The 94-year-old historian Zhang Chuanxi died, and he studied under Zhai Bozan and wrote a biography for him

Reporter | Pan Wenjie Edit | Yellow Moon

According to the official website of the Department of History of Peking University, historian and professor of history at Peking University, Zhang Chuanxi, died on February 27 at the age of 94 due to ineffective medical treatment.

Zhang Chuanxi is a native of Rizhao, Shandong, who was admitted to Shandong University after graduating from junior high school, and after transferring from the department of Chinese to the department of history, he has been associated with history in this life. In his junior year, he was assigned ahead of time to work as a teacher in Qingdao. In the summer of 1956, he was already the director of the Qingdao No. 4 Middle School, and he was admitted to peking university as a graduate student, studying under the Marxist historian Zhai Bozan, majoring in Qin and Han history. At his side, he systematically studied the theory of historical materialism.

Zhai Bozan has an article "Inner Mongolia Visiting Ancient Times" included in the middle school Chinese textbook, and readers may be impressed. Much of the information in this article was looked up by Zhang Chuanxi, a student, who was also a recorder and investigator at that time. Zhang Chuanxi once recalled that Zhai Bozan's method of cultivating him was "paying equal attention to literature reading and practical investigation." Under the guidance of Zhai Bozan, he not only read the classic works of Marxism, but also the relevant parts of the first four histories and the Zizhi Tongjian, the Han wei series of books and other documents related to the history of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Han Jian, inscriptions and other golden stone materials, the sites and tomb materials of the Qin and Han dynasties, the monographs and papers of Chinese scholars on the history of the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the treatises of sinologists in Europe, america and Japan.

In addition, Zhai Bozan also asked Zhang Chuanxi to also understand archaeology, so he has been to the big cities in the Yellow River Basin, and has also been to various archaeological sites and museums. He also needed to know how to conduct ethnic surveys, so for a whole year in 1958 he led a survey team in Yunnan to investigate the Dai and Yi ethnic groups. This was also the beginning of his study of the ancient Chinese land system. At that time, the national historians were engaged in a great discussion on the issue of the land system, and the Qin and Han land systems were a key stage in the discussion. Zhang Chuanxi combined Marxist theories and viewpoints with the reality of ancient Chinese history and wrote an important treatise that the Beijing Historical Society organized academic discussions.

On this basis, Zhang Chuanxi expanded from the study of the problem of private ownership of land to the study of the problem of contracts, and due to the need to study the problem of land system, he began to study iron cattle farming and salt iron. The economic base determines the superstructure, and he has since studied the problems of the ancient Chinese political system. In addition, he has also made many research achievements in China's historical geography, historical philology, Beijing history, and ethnic history.

After graduation, Zhang Chuanxi left Zhai Bozan to continue to work as an assistant, and followed him for another six years until the "Cultural Revolution". During the Cultural Revolution, when Zhai Bozan was overthrown, Zhang Chuanxi also had to undergo labor reform, and at that time he raised more than 300 chickens and was known as the "chicken commander". In 1978, together with his wife, he posted a large-character newspaper called "The Life of Comrade Zhai Bozan's Revolution", which was drafted by Zhang Chuanxi and copied by his wife, with more than 6,000 words and 16 pieces of paper, and sent to relevant people. Zhai Bozan was later said to be related to this by ZhaoXue. Zhang Chuanxi later wrote the Biography of Zhai Bozan.

Ordinary readers may know that Zhang Chuanxi has made some of the historical popularization books for the public. He participated in the editing of the "New Historical Small Series" and wrote small books in the series, such as "Qin Shi Huang" and "Spring and Autumn Warring States History", which can not only show the height of contemporary historiography but also face the public. In the field of specialization, the obituary on the official website of the Department of History of Peking University said that Zhang Chuanxi wrote more than 30 academic works and more than 200 academic papers in his lifetime. His major works include "Research on the Qin and Han Issues", "Zhang Chuanxi Says "Qin and Han"," "From "Concord And All Nations" to "Unification within the Sea", "Compilation and Interpretation of the Contract Society of Chinese Dynasties", "Compilation of Contracts in Chinese Dynasties", "Research on Contract History Purchase Vouchers", etc., many of which represent the highest level of relevant research fields in the field of historiography. He has also been active in the teaching and research of ancient Chinese history for 60 years.

Zhang Chuanxi often said how he benefited from the days when he studied with Zhai Bozan, which gave him a solid foundation in the golden age. When interviewed before his death, Zhang Chuanxi realized that the style of studying was not as good as in the past, and some young people lacked historical skills. He believes that this is related to the time limit of master's and doctoral education, and also related to the requirements of the evaluation title, which will "mislead them to take shortcuts". He said that although there are many opportunities to publish articles now, it must be "hard work and hard work" and "don't rush to become famous, let alone become famous for fame." ”

Resources:

Professor Zhang Chuanxi's obituary https://www.hist.pku.edu.cn/tzxw/512354.htm

Zhang Chuanxi: The students who have been Zan Bozan have benefited https://cul.qq.com/a/20130520/009633.htm so far

Interview with Zhang Chuanxi (1): Chinese historians in the 1950s https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4kmeed8h_ro9luuqt5l2aq

Everyone interviewed | deeply remembered Professor Zhang Chuanxi's https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/as2xoaoyozpsozf49mcenw