly unorganized and unorganized, but it seems to feel empathy if one thinks about it carefully.
The British historian Hobsbawm once pointed out: "Why did all rulers let young people learn history in school?" It is not for them to understand their society and its changes, but for them to praise it, to be proud of it, to begin with, or gradually become, tamed citizens of the United States or Spain or Honduras or Iraq. And this also applies to careers and sports. History as a spiritual enlightenment and ideology gradually became a myth of self-justification. (On History, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2021, p. 42) He does not mention "false history," but when history "becomes an ideology that inspires people," arbitrary deletions and trade-offs are certain.
History, whether as a relic on the turtle shell, copper ding, bamboo tablet, stone stele or ancient books, is an objective existence of death. Once "learning from history" means giving life to these historical sites, then there is a question of how to deal with historical sites. The "creation" or "choice" of history, which is exaggerated, made out of nothing, and stealing beams and pillars, is, of course, "false history". If it must be "learned", then it can only be a convex lens, a concave lens or a haha mirror. "Taking history as a mirror", whether it is reminding yourself or asking others, we must abandon false history. False history for oneself, "where it is red and swollen, it is as bright as a peach blossom; when it festers, it is as beautiful as cheese" (Lu Xun's language), and suddenly feels inflated and blinded; false history is to others, or sores on the top of the head, and pus is flowing from the soles of the feet; or the ant edge locust, the grasshopper shakes the tree, and suddenly produces disgust and contempt.
The story of the "painter abandoning the market" is not history. Mao Yanshou's figure paintings are very evocative, "ugly good old and young will get the truth." He was originally capable of providing the beautiful "truth" of Wang Yan to the emperor. Only because Wang Yan refused to pay bribes to him, he actually forged Wang Yan's ugly "false appearance" to the emperor out of his own selfishness. Emperor Yuan was deceived, Zhaojun was out of the way, and Mao Yanshou was killed (Xijing Miscellaneous Records, Guizhou People's Publishing House, 1993, p. 44). If the painter's work is compared to history, Mao Yanshou created a "false history", and the Han Yuan Emperor believed in "false history", so an ancient diplomatic tragedy was born, and the harm of "false history" can also be seen.
Do not ignore and underestimate the negative effects of "false history", the disintegration of the Soviet Union is a lesson for the past. A "Concise Course on the History of the United Communist Party (Brazzaville)" has had a wide and profound impact on our country. The Russian historian Medvedev commented that in this book "many directly falsified and manifestly false assertions can be found." (The Truth about the Soviet Union: Reflections on 101 Important Issues, Xinhua Publishing House, 2010, p. 352) Distorting and falsifying history was also one of the reasons why the CPSU lost the party's heart and the people's hearts and minds, and eventually disintegrated. The two countries have different national conditions and similar governance models. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and I can't help but think of Du Mu's famous sentence, "Future generations mourn and do not learn from it, and also make future generations mourn their descendants."