Nankai News Website (correspondents: Zhang Xiaoning, Ma Xinyuan, Tan Baoyin, Bai Gengyan) The wisdom of experts is pooled to promote the development of the science of history. The 8th Chinese History Study Camp took place at the Faculty of History, Nankai University from August 21 to 26.
The Chinese History Study Camp is an undergraduate academic activity jointly organized by the schools (departments) of history of universities including Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Nankai University, East China Normal University, Xiamen University, Wuhan University, Sun Yat-sen University, and Sichuan University. At the camp, First-class experts and scholars in China were invited to teach about 20 outstanding undergraduate students, who are the cream of the crop selected nationwide.
Professor Wang Lixin, Director of the Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University; Professor Zhang Kan, Dean of the School of History and Cultural Heritage of Xiamen University; Yu Wei, a professor at the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University; Luo Yanchun, an associate professor at the School of History and Culture of Tianjin Normal University; Professor Yu Xinzhong, Dean of the Faculty of History of Nankai University; Professor Xia Yan, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of History of Nankai University; and Professor Zhang Xueliang, Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Department of Nankai University, attended the opening ceremony.
At the opening ceremony, Professor Yu Xinzhong expressed welcome to and congratulated the 21 members selected for this year’s camp event. Yu Xinzhong said that the Camp is a high-quality professional and academic platform of a charitable nature, and has made unique contributions to talent cultivation. Yu Xinzhong said that the 8th Chinese History Study Camp resumed as a result of the joint efforts of many parties, as well as the academic pursuit, ideals and beliefs. Professor Zhang Kan and Professor Zhang Xueliang gave messages for the opening ceremony. Yang Shijie, a doctoral student at the Faculty of History of Nankai University and a trainee of the 4th Chinese History Study Camp, and Wu Rongting, an undergraduate student of the former History Department of Fudan University, spoke as representatives of the new and old trainees of the Chinese History Study Camp.
Several lectures were held from August 21 to 24.
Professor Wang Lixin gave a lecture entitled “The Background to the Rise of Archaeology in China and the Progress in the First Decade”. Wang Lixin reviewed the specific social and ideological background for the emergence of archaeology in modern China, and analyzed the progress of archaeology in the first decade in simple terms. He said that in order to explore the origin of Chinese culture and rebuild confidence in the nation and culture, it is necessary to adopt new materials, methods and means, which stimulated the emergence of archaeology in China.
Professor Shen Weirong gave a lecture entitled “Global View of History and Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism Studies”. Shen Weirong discussed the current research status in terms of research characteristics, methodology and objects, saying that there was inherent bias in previous Buddhist studies and some contents of Tibetan Buddhism were misunderstood to some extent. He emphasized that in the process of studying Han and Tibetan Buddhism, it is necessary to remove the barriers separating Indian, Han, and Tibetan Buddhism, and conduct a comparative study of Han-Tibetan Buddhism in its entirety and internally. Scholars should explore the teachings of esoteric Buddhism and the tradition of self-cultivation, thereby differentiating their common ground and differences.
Professor Zhang Kan held a historical materials study session entitled “People, System and Society in Coastal Regions since the Song and Yuan Dynasties: Discussions Centered on Wenzhou’s Local Literature”. Focusing on the mobility of population in coastal regions, Zhang Kan responded to the trainees’ analysis and discussions, saying that the history of the population in coastal regions is dynamic and elastic, and that previous history materials understand society and people based on fixed institutions. We need to further think about how the population in coastal regions are included in the macro-history and how to become an organic part of the dynasty.
Professor Huang Guoxin gave a lecture entitled “Regulation and Tax Income: Basic Principles of Salt Administration in the Qing Dynasty”. He said that the basic goals, characteristics and nature of salt administration in the Qing Dynasty was to obtain salt tax through regulations. Dynamically coordinating transaction costs with tax income is an important principle for keeping balance. The salt administration in the Qing Dynasty was a kind of regulation economy, a combination of planned and market economy. The cause of the boundary dispute in salt areas is an important principle for the consideration of administrative income. There was a path dependence for the circulation of salt, and it was difficult to change and cancel salt areas.
Researcher Lou Jin gave a lecture entitled “The Legend of Southward Migration in the Prologue to the Book of Wei and Related Issues”. He said that the legends of the southward migration of the Xianbei tribes are highly similar in terms of morphological structure and content motif, and can be corroborated by the legend of Wuhuan and other tribes originating from the region north of the Gobi desert. It shows their common Donghu lineage. These legends emphasize their origins in the region north of the Gobi desert and recognize the key role of southward migration in the organization and character characteristics of their tribes. It also includes the memory of the origin of Donghu tribes and the prehistory, history of emergence and formation of the related tribes of Wuhuan and Xianbei, and also reflects the traditions inherited by these tribes after they progressed from the legendary era to the historical period.
