Mo Yan, the nobel laureate in literature, said: A book that has greatly influenced me is not a literary work, but a historical work, and this is Fan Wenlan's "Compendium of the General History of China."
Fan Wenlan's Compendium of the General History of China had a great influence in the Republic of China era, and it was actually a history book that made the Kuomintang authorities afraid. An editorial in the "JoongAng Ilbo" commented: "If this book circulates among young people, it will make young people hate China, advocate killing, advocate division, and turn outward-looking, and "it is by no means an exaggeration to denounce it as a work of nationalism."
Because in this history book, Fan Wenlan is a historical work based on class struggle, which is the first time in history.
Fan Wenlan was the first Marxist historian to engage in historical writing under the guidance of the revolutionary historical view, and constructed the basic framework of revolutionary historiography.
Fan Wenlan was a revolutionary historian, and together with Marxist historians such as Guo Moruo, Zhai Bozan, Lü Zhenyu, and Hou Wailu, he was called the "Five Elders".
Fan Wenlan wrote this general history in Yan'an, which was originally a political task for cadres to study, but did not expect a strong reaction. In the decades that followed, Fan Wenlan's works were published in millions of copies, educating generations and having a huge and far-reaching impact.
Dai Yi praised Fan Wenlan's Compendium of the General History of China and The Modern History of China, "These two works comprehensively and systematically elucidated the entire history of China, educated and influenced thousands of revolutionaries at that time." Fan Lao's works are numerous, and these two works can be said to have laid the foundation for his lofty and immortal position in the field of historiography. (Dai Yi: "The Times Need Such a Historian")
Fan Wenlan's works inevitably carry the limitations of the times and history, the political color is too strong, the theory of class struggle is too simple, and it is almost forgotten in today's era.
In today's academic circles, Qian Mu's Outline of National History is quite popular, while Fan Wenlan's Compendium of General History of China is regarded by some scholars as a representative of "wartime historiography" and has been treated coldly. This is not without reason.
Is Fan Wenlan's historiography outdated today?
Qian Mu represents the elite view of historiography, and Fan Wenlan represents the people's view of historiography.
Fan Wenlan believes that the history of more than 2,000 years since Zhou Qin is regarded as a history with peasants as the protagonists and as a "history of peasant struggle against landlords."
On the contrary, Qian Mu believes that the peasant uprising not only did not promote the progress of Chinese history, but hindered the development of Chinese history. "The Yellow Turban at the end of the Han Dynasty, and even the Yellow Nest Zhang Xianzhong Li Zicheng, are all chaotic and destructive, only to see retrogression and no progress", not to mention the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
The historical views of Fan Wenlan and Qian Mu have become two extreme opposites, Fan Wenlan takes the peasants as the historical driving force, and Qian Mu takes the scholar and doctor as the historical driving force, each of which is biased. The main body of history cannot be said to have been created solely on that side, Qian Mu is a Confucian view of history, and there are only elites in his eyes; Fan Wenlan is a people's historiography, abandoning the traditional imperial family history, and is a criticism of the past. But to raise the peasants to an excessive height, too glorify and exalt.
In the past, Fan Wenlan's works were like day in the day, and now from one extreme to the other, people began to like to favor Qian Mu's elite historiography and excessively belittle Fan Wenlan's people's historiography. Qian Mu's corrupt Confucianism was too heavy, and his Confucian views were deeply rooted. Although Fan Wenlan is a political historiography, it has great limitations and is not useless. Fan Wenlan's materialist historiography is very militant and critical, and it is also of great value today.
1. Criticism of Buddhism
Fan Wenlan believes that Buddhism is "superstition" and "li country and people", which is a set of great deceptions that are extremely cleverly designed.
There are many lies in the Buddhist scriptures, and no Buddhist sutra can be taken seriously, but can only be spurned as a drama. If you fall into a great deception, subjectively you want to be a devout Buddhist who keeps the precepts, but objectively you are a great pest who preaches drama and the harm to the country and the people.
Words and deeds contradict each other, walking and walking, talking emptyly, teaching people to have no cause and effect, declaring that "drinking and eating meat does not hinder bodhichitta, and there is no harm in committing adultery."
Fan Wenlan's view of Buddhism is consistent with that of Hu Shi, the leader of the New Culture Movement.
Fan Wenlan believes that since the Six Classics and the Hundred Sons of Chinese books, no one has ever dared to say such big words and lies as the Buddhist books. Zhuangzi wrote a book, which is said to be absurd and absurd, but compared with the Buddhist book, the difference is far from being able to calculate.
Hu Shi believed that Buddhism was harmful and unhelpful to the improvement of China's national life, and that it was also very harmful. Zen Buddhism has always been considered to be the method of enlightenment, which can see the origin of one's own nature and can make one see oneself as a Buddha. However, Hu Shi believes that most of China's Zen Buddhism is nonsense, forgery, fraud, and pretense.
Hu Shi believed that he had to stand up and be a saboteur to destroy what he considered to be a false and forged Buddhism.
Historians of nationalism
Fan Wenlan graduated from Peking University, and was deeply influenced academically by his teachers Huang Kan and Liu Shipei, and obeyed Qianjia's rigorous attitude of "seeking truth from facts and not believing in anything" in his studies; politically, he was a student of Mao Zedong and took Marxism as the guideline.
Fan Wenlan adheres to national integrity and carries forward the spirit of patriotism. In 1935, he selected some figures with noble national integrity in history and compiled them into a popular historical book, "Big Husband", to inspire the spirit of national resistance. The book lists the deeds of more than 20 heroes in history and calls on the people to be "big husbands" and stand up for the anti-Japanese struggle to save the country.
Fan Wenlan's nationalism was manifested in daring to challenge Stalin's national theory. Stalin said in Marxism and the National Question: "The nation is a stable community of people formed in history with a common language, a common region, a common economic life, and a common psychological state expressed in a common culture. Stalin also pointed out in The National Question and Leninism: "There was no and cannot be a nation in the period before capitalism. ”
Stalin's views were absurd, but at the time they were theoretical authorities. Fan Wenlan believed that China "since the Qin and Han dynasties, the Han nationality has been a fairly stable community of people" and that "the Han nation was a strong nation long ago before the emergence of the bourgeoisie", which possessed the four characteristics of the nation pointed out by Stalin.
As a historian, Fan Wenlan has established a general historical system of "taking the masses of the people as the mainstay, the economy as the backbone, and the class struggle as the driving force." This also has a certain historical status and cannot be completely denied.
Fan Wenlan denied the old historical view that the emperor would be the main body, and established the view that "the working people are the masters of history", which is not completely outdated. Although it is wrong to speak only of class struggle to exalt the peasantry, it is not a scientific attitude to completely deny the progressive nature of the peasant uprising. Where there is tyranny, there is rebellion, and the peasant is not a slave forever and a silent lamb. So it is forced to liangshan. Of course, a human devil like Huang Chao will always be nailed to the pillar of historical shame. The progressive nature of history must be based on facts and cannot be subjectively determined.
Historiography without the people is certainly a lame history, after all, the era when a twenty-four history is a history of the imperial family has passed.