Zhang Haipeng: Diligently seeking the true meaning of the development of modern Chinese history

Man is a product of the times. The world is easy to move from time to time, personnel metabolism, an era has an era of atmosphere, and at the same time will give birth to the academics and scholars of this era. Mr. Zhang Haipeng was born in the stormy old China, through the difficult exploration period of New China and the new era since the reform and opening up, like a phoenix nirvana, from a poor peasant son, grew into a famous Marxist historian. His growth trajectory is a true witness to the changes of the times. As a historian trained by New China, Zhang Haipeng has always insisted on guiding his academic research with the Marxist materialist concept of history. When reviewing his research work, he said very seriously: "In these studies, I strive to understand the basic principles of Marxism and strive to use Marxism to guide my research. Maybe readers will criticize my research, and I don't think they will doubt my serious efforts and persistent pursuits in this regard. In 1998, the Social Science Literature Publishing House published his first collection of personal essays, titled "Pursuit Collection: An Exploration of the Historical Process of Modern China", which very well stated his academic interests, and the word "pursuit" in it means "the pursuit of historical truth". Zhang Haipeng's pursuit is to unremittingly explore the process of China's modern history under the guidance of the Marxist materialist view of history.

　　Embark on the academic path with difficulty

　　In 1939, Zhang Haipeng was born in Hanchuan, Hubei Province, to a poor peasant family. It was an ordinary peasant family in the Jianghan Plain. My father rented one or two acres of paddy fields, plus a small business, fried fritters, evaporated cakes, and boiled shredded beans in the morning market. When he was 7 years old, his mother died. His brother joined the New Fourth Army. His father took him to live with his sister and sister, barely able to make ends meet, and life was difficult. In 2015, Zhang Haipeng was invited to write "Ten Years of Life Miscellaneous Feelings of the Republic of China" for China Social Science Daily, and serialized it in many issues, recording the 10 years of life in the Republic of China that he personally experienced in his childhood with the historian's truth-seeking and pragmatic writing, and came to the conclusion that: "During the Republic of China, ordinary people always struggled in the hardships of life, and it was difficult to have a head start. This perspective of the underclassmen who have personally experienced the life of the Republic of China is undoubtedly a spicy needle in some of the so-called "Republican style" arguments in recent years.

　　With the liberation of the hometown, a new life has arrived. Zhang Haipeng successfully completed primary and secondary education. When he graduated from junior high school, due to the flood of the Yangtze River, he temporarily returned home to work as a farmer for two years, actively participated in the rural mutual aid and cooperation movement, served as a clerk in the mutual aid group and an accountant of the rural senior cooperative, and truly experienced the collectivized life of the peasants in the new society. In 1959, Zhang Haipeng was admitted to the History Department of Wuhan University, which became a turning point in the fate of an ordinary peasant child in New China. At that time, the history department of Wuhan University gathered famous teachers, such as Mr. Li Jiannong, Mr. Tan Rongfu and Mr. Tang Changru in ancient Chinese history, Mr. Yao Weiyuan, Mr. Wang Yisun and Mr. Peng Yuxin in modern Chinese history, and Mr. Wu Yuliu and Mr. Zhang Jiping in world history, all of whom were famous contemporary Chinese historians. Under the teachings of many previous scholars, Zhang Haipeng received a rigorous and standardized basic training in history. At that time, he had a wide range of interests and did not identify specific professional research directions. When studying modern Chinese history, he wrote about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was highly praised by Mr. Yao Weiyuan; when he was in the fourth year of college, he did the academic year thesis on ancient Chinese history, "On the Rangers at the Time of the Qin and Han Dynasties", and in the fifth grade, he did the graduation thesis of world history, "On the Thirty Years of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Soviet Union and the United States". Regarding the direction of graduation, Zhang Haipeng originally had his own ideas, but the organization made other arrangements for him. He carefully read through the "General History of Chinese Thought" edited by Mr. Hou Wailu (five volumes and six volumes), and has enrolled in the postgraduate examination of Mr. Hou's intellectual history, but the General Party Branch of the History Department recommended him to apply for the diplomatic research class of the Foreign Affairs University. Obeying the organizational arrangement, he gave up the graduate school entrance examination in the history of ideas and successfully passed the examination of the Diplomatic Research Class, but was very unexpectedly assigned to the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Only afterwards did it become known that at that time, the Institute of Modern History took the letter of introduction from the Central Propaganda Department to the national colleges and universities to find talents, and had the priority right to pick people, so without knowing it, Zhang Haipeng was selected into the Institute of Modern History. In 1964, he graduated from university and worked at the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and since then he has forged an indissoluble relationship with the study of modern Chinese history for more than half a century.

