Ideas of History in Pre-imperial China

Wu, Huaiqi

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-56253-6_3

Huaiqi Wu³

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Abstract

The most primordial form of idea of history was the primitive historical consciousness . Bai Shouyi said that the history of idea of history in China could be traced back to the far remote eras when there were not any written systems with the exception of prevailing mythologies and legends; and moreover, he shed light on the truth that the origin of history be explored over there even though the historical writing could not be possible at that time.

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Notes

1.
Bai Shouyi 白寿彝, Zhongguo shixue shi 中国史学史 [History of the Chinese historiography] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1986), vol. 1, p. 197.
2.
Karl Marx, Frederick Engels: Collected works (New York: International Publishers, 1976), vol. 5, pp. 41–42.
3.
Bai Shouyi, Zhongguo shixue shi, vol. 1, p. 197.
4.
Ma Xueliang 马学良 et al., Yizu wenhua shi 彝族文化史 [History of the culture of the Yi People] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1989), pp. 228, 230, 269.
5.
Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (London and New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 118.
6.
Lu Xun 鲁迅, “Menwai wentan 门外文谈” (An amateur talk about the writing system), in Qiejie ting zawen 且介亭杂文 (Essays of Half-Concession Pavilion), in Luxun quanji 鲁迅全集 [Complete works of Lu Xun] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2005), vol. 6, p. 93.
7.
See: “Chapter 18,” in Guoyu 国语 [Discourses of the states] (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978), pp. 559–560.
8.
Song Zhaolin 宋兆麟, Li Jiafang 黎家芳 and Du Yaoxi 杜耀西, Zhongguo yuanshi shehui shi 中国原始社会史 [History of the Chinese primitive society] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1983), pp. 496–497.
9.
Ma Xueliang et al., Yizu wenhua shi, p. 371.
10.
Lu Xun, “Menwai wentan,” in Luxun quanji, vol. 6, p. 86.
11.
Hou Wailu 侯外庐, Zhao Jibin 赵纪彬 and Du Guoxiang 杜国庠, Zhongguo sixiang tongshi 中国思想通史 [General history of Chinese thought] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1980), vol. 1, pp. 59, 61.
12.
Guo Moruo 郭沫若, Buci tongzuan 卜辞通纂 [A comprehensive investigation of inscriptions on the oracle bones] (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1983), p. 362.
13.
Shangshu 尚书, or Book of History, trans., James Legge, http://ctext.org/shang-shu/speech-at-mu/ens.
14.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/announcement-about-drunkenness/ens.
15.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/numerous-officers/ens.
16.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/announcement-of-the-duke-of-shao/ens.
17.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/timber-of-the-rottlera/ens.
18.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/announcement-of-the-duke-of-shao/ens.
19.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/announcement-to-the-prince-of-kang/ens.
20.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/against-luxurious-ease/ens.
21.
Ibid.
22.
Ibid.
23.
Ibid.
24.
Ibid.
25.
Ibid.
26.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/prince-shi/ens.
27.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/establishment-of-government/ens.
28.
Ibid.
29.
Ibid.
30.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/pan-geng-i/ens.
31.
Ibid.
32.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/shang-shu/pan-geng-ii/ens.
33.
Ibid.
34.
Ibid.
35.
Ibid.
36.
Ibid.
37.
Zhouyi 周易 or Book of Changes, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/xi-ci-xia/ens.
38.
Ibid.
39.
Zhang Xuecheng 章学诚, Wenshi tongyi 文史通义 [All-embracing delineations of literature and history] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), vol. 1, p. 11.
40.
Zhouyi, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/xi-ci-shang/ens.
41.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/feng1/ens.
42.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/tai/ens.
43.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/ge1/ens.
44.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/xi-ci-xia/ens.
45.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/xu-gua/ens.
46.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/da-zhuang/ens.
47.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/tai/ens.
48.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/shi-he1/ens.
49.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/shi-he/ens.
50.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/ding/ens.
51.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/yu/ens.
52.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/xi-ci-shang/ens.
53.
Ibid.
54.
Zhouyi, http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/xi-ci-xia/ens.
55.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/lin/ens.
