The International Congress Of Historical Sciences And The Centennial China1900-2010

IFrom1900to1923, the European historians held five large International Congresses of Historical Sciences at the main countries’capitals,1900Paris Congress,1903Rome Congress,1908Berlin Congress,1913London Congress and1923Brussels Congress. There were approximate1000participants for each congress. It was at Brussels Congress, the attendees decided to found a permanent institution, the International Congress of Historical Sciences (ICHS), who is responsible for organizing the quinquennial congresses and dealing with the daily works. Then ICHS organized19286th Oslo Congress,19337th Warsaw Congress and19338th Zurich Congress.The Second World War interrupted the Congress process. After the war, the9th Congress was held at Paris in1950, and became a member of International Council for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies (ICPHS) under the UNESCO. The quinquennial congress continues regularly.After WWII, the numbers of the participants are around2000. The largest number is3305, which appeared at197013th Moscow Congress. Tikhvinsky, the late member of Soviet Academy attended the Congresses from the11th to the16th one. He said,"The past Congresses were all very sensitive to the world political situations. The host countries influenced the congresses too. For example, the mark of the197013th Moscow Congress was to commemorate the100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin, while at the197614th San Francisco Congress, the200th anniversary of the founding of USA and the American experience were underlined. At198516th Congress, the Federal Germany President Weizsacker layed stress in his speech on the Unity of Germany and Germanism." Therefore, the Congress is abundant in its tolerance and pluralism.The Congress has devoted itself to the mutual understanding among the people from different ethnic groups, nations and ideologies and performed very well. As a result, it has a reputation of "Historians’Olympics"IIThe evolution of the relationship between the International Congress of Historical Sciences and China is an important issue in modern Chinese academic history.Dating back to late Qing Dynasty, the Congress had caught the attention of Chinese scholars. In the period of the Republic of China, much efforts had been made by persons from three groups to found the associations of Chinese historians to meet the need from the international communication. The first group consisted of the young students such as Chen Xunci and Xiang Da. And the second one consisted of the well known historians, such as Zhu Xizu, Fu Sinian, Gu Jiegang, Yuan Tongli, Yao Congwu, Liu Chongxuan, Jiang Tingfu and Hu Shi, who were the backbone of the Chinese historians at that time. The second group was followed by the next one, the leaders in academia and government. Cai Yuanpei, Luo Jialun, Mei Yiqi, He Bingsong and Wang Shijie were the prominent ones among them. All these persons held an active attitude toward the international communications.In1938, the hard time in Anti-Japanese War, despite of the difficulties, the Chinese government sent Hu Shi as the representative to attend the Zurich Congress, meanwhile, China became a member of ICHS. During the negotiation process, Fu Sinian, Gu Jiegang, Jiang Tingfu and Hu Shi had made much contributions to achieve the target. In1940s, the Congress was interrupted by WWII, but the Chinese historians kept on examining the Congress themes and mainstream of the international historiography. From1950s to1970s, China’s official relation with the Congress was broken off. In the varied circumstances of Cold War, Sino-Soviet friendship and Sino-Soviet conflict, the historians of the People’s Republic of China had not quited watching the Congress issues, esp. the Soviet historians’presence at the Congress. Since the end of Cultural Revolution, thanks to the China’s reform and openirg up policy and the efforts from Hu Qiaomu, Liu Danian, Ji Xianlin, Dai Yi, Zhang Chunnian, Zhang Haipeng and other leaders of Chinese historians, the Chinese history research integrated into the international academia. Since1980, the delegations of Chinese historians attended all of the Congresses. At2010Amsterdam21st Congress, the China’s invitation to the22nd Congress was approved. The next Congress will be held at Shandong University in2015.Compared with other international organizations, the Congress have always cherished China, Chinese history academia and Chinese culture. It always has confidant expectation from China. In1937, the ICHS president, Cambridge professor Harold Temperley visited China to push China to join ICHS. He expressed his sincere hope in this way,"If China joined ICHS, it would be the greatest moment in my whole life." As internationally well-known historians, the presidents of ICHS, Erdmann, Cocka and the general secretary, Mrs Ahrweiler were ardent promoters who pushed China integrated into the international academia.The evolution of the relationship between the International Congress of Historical Sciences and China is a history of China and the world interrelated, a history of Chinese history research and the international history research interrelated. It is also a valuable history of scholarship.The dissertation examines the key issues in the mainstream of the relationship history between China and the Congress in the past hundred years. On the basis od discussing the important events and figures, it aims to portray the particular academic history.