In 1981, the publication of a book on the history of the Ming Dynasty shocked the entire historiographical community. This book is "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli". And the book, since the day of publication, has sold more than 3 million copies. This has made it one of the most popular books in the field of historiography. Xu Weidong, an editor at Chung Hwa Book Company, has publicly stated that the book has influenced generations of readers from all walks of life.
The author who wrote this best-selling book is Hwang In-woo. June 25, 2018, was supposed to be the centenary of his birth, but no one commemorated such a remarkable writer on his birthday. Today we will take you into "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" and Huang Renyu, who have influenced generations of Chinese.
Throughout the ages, the academic performance is excellent
Huang Renyu was born in 1918, in the latter stages of the New Culture Movement. Perhaps because of that special historical environment, Huang Renyu is very interested in culture. By the age of 15, he had been contributing to the local newspaper and had never stopped. Therefore, in the "Hunan Daily" at that time, the biographies of world celebrities he wrote were continuously published.
Although he has a great passion for writing and outstanding literary attainments, at the age of 18, he was admitted to the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Nankai University in Tianjin. In that turbulent era, faced with the oppression of foreign technology, what a patriotic intellectual could do was to use the technology he mastered to "save the country".
Although he chose to major in mechanical and electrical engineering, his love for literature has not diminished by half a point. Before graduating from university, Japan had already invaded and occupied the three northeastern provinces, and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had begun. During the Anti-Japanese War, Huang Renyu joined Rong, was admitted to the military academy, and became an officer after graduation. On the battlefield, he often took advantage of the gap between the war to record the situation on the frontline battlefield in writing. After the war, he also went to the United States to study.
Whether it is "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" or "The Great History of China", the "grand historical view" revealed in his manuscripts is that historical figures are not judged by motives and morals, but by historical results. The views he put forward have refreshed the view of the historiography on the single judgment of characters. And this concept has not only influenced Chinese Americans, but also affected several generations of Chinese people after it was introduced into China.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the situation on the frontline battlefield was recorded
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Nankai University moved south. Faced with the brutality of the Japanese army, Huang Renyu germinated the idea of joining the army. At that time, he temporarily put down the pen and took the knife. Untrained on the battlefield, he had the ambition to become a soldier like Napoleon.
Now that he had a dream, Huang Renyu was soon admitted to the Central Military Academy established by Chiang Kai-shek in Chengdu. After graduating at the end of 1940, he served as a platoon commander of the 14th Division of the Army as soon as he graduated, mainly responsible for stationing in southern Yunnan.
In 1943, he joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force stationed in India until the end of the Anti-Japanese War. After years of being on the front line, he seems to have suddenly understood the role of history and the meaning of "learning from history". As a matter of fact, in the history of the mainland, it has also experienced wars of self-defense against foreign invaders.
On the front line, he also really experienced the suffering. He saw the blood all over the ground, staining the earth red, and also saw countless innocent people dying on the battlefield, and even saw his brothers around him dyed red with blood, but he couldn't do anything. Mo Yan once said that a difficult childhood is the best school for writers. When he wasn't fighting, he began to record the situation on the battlefield and disseminate it to the outside world.
"Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a life for the people, continue to learn for the saints, and open peace for all generations", without the flowery rhetoric when he wrote literary works before, he spread the situation on the battlefield according to the truth. In his descriptions of the situation on the battlefield, his records have gradually taken on historical colors, and his descriptions of the cruelty of war and his sympathy for the hardships of the people's lives also highlight his sense of distress.
After being dismissed from the school, he published "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli"
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Huang Renyu went to the United States to study. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D., he joined the State University of New York at Newpze, where he served as a professor. However, due to the lack of new works for many years, Huang Renyu was dismissed from the school. However, after his dismissal, his original work "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" was published by Yale University Press.
As a doctoral graduate of the Department of History, Huang Renyu's doctoral dissertation was "Cao Yun in the Ming Dynasty", which made Huang Renyu begin to collect information extensively. After completing his dissertation, Huang Renyu thought that he still did not know enough about the Cao Yun culture of the Ming Dynasty, and not only that, but he also became very interested in the political and economic system of the Ming Dynasty.
So he began to collect extensive historical accounts and materials of the Ming Dynasty, and began to create "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli". But this historical work that instilled the ideas of the Chinese was not understood by Americans. So for a long time, when Huang Renyu wanted to publish this book, he ran into walls everywhere in the publishing house, so there was no new book published.
And this "Fifteen Years of Wanli", once published, was very popular in the Chinese circle in the United States. After it was introduced into the country, it was even more popular. This book focuses on the history of the Ming Dynasty before and after 1587 as a major historical turning point.
According to the author, "these events, although they seem to be small on the surface, are in fact the crux of the major events that happened in the past, and they are also the opportunities that will make waves in the future." The cause and effect of the relationship between them is precisely the focus of history. "The brilliance of this book lies not only in the ingenuity of the conception, but also in the author's unique arrangement of the character chapters.
The book selects six main figures, including Emperor Wanli, Zhang Juzheng, Shen Shixing, Hai Rui, Qi Jiguang, and Li Zhen, to analyze the history of the Ming Dynasty, and analyzes a series of such as the political system, economic system, cabinet system, imperial examination system, and civil official system of the Ming Dynasty with people and events, so as to show a richer and more comprehensive history of the Ming Dynasty.
Among them, the most valuable thing is the author's "big historical view", he did not introduce the history of the Ming Dynasty from a single aspect, but introduced the history of the Ming Dynasty in a technical, detailed and systematic way. It seems that the ordinary events are narrated in a casual tone, but the author digs deep into the historical significance behind the events from the surface to the inside.
Such a novel way of writing also breaks the usual way of writing history books. After the publication of this book, its English version was not only adopted as a textbook by many universities in the United States, but also became a permanent bestseller after the Chinese version entered China. From this, we can see the status of this book in the historiographical circles.
On the occasion of his birth, no one commemorates it
On January 8, 2000, Huang Renyu died of illness in a hospital in New York. Before his death, he and his wife Gehr drove to the cinema to listen to the play. At that time, he was already suffering from illness. But he was born open-minded, and did not show sad emotions, but smiled and expressed to his wife that he was old and frail, and was tormented by illness, so it was better to leave the world. In the face of his wife's sadness, he also smiled and comforted his wife.
But before he arrived at the cinema, Huang Renyu was already very unwell, although he forced himself into the cinema, as soon as he sat down, he fainted. Although his wife immediately rushed him to the hospital, it was too late. Maybe the old man insisted on entering the theater, but he just wanted to accompany his wife on the last journey. And his last words to his wife were both relief and farewell.
June 25, 2018 is the 100th anniversary of Huang Renyu's birth, and on such an important day, as a well-known writer at home and abroad, no one commemorates it.
Looking back at the life of the old man Huang Renyu, his life has been associated with literature since he was born. On the battlefield, he took advantage of the gap between the war to spread the war situation to the outside world, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he went to the United States for further study, and finally wrote "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli", which became famous at home and abroad, and became famous through the ages, leaving a classic history book.
It is really embarrassing that such an old artist with both ability and political integrity is not commemorated on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. "The clouds and mountains are firm, the rivers are turbulent, the wind of the gentleman, the mountains are high and the waters are long", to pay tribute to the classics, we should pay tribute to the old artists first. They deserve our respect and learning.