　　Unfortunately, Zhang Haipengjin's first ten years of work have undergone a series of social changes, and in fact, they cannot be related to academic research. The torrent of the times, the individual can not resist. He has an unforgettable memory of this history. He later said: "From 1978 onwards, I was able to concentrate on my studies. "There is no complaining, no sorrow, but it is inevitable that there will be some helplessness and regret." Thirteen years is only a short moment in the long river of human history, but it can be ignored in the life of an individual, especially in the academic initial stage of a scholar, which should be a "golden age", but it has been regrettably delayed. Looking back on that period of unforgettable years, Zhang Haipeng is very indifferent: "Those thirteen years have also left me with many unforgettable experiences for life, which is an important part of my life trajectory." Zhang Haipeng, who lost thirteen years of precious time and was not confused, officially embarked on the road of academic research. He never sighed in frustration, but cherished the hard-won opportunities and persistently explored and pursued in the vast sea of history.

　　Immerse yourself in the exploration of the "three major systems"

　　1978 was a pivotal year. Reform and opening up has brought a scientific spring to the academic community, and also glowed with the youthful light of Zhang Haipeng's academic research. In his self-report, he mentioned that 1978-1988 was the "golden decade" of research work "in an effort to rescue lost time." This belated "Golden Decade" is an important period of academic growth and foundation. Since then, he has long served as the administrative leader of the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the organization of the Chinese Historical Society, and has devoted a lot of effort to the construction of the Institute and the development of the discipline of modern Chinese history and even the entire history, while his academic research can only use vacations and other spare time. Because of these special backgrounds, his academic research has a very distinct personality. His research field is modern Chinese history, and his treatises not only have incisive historical facts, but also more macroscopic thinking and commentary on the theories and methods of modern Chinese history research. His main academic interest is to explore the historical process of modern China under the guidance of the Marxist materialist view of history, and to construct the disciplinary system, academic system and discourse system of modern Chinese history.

　　How to construct the "three major systems" of modern Chinese history involves important theoretical issues such as the basic clues of modern Chinese history, historical staging and research objects. In the early 1980s, the academic debate on the basic clues of modern Chinese history basically continued the discussion of the 1950s on the issue of staging modern history. Zhang Haipeng has published "The "Two Processes" and Related Issues of Modern Chinese History" (Historical Research, No. 4, 1984) and "How to View the Basic Clues of the Development of Modern Chinese History?" (Qiushi, No. 3, 1990) and "On the Phased Issues of China's Modern History and Its "Sinking" and "Rising" (Studies in Modern History, No. 2, 1998) have systematically expounded their own views and put forward debatable opinions on different views of the academic community. In the course of this controversy, Zhang Haipeng is a representative figure who adheres to the theory of "two processes." In response to the view that some scholars believe that the "two processes" theory does not outline the "whole content" of China's modern history, is a "misunderstanding" of Mao Zedong's own original intention, and demands to "get rid of" the "shackles" of the "two processes" theory, he believes that the "two processes" theory only summarizes the main clues of China's modern history, and cannot be used to replace or include the rich and colorful contents of China's modern history. Mao Zedong's summary of the 'two processes' is based on an analysis of the nature of modern Chinese society and the formation of a regular understanding of historical development. This is the product of his integration of Marxism-Leninism with China's historical and revolutionary reality. In response to the view that some scholars believe that the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in modern China not only has "sinking" (semi-colonization), but also has "rising" (semi-capitalistization), this "sinking" and "rising" coexist at the same time, he does not deny that "sinking" is accompanied by the "rising" factor, and "rising" also has the factor of "sinking", but he does not take "sinking" and "rising" at the same time, but put forward a new explanation of "sinking" to "bottom" and then "rising". He believes that the development trajectory of modern Chinese society is like a meta-treasure shape, which begins as a decline, descends to the bottom (during the reign of the Beiyang warlords in the early 20th century), and then rises and rises into a bright light.

