中华历史一百人(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：周济

出版社：上海译文出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

中华历史一百人试读：

The book tries to give a concise account of Chinese history and culture through telling stories of individual historical figures. The history textbook is usually flat and dull, while the stories about a person might be interesting and legendary. It’s man who created and carried on history and culture, and through depicting them, one could see more backgrounds about historical and cultural circumstances. The book includes 104 pieces (some pieces include 2 or more names). There must be hundreds of thousands of heroes and heroines in Chinese history, so, these 100-plus persons included were the elites of elites. Everyone represented an important mark in Chinese culture.

Following are some characteristics on writing the book:

1. The book orients readers both at home and abroad. On orienting abroad, it targets two groups of people, foreigners and overseas Chinese. The book is available for those with or without some basic knowledge of traditional Chinese history and culture to get a general image. It is also suitable for readers of mainland China, as many of them don’t necessarily know well about their own history and culture especially the current youngsters who know less about their forefathers. The book provides them with a whole view and a “basic-line” of the knowledge.

2. Due to the limitation of the space, the author on one hand made an introduction of each individual and on the other hand focused on the vivid and detailed description on their deeds. The writing style was simple but clear to make easier to understand for readers of different nations and cultural backgrounds.

3. The list of the 100-plus names was arranged chronologically. It could help readers get a basic image about the line of Chinese historical development.

4. Each name was followed by a short sub-line describing what he or she was. For foreigners, it could help them easily accept the strange names written in Chinese pinyin.

5. The description in the book sometimes could shift one story into another. When introducing Wu Daozi, a painter in Tang Dynasty, the author brought out Dunhuang Fresco. This is the same case when introducing Zhang Daoling, founder of Tao Religion in Han Dynasty. Just name but a few.

In addition, the book is also a supplement for those who are interested in English.Zhou Ji2015-9

Prehistoric Period (1700th millennium-21st century BC)

A Legendary Hero Cutting open Earth and Sky

Ancient Chinese philosophers believed that HunTun of universe took place every 120 hundred thousand years. HunTun, known as Chaos, meant the glob dyes and the world renews its life. It is said that, when the HunTun comes, the universe seems like a big egg filled with stuff like egg whites or thick paste. In the egg, there slept a small boy. Ten thousand years later, when the boy woke up, he felt uncomfortable living in the suffocative circumstance, so he tried to cut open the paste by using a magic axe. With his every wielding of the axe, a bit of paste was divided into two parts: the solid material sank down and the soft rose up. In pace with the opening of area, the boy grew taller and taller, and became a superman. It consumed him long-lasting time and painstaking efforts, leading to the sky and the earth final separation. The glob gradually took its shape. The superman was Pan Gu Shi. Pan Gu thus became the first household name in China as the Hero of “Cut Open the Earth and Sky”.

After Pan Gu’s death, his eyes turned into the sun and moon, his skin became soil, his bones became mountains and blood vessels became lakes and rivers scattered all over the world.2 Fu Xi Shi (shi meant mister)

An Ancestor Created Chinese Earliest Civilization

Fu Xi Shi was a leader of a primitive tribe, a legendary hero full of mythical and obscure stories. Chinese believed the most important ancestors of Chinese nationality in the earliest era were “Three Kings & Five Emperors”. There were deferent views over the name list, but scholars shared a common view that Fu Xi and other two leaders Huang Di and Yan Di (see piece 4) were at the top. Fu Xi’s contributions to the nation were that he invented net and tools and taught people fishing and hunting. He also initiated raising livestock and poultry.

There were two other popular names in the same era: Sui Ren Shi and You Chao Shi. The former invented to make fire, helping people take cooked food. Chinese believed Sui Ren Shi acquired a fire helping by drilling woods. The latter built nest on trees, helping people move out of caves, and freeing them from the danger of animals’ attacks.

The legendary hero Fu Xi had a human’s face and snake’s body. And so was his younger sister Nv Wa (see following piece). They had later become husband and wife, propagating siblings and giving birth to later mankind.