56.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/book-of-changes/dui/ens.
57.
Liji 礼记 (Book of Rites), trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/liji/li-yun/ens.
58.
Ibid.
59.
Ibid.
60.
Ibid.
61.
Ibid.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Ibid.
64.
Ibid.
65.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/liji/li-qi/ens.
66.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/liji/biao-ji/ens.
67.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/liji/jing-jie/ens.
68.
Zhou Yutong 周予同, “‘Liu jing’ yu Kongzi de guanxi “六经” 与孔子的关系” (The relationship existing between Six Classics and Confucius), Fudan xuebao 复旦学报 (Journal of Fudan University), no. 1 (1979), p. 54.
69.
Mengzi 孟子, or Mencius, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/mengzi/li-lou-ii/ens.
70.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/mengzi/teng-wen-gong-ii/ens.
71.
Burton Watson, Ssu-ma Ch’ien: Grand Historian of China (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1963), pp. 50–51.
72.
Sima Qian 司马迁, Selections from Records of The Historian 史记选, trans. Yang Xianyi 杨宪益 and Gladys Yang 戴乃迭 (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2008), vol. 1, pp. 279, 281.
73.
John Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994), vol. 3, p. 55.
74.
Taoist Teachings from Book of Lieh Tzǔ, trans. Lionel Giles (London: John Murray, 1912), pp. 19–20.
75.
The Annals of Lü Buwei, trans. John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000), p. 511.
76.
Liu An 刘安, The Huainanzi, trans. John S. Major et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010). p. 133.
77.
Ibid., pp. 240–241.
78.
Liji, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/liji/zhong-yong/ens.
79.
Lunyu 论语, or The Confucian Analects, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/analects/tai-bo/ens.
80.
Ibid.
81.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/analects/yan-yuan/ens.
82.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/analects/tai-bo/ens.
83.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/analects/wei-zheng/ens.
84.
Mengzi, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/mengzi/liang-hui-wang-i/ens.
85.
Lunyu, http://ctext.org/analects/xian-wen/ens.
86.
Mengzi, http://ctext.org/mengzi/gong-sun-chou-ii/ens.
87.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/mengzi/teng-wen-gong-i/ens.
88.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/mengzi/li-lou-i/ens.
89.
Ibid.
90.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/mengzi/li-lou-ii/ens.
91.
Ibid.
92.
Ibid., http://ctext.org/mengzi/gaozi-ii/ens.
93.
Theodore de Bary et al. eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), p. 206.
94.
The Mozi: A Complete Translation, trans. Ian Johnston (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), p. 51.
95.
Ibid., pp. 82–83.
96.
Ibid., p. 61.
97.
Ibid., p. 647.
98.
Ibid.
99.
Ibid., p. 711.
100.
Ibid., p. 321.
101.
Ibid., p. 339.
102.
Ibid., pp. 663–664.
103.
Ibid., p. 667.
104.
Ibid., p. 343.
105.
John Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Work, vol. 1, p. 179.
106.
Ibid., vol. 1, p. 136.
107.
Ibid, p. 208.
108.
Ibid., pp. 206–207.
109.
Ibid., p. 224.
110.
Ibid., vol. 3, p. 21.
111.
Ibid., p. 22.
112.
Ibid., p. 100.
113.
Ibid., p. 103.
114.
Ibid., vol. 2., p. 57.
115.
Ibid.
116.
Ibid., p. 150.
117.
Sima Qian 司马迁, Records of The Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty, trans. Burton Watson (Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong; New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), p. 92.
118.
Ibid.
119.
Ibid.
120.
Chan-Kuo Ts’e 战国策, trans. J. I. Crump, Jr. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), p. 303.
121.
Sima Qian 司马迁, The Grand Scribe’s Records: The Memoirs of Pre-Han China, trans. William H. Nienhauser, Jr. et al. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), vol. 7, p. 74.
122.
The Annals of Lü Buwei, trans. John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, p. 282.
123.
Shangshu, trans. James Legge, http://ctext.org/shang-shu/great-plan/ens.
124.
Gu Jiegang 顾颉刚, “Wude zhongshi shuo xia de zhengzhi he lishi 五德终始说下的政治和历史” (The politics and history in the perspectives of cyclical alternations of Five Virtues), in Gu Jiegang ed., Gushi bian 古史辨 [Polemics regarding the ancient Chinese history] (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982), vol. 5, p. 450.
125.
Ibid., p. 454.

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Huaiqi Wu

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Wu, H. (2018). Ideas of History in Pre-imperial China. In: An Historical Sketch of Chinese Historiography. China Academic Library. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56253-6_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56253-6_3
Published: 10 January 2018
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-56252-9
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