When was Huang Renyu s Great History of China written and translated

Today, after reading "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli", the author Huang Renyu put forward the "grand historical view", which not only combines the advantages of chronicle history books and chronicle history books, but also avoids their shortcomings.

This view of history focuses more on exploring the hidden causal relationship between the macro historical background and specific historical events.

In other words, the "concept of great historical disturbance" is to regard history as a whole system, and to examine the ups and downs of a nation, the rise and fall of a country, and the rise and fall of a country from the perspective of the overall situation.

As Huang Renyu himself said: "All historical facts should be examined and judged in the context of the time, so that we can draw reasonable conclusions." ”

For example, when many people read history when they were young, they often wondered: Why did Japan carry out the Meiji Restoration and do the best in just a few decades, but the Westernization movement carried out in China at the same time became worse and worse?

Traditional history books cannot give an answer to this question, but according to Huang Renyu's point of view, if we stand from the perspective of the grand view of history, we can understand that traditional Chinese culture is a product of the geography of the Asian continent, while the culture of Europe, America and Japan is more of the experience of maritime countries.

Moreover, there is a sequence of development in different countries, the biggest difference being that the advanced countries use commerce and law as the basis of administration, while the backward countries use the habits and structures of the old countryside as the basis of administration.

If you are still a little confused about the big historical view, then let me give you another example:

A butterfly from the Amazon rainforest in South America, a few flaps of its wings will set off a chain reaction that will eventually lead to a tornado in Texas, USA.

So what if we swap this butterfly for a living historical figure? Everything this character does and every word he says may cause the slightest change in the history that follows, and when there are more and more such changes, the wheel of history may eventually deviate from its original track.

This is the historical truth that the "Big Historical View" wants to tell us: when an avalanche comes, no snowflake is innocent!

The greatest significance of Huang Renyu and his "grand view of history" is that it provides a unique perspective that helps us break out of the long-established thinking habits and discourse system.

From the perspective of history, we can look at the shortcomings of the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty from the sidelines, so that we can see some places that we have not seen before, or have not resonated with, so as to gain new enlightenment and insight.

With his profound historical skills, unique perspective, and fluent writing, Huang Renyu has written a series of well-known historiographical works, including "Finance and Taxation in the Ming Dynasty of China in the Sixteenth Century", "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli", "On the History of China on the Banks of the Huxun River", "Ancient and Modern Times", "Capitalism and the 21st Century", "The Great History of China", and "Broadening the Horizon of History". His books are informative, interesting, less didactic, and readable, especially the big historical view he expounds, which makes many readers feel fresh and enlightened.

Some scholars have summarized the "grand view of history" into two ways to cut into history: one is to grasp the micro historical research object from the perspective of the vertical and horizontal overall relationship of history, that is, "grasping" is macroscopic, and research is still microscopic. The other emphasizes the observation of history from a longer period of time, focusing on the structural changes and long-term development trends of history.

Huang's research suggests the latter. In the scope of Huang Renyu's "big history", the analysis of causality and the rationality of its history is the main one, and the other details are not too important, and even the gains and losses of each historical figure are considered secondary. To this, he explained:

Even if the derivation of facts is unsatisfactory to us personally, or seems absurd and unreasonable in the short term, they make sense when viewed as coherent and beyond personal experience; At the very least, these deeds give us an idea of the origin of our life's journey. "Especially for those who study history, what is important is not how history should or should not be, because it is objective and irreversible, and does not need to be subjectively imagined or constructed

In 1982, Zhonghua Book Company published "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli", and in 2004, Guangxi Normal University Press published "Great History Will Not Shrink". For more than 20 years, Huang Renyu's books have been published continuously, and have been read, discussed, and revisited again and again. When it comes to the reason, some people say that it is because Huang Renyu is a marginal figure in historiography, and his path to history is like a "wild fox Zen", so it is unique; Some people say that Huang Renyu's writing is smart and popular, and he is born with a best-selling character; It is also said that this is because the term "big history" is really attractive, so it has been able to endure for a long time, and more and more "believers" have accumulated.

