"Burial": Where to return to life, is this a philosophical question or a historical question
On the morning of September 24th, a book sharing meeting on "Burial: Individual Settling and Imagining the Home Country in the Third to Sixth Centuries" was held in the East Building of Shanghai Library. The authors of this book, Li Hua, Ph.D. in History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Hu Zhihui, Department of Philosophy, Fudan University, shared the theme of the new book "Where to Go in Life - Philosophical Issues or Historical Issues".
Sharing session on "Where to Live: Philosophical Questions or Historical Issues"
Burial: Individual Settlement and Home Imagination in the Third to Sixth Centuries is the latest book in the Oriental Publishing Center's book brand Moment Humanities China Studies Series. "Humanities of the Moment" is divided into two series, Chinese studies and world history, and has published books such as "Books in Bamboo: Written Records of Ancient China (60th Anniversary Edition)", "Dialogue between the Dragon and the Lion: Translation and Macartney's Mission to China", "The Collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty: The Northwestern Frontier and the Edge of the Empire", "The Year of the King of Glory: Chinese Political Ecology from the Origins of Agriculture to the Qin Empire", "Rogues, Extremists and Statists: The Politics of Violence in Modern Japan" and other books. Chinese the most reborn and dead, Wang Xizhi also mentioned in the Lanting order that "death and life are also great", the Eastern Jin Dynasty was dressed in the south, the Shi clan left the country, and the concept of burial has changed between generations, "Burial" is a wonderful material culture history work by combing through documentary historical materials, analyzing archaeological materials, and inspecting tombs on the spot; And "where to be born and where to be buried" is also a life question worthy of realistic thinking for each of us who left our hometown in the torrent of urbanization and modernization.
"Burial: Individual Settling and the Imagination of the Family and Country in the Third to Sixth Centuries"
At the meeting, Li Hua shared his research path from philosophy to history, especially to the tombs of the Han and Jin families, and also introduced the field of ancient tomb research done in the research process of this book. For example, the well-known "born and living in Suzhou and Hangzhou, dead and buried in Beizhu", Beizhu, that is, Mt. Zhushan, is located in the north of Luoyang City, Henan Province. So why did the ancients long to be buried here? Li Hua first shared the inspection experience of Luoyang Ancient Tomb Museum. The second shared case is the tomb of the Xiangshan Wang family, which is mentioned many times in the book, located on Xiangshan Mountain, southwest of Shogunate Mountain, Gulou District, Nanjing. Finally, there is the tomb of Wang Xi, there are three theories about Wang Xi's tomb, one is in Zhuji Cangluo Mountain in Zhejiang, the second is Shaoxing Yunmen Mountain, and the third is Shengzhou Huatang Village. Judging from the existing ruins, only Shengzhou Huatang Village can be visited and commemorated by future generations, and Li Hua also shared his field trip in Huatang Village. Although it may be difficult for us to enter some burial sites today, through these fieldwork, we are able to think anew about some historical materials.
Hu Zhihui's sharing extended the philosophical thinking behind "burial". Citing the book "Burial", he mentioned that "the real power of history lies in 'empathy' and 'insight into human nature'", arguing that history is constantly salvaging memory, and through the efforts of scholars to read these historical stories, we may be able to find some "settlements" in our lives. Every reader can find their own memories from the book, which is also a kind of retrospective of history. "Where to go in life" is that history gives us a narrative memory, but we also abstract philosophical meaning from it. He believes that philosophy is a discipline with both "height" and "depth", and if history is to present all materials in front of it, it is a process of deconstruction, which is to restore some kind of truth by tracing back to the roots, like peeling a cabbage. Then deep philosophy is constantly questioning and reflecting, a reconstruction of self-righteousness and habituation.