Short History

Name: Short History
ISBN: 9787532181247

谌旭彬 / Yang JintaoShanghai Literature and Art Publishing House2021

3.8

Word count: 231K words
Chapters: 40
ISBN: 9787532181247

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Summary

Short History originated from the history column of the same name under Tencent News. It is co-authored by senior history editor Chen Xubin and media professional and history writer Yang Jintao, and was published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House in 2021 (produced by Huawen Tianxia). The book is divided into two parts, "Separating Truth from Falsehood" and "Learning from the Past to Understand the Future," containing more than sixty short essays. With the aim of "examining the present with doubt and the past for guidance," it uses the method of verifying historical sources to dismantle widely circulated historical misunderstandings and "famous quotations." "Separating Truth from Falsehood" focuses on debunking: Did King Wu's campaign against the Shang really proceed "without bloodshed"? Is The Book of Netting Crimes Lai Junchen's original work? Were Ice Mirror and The Book of Endurance written by Zeng Guofan? Who really wrote Journey to the West? Where did the claim that the Song dynasty's GDP accounted for sixty to seventy percent of the world come from? Did Marco Polo actually reach China? Is Li Hongzhang's "one shot, one hundred million taels less" true or false? Was the "Stanford prison experiment" a fraud? The authors trace claims to their sources and show that many "commonplaces" are in fact embellishments from novels and opera, later conjectures, or internet fabrications. "Learning from the Past to Understand the Future" examines the evolution of institutions and ideas: how the kneeling ceremony turned from an equal greeting into a symbol of submission; how "writing in the same script" was ultimately accomplished by clerical script rather than small seal script; how Bao the Blue Sky was shaped into a "superhero" by storybooks and opera; why Du Fu received no "reposts" in his lifetime; what connection Qing-era ginseng superstition had with the imperial monopoly; how blind experiments defeated Parisian pseudo-medicine. Each essay is short, suited to fragmented reading time, yet every argument rests on classical texts, data, and textual comparison. The book corrects specific factual errors and demonstrates a way of thinking: ask where a claim comes from before judging it.

Editor's review

如果你曾在朋友圈转过“杜月笙的处世哲学”，为“宋朝GDP占世界八成”热血过，或者对“曾国藩识人《冰鉴》”深信不疑，这本书会一页一页帮你把这些“常识”拆掉。两位作者都是传统媒体出身的历史编辑，一位曾任腾讯历史频道主编，一位长期为《新京报》《凤凰周刊》撰稿，行文延续栏目风格：短，但不轻。每篇两三千字，先摆出流行说法，再溯源到最早的文献，最后给出可核查的结论或“目前暂无定论”的诚实态度，不强行给答案。全书六十余篇按“去伪存真”“鉴往知来”两编分置：前编辨真伪假，后编看制度与观念的流变，读来像一组互相支撑的小型考据实验。它给的不是一堆新知识点，而是一种习惯：看到“据说”“史料记载”先问出处。适合通勤、睡前碎片化阅读，每篇独立，随手翻一章即可；也适合作为中学历史课堂之外的补充读物，用来训练查证意识。需要提醒的是，书中许多结论建立在作者对史料的取舍之上，个别议题仍有争议，读者不妨把它当成“问问题的起点”，而非“标准答案手册”。

Who it's for

A good fit for

喜欢《明朝那些事儿》式通俗历史、但希望更有史料支撑的读者
常被网络“名人名言”“历史冷知识”刷屏、想学会核实来源的人
中学历史教师与爱好者，可作课堂外拓展与思辨素材
习惯碎片化阅读、希望每篇十分钟内读完的通勤读者

Not a good fit for

希望读到系统连贯的中国通史或断代史的读者，本书为独立短文结集
对考据过程、史料出处不感兴趣，只想看故事与情节的读者
期待对历史争议给出唯一确定结论的读者，部分议题书中明确表示暂无定论

Reading tips

不必按顺序读，可从最感兴趣的题目切入，如“宋朝GDP”“包青天”等，再逐步扩展。
读到作者给出的结论时，不妨顺带看看其引用了哪些文献，训练自己追溯源头的习惯。
把书中被推翻的说法记下来，与自己在网上看到的同类传言对照，积累“打假清单”。
读完一篇可与人讨论或写下质疑，部分议题学界仍有分歧，保持开放判断。

About the publisher

Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1952

Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House takes modern and contemporary Chinese literature and folk literature as important publishing directions, while also covering social novels, classic works, and prose and miscellaneous writings, and has long introduced foreign literature and philosophical works. Its books include masterpieces such as Lao She's Teahouse and Camel Xiangzi, Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Wandering and Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, and Xiao Hong's Tales of Hulan River, as well as translations such as Gilles Deleuze's Nietzsche and Philosophy, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Pillars of the Earth trilogy. Its authors include Lao She, Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, Zhou Ying, Liu Yuyu, and Jiang Yi, reflecting a publishing character that balances original literature, academic translation, and general reading.