The so-called "big history", the historical explanation, roughly places the historical evolution on an overall coordinate, observes its flow, and the accidental events are relatively ignored; The philosophical explanation is generally the belief that there is a "long-term rationality in history", and since "logical reality often surpasses human experience" (Hegel), the big history can only be seen with a large vision; In terms of economics, it is Huang Renyu's own experience: the entire history of China from the pre-Qin to the Ming and Qing dynasties can be coherently explained by fiscal taxation - how money comes from, how to use it, and so on. The overall meaning of "big history" is nothing more than that there is a reason for the evolution of history, and the overall will of history cannot be completely controlled by individuals.

"Being able to manage numerically" is a pivotal concept in Huang Renyu's concept of "big history". Huang Renyu distinguishes between modernization and non-modernization to see whether "it can be managed numerically".

I think that in Huang Renyu's view of "big history", another point worth noting is that Huang Renyu quite agrees with "Western style in China". He said, "In my opinion, the body is the organizational structure, for a country, including the administrative system, constitutional amendment and elections, armaments and budgets, and so on. In this regard, Huang Renyu believes that in fact, it is now a Western school, and even in terms of our culture, it is very different from the past.

Huang Renyu said: "However, where should the strengths of Chinese tradition, religious thought, ethical concepts, and the purpose of life and life be placed? My suggestion:

Before answering this question, we should first revise China's history in its entirety with reference to Western history, political thought, and economic principles, so as to clearly see the origin of China's modernization after a century of struggle under the impact of the West. The conclusion of this will certainly show the shape of a new country. With the outline of the new system, the way out of the traditional spirit can be determined.

These words are Huang Renyu's sobriety and cleverness.

However, due to the grand coordinates, the big history is easy to be sorted out clearly, which is like looking at a river in the sky, although you see nine curves and eighteen bends, you still know that it has its own direction, but if you return to the perspective of small history, how can you explain why there are many entanglements and twists and turns? Some historians in the West comfort us that the history of the Chinese is not all wrong, and Huang Renyu has a little bit of the meaning that our modern history is all right, which is probably the result of seeing too much forest and not seeing trees.

Actually, if you combine the context, especially the words behind this sentence, you will understand. What makes Western writers curious is that in post-BC China, it was possible to allow the germination of a free economy.

So here's the question, I guess what you're trying to ask is actually the "free economy". What reforms did Wang Mang implement that led Western writers to consider a liberal economy? One is the ideal application of numbers in Wang Mang's reform, there is no need to explain the entries of Wang Mang's reform in detail, just a simple description can see the clues:

The land is state-owned, and a family of 8 shall not exceed 900 acres; Lower allocation, 1 couple has no less than 100 acres of land; Each person pays 1 piece of cloth per year, etc. This would have been good and laid the groundwork for a free economy. However, at that time, Wang Mang had no way to verify what a family of 8 or even 1 couple was, let alone verify the authenticity of 900 mu or 100 mu.

The unverifiable nature of the population has shaken its foundations, and the benefits of benefiting the people have not been able to be regulated and rationed.

Second, the credit system and ** intervention. Wang Mang also established a credit system, a bit like Wang Anshi's Qingmiao method (the failure of Wang Anshi's reform is a bit similar to Wang Mang's, so I won't go into details). That is, when people encounter difficulties in life and the money is not ready, they will give help, and only the principal will be charged without interest.

If people want to run a business, then they have to charge a tenth of the interest, remember, this interest is a tenth of the profit earned, not the principal of the loan. Businesses are required to pay income tax, which is today's corporate income tax, but much lower, one-tenth.

Lending, let the money circulate among the people, and only charge the commission of the increased wealth, and if you lose money, you will not even collect interest, only the principal. You think, if the current ** can do this, then the social and economic development will definitely speed up! How many people have died in distress?

How many companies have died from the failure of the flow of water? Wang Mang** was able to realize this more than 2,000 years ago, isn't it worth the curiosity and excitement of Western writers? What an awesome generation of emperors!

This is something that you can't do well if you want to do it in modern times!

However, we have to return to digital management, and the more rigorous economic and political policies are, the more rigorous digital management can keep up. At that time, Wang Mang did not have digital management, not to mention Wang Mang, even in China in the 80s of the 20th century, he still did not have it. It's like holding a thin thread to tie a tiger, and even if the knot is strong, the thread will still break.

