What is traditional historiography?

I. Historian's Sentiment: One of the essential attributes of historiography is to care about the future and the historical future of human society. The Chinese forefathers developed a simple dialectical understanding of the relationship between the past and the future, namely, "to recognize the past and to examine the future" (Yi - the Department of Rhetoric). This is one of the earliest sources of historical thought in ancient China. Sima Qian inherited and developed this idea when he wrote the Historical Records, and put forward the purpose of "recounting the past and thinking about the future", i.e., to recount the past in order to make people in the future think about it when they read the book. In the Book of Han, Sima Qian's biography, Yan said, "To make people in the future see their own aspirations." This is the meaning of the Grand Historian. What is Sima Qian's ambition? It is the result of "investigating the interstices of heaven and mankind, and understanding the changes of the past and present", and it is the result of "netting the old news of the world's release and loss, examining the behavior, and examining the reason for its success, failure, and rise and fall". This is precisely the greatness of Sima Qian's "becoming a family of words" (quoted above from Sima Qian's words, see "Historical Records - Taishigong's Preface" and "Han Shu - Sima Qian's Biography"). Since then, this idea continues to develop, becoming a fine tradition of Chinese historiography, the so-called "more knowledge of the past, Yiyan to come" (Tang Gaozu "order Xiao Li and other repair six generations of history edict", "Tang big edicts collection" Volume 81), become a historian's *** knowledge and historiography of a basic task of the reflection. In this sense, historiography is a permanent companion to the historical progress of human society.

Two, historical wisdom. Historiography accompanies the development of social and historical progress, but also for this progress and play a great role. Tang Taizong emphasized that historiography has a great use, said "great, cover the history of the use also!" ("Edict on the Revision of the Book of Jin," Tang Da Zhao Ding Jie, vol. 81). This may be more of a political focus. Liu Zhiqi, starting from "Seeing the virtuous and thinking of the wise, seeing the unwise and introspecting," pointed out that historiography "is an urgent matter for the people, and an important way for the country" (Shitong Shi Guan Jianzhu). Wang Fuzhi on the importance of historiography, including the lessons learned from history and people's thinking and the norms of human behavior (see "reading the Tongjian theory - narrative four"). Gong Zizhen went on to say: "Out of history, people are on the road. Those who want to know, must first be history." ("Respect for history", see "Gong Dingan whole collection of class compilation" volume 5) he said "road", favoring the rise from the specific historical experience into historical wisdom. Here, actually contains the "history" and "Tao" of the dialectical relationship between the idea: "history" refers to specific historical events, "Tao" refers to laws and regulations. The term "history" refers to specific historical events, while "Tao" refers to laws and regulations. People can recognize the law of social and historical development by recognizing the richness of historical events; if people want to master this law, they must first study and research history. From the viewpoint of development, the "time", "situation", "reason" and "way" repeatedly discussed in Chinese historiography all have the function of exploring the law. "All of them have the significance of exploring laws and regulations, and all of them shine with the light of wisdom. From a more specific level, whether it is about the understanding of nature, such as astronomy, geography, production activities, etc., or about the understanding of society, such as the people for the state, the rule of law, governance, legal system, indoctrination, and change of customs, etc., have accumulated a wealth of historical wisdom. Historical wisdom is relative to modern scientific knowledge, cognitive level and practical ability; however, people should not and cannot sever the connection between the two, just as people should not and cannot sever history, and the cognitive and practical activities of any person (as a social being) cannot but be enlightened by historical wisdom. We can fully believe that the light of historical wisdom will still radiate brilliantly in the future society.

Third, humanistic thinking. At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the concept of "heavenly destiny" began to waver, and after the Spring and Autumn Period, the humanistic ideology continued to develop. Historians explored the relationship between heaven and man on the one hand, and the relationship between man and the times on the other. It was in the exploration of these two fields that Sima Qian really found or discovered the position of man in the movement of history. He established the central position of man in the development of history in the writing of the Records of the Grand Historian, and explained it on three levels: the first level is to record "the rise of the king's signs" and "write the twelve books"; the second level is to record "the ministers who assisted and supported him"; the second level is to record "the ministers who supported and supported him"; and the second level is to record "the ministers who assisted and supported him". The second level is to record the "ministers who assisted and whisked the troops and humerus" and "make thirty families"; the third level is to record the "Fuyi suave, established in the world" of the characters of all classes and "make seventy columns of biography The third level is to record the "Fuyi suave, make a name for himself in the world" and "make seventy biographies". In the specific expression, Sima Qian wrote the role of human activities in the historical movement from the following aspects: First, it describes the historical process with the development of personnel as a clue; second, it affirms the role of people in the turning point of history or major events; third, it points out the positive role of people's intellect in the process of history; fourth, it emphasizes that the appropriateness of the use of people has a bearing on the survival and safety of the country; fifth, it pays attention to the value of ordinary activities in social life, and so on. social life, and so on. Sima Qian's understanding and account of the role of man in the historical process inherited and developed the germ and tradition of humanistic thought in the pre-Qin period, and greatly enriched people's understanding of man's own power, wisdom, and role. In this sense, the book of the Records of the Grand Historian is the symbol of history becoming the history of man and historiography becoming the rational understanding of history by historians, which opened up the tradition of humanistic thought in Chinese historiography, and thus exerted a significant and far-reaching influence on the development of Chinese historiography. This is centrally reflected in the long-term accumulation of character-centered composite histories, and the inspirational and motivational role of many outstanding historical figures has become a prominent manifestation of the national spirit of the Chinese nation.

History has developed to the present day, people are discussing a new type of economic form facing mankind, namely, the knowledge economy. In this regard, although there are different understandings and elaboration, but in the basic point is to have *** knowledge, that is, high-tech industries - knowledge (intelligence) - people. The key is talent, human quality, human "full intellectualization". It is in this sense that it has been emphasized that "the era of knowledge economy is a truly human-centered era". Some researchers have also pointed out that the basic knowledge requirements of the United Nations system and Western countries for researchers, policy makers and managers of high-tech industries can be summarized in six aspects, and the sixth aspect includes the knowledge of "history of the country" and "history of science and technology" (see Wu Jiqi). The sixth aspect includes knowledge of "national history" and "history of science and technology" (see Wu Jisong's "Knowledge Economy - New Trend of 21st Century Society", Beijing Science and Technology Press, pp. 162-163). From Sima Qian's "study between heaven and mankind", establishing the central position of man in historical development, to the prediction of man's position in the knowledge economy today, history, after countless spiraling trajectories, has once again brought the idea and practice of "people-oriented" to one of the most prominent and important agendas. The idea and practice of "people-centeredness" has once again become one of the most prominent and important agenda.

In the future society, the fine tradition of human-centered thinking in traditional historiography will certainly give people new insights based on the integration with the real society.