But the utmost important story about Fu Xi was that he invented Ba Gua, known as the Eight Trigrams System. The appearance of Eight Trigrams indicated the appearance of the Book of Changes, a profound and unpredictable philosophical theory. The book had consumed both ancient and modern scholars’ wisdom, but none of them could as yet give a clear account of it.3 Nv Wa (nv meant female)

A Heroin Patching up the Sky

A Taoist book recorded Nv Wa’s miracle deeds: In early times the sky looked concave and convex, and spreaded with many big holes. Nv Wa hated the unlovely circumstance and tried to make a difference. She engaged to patch the sky with colorful stones that she successfully melted in a super furnace. There was a more detailed and vivid scenario described in the popular novel The Story of the Stone, saying: Nv Wa had melted colorful stones in the Boundless Mountain Ridge at the Mount Great Wildness. She produced 36,501 lumps of stones with each measured as big as 250 cubic feet. She used 36,500 lumps to patch up the sky, but had left one stone on the spot. Afterward, the living surplus stone went to the human world to perform a touching romance of love and tragedy.

There was another tale about Nv Wa: Because there lived only herself in the world, Nv Wa felt dull and lonely. So she used the mud to mold some clay figurines with the resemblance of herself. A couple of days later, those clay figurines got life. They became husbands and wives, becoming the earliest ancestors.4 Yan Di & Huang Di (di meant king)

Founders of a Unified Nation of China

Chinese people always paid a warm tribute to Yan Di and Huang Di, and called themselves as “the descendants of Yan & Huang”. The two kings were actually the leaders of two primitive tribes.

Yan Di was also named Shen Nong Shi, meaning God of Agriculture. His tribe lived in the area of Henan Province, Central China. He initiated to instruct people to grow crops and use herbs to cure diseases. There was a traditional saying “Shen Nong tasted hundred species of plants to discover herb medicine”. Yan Di wasn’t one person, but a leader’s title. Yan Di had passed down 8 generations and the tribe was later conquered by Huang Di. The two tribes then merged into a bigger community.

Huang Di was also named Xuan Yuan Shi, meaning God House & Wheel. He instructed people to built house and carriage. His tribe formerly stayed in Shaanxi Province, and his historical achievement was that he had for the first time made China a bigger united nation. After he merged Yan Di’s tribe, another powerful tribe with its leader named Chi You rose up in Shandong Province. The decisive war between Huang Di and Chi You was an important event in Chinese primitive history. The legendary battle was described all fiercely and mythically. Both sides had their special troops consisted of tigers, leopards, bears, as well as supported by Gods of Thunder, Wind and Fire. Huang Di’s troops had once been encircled in a large and deep forest and lost their way out. But he had his unique weapon “compass”, with which his troops broke out enemy’s encirclement and launched a surprising counterattack. The war ended up with Chi You’s defeat.

China boasted to have an earliest medicine book Huang Di Nei Jing or Yellow Emperor Inner Canon. Its original version was believed to have been burned out by Qin Shi Huang (see piece 23), and some Taoists in Han Dynasty had rewrote it. The new book had succeeded Huang Di’s most important concepts, such as “interaction between human and universe”, “Balance of Yin and Yang”, etc.5 Chang’e & Hou Yi

A Couple Important to Chinese Culture

In China, Chang’e, a pretty young girl, was a household name for her legendary story of flying toward the moon. For thousands of years, she stayed lonely at the Broad & Chilly Palace in the moon accompanied only by a white rabbit and a golden frog. In recent decades, China has launched series of moon-probing satellites “Chang’e 1” and “Chang’e 2” …, which were after the pretty girl’s name. Chang’e was a daughter of a leader of a prehistoric clan community, and married Houyi, a brave warrior of a neighboring community. By then, there were ten suns in the sky, radiating lights all day and night, scorching all species of plants in fields, mountains and valleys. On seeing people’s disaster, Houyi held out and drew his bow targeting at the sky and shooting arrows at the suns. He consecutively shot down nine suns with nine shootings, and left single one. Ever since, people could grow crops and enjoy happy life. Houyi afterward became the leader of his tribe.

Houyi once got a kind of mysterious immortal drug from the Wang Fairy Mother staying at Yaotai Palace over the West Heaven. He kept the drug in the room. One day, when Houyi was absent, Chang’e, out of curiosity, took stealthily the drug and ate it. When Houyi returned home, he saw his wife suddenly elevate from the garden, and fly slowly and directly toward the moon. The couple since then had to separate with each other, one on the earth, the other over the heaven.6 Yao & Shun

Two Wise Emperors Founding Earliest Dynasties

In China, the legendary Tang Dynasty and Yu Dynasty were put at the top of the Dynasties list. Yao was the emperor of Tang Dynasty and Shun was the emperor of Yu Dynasty (Yao abdicated and handed over power to Shun). Confucius had highly praised Yao and Shun as the model emperors and “Yao & Shun Era” as the extremely peaceful and happy time people ever had.