Professor Yu Wei held a historical materials study session entitled “Methods of Research on Pre-Qin Place Names in Handed-down Literature: Case Study of Duplicate Place Names”. Duplicate place names present a major difficulty in the textual research on place names in historical geography study. Yu Wei said that duplicate place names in the pre-Qin period are often related to migration of ethnic groups, and are the embodiment of the tradition of combining names of ethnic groups and places in ancient times. The concept of “place name clusters” focuses on the linkages between place names and leads analysis of place names from individual place names to group place names.
Professor Wang Lihua gave a lecture entitled “Changes of Times and Historical Turn”. Wang Lihua said that history science is a discipline of general knowledge and excessive specialization should be avoided. Historians must revise and update the research objects of history with the passage of time, and form a science of history with the characteristics of the times. Historians must reflect on how to view the difference between the popular understanding of history and historical truth. History science must keep pace with the times, show a realistic concern, and be applied to practical application. From the perspective of environmental history and life history, Wang Lihua called on teachers and students to find solutions based on historical experience, seek a safe and healthy living environment for mankind, and create a future of harmony between man and nature.
Professor Huang Daoxuan gave a lecture entitled “The Operation of the CPC’s Revolutionary System in Wartime”. Centering on the two questions of “Why discuss the system” and “Why unify the article based on the ‘system’”, he gave a thorough analysis of the theme of the lecture. The Communist Party of China’s resistance system during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression can be divided into guerrilla warfare, regular army, and base areas. Guerrilla warfare is the most important, summarized as “guerrilla” and “attack” essentially. The CPC organization is the result of the combination of all systems, and this is the be-all and end-all of the survival and development of guerrillas. The CPC established base areas to resist aggression, increasing the Japanese aggressors’ cost of occupation. This limited their scope of occupation, and finally facilitated the survival of the CPC base areas.
Centering on three historical documents such as Annals ofLinjiang Prefecture by Long Qing of the Ming Dynasty, Professor Liu Yonghua showed us how to “link” institutional history and social history. This lecture prompted us to reflect on the corresponding situation in other periods and in other countries, and have a better grasp of the epochal character of different dynasties as well as social changes in different regions and countries.
Professor Xia Mingfang gave a lecture entitled “This Is How the Mandate of Heaven Shifts: Exploring the Construction of the “Chinese Community” in the book Treason by the Book. Xia Mingfang said that the research on disaster history covers much ground, and the study of overall history from the perspective of disaster can only be achieved by explaining history from the perspective of interaction between natural phenomena such as disasters and social phenomena. The Theory of Heaven and Destiny in the Qing Dynasty has three characteristics: from “many days” to “one day”, the transfer and circulation of fate, and the integration of Confucian orthodoxy and governance system. While based on the continuation from the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty discourse on the Mandate of Heaven formed a theory of calamity and abnormal phenomena, theory of Mandate of Heaven, Confucianism view and China outlook with Manchurian characteristics. Attention should be paid to the establishment and influence of a new concept of “Chinese civilization” that goes beyond “Sinicization” and “trend towards Manchurian practices”.
On August 25, led by Associate Professor Luo Yanchun of Tianjin Normal University, Professor Wen Chunlai, a professor at the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University and Executive Dean of the Institute for the Study of Lingnan Culture of Sun Yat-sen University, guided the teachers and trainees of the camp to a field trip themed “Settlements and Populations in the New Ziya River Basin”.
On August 26, the 8th Chinese History Study Camp was concluded. Professor Zhu Hu, Dean of the School of History and Director of the Institute of Qing History of the Renmin University of China; Professor Yu Xinzhong, Dean of the Faculty of History of Nankai University; Professor Yang Guoan, Deputy Dean of the School of History of Wuhan University; and Huang Bo, an associate professor at School of History and Culture of Sichuan University and Institute of Chinese Tibetology, attended the closing ceremony and presented certificates of completion to the trainees.
The teachers said that the history discipline is no longer an unpopular discipline, and that the history discipline is required for the exploration of the building of socialist Chinese civilization, etc. In the new era, the teachers hoped that young students would continue the pragmatic academic studies. The successful Camp event also made important contributions to jointly exploring a new path of history science education.
At the closing ceremony, Yu Xinzhong thanked the trainees for their participation and gave a message, hoping that the camp had built a foundation and brought vitality to their future academic growth. He hoped that all young people bear in mind their aspirations, break through restrictions, be proactive and enterprising, harbor ideals, and contribute to the development of Chinese history science.
The Chinese History Study Camp has been held for eight sessions since 2013. Under the concept of “cooperation, sharing, public welfare and inheritance”, the history schools (departments) of universities including Tsinghua University, Rennin University of China, Nankai University, East China Normal University, Xiamen University, Wuhan University, Sun Yat-sen University, and Sichuan University have jointly held Chinese History Study Camp, which provides high-level academic training for outstanding students selected nationwide. As the university team expands, the Camp event is gradually becoming a highly influential academic event in China. The camp event was interrupted for three years due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but it has now resumed at Nankai University. The Faculty of History of Nankai University has held the camp event twice.
