Historian Fan Wenlan: Under the determination of the "second cold" to do learning

Fan Wenlan (1893-1969) was an outstanding Marxist historian in China. Throughout his life, he wrote the Compendium of General History of China and the Modern History of China, which made outstanding contributions to promoting the development of Marxist historiography in China. As an outstanding Marxist historian, Fan Wenlan's flexible use of Marxist theory, dedication to learning, and rigorous and realistic study style are still worthy of our study and inheritance today.

Seek truth from facts and eradicate all vanity

Seeking truth from facts and eradicating all vanity and vanity is fan wenlan's basic attitude in ruling history. He devoted his life to learning, and took "the bench should sit cold for ten years, and the article should not write a sentence empty" as the motto of governance.

Fan Wenlan's attitude of seeking truth from facts and vigorously guarding against exaggeration is mainly due to his two experiences. First, during his studies at Peking University, he was deeply influenced by his teachers Huang Kan and Liu Shipei, and obeyed Qianjia's rigorous attitude of "seeking truth from facts and not believing in it" and discarded any conjecture that lacked evidence. Second, he participated in the Yan'an rectification movement, was profoundly educated by the party's ideological line of "seeking truth from facts," and was deeply wary of the harm caused by dogmatists who did not understand the reality of the Chinese revolution and acted on the basis of "taking things for granted." Since then, in the study of governance, we have more strictly adhered to the principle of "fully possessing materials, and discovering the inherent regularity of things through connection and analysis". It is precisely based on this that Fan Wenlan has forged a lifelong essence of being honest and seeking excellence.

In the earthen cave dwellings of Yan'an, the harsh living conditions and diligent writing made Fan Wenlan almost blind in one eye. In his later years, he spent more than 20 years constantly revising and improving the "Modern History of China" and the "Compendium of General History of China". According to his "explanations" written in various editions of the "Modern History of China" around 1949, it can be seen that in 5 years, it was revised three times in a concentrated manner. For the "Compendium of the General History of China", from 1951 to 1965, in the middle, except for the inability to work due to illness, the rest of the time, he revised it with amazing perseverance and careful meticulousness, in fact, it was rewritten with more than ten years of effort. The Compendium of General History of China has many characteristics recognized by the academic community: the material is extremely rich; the exhortation is rigorous in interpretation according to the old precepts; the writing is skillful, and it has the style of "literature and history" of the outstanding historians of ancient China. The Compendium of General History of China pursues seeking truth from facts, examining details, and expressing accurate and simple texts, which embodies the style of ancient classicists.

In March 1957, Fan Wenlan delivered a speech at Peking University entitled "Several Issues in Historical Research", which pointed out: "I often encourage the comrades of the Institute to make a determination to make 'second cold'. One cold is to sit on a cold bench, and the other is to eat cold pork (in the former feudal society, someone with high morals could enter the Confucius Temple after death, sit under two chambers, and eat some cold pork). This means to persuade comrades to work hard and take their time. A person who does learning has such determination and such efforts, if there are real achievements, there will always be someone to recognize you. ”

In the early 1960s, in view of the empty study style and the "Left" trend of thought in the field of historiography, Fan Wenlan called for the establishment of a rigorous and realistic study style and advocated a comprehensive and objective evaluation of historical figures. He stressed the need to study seriously, study hard, and persevere, so that there would be no academic achievements to speak of. In March 1961, at the symposium commemorating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Paris Commune, he delivered a speech entitled "Opposing the Release of Empty Cannons", which seriously pointed out that there were problems in the field of historiography that deviated from historical facts, ignored historical materials, and talked about theories in the abstract, and stressed the great significance of carrying out scientific work in a down-to-earth manner.

Study Marxist Theory To Be "God-like"

Fan Wenlan stressed that in studying Marxist theory, it is necessary to be "god-like" and to study its stand, viewpoint, and method. He took a clear stand against dogmatism and paid attention to exploring the characteristics of Chinese history.

Chinese Marxist historiography is national and must bear the characteristics of the Chinese nation. Marxism represents a new achievement of human civilization, and the reason why it can take root, sprout and bear fruit in China is that it meets the needs of Chinese society, and second, it has ideological factors that are similar to the social and cultural foundations of China. Fan Wenlan consciously used Marxism to reveal the development process of Chinese history and the laws of its movement.

