Tsinghua University, History Classroom. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhou Hexuan threw away the chalk and began to talk eloquently:

"From today, we start talking about the decline of civilization, and the question is very easy to understand. Of the 28 civilizations we mentioned earlier, at least 18 have died and perished, and the remaining 10 civilizations are: China, the main part of Chinese civilization, and Japan, the branch of Chinese civilization, as well as Western civilization in Europe and the United States, as well as the Orthodox Christian subjects of Western civilization in the Near East, the branch of Western civilization in Russia, and the Iranian, Indian, Polynesian, Eskimo, and nomadic civilizations.

If we take a closer look at these 10 existing civilizations, we will find that the Bosnian civilization and the nomadic civilization are already in the stage of dying and struggling. The remaining seven civilizations, including the Chinese civilization, are being wiped out or assimilated by Western civilization. By the way, the Eskimo civilization is a special case, a civilization that stops growing at an early age, it does not mature at all, and it does not care about decline......"

Qian Zhongshu sat in the classroom, not only did he not take notes, but opened a novel and listened to the lecture while reading.

When Zhou Hexuan said that the seven major civilizations, including the Chinese civilization, were being eliminated and assimilated by Western civilization and gradually declining, Qian Zhongshu couldn't help frowning. He finally closed his novel and listened carefully to Zhou Hexuan's lecture.

The point of view expounded by Zhou Hexuan next is very different from Toynbee's original work.

Toynbee believed that the symptom of the decline of civilization was the emergence of a unified state. He used the example of the Roman civilization, and the great unification of Rome was to use force to prolong the life of civilization, and the same is true of other civilizations. For example, the Chinese civilization has begun to decline since the great unification, which is manifested in the fact that a hundred schools of thought no longer exist, social ideas tend to solidify, civilization no longer grows and rises, and the rest of the time is in the continuation of life.

As for Western civilization, Toynbee believes that Western civilization has never been unified and has always been on the rise. Therefore, with the exception of Western civilization, all existing civilizations are in a state of decline.

Zhou Hexuan only partially agrees with these views, and he feels that Chinese civilization has a unique inclusiveness, and the great unification has indeed slowed down the development of Chinese civilization, but in the process it has continuously absorbed foreign civilizations. Now, if Chinese civilization wants to continue, it must retain the core of civilization and embrace the advantages of Western civilization, so that Chinese civilization can break the old and create a new one, and radiate new vitality.

Finally, Qian Zhongshu couldn't help but raise his hand, and he asked, "Teacher, what is the core of Chinese civilization?" ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "One word - and!" ”

"And?" Qian Zhongshu was a little puzzled.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Harmony is not peace, nor harmony, nor is it the idea of moderation, and the blunt point is inclusiveness." In the Western Zhou Dynasty, when Boyang's father and Zheng Huangong were talking about the political situation, they put forward the idea of 'living in harmony with reality, and the same will not continue', which I think is very subtle. and, stands for inclusion; Same, represents exclusion. In my course "Human History and Civilization", Professor Toynbee believes that great unification means the decline of civilization. His theory of great unification does not explain Chinese civilization, and he confuses 'sameness' with 'harmony'. Many people believe that Confucianism alone is 'tong', that is, to assimilate ideas and reject heresy. In fact, China's exclusive Confucianism is 'harmony', and the ideas of Legalism and other ideas are also included in it, and later it is even absorbed into the ideas of Taoism and Buddhism, and now it can naturally absorb Western civilization. 'He is more equal than he is the sum, so that he can grow abundantly and return to it.' If you do the same, you will be abandoned. To put it more bluntly, Chinese civilization can be 'renewed, renewed, and renewed every day.'" Confucius also has a saying, "Gentlemen are harmonious but different, villains are the same but not harmonious". To push the country and civilization from the individual is to pursue a kind of pluralism, allow different ideas, different viewpoints, and different civilizations to merge together, and realize the self-evolution and renewal of Chinese civilization. ”

Qian Zhongshu asked again: "Chinese civilization can indeed absorb foreign civilizations, but if this foreign civilization, such as the current Hope civilization, is far stronger than Chinese culture, then what should we do?" If it absorbs too much, China will 'change from raze to summer', and Chinese civilization will also be completely civilized by the West, and eventually it will decline and perish. ”

