Gucheng Historian Thought

Zhou Gu-cheng is a widely famous Chinese historian. To carry out a systematic study of his historiography thought is quite a difficult academic task, but at the same time represent a highly valuable subject of study. Up to now, the analysis of Zhou Gu-cheng historiography though was limited to some specific topics, but it is still missing a systematic study of his contribution to Historiography. That is precisely the aim of our work: to conduct a systematic research of Zhou Gu-cheng's historiography thought having the Marxist theory as a guide.His work Life Systems laid the philosophic foundation for Zhou Gu-cheng's historiography though, and deeply influenced his lifelong academic research. Life Systems model families criticism from the familyhead and it is meant to be the basis of a unique theory, which is the dialectical relationship between the truth and the application. The uniqueness of the theory drawn from Life Systems allow us to enounce it as the "Life Systems Theory".Zhou Gu-cheng was an active participant of the Great Revolution. After the Great Revolution failed, he conducted from a revolutionary point of view a comprehensive study of the Chinese society and its history writing the three remarkable volumes of The theory of China's social history. The theory of China's social history offers a rich amount of information as well as a wide range of explanations, it holds a unique theoretical concept that successfully served as the foundation for his The theory of China's social history. However, it is undeniable that The theory of China's social history in both methodology and ideological orientation made an excessive use of the theory of class struggle, making this work certainly biased.Zhou's China general history is the most representative work of Zhou Gu-cheng in the field of Chinese history. "Global history theory" was the basic Zhou Gu-cheng's theory of History, being the pioneer in China in the field of general history. With the aim of seeking the truth, this theory emphasizes objectivity and integrity in history. China general history attempt of letting the facts speaking and avoiding formula constitutes a valuable experiment in the integration of the Marxist theory and the practice of history.Zhou's World general history is his representative work in the field of world history, and in which Zhou Gu-cheng most skillfully uses the "global history theory".This work highlights the history of the world as an organic unity, making a breakthrough some world history stereotypes, and displayed a great academic innovation. From a holistic perspective of the world history, Zhou's World general history reveals the relationships of different regions, countries and cultures as an organic unity, rather than doing a mechanical accumulation of countries history and specialized history.In the 1950's China experienced a deep impact of Soviet historiography. Zhou Gu-cheng also was affected from this negative influence, being particularly evident in the periodization he makes for ancient Chinese history. At the turn of 1950's and 60's, Zhou Gu-cheng lead the trend that launched fierce criticism to the theory of "European center". Philosophy of Struggle made a devastating effect in the 1950's China. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward; Zhou Gu-cheng began to use the "life system theory", leading it into struggle with "philosophy of struggle".From the introduction of reforms in the 1980's, Zhou Gu-cheng shows a deep concern for the cultural studies. He paid attention to its own cultural identity, emphasizing the cultural exchange between East and West. The study of Culture and Cultural History were the last conclusions in Zhou Gu-cheng historiography thinking.