Part One: Separating Truth from Falsehood
The Battle of Muye: So Much Blood It Floated the Pestles
Qin Subjects Could Hardly Rise Through Military Merit
"Willing to Become a Qin Subject" Is a Fabrication
The True Identities of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang
The Credibility of the Private Conversation Between Two Men in the Records of the Grand Historian
"The Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues" Has No Second Half
Demystifying Zhuge Liang's "Eight Formations"
Liu Shan Was Not "Adou"
There Was Only Mulan, Not Hua Mulan
The Book of Entrapment Is a Forgery
Stop Slandering the Author of "Hoeing Grain at Noon"
The Myth of Song Dynasty "Per Capita Grain"
Stop Boasting About the Song Dynasty's GDP
The Thousand-Year Flood-Free Fushou Ditch Is a Myth
Did Marco Polo Ever Visit China?
The Author of Journey to the West Is Now Unknowable
Yangmingism Was Not the Driving Force Behind the Meiji Restoration
The Ice Mirror Was Not Written by Zeng Guofan
Neither Was The Grit Classic Written by Zeng Guofan
Cixi Did Not Make Her Driver Kneel While Driving
How to Understand "Husbanding China's Resources"
"Kawashima Yoshiko Faked Her Death" Is Nonsense
The Authenticity of Li Hongzhang's Deathbed Poem
Did Li Hongzhang's Bullet Wound Save One Hundred Million Taels?
Foreigners Criticized the Eunuch System and Were Rebuked by Eunuchs?
The Truth Behind "The Qing Court Sent Warships to Protect Overseas Chinese in Mexico"
The True Value of a Gold Medal from the Panama International Exposition
A Study of Zhang Zongchang's "Great Cannon, Fire Away, Bomb Her Mother"
The Mystery of How Sun Dianying Escaped Justice for Robbing Cixi's Tomb
The Japanese Army Erected a Monument to the "Seven Heroes of Gubeikou"
The Death of Zhang Yaruo in Chiang Ching-kuo's Diaries
Two Fake Feel-Good Stories About "Hiring Professors Without Regard to Credentials"
A Brief Textual Study of "Du Yuesheng's Famous Sayings"
The Nonexistent "National Essence Leak Case"
Why Was Bruno Really Burned at the Stake?
How to Understand Newton's Late-Life Obsession with Alchemy
The Myth of Pre-Meiji Restoration Literacy Rates
Hitler Discriminated Against Chinese People
Was the "Stanford Prison Experiment" a Fraud?

FAQ

《短史记》和腾讯的“短史记”公众号是什么关系？

本书是腾讯新闻“短史记”历史栏目的文章结集出版，栏目主编谌旭彬与杨津涛合著，内容在原栏目文章基础上整理修订，并非把公众号文章简单装订成册。

这本书是讲通史的吗？需要从头读到尾吗？

不是通史。全书为六十余篇独立短文，分“去伪存真”“鉴往知来”两编，每篇单独讨论一个史实或观念问题，可按兴趣跳读。

书里考证的结论都可靠吗？

作者多依据典籍、出土文献与数据比对提出结论，论证过程可核查；但部分议题（如马可·波罗是否来华）学界本无定论，书中也如实说明，读者宜当作思考起点而非最终答案。

适合中学生读吗？

适合。文字通俗、单篇短小，且示范如何查证史料，对培养史料实证意识有帮助；但涉及部分历史暴力与制度内容，低龄读者建议家长或老师陪同讨论。

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About the author

谌旭彬 Author

Chen Xubin is a Chinese author who focuses on writing about history. Publicly available information about him is limited, and no systematic account of his life has been disclosed. Judging from the five works included in the library, his writing centers mainly on the political systems, social changes, and the circumstances of ordinary people in ancient and modern China. Among these works, The Latitude and Longitude Series: Two Thousand Years of the Qin System—The Power Rules of Feudal Emperors examines the logic of how imperial power operated in China; The Great Upheaval: Fifty Years of Late Qing Reform focuses on the course of reform in the late Qing dynasty; and Living in the Hongwu Era: The Fate of Small People under Zhu Yuanzhang's Rule observes early Ming society from a grassroots perspective. His works are generally classified as documentary literature, world history, and history readings. His writing emphasizes the organization of historical sources and institutional analysis, and he is skilled at grounding grand narratives in the fates of specific individuals, which helps readers understand traditional politics and social structures.