"There is indeed this possibility," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "It depends on whether Chinese civilization can persist, maybe in a few decades, Chinese people will wear Western clothes, eat Western food, see Western medicine, and imitate Western customs in weddings and funerals." But there is one thing that cannot be changed, that is, Chinese characters, and the loss of Chinese characters is equivalent to the loss of Chinese history, the loss of civilization inheritance, and the loss of the bond of national cohesion. ”

Another student raised his hand and said, "But now many scholars are calling for the abolition of Chinese characters, because Chinese characters have not kept up with the times." Western Latin characters can be easily typed out with a typewriter, but the output efficiency of Chinese characters is very low, which is not conducive to the spread of culture and science. ”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Science and technology are advancing, maybe come back and invent a new machine that can make Chinese characters perfectly and conveniently output and typeset?" ”

This sentence is not convincing, and the students who listen to the lecture are not time-travelers, so how can they expect the emergence of electronic computers.

At the end of the class, some students were convinced, while others were skeptical of Zhou's views.

Zhou Hexuan sorted out the handouts and was about to leave, when suddenly a young man came from below and said with a smile: "Hello Mr. Zhou, my name is Qian Mu, and I am very inspired by your course." ”

"It turned out to be Professor Qian, and your "Annals of Liu Xiangxin's Father and Son" also benefited me a lot." Zhou Hexuan shook hands with him and said.

Qian Mu is a newly rising bull in the field of Chinese historiography, and he published "The Annals of Liu Xiangxin and his Sons" earlier this year, which solved one of the major mysteries of modern academic history. This article only uses a "Book of Han" to clarify the controversy between modern and ancient texts that has lasted for more than 2,000 years, and slaps Kang Youwei in the face, pointing out 28 mistakes in Kang Youwei's "Xinxue Pseudo-Sutra Examination".

Qian Mu also made a name for himself for this article, and was invited to be a lecturer in Chinese at Yenching University, while also lecturing part-time at Tsinghua University and other universities. He came to Tsinghua today to finish his lecture and came to listen to Zhou Hexuan's lecture on "The History of Human Civilization".

Zhou Hexuan looked at Qian Zhongshu who was leaving the classroom, and then looked at Qian Mu in front of him, and suddenly felt extremely funny.

Now Qian Mu has written out his masterpiece "Introduction to Chinese Studies", and is ready to find his good friend Qian Jibo to write a preface. Qian Jibo agreed, but asked his son Qian Zhongshu to ghostwrite, and Qian Zhongshu, who was less than 20 years old, wrote this preface very well, as if it was from the hands of historians.

It wasn't until a few years later that Qian Mu didn't know that the preface to his work was actually written by a hairy boy, and since then he has been separated from Qian Zhongshu's father-son relationship. Later, when "Introduction to Chinese Studies" was republished, the preface was simply deleted, obviously extremely dissatisfied.

"Mr. Zhou, I still have some unclear points about the historical research theory you proposed, and I want to ask for advice." Qian Mu said.

"I can't talk about asking for advice, communicate with each other," Zhou Hexuan said, "Let's talk as we walk." ”

Qian Mu took out a thin pamphlet called "Modern Historical Research Method". This was the content of Zhou Hexuan's first lecture at Tsinghua University, which divided the content of historical research into seven elements: politics, history, economy, ethnicity, diplomacy, culture, and individual, and also studied the four major elements of historical causes, processes, results, and influences.

The book was recently sorted out and published by Peking University Press, and the sales were not very good, barely selling more than 1,000 copies. However, it caused great repercussions in Chinese historiography, and some historiography began to study history according to the method proposed by Zhou Hexuan, and these historiography circles were later classified as the "Zhou School".

Although Qian Mu did not completely follow this method to conduct historical research, he borrowed some of the content, and he was barely a member of the "Zhou School".

Zhou Hexuan and Qian Mu chatted all the way, and finally simply went to the pavilion of Tsinghua Garden to talk in detail, and did not end the discussion until it was getting dark.

"Listen to your words, it's better to read for ten years, and Mr. Zhou will see you again!" Qian Mu smiled and shook hands.

"Everywhere, I just put forward some novel methods, and my attainments in Chinese history are far inferior to Mr. Qian." Zhou Hexuan said sincerely.

Many people have read the "Book of Han", but only one "Book of Han" can solve the unsolved case of "the dispute between modern and ancient texts", and only Qian Mu has been able to do it for more than 2,000 years, a proper super master of historiography.

After leaving Tsinghua University, Zhou Hexuan did not go to Peking University to stay, but went to Meng Xiaodong's mother's house for dinner, and accompanied Meng Xiaodong to visit Yu Shuyan the next day.