ⅢOn the basis of figuring out the historical facts of the International Congress and the relationship between China and Congress, the dissertation studies four major questions.Firstly, the dissertation studies the evolvement of the Congress system, especially evolution of its organizational structure and its paradigm. The International Congress of Historical Sciences is a global community of the historians and enjoys a reputation of "Historians Olympics". Erdmann, the former president of the Congress says,"Today, the Congress is an inescapable element of a living science."To a large extent, the evolution of the Congress has reflected the changes both in world history and epistemology and methodology of the humanities and social sciences since the end of19th century. At the very beginning, all the participants were from Europe and America. Now it is a global organization. The historicism, which narrated the political history of nation states, has given its way to the scientific method, which analyzing the global history.Secondly, the evolution of the Chinese academic communities, the associations of Chinese historians, have been examined from the international perspective. The academic institution was a wholely new phenomenon in early modern China. In1920, the students of Nanking Higher Normal School organized a society in history and geography, aiming to set up the Association of Chinese Historians to attend the international conference.In January1929, as a result of the stimulation from1928Oslo Congress, two different Associations of Chinese Historians were set up in Nanjing and Beijing separately. After the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Historians Association restored in1980. In the same year, it attended the15th Congress as a observer. It became a member of ICSH in1982. In1995and2010, the Chinese National Association sent the invitation to held the Congress twice and got a success in2010.Mr. Zhang Haipeng, the president of Chinese Association of Historians thought one of the most important achievements of his association is having attended and invited the Congresses.Thirdly, the evolvement of the theory and methodology in China has been examined from the Congresses’perspective. From the late Qing Dynasty on, China has undergone a fundamental changes. The modern western knowledge has swept all the Chinese traditional knowledge in many disciplines. Compared with the natural sciences, history was late to change its methodology. As a indigenous discipline, the history had developed into a mature stage. So it was hard to innovate in history field.But from the beginning of the Republic of China, the Chinese history scholars have followed the interests of the Historical Congresses and sought the inspiration from the Congresses. In1920s and1930s, they reported many news from the Congresses in the indigenous journals.From1949to1978, the Chinese historians did their research in a closed environment, but they still kept half an eye on the Congress. After1978, more and more Chinese scholars went abroad and have broadened their views. Their theory and methodology have been enriched greatly. The western methodology has been imported into China from many ways. The Congress is the most important one. After attending the Congress, the Chinese historians have written many articles to introduce the history studies progress in western countries, focusing on the methodology.Fourthly, the relationship between China and the Congress is a detailed case in globalization studies. The origin of the Congress is a reflection of globalization progress in history discipline. The Congress developed from a sheer European organization to a global one. During the progress, China’s participation and invitation is a detailed case deserving examination. From1990s, the global history came to the stage. The China’s attending experience is a part of the global history.China is not only satisfied at getting a membership, but has her own pursuit. As an ancient and great country, China should speak at the international arena to show her own performance. For the Chinese historians, they always have been assumed the obligation to win a higher status in the Congress. China was one of the winners of WWI, being absent from the Congress was not matched to her status. So in1920s and1930s, the leading historians, such as Hu Shi, Zhu Xizu, Fu Sinian and Gu Jiegang, were very active in organizing the Chinese National Historian Association to get a membership from ICSH.Holding the2015Congress will write a new chapter in the relationship between China and the Congress.The22nd Congress, after the successfully-held Beijing Olympics, will again be an opportunity to show the long history and deep culture of China and its recent economic and cultural booming to the world. It will be a platform to show the different histories and cultures from all over the world. For China, holding the22nd Congress has an internationally strategic significance and will be a cultural highlight.