Wang Mang's restructuring did not last long, some were not divided into even one or two months, and they were not implemented in these months or two.

detached from the actual empty talk, in the end, he still ended up in the green forest and fired his life.

Specific measures of Wang Mang's new policy.

1. Implement state-owned land.

The state prohibits private land buying and selling, and strictly controls the amount of land owned, and the cultivated land of a family of less than eight shall not exceed 900 mu, and any land exceeding it shall be confiscated. Restoration of the ancient well field system.

2. Redistribution of cultivated land.

For the peasants who have lost their land, the land will be distributed by **. Based on the principle of 100 acres for a couple, if it is less than 100 acres, it will be made up by **.

3. Freeze slavery.

The number of existing slaves is frozen, and it is forbidden to continue to buy and sell and produce new slaves and maidservants. Let it be destroyed naturally.

4. Forced labor.

All unemployed vagrants shall be punished by paying one horse of cloth per year per person, and those who are unable to pay shall be forced to perform hard labor and be provided with food and drink during the period of labor.

5. Monopoly and currency, natural resources belong to the world.

Implement the monopoly of wine, salt, and ironware, and prohibit private sales. Deprive the rich of the right to mint coins, and the currency is issued by ****. The natural resources in the mountain water are all state-owned and exploited by **.

6. Establish a loan system.

People can borrow money from ** due to funeral or sacrificial needs, and only need to return the principal without interest. If a loan is made to ** for engaging in agriculture or commercial production, ** will charge one-tenth of the net profit as interest.

7. Intervention in the economy.

Prices are controlled by ** to prevent merchants from manipulating the market. When daily necessities are in oversupply, they are purchased at cost by **, and vice versa** are sold to prevent prices**.

8. Levy income tax.

An income tax of one-tenth of the net income of all businesses and industries is levied, and this income is used as a loan or to stabilize prices.

The last four of these can be used as attempts at economic reform.

The form and measures of Wang Mang's reform are somewhat similar to the content and manifestation of today's liberalism, so the West also classifies Wang Mang's reform into the category of liberalism, but in ancient times when the productive forces were extremely underground, advanced policies could not be supported by the productive forces, so the reform not only did not succeed, but touched the interests of the vested interests at that time, resulting in a strong **, and eventually led to the failure of the reform. Therefore, Huang Renyu believes that Wang Mang's reforms are not real liberalism and have nothing to do with modern liberalism in the West, so he put quotation marks.

(1) Wujun Liuzhen: Wang Mang set up Wujun officials in the six cities of Chang'an, Luoyang, Linzi, Handan, Wan and Chengdu, and their responsibilities were: & 63153;Stabilize prices - set the average price of goods in the second month of each show**, and if the goods are unsalable, they will be purchased by **; If it is inflationary, it will be sold at parity.

Levy of Profits Tax: All businesses and industries are required to register and pay on time one tenth of the net profits, known as tribute, as the capital to lend to farmers. Levy of Wasteland Tax:

Where the people have land but do not plough it, they will pay additional taxes; Unemployed people are also required to pay a piece of cloth or be conscripted into hard labor. Credit: Where people have no money for funerals and sacrifices, they can apply for interest-free loans; Those who want to run a business and do not have enough funds will also lend at a low interest rate.

It is called a five-average credit loan.

As for the six branches, that is, the six public utilities of salt, iron, wine, money cloth copper smelting, famous mountains and Daze, and Wujun loans on credit were collected as state-owned, and they were managed by the first unified system, and the monopoly situation since the Western Han Dynasty was corrected.

2) Currency reform: After Wang Mang ascended the throne, gold, silver, turtles, shellfish, money, and cloth were designated as currency. Among them, there is one kind of gold goods, two kinds of silver goods, four kinds of turtle goods, five kinds of shellfish goods, six kinds of money goods, and ten kinds of cloth goods, a total of five things, six names and 28 products, replacing the five baht money since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

All in all, Wang Mang's monetary policy is a mixed bag, and the five averages and six are really measures aimed at and save the evils of the times, which can not only improve the maladministration since the Western Han Dynasty, but also increase production. Unfortunately, the monetary policy was excessive, unrealistic, and untimely, and finally put the new reckless regime on the road to demise.