Modern History Of China (1902-1949), The Scientific Process

The new history arose in modern China was entirely different from the traditional history owing to some great changes. A research on the sdentification of history in modern China which studies the influences of science on history will throw light on the spedfic changes and the reasons. This dissertation aims to investigate the sdentification of Chinese history, which was the most important change during the modernization of Chinese history from 1902 when Liang Qichao announced thd terms of new history to 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded .In the early of 1920s, new historians unanimously pursued to reform Chinese traditional history, which opened up the transformation of Chinese history from tradition to modern. Liang Qichao , as one of the most well-known representatives of the new historians ,claiming that there was no real history in light of western standard in old China, insisted on a revolution in the field of history study and put forward a complete reform to the traditional history according to thd western scientific style of history. However, some scholars who made great efforts in preserving the best elements in the nation's past (Guocui Xuepai) persisted that there be varieties of essences of learnings in the old China and thus confirmed that the best element in the past was just Chinese history. Although most of them didn't deny the part of western science in the trasnformation of Chinese traditional history, they strongly opposed to replace Chinese ancient learnings with western cluture, and advocated to promote Chinese learnings including history with the help of modern science.Before and after the May Fourth, accompanied by the change of the concept of science in China, many scholars ,for example ,Hu Shi and Ding Wenjiang, laid the stress of science on the scientific method and spirit. So they advocated to reform Chinese traditional learnings with scientific method, which led to the change of the emphasis from the concept to the method in building of the new history. For the great influence of Hu Shi's propaganda ,during the 1920's and 1930's, there emerged the movement of sorting out and selecting from thd nation's clutural heritages (Zhengli Guogu) and the movement of distinguishing and recognizing Chinese ancient history (Gushi Bian). As a notable reform in the field of history study, the latter pushed the course of the scientification of Chinese history forward to a great degree. And with the progress and the predicament of the doubtsof the ancient history, Gu Jigang and other new historians paid more attertion to investigating and studying Chinese ancient history with the help of archaeology . Fu Sinan, who believed that science would play a magic role in the reform of Chinese traditional learnings .declared that history was just a discipline made up of historical materials and sep up a new paradigm, which occupied a dominant position in the field of history in the Republic of China . Besides, Wang Guowei, Chen Yuan, Chen Yinke and so on ,due to their enganement in tertual research and achievements in history study , were often belonged to the new historians who studied history by textual research.Simultaneously, there emerged a quite different school who paid the greatest importance to the idea of history .This school believed that the new scientific history should outgrow the method^to the theory by which the historical materials and facts could bd explained and then the laws and rules hidded in history might be penertated and thus a new sysytem of history study would be constituted. There upon another way for the scientification of history in modern China was paved. As the finaous representatives of Marxism historians , Li Dazhao ,Guo Moruo etc, made great devotion to the building of materialism history in China with their unusual theoretical contribution and accomplishements in history study, while other historians ,such as Zhu Qianzhi and Chang Naide , holding their achievements not in practical history studied ,but in expanding philosophic theories of history.I...