In the study of history using Marxism, there has been a dogmatic deviation in Chinese historical circles. In March 1957, in "Several Problems in Historical Research", Fan Wenlan clearly proposed that in order to make historical research move towards healthy development, we must first vigorously break down dogmatism. "Only by opposing dogmatism can we learn Marxism-Leninism. If it is not broken, it will not stand, and only when it is broken can it be established. He called dogmatism "pseudo-Marxism."

Fan Wenlan proposed that in studying Marxism, we should be "god-like" and not "seeming." He said: "Studying Marxism requires god-likeness, and the most important thing is to be like-minded." "The theory is comprehensively linked to our own whole ideology, methods of thought, and life action, and only then can it be called Marxists doing historical work." That is to say, in studying Marxism, we must pay attention to grasping its essence, learn to apply its methods of dealing with specific problems, and not use it as a formula or dogma, regardless of reality and regardless of the object, and apply it everywhere. In terms of historical research, he put forward four issues, such as studying theory, mastering materials, expressing words, and agreeing words and deeds, and encouraged future students to learn.

Fan Wenlan's further thesis on the "Western Zhou Feudal Theory", his views on the historical development stage of China's feudal society and the long-term continuation of feudal society, his important views on the formation of the Han nation in the Qin and Han dynasties, as well as his explicit opposition to the development of capitalism as the standard for the staging of China's modern history and his understanding of the stage of China's modern historical development, all reflect his flexible application of Marxist theory and his remarkable style based on the reality of Chinese history.

Adhere to academic self-confidence and independent thinking

Fan Wenlan insisted on academic self-confidence and independent thinking in his studies, insisted on writing true history and letter history, and opposed seeing the wind and making the rudder, following the tide, and qu xue Ah Shi.

In view of the abnormal situation in the late 1950s that due to the "movement" in the university, many teachers did not dare to tell their views on historical issues, Fan Wenlan emphasized: "When we teach history classes, we obviously have experience and insights, but we dare not tell them, preferring to take a book that we think is wrong and talk about it according to its kind of statement... Such 'modesty and prudence' is not needed and is harmful. We should greatly restore the 'I' to the classic works or to speak to the so-called 'authority', to use the 'I' to criticize them, to take objective existence as the criterion, to accept it reasonably, and to give it up irrationally. At that time, such an insistence on academic self-confidence, a clear proposal to greatly restore the "I", and taking objective practice as the criterion for testing everything, really had the power to break the earth!

In the 1950s, historians debated the formation of the Han nationality. Stalin proposed in Marxism and the Linguistic Question that the transformation of tribes into nations was after the advent of capitalism. Fan Wenlan believes that the Han nationality has been formed as a nation during the Qin and Han dynasties, which is the main reason why China has become a unified country since the Qin and Han dynasties. Stalin's views do not correspond to China's historical reality. Fan Wenlan put forward and adhered to his own point of view, not afraid of pressure and risk, showing great theoretical courage.

Fan Wenlan zhixue insists on self-confidence and does not easily give up his own views. Originally a popular reading book written in accordance with Mao Zedong's instructions to popularize the knowledge of Chinese history to party cadres and the masses, the Compendium of General History of China was originally written collectively, planning to write more than 100,000 words, because the viewpoints and words could not be unified, and finally written independently by Fan Wenlan, and the text was also written to more than 600,000 words. It can be said that the Compendium of The General History of China is a general history that reflects Fan Wenlan's "arbitrary learning." At that time, some scholars commented on him: "Although Elder Fan was gentle in his attitude toward people and things, he was influenced by Zhang Taiyan in his attitude towards learning (he was a disciple of Zhang Taiyan), and he was more confident and did not easily accept different opinions. Fan Wenlan's modesty is sincere, but his self-confidence and not giving up his views easily are also real.

Fan Wenlan's writings on the general history of China, whether it is the Yan'an edition or the revised version after the new China, all show his profound academic heritage, with a distinct academic personality and style. In particular, the cultural history part of it can better reflect the author's master skills in traditional Chinese studies. The refinement of his writing is by no means within the reach of idle people.