　　Regarding the issue of staging and research objects of modern Chinese history, Zhang Haipeng published important papers such as "The Problem of Periodization of Modern Chinese History and Modern Chinese History" (People's Daily, November 20, 2009) and "Exploration of the Disciplinary System of Modern Chinese History in the 20th Century" (Modern History Research, No. 1, 2005), which made clear explanations. In the past, most academic circles took the May Fourth Movement in 1919 as the boundary, and divided the history of China from 1840 to 1949 into modern Chinese history and modern Chinese history, or generally called modern and contemporary Chinese history. Based on his understanding of the nature of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in modern China, Zhang Haipeng opened up the "modern and modern history of China" with 1919 as the boundary, put forward new insights on the periodization of modern Chinese history, and tried to construct a theoretical system of modern Chinese history from 1840 to 1949 from a macroscopic perspective. He clearly proposed that the history of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society should be taken as the object of study of China's modern history, and the history of China from 1840 to 1949 should be collectively referred to as "modern Chinese history". He pointed out that the discipline of modern Chinese history, which takes the history of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society as the object of study, can have an independent disciplinary status without changing the connotation of "modern times" with time.

　　Zhang Haipeng not only carried out multi-faceted theoretical discussions on the construction of the "three major systems" of modern Chinese history, but also continuously put it into practice. In 1999, he edited and published Modern Chinese History (1840-1949) (Mass Publishing House), and from 2006 to 2007, he edited and published the ten-volume General History of Modern China (Jiangsu People's Publishing House). The General History of Modern China summarizes the achievements in the field of modern Chinese history research since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, and for the first time completes a large-scale general history of modern China with the time range of 1840-1949. From the perspective of general history, it not only opened up the distinction between the history of the late Qing Dynasty and the history of the Republic of China in the sense of the history of the broken dynasty, but also opened up the distinction between modern Chinese history and modern history that the academic circles are accustomed to, and for the first time set up the overall framework of China's modern history. Writing a complete history of modern China has always been the wish of several generations of leaders of the Institute of Modern History. Mr. Fan Wenlan, the first director, wrote the first volume of "Modern Chinese History", which is only half of China's modern history. Director Liu Danian edited volumes 1-3 of the Draft Of Modern Chinese History, but only wrote about the signing of the Treaty of Xinugu, which can only be regarded as the completion of half of modern Chinese history. Some people commented that Zhang Haipeng presided over the compilation and publication of the ten-volume "General History of Modern China," which "fulfilled the long-cherished wishes of several generations of people in the Institute of Modern History" and "can also be said to have fulfilled the long-cherished wishes of generations of modern Chinese historians in China." That is to say, the General History of Modern China is a landmark achievement of the research on the modern history of New China.

　　Zhang Haipeng's works are equal, but he is very sorry that he does not have a satisfactory monograph on modern Chinese history. In an interview, he admitted: "To be honest, I personally intended to put more effort into special research, but I really didn't have time. Because of his long-term administrative leadership and academic organization work, he did not have his own time to do more in-depth special topic research, although he had written some wonderful special topic papers, which also fully demonstrated the profound ability to engage in special topic research, but his main academic contribution and characteristics were the exploration and comment of the theories and methods of Modern Chinese History Research, especially the theoretical construction and practice of the discipline system of Modern Chinese History. In 2020, in the "pre-volume remarks" of the emperor's huge work published in the seven-volume "Zhang Haipeng Anthology", he still lamented: "One of the regrets in my academic career is the lack of in-depth special research on modern Chinese history, and this regret may be difficult to make up for in this life." "For individual academic pursuits, this may not be complete, but for the academic community, Zhang Haipeng's contribution to China's modern history and even the entire history as an academic organizer and leader is enough to leave a strong mark in the contemporary Chinese academic history."

