The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Just when the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum was running smoothly, "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" was published as a whole book without being serialized in newspapers.

The original author of this book, Mr. Huang Renyu, had just joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force as a captain's staff officer. He originally studied in the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Nankai University, but transferred to the Central Military Academy after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. It is not surprising that the major of mechanical and electrical engineering is transferred to the military. After all, when the country is in crisis, joining the army to serve the country is the choice of many passionate young people.

But what is even more bizarre is that in the 1950s, the 34-year-old Huang Renyu picked up books again and entered the University of Michigan to major in journalism. After studying for a long time, he switched to history. Huang Renyu was dismissed as a professor at New York University at the age of 62 because no new book was published for more than ten years.

In the second year after being dismissed, Huang Renyu's "Fifteen Years of Wanli" was published. It was nominated for the National Book Award and a good history book in one fell swoop, and was selected as a textbook by many universities in the United States. Take it again.

Huang Renyu fought against Japan in China, served as an expeditionary force in Burma, and fought in the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He has seen illiterate peasant soldiers, worked with senior generals such as Sun Liren, and fought against Lin Shuai in the Northeast, witnessed the superficial strength and rapid decline of the national army, and personally observed the composition of the people throughout the Republic of China.

Huang Renyu said in his memoirs that what he most wanted to write was the history of the Republic of China, but he was completely unable to write while he was in it.

The book "Fifteen Years of Wanli" is not so much about the Ming Dynasty, but Huang Renyu used the people and events of the Ming Dynasty to write his own reflections on the politics, economy, and culture of the Republic of China.

The core of this book is two words: reflection.

...

Guilin.

Li Siguang stood at the door of Chen Yinke's house, Mrs. Chen Tang Yuan opened the door and said, "So it's Professor Li, please come in!"

"Siguang is here, sit down!" Chen Yinke came to the living room.

Li Siguang clasped his fists and said, "I heard that Lao Chen is leaving, so I came here to say goodbye."

"It's still early, I don't even know where to go." Chen Yinke laughed.

Chen Yinke came to settle in Guilin last year, and his wife is from Guilin. Originally, he planned to move to Lizhuang to do research, but because he was sick and exhausted, and Guangxi University tried his best to persuade him to stay, Chen Yinke lived in Guilin for a year.

Now that Guangxi University is taking the final exam, Chen Yinke plans to leave after the summer vacation, but he hasn't decided where to go yet. The Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica invited him to Lizhuang, my eighth brother invited him to Leshan, and my old friend invited him to Chengdu.

Li Siguang took out a copy of "The Fifteen Years of Wanli", and said to Chen Yinke with a smile: "Old Chen, this is my farewell gift, and I asked a friend to send it from Sichuan."

"Fifteen Years of Wanli?" Chen Yinke glanced at the cover, recalled thinking, "Nothing major happened this year, how did Zhou Mingcheng use the fifteen years of Wanli as the title of the book?"

"Keep it for yourself and read it slowly. I heard that this book is highly praised in Sichuan." Li Siguang laughed.

The personal relationship between the two is very good. Chen Yinke was a professor at Guangxi University, and it was recommended and invited by Li Siguang. They chatted all afternoon that day, and Li Siguang didn't leave Chen Yinke's house until after dinner.

Chen Yinke's illness has basically recovered, but his body is still a little weak. Lying on the bedside, he opened "The Fifteen Years of Wanli". After reading for 20 minutes, he became a little impatient, and subconsciously felt contempt and disgust for this book.

Chen Yinke's method of governing history at this time belongs to the collection of Chinese Qianjia School and Western Rank's historiography. He not only criticized the Qianjia School for textual research, but also used the Qianjia School's textual research methods, and carried out historical research according to the theory of Ranke's historiography.

Coincidentally, "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" embodies the "big view of history", and the "big view of history" comes from the "Yearbook School", which was founded in the trend of opposing "Rank Historiography".

To put it bluntly, "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" and Chen Yinke's horoscopes are inconsistent, and the historiographical theories of the two sides are very different, and they are even academically enemies.

