Scholar in the United States Song Nianshen
Reference News Network reported on July 19 that reference culture and the United States historian Song Nianshen's meeting coincided with the morning rush hour of traffic congestion on weekdays, he was carrying a leisure bag, dusty servants, and his face was covered with beads of sweat.
When Song Nianshen talks about the history of his research and the field of international relations, he always has infinite enthusiasm.
Why is East Asia special?
Song Nianshen's newly published book "Discovering East Asia" was held at a sharing meeting
Song Nianshen explored what East Asia is, in fact, as early as when he studied in the Uk, he first saw the beginning -
He found that "the framework of political science has a very fixed sense of problems and methods". It is often static and objective— a game of scientific analysis, or even statistics, that emphasizes that moral judgments cannot be used alone. For example, Sino-US relations and Sino-Japanese relations can apply the theory of "regional structural power decisions".
He later went to the University of Chicago to pursue a Ph.D. in history, hoping to break down the rigid boundaries between disciplines.
The discipline of history does indeed give Song Nianshen a novel temporal dimension: things are not always the same, everything is in dynamic change - this view runs through the whole process of "Discover East Asia" and also shapes the opportunity for the emergence of "Discover East Asia".
In Song Nianshen's view, East Asia is very special.
China, Japan, and South Korea in the East Asian framework have always been very important in globalization, but as regions, there is a lack of cooperation in the political field in modern times.
For example, North America has a free trade agreement, Europe has an EU, and Africa has an AU. But East Asia is close to zero in this regard.
In addition, Song Nianshen found in his research that East Asia is not only a regional but also a global problem, which is particularly typical of the global changes in territory, population and concepts.
How can history be so subversive?
In fact, the book "Discovering East Asia" was born out of the "Introduction to East Asian History Course" taught by Song Nianshen at an American university.
As an Asian, teaching history in the United States is not so simple.
Song Nianshen said: "Ethnic minorities and women are absolutely disadvantaged in the assessment, because students feel that you are a bully and will be more demanding of you."
In college classrooms, there are often small class sizes, with no more than 25 students. Students at elite liberal arts colleges are more conceited, and even if they don't know, they have to raise their hands - they have to discuss with you.
Song Nianshen also figured out his own set of coping methods: "hooking up" historical knowledge with their known common sense and "subverting" known common sense.
Various historical truths from the Boston tea pouring incident
For example, the Boston tea pour was one of the triggers of the American Revolutionary War. The traditional explanation is that because there is no political right, the tax is raised.
Song Nianshen threw a bomb at the beginning - "Wrong, keep this tax, customers buy tea cheaply", and the students were "confused" at that time.
Then, step by step, he explained: "In fact, it is not a question of price, but the interests of smugglers are damaged", and then extended to the East India Company, the offshore distribution of tea, the impact on the 13 states of the United States...
He even concludes: "The history of the United States is actually a resistance waged by a group of smugglers in the name of freedom in order to monopolize their own smuggling interests." John Hancock, the first signatory on the Declaration of Independence, was the largest smuggler in the Boston area. ”
This subverts the students' existing cognition.
Song Nianshen exuded the style of "professor", constantly taking the lead in points, and even proposed that "the American Revolution has a very great relationship with China."
Because the growth of tea is very picky about the climate, Britain has not succeeded in growing tea in its own colony, the United States, and the trade deficit is serious. So in the context of the global trading system already in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, tea originating in China could revolutionize North America, on the other side of the Pacific.
Tea can even explain "why the Opium War happened in 1840" – in the 1830s, the British tea cultivation was successful, and the time was ripe to start a war.
If trade is not open, why is the tea trade?
History, he said, is easily misunderstood and understood one-sidedly, revealing that we are not only attached to the web of meaning we weave, but also constrained by this web.
In Song Nianshen's view, it is not simply relying on "memory", to get to the bottom of the truth, history teaches students a critical way of thinking.
How does history approach the truth?
And "Discovery of East Asia" cleverly interprets a regional and local historical event in a more macroscopic framework, which can often be suddenly enlightened.
Why is history often fallacious? Song Nianshen gave a precise answer: "Subjective selection, resulting in individuals want to use the material, will continue to find a basis for the current phenomenon." ”
So how to avoid the fallacy? In his view, if only relying on documentary materials, it often limits people's understanding and imagination of history. Just like the current film and television dramas can not restore the history 100%, and even widely disseminated...
The history of the film Silence relies more on oral history
Citing martin scorsese's film Silence (which tells the story of the historical failure of the Jesuit mission in Japan) as an example, Song Nianshen said that when history spread to the bottom, the vast number of women and illiterates at that time could not leave written materials, so they could only use anthropological methods to interview and do fieldwork.
However, due to personal feelings, oral history also has memory biases. "But it's also our understanding of what's real — feelings and perceptions are real."
Culture can't determine history?
It is noteworthy that in the use of historical materials, Song Nianshen has always avoided the use of cultural determinism.
In his view, "we are particularly accustomed to explaining it in terms of culture, but it is just an ideology in itself." ”
Song Nianshen even threw out the idea that Chinese closest to americans.
Although people look different, languages are different, and historical paths are different, the most important thing is that the form and ambition of the country are very similar. "All I see is China and the United States, not to say rule the world, but to lead the world." Song Nianshen said.
Under the framework of the popularity of Korean dramas and American dramas, Song Nianshen jumped out of the shackles of cultural theory, but emphasized: "It is not something of cultural essence, but the circulation means of modern communication, global commercialization." ”
The Chinese of urban life seems to be receptive to Hollywood culture and has a strong penetration, but the situation may be very different in the Arab region, the African region, and latin America.
How to learn history well?
Song Nianshen has a sense of mastery of things
When asked how to learn history well, the reference culture reporter felt that under the interdisciplinary influence, Song Nianshen had a sense of cross-border access to the world and things.
Song Nianshen believes that some people like science and some people like liberal arts. Therefore, "it is not necessary to understand the world from the perspective of history, because the world has many angles to know, and history is only one of them."
He gives his whole humanities and social sciences learning experience - what determines the level of your learning is your vision and mind, which is subjective. And it happens to be outside the discipline of history.
This is just like Lu You's advice to his son to learn to write poetry - "Ru wants to learn poetry, kung fu is outside poetry".
For him, being able to use different methods and frameworks to solve is crucial for life.
Song Nianshen even suggested that those who study legal science should also read novels and see how novelists "deal with the relationship between man and law."
All in all, the conversation with Song Nianshen is more like a history lesson, looking like an "academic major", but the books are not boring, and "Discovering East Asia" is closer to the life around us. After all, for everyone, the phrase "take history as a mirror and know what is good and what is wrong" applies. (Text/Zhu Qiqi)