　　Diligently seeking "soul casting project"

　　How to popularize academic research in the academic school to society has always been a major problem. Self-proclaimed clever people disdain it, so in this multimedia era, it is not surprising that there is a phenomenon of "bad money expelling good money". Zhang Haipeng's unremitting efforts have played a good exemplary role. In 2020, Zhang Haipeng was awarded the honorary title of "Meritorious Author of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Education Publishing House". When introducing his advanced deeds, the People's Education Publishing House said: "For a long time, Zhang Haipeng has been committed to disseminating good historical education to young people and the public. "He deserves the facts.

　　In 2008, Mr. Zhang Haipeng was appointed by the Central Propaganda Department as the first chief expert to preside over the compilation of the key textbook of Marxist theoretical research and construction projects, "Modern Chinese History" (Higher Education Press, People's Publishing House, first edition in 2012, second edition in 2020), as a professional textbook of modern Chinese history in the Department of University History, and promoted it to colleges and universities across the country. Later, he also accepted a special commission from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to co-author the Concise Reader of Modern Chinese History (China Social Sciences Press, 2018) with student Zhai Jinyi, as an academic popularization reading material to popularize the knowledge of modern Chinese history to the readers of the whole society. Through these two works, Zhang Haipeng disseminated his academic ideas on the study of modern Chinese history to teachers, students and the public, including a correct view of history and reliable knowledge of modern history, so he enjoyed it.

March 2018 Unified High School History Textbook Writing Group Working Meeting Author/Courtesy Photo

　　In July 2017, Zhang Haipeng was appointed by the State Textbook Committee as one of the chief editors of the unified high school history textbook. The unified high school history textbook is divided into 5 volumes, of which "Outline of Chinese and Foreign History" (upper and lower volumes) is a compulsory course for all high school students to use in the first grade of high school; in addition, "State System and Social Governance", "Economic and Social Life", and "Cultural Exchange and Communication" are three volumes of optional compulsory courses for the second grade of high school. The compulsory textbooks have entered the high school classrooms of 6 provinces and cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other provinces and cities in September 2019, and 14 provincial and municipal high schools will use the unified high school history textbooks in September 2020, and will enter the national high school classroom by 2022.

　　Although he presided over the compilation of the "General History of Modern China" and the "Modern History of China," a key textbook on the Horse Project, Zhang Haipeng still humbly said that he had no experience in presiding over the compilation of middle school history textbooks, but successfully completed this sacred work with an attitude of conscientiousness and conscientiousness, an attitude of approaching the abyss and walking on thin ice, and cooperating with the textbook writing group. The unified compilation of high school history textbooks, together with the unified compilation of high school ideological and political and language textbooks, constitutes the unified compilation of three subjects of teaching materials. General Secretary Xi Jinping praised the unified compilation of three textbooks as a "soul casting project". The compilation of high school history textbooks is the product of implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech on the construction of textbooks. When explaining the nature of the unified compilation of high school history textbooks, Zhang Haipeng said: "The compilation of middle school history textbooks, like the compilation of moral education and language textbooks, is a state affair, embodies the will of the state, has a bearing on the party's leadership over education work, has a bearing on the prosperity and development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, has a successor, and has a bearing on the long-term peace and stability of the party and the state and the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is of very profound historical and strategic significance." This will enable the successors of all aspects of the country's future undertakings to obtain a good history education at the basic education stage, which is a sacred cause. This is the long-term plan of the Party Central Committee in school education and personnel training after the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party! ”

　　The old Ji Futuo, determined to be in a thousand miles. Mr. Zhang Haipeng, who is old in his old age, is still struggling for the "soul-casting project" of the Chinese nation.

　　(Author Affilications:Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Source: China Social Science Network - China Social Science Daily Author: Li Xizhu