In Chen Yinke's view, "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" is written too plainly, and it is more suitable as an introductory book on history. And even as an introductory book, "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" is not enough, because this book is too subjective. The Ranke historiography respected by Chen Yinke just requires not to make value judgments on history, and opposes all research on history with subjective emotions.

Fortunately, what Zhou Hexuan wrote was not "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", otherwise it would be more plain and subjective, and Chen Yinke would never insist on watching it for three minutes.

Chen Yinke read the first chapter of "Fifteen Years of Wanli" with a critical attitude. Although he insists on academic freedom and does not like to engage in academic disputes, he belongs to the "rank historiography" school after all, and Zhou Hexuan was regarded as the founder of the "Yearbook School" ten years ago. I can't understand it.

The first chapter is about Emperor Wanli, describing the government reform from the perspective of Emperor Wanli. Many of the contents belong to the author's subjective conjecture, which is extremely imprecise for Chen Yinke.

The second chapter is about the first assistant Shen Shixing, and there are also various subjective conjectures, but Chen Yinke gradually sees something interesting.

Looking at the third chapter again, Chen Yinke couldn't help showing a smile on his face. The intention of this book was as expected. He did not continue to read, but turned back to the first chapter to re-read, while understanding the author's hidden strokes, while looking for any historical citation errors.

Thanks to Zhou Hexuan's careful revision for several months, otherwise, with Huang Renyu's original work, it would be easy for Chen Yinke to find the wrong point.

His wife Tang Yuan urged him to sleep several times, but Chen Yinke couldn't bear to release the book. It was already the next morning when he finished the book. After breakfast, Chen Yinke fell asleep with his head covered, woke up in the afternoon and continued to read again.

"The Fifteen Years of Wanli" is indeed a subjective speculation from the perspective of historical figures, but the whole book selects multiple characters such as Emperor Wanli, Shen Shixing, Hai Rui, and Qi Jiguang. Each character has a different identity, standpoint and focus, which together vividly reflect an era.

In particular, the discussion of the social economy of the Ming Dynasty in the book made Chen Yinke feel refreshed. Here, Zhou Hexuan deleted the "number theory" in the original work, because this theory is too far-fetched, mechanical and one-sided, but demonstrates it from the perspective of political system and culture.

Another evening, Chen Yinke put down the "Fifteen Years of Wanli" in his hand.

Chen Yinke is a top historian, and he can clearly find that "Fifteen Years of Wanli" alludes to the Republic of China everywhere. This is extremely difficult for ordinary readers, but it is extremely easy for Chen Yinke.

Who is Chen Yinke?

In the historical online novels of later generations, the "eunuch group" and "scholar-bureaucrat group" must be mentioned when writing about the Three Kingdoms, and the "Guanlong Group" must be mentioned when writing about the Sui and Tang Dynasties. These concepts were all proposed by Chen Yinke during the Republic of China. He is very good at analyzing and summarizing historical political factions, and is also very sensitive to the culture and economy of previous dynasties, and "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" vividly described the politics, economy, and culture of the Ming Dynasty.

When Chen Yinke read "Fifteen Years of Wanli" for the fifth time, he not only focused on the Republic of China, but also on China from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

At the end of the book, the author's writing intentions are fully exposed. He is summarizing the reasons for China's backwardness and discussing the direction of China's future development. The "Fifteen Years of Wanli" that the world is in peace is alluding to the Republic of China at this time, and the Republic of China at this time is even more unbearable than the "Fifteen Years of Wanli".

"In the fifteenth year of Wanli, and the next year of Ding Hai, it seems that the world is peaceful and there is nothing to remember. In fact, our Ming Empire has come to the end of its development."——This sentence is related to the analysis of the Ming Dynasty society in the previous article, In connection with the social conditions of the Republic of China, it is undoubtedly saying: "The Republic of China has reached the end of its development."

Chen Yinke was in a difficult mood. After reading this book, he stopped thinking about whether the War of Resistance could be won, but pondered hard about the future of Chinese society.

Putting down the pen and paper, and sitting for a long time, Chen Yinke began to write a review: "My impressions of reading Mr. Zhou's Wanli fifteen years".