The “Yao & Shun Era” began to appear some early civilization:

Firstly, there appeared early administrative system. The emperor appointed officials in charge of different sections of works. For example, Yao appointed Ji in charge of spreading agriculture skills, Qi in charge of teaching people basic morals to set up ethic system between father and son, emperor and official, man and woman, senior and young. There also came out for the first time the division of physical workers and mental workers.

Secondly, Chinese had an important tradition to take themselves as “A Nation Upholding Propriety and Rituals” (Propriety and Ethics Civilization). Confucius praised the tradition as a heritage from “Yao and Shun Era”. There was one of earliest poems passed down up-to-date. A grand ceremony was held when Emperor Shun ceded the crown to Emperor Yu (the founder of Xia Dynasty, see following piece). On the ceremony, Shun took the lead to chant a chorus:

Beautiful clouds spread over

Like white stripes of silver

Sun and moon rise in turn

Bright morning comes one after another …

The last line referred the wise emperors would come one after the other.7 Yu

Yu the Great Conquered the Flood

Yu was a household name for his achieving a historical mission of “harnessing the flood”. During Emperor Shun’s time, there happened a worst-known nation-wide flood plagued all over the land. Shun at first appointed Kun, Yu’s father, to fight the flood. Kun only tried to “block” up the water by building many dikes that were burst down by fiercely lashing currents. Shun then appointed Yu as the successor. Yu took a way of “dredging”, instead of “blocking”, by removing obstacles to let water run into the sea. It took ten years for Yu to tackle the unprecedented and dangerous task. It was said, through out ten years, Yu had passed by his home for three times but never entered. So people always cherished a memory of Yu’s favor as well as his moral integrity.

Then Emperor Shun ceded the crown to Yu. Yu became the founder of Xia Dynasty, and people called him Yu the Great. But Yu ceded the throne to his son Qi, starting for the first time the hereditary system in history.

Some historians believed that Yu’s adoption of hereditary system had something to do with the development of agricultural production. Yu divided lands into private and public ones. When peasants were granted to cultivate private lands, they must at the same time voluntarily cultivate the public ones. Yu also appointed officials to manage the affair. So, there must begin to appear the situation: “Someone became physical workers, while someone became mental workers; mental workers were governors, while physical workers were the governed. The governors always lived off the governed” Mencius once said.Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC)

The Appearance of Earliest Letters & Bronze Wares8 Emperor Zhou

A Notorious Tyrant in Early Era

Shang Dynasty followed Xia Dynasty. The last emperors both of Xia and Shang dynasties were evil tyrants, especially the evil-doings of Emperor Zhou of Shang Dynasty which was more notorious described in a popular traditional novel.

But Shang Dynasty was of great importance in Chinese cultural development:

Firstly, there appeared Chinese earliest written words known as “inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells”. The words featured recording sacrificial ceremonies paying tribute to the Heaven and Ancestors, and they seemed already to be a kind of well-developed language.

Researchers believed Chinese written words would appear much earlier, because there must be a long time process for the words’ evolution. So legend has it that an official named Cang Ji in Yao time had created written words.

Secondly, there appeared a variety of bronze wares with written words inscribed on them. There had been many unearthed precious Shang bronze wares, among them, the largest one named “Si Mu Vessel” measured 133cm in high, 112cm in length and weighted 832.84kg, which was believed to be used when a young aristocrat held ceremony paying a tribute to his mother. It was highly valued with the fine artistic style and exquisite manufacturing technique

Now let’s return to Emperor Zhou. The tyrant doted on a woman Da Ji who, according to a popular fiction, was an incarnation of a fox. She bewitched Emperor Zhou to kill royal family members and high officials. Emperor Zhou had used every cruel way he found. For example, he invented a special “bronze pillar punishment”, burning it red, then binding the victim on it. The victim’s body would be all scorched in minutes. He also dug a “snake pool”, pushing victims down to feed the vipers at random.

