From Huaxia to China
Liu ZhongjingGuangxi Normal University Press2014
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- New People's Thought
- ISBN
- 9787549557158
Tags
History History and Culture Historical NodeState BuildingHistorical EssaysChinese HistoryChinese CivilizationCivilizational OrderLate Qing and Early RepublicEvolutionary ThreadsSummary
This book is a collection of historical essays by Liu Zhongjing on China and the evolution of world order. Using "snapshots of history" as a linking device, it traces the course of historical change from the Yin-Zhou period to the late Qing and early Republic, and places the evolution of Chinese civilization within the broad perspective of world history, while also touching on important historical turning points in various European countries. The central thread the author follows is the formation of "Huaxia to China": how the various Huaxia states were shaped, how they moved from a feudal multi-state system to a bureaucratic empire, and how they were rebuilt after decline; how the Western European order gave rise to a world order; and what key paths nation-building in modern China took. In form the book resembles the notebooks of the ancients, written largely in classical Chinese, with short chapters and sharp arguments, bearing a clear personal stamp of insight; it is not a general history laid out in chronological order. The book sets four elements against one another—the flow of Huaxia, world order, form and background, and the turbulent century (including history as it is happening)—seeking to let the scattered "snapshots" explain one another and together form a whole picture of civilization and order. For readers accustomed to textbooks, this book is more a private historical commentary meant to open up questions, suitable for reading with a critical, debatable frame of mind.Editor's review
这本书的特别之处，首先在形式。它不写编年通史，也无意完整覆盖某一朝代，而是像一册读书笔记，择取中西方历史中具有意味的片段与节点，逐处评点，再把它们拼成一条“从华夏到中国”的线索。作者刘仲敬此前以文言译休谟《英国史》、撰《民国纪事本末》而为读者所知，本书同样保留文言笔调，文字凝练，读起来古意十足，锋利之处却毫不含糊。经济学者梁小民在书评中提醒，本书并不像书名所暗示的那样系统叙述“华夏到中国”的全过程，它更多是以作者观念为中心的历史评论，“颇有特色，也不乏新见”；同时他也指出文言体未必人人习惯，但喜欢严复译笔的读者会从中得到乐趣。对愿意放慢速度、边读边思的读者，这是一本可以反复翻阅的书：它提供的不是结论，而是看历史的新角度。Who it's for
A good fit for
- 对中外历史脉络与文明比较感兴趣、愿意读史论的读者
- 喜欢梁小民、许纪霖一类学者随笔与历史评论的读者
- 能接受文言体文字、阅读耐心较好的进阶读者
- 希望从整体秩序视角理解“中国如何形成”的自学者
Not a good fit for
- 想找一部系统完整的编年体中国通史的读者
- 习惯白话直述、排斥文言笔调与个人议论的读者
- 对作者立场持异议、只想看中立客观叙事的读者
Reading tips
- 先读前言与篇章导语，弄清各“历史快照”之间的整体编排逻辑，再进入章节。
- 遇到文言句式可先通读段落，把握论旨，不必在字词上过多停留。
- 可配合一部简明中国通史与世界史对读，便于校正与补充背景知识。
- 读后把作者的具体结论与论证分开记录，保留自己的判断，不急于全盘接受。
About the publisher
Guangxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1986Guangxi Normal University Press is a publisher known for literature, foreign literature and history titles. Its 1,175 books in the database show a solid accumulation in classics and prose collections, including foreign literary works such as Les Fleurs du mal: Annotated Poems of Baudelaire, Snow Country, Dubliners and The Wild Palms, as well as modern prose compilations like The Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren. History and philosophy also hold a notable share, with titles such as Running Dogs: Clerks and Runners in Qing County Yamen and The History and Thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reflecting attention to Qing local administration and modern history. In art literature there is the 16-volume Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Manual. Its author resources include foreign writers Charles Baudelaire and Yasunari Kawabata, translators and annotators Liu Nanqi and Zou Bo, and scholars such as Zhong Shuhe, Bradly W. Reed and You Chenjun. As public information is limited, this characterization is based only on the books in the database, which together present a profile balancing Chinese and foreign literary classics with academic works in the humanities and social sciences.
FAQ
这本书是一部完整的中国通史吗？
不是。作者以片段与节点的评点为主，将若干“历史快照”连成线索，并与欧洲历史对照，更像历史随笔与史论，而不是按年代顺序叙述的通史。文字难读吗？
本书延续作者一贯的文言笔调，句式凝练古雅。熟悉文言文或读惯严复式译笔的读者会比较顺畅；不习惯的人可先读导语性的段落，把握整体思路再细读。这本书属于什么丛书？
它由广西师范大学出版社2014年出版，属于该社“新民说”书系，同系还有《民国纪事本末》《公天下》等作品。适合初学者入门中国史吗？
不太适合作为第一本中国史入门书。书中预设了较多历史背景知识，且以议论为主，建议先具备基本通史框架再来阅读。This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Liu Zhongjing AuthorLiu Zhongjing, whose English name is given as Liu Zhongjing, has limited publicly available information regarding his nationality, dates of birth and death, and other personal background; the library holds one work by him. Based on the material currently available, his writing centers on history and historical culture, and his representative work is From Huaxia to China. Judging from the title and its subject classification, the book deals with the evolution of and tension between the concepts of "Huaxia" and "China" in Chinese historical narrative, and belongs to a mode of writing that emphasizes the ordering of ideas and the reconstruction of historical threads. Such subject matter generally requires an author to organize material across a long time span and to propose his own way of arranging existing narrative frameworks, so the work is suited to readers interested in historical narrative itself and willing to follow the author in reexamining familiar concepts. Since only one work is held in the library, a fuller judgment of his overall output, stylistic development, and academic reception would require more material.