Social Sciences in China Review

No.1, 2018

 

How to Correctly Understand the Relationship between Historiography and People (Abstract)

 

Jiang Meng

 

In the past, Chinese academia has paid much attention to the issue of who are the makers of history. However, in the practice of modern Chinese history, a major theoretical issue, that is, the relationship between historiography and the people has gotten less attention and remains unsolved. The late Qing historical workers had little divergence in their understanding of “historiography,” but were much divided in their understanding of the “people.” On the contrary, disagreement on the meaning of the “people” decreased in the period of Republic of China, but became more diversified on “historiography.” After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, although the controversies over “historiography” and “people” were reduced, historiography moved away from the general public through “historical revolution” and other campaigns. After reform and opening up, the historical circles tried to embrace people by emphasizing “application,” but it was halted due to the turn of academic trends. Today, this major theoretical problem remains unsolved in Chinese history field. A healthy development of Chinese historiography in the new era should start with serious thinking about “how to correctly understand the relationship between historiography and people.”