There was a popular traditional novel Granting Heaven Officials, telling stories about how Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty toppled Shang Dynasty and killed tyrant Emperor Zhou. The two antagonistic sides were members of two different Taoist factions, and the battles between the supermen and superwomen were full of romance and mystification. Many of those warriors were at last granted to be a variety of Heaven Officials, household name of Lucky Gods or Guardian Angles.Zhou Dynasty West Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC)

Made China as a Nation “Upholding Proprieties and Ethics”9 Emperor Wu

Founder of Zhou Dynasty

Emperor Wu (around 1000 BC) founded Zhou Dynasty after conquering Shang Dynasty. Emperor Wu’s father was a warlord of Shang, who was later offered an honored title as “Emperor Wen”. (Chinese words “wen” meant civil and “wu” meant military.) Emperor Wu also initialed a new political system: He divided territory into small ones and granted them to his brothers and meritorious officials, attributing the appearance of many independent sub-states.

Emperor Wu inherited Emperor Yao & Shun’s tradition, ruling the county with a special policy called “Formulating Proprieties & Creating Music” (Rule by Proprieties and Music). He formulated behavior standards for all walks of life, and let everyone know and practice in accordance with the line. He also made music an ideological weapon to refine people’s mind. The policy resulted in Zhou Dynasty to become a society of unprecedented harmony and stability. The heritages of proprieties and music had later become the core of Confucius doctrine.

In recent decades, some historians had alleged that Zhou Dynasty as well as the following Spring & Autumn Period and the Warring States Period belonged to so-called the Slave Society. But as a matter of fact, China had never existed any kind of Slave Society like European countries did.Zhou Dynasty East Zhou Dynasty • The Spring & Autumn Period (770-476 BC)

An Important Period for the Making of Chinese Traditional Culture10 Confucius

A Most Important Philosopher in Chinese History

Confucius (551-479 BC) established Ru School, and was a most important philosopher in Chinese history.

Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty made many independent sub-states in China. After 400 years, the authority of central government faded away and the sub-states began to fight and conquer each other, which symbolized the arrival of the Spring & Autumn Period. In this special time, all the emperors of sub-state devoted to seek capable talents attempting to make their state stronger, a circumstance that helped produce many famous politicians, strategists and diplomats. The time also gave rise to a variety of thinkers, philosophers who established their schools, doctrines, and wrote their scholarly books, a phenomenon famously labeled in Chinese history as “hundred schools of thought contend”.

Confucius was the follower of Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty, and even of Emperor Yao & Shun. In the chaotic situation of the Spring & Autumn Period, Confucius highly admired brilliant deeds of Emperor Zhou, and put blame of current situation to the “fading away of propriety and music”. He believed that the country could return to peace and harmony only when the “policy of propriety and music” could be recovered. He created Ru School, the core doctrine of which was “Restraining individual desire and recovering propriety”. Confucius also called for establishing a good relationship among people with love, loyalty, filialness and honesty.

But Confucius’ concepts didn’t correspond to the rigid reality. He had been the premier of his mother state Lu (in south Shandong Province) and made it a prosperous and stable state, but he was dismissed three months later. He had to start a “promotion journey” to many states hoping that some emperors might adopt his policy, but there was none

Then Confucius began to take his education career. He had 3000 students, of whom 72 were regarded elites. He described himself as an unsatisfied learner and tireless teacher. He taught students “How to be a man” and “How to be an official”, wanting his students to cherish an aspiration of “cultivating self moral integrity, making a harmonious family, managing a state, and finally making a peaceful and harmonious world”. Many of Confucius teachings were included in a popular classics Lun Yu, or The Confucius Analects. The contents of the book were mostly Confucius’ daily words and deeds, compiled by some of his important students.

Ru School didn’t stand out from other schools when Confucius was alive. It was in Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu accepted Dong Zhongshu, a Ru scholar’s proposal, highlighted Ru as the national ruling doctrine. In Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi, another great Ru scholar improved Ru by assimilating Buddhism and Taoism to create a new “Li Doctrine” (see piece 38, 85).

In China, Ru doctrine had dominated all cultural fields: philosophy, politics, sociology, ideology for thousands of years. Its influence was deeply rooted in anything and everywhere. If there was no Ru religion, there would be no Chinese culture.

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