Echoes of History: The road ahead is narrower than imagined

It is often said that the Chinese are best at three things - cooking, agriculture and history.

Among them, history is not only our absolute strength, but sometimes even history fills the gap of religion. Ancient China had the most complete and largest system of historians and historical records in the world.

The lessons of history are the things that Chinese rulers of all dynasties attached great importance to. The emperors of the past dynasties all kept in mind the cautionary maxim that "taking history as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall".

Historical wisdom, it seems that every Chinese has it. The storytelling under the overpass is an alternative "cultural landmark" in ancient cities. No matter how many or few of the merchants and pawns, they can say a few words "for a long time, they will be together, and if they are together for a long time, they must be divided" and "historical reincarnation".

In the Chinese cultural market, the "historical craze" is even more enduring. Among them, the most studied, the most profound, the most controversial, and the most widely concerned is undoubtedly the modern history since 1840.

Three Paradigms for Understanding Modern History

Regarding modern Chinese history, there are roughly three research paradigms:

◎ The first paradigm: The modern history of China since 1840 is a history of saving the nation and trying to survive .

This paradigm is in the mainstream position in the field of history, and it has an overwhelming theme, that is, "Salvation and National Independence," and it is like a torch that is passed in the hands of all classes. The mainstream narratives we hear and learn from childhood are roughly as follows:

First, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement led by the peasant class, followed by the Westernization Movement led by the feudal landlord class, the Hundred Days Reform and the establishment of the constitution at the end of the Qing Dynasty, followed by the Revolution of 1911 initiated by the bourgeoisie, and later the May Fourth Movement. …

The above national salvation movements all ended in failure. Since then, after a bloody and brutal turmoil, it was not until 1949 that a new chapter in history was opened.

◎ The second paradigm: The modern history of China since 1840 is a history that responded to the impact of the West.

In Western academic circles, one of the mainstream perspectives in the study of modern Chinese history is the "shock-response" model of the Sinologist Fairbank.

In his works such as "Shock and Response" and "Cambridge History of China" , he believes that facing the impact of Western civilization, how China responded is the main theme of modern Chinese history.

In Chinese academic circles, this paradigm has a wide influence. For example, the famous historian Huang Renyu once pointed out, "The Opium War, the Westernization Movement, the Hundred Days of Reform, the Constitutionalism in the late Qing Dynasty, the Revolution of 1911 and the May Fourth Movement were interconnected, forming a series of echelon reactions. The greater the external pressure, the more China's response stronger."

◎ The third paradigm: The modern history of China since 1840 is a history of learning from the West and integrating into modern civilization .

The skeptics of the "shock and response" paradigm believe that, in Fairbank's eyes, China itself has no impetus for change, and only shock will drive change. This seriously ignores China's own subjective initiative.

Scholars who adhere to this paradigm believe that facing the impact of the West, China does not only have to respond passively. On the contrary, it has a strong willingness to learn from the West. Its representative is Jiang Tingfu, a scholar of the Republic of China. In 1938, in his book "Modern Chinese History", he pointed out that in order for China to survive, it must be "Westernized"—learning Western utensils, systems, ideas, and so on.

From this perspective, China is like a college student studying hard in a cold window, constantly improving its learning content, methods and methods, trying to get a satisfactory score in this historical exam.

It can be said that most of the historical works we can see can be included in the above three paradigms. The main difference is that, with different perspectives and different value scales, the events and characters connected in series present different historical aspects. So, is there a new paradigm that can closely address the core issues of China’s modern transformation and change, and help us re-understand China since 1840?

Have. Teacher Wang Renbo's new book "China since 1840" is a new paradigm for re-understanding history from the perspective of public law. So, what exactly is new in this paradigm?

We all know that the year "1840" has been repeatedly told because it is a major divide between "traditional China" and "modern China". However, what is the fundamental difference between tradition and modernity? In the above three paradigms, this may be a fringe issue, but in the perspective of political science, or "public law" (constitution), it is the core issue of recent history.

For example, no matter which paradigm of modern Chinese history, the word "modernization" cannot be avoided. In the mainstream historical paradigm, it is mainly the modernization of artifacts, which is a tool for a powerful country, but from the perspective of public law, modernization is the first priority. The problems, however, are fundamental issues such as the nature and structure of the state, the source and attribution of power, and how to establish relationships between people.

To put it simply, under the general paradigm of history, people's first reaction is either "what is the truth of history" or "what is the law of history", but after reading Teacher Wang Renbo's "China Since 1840" , the first reaction may be "History What is the real problem?"

When the "truth" is revealed to the world, historical tragedies may not be repeated; if the "laws" (if any) of history are mastered, they may not be repeated, but if the real problems of history can be grasped, the results may be very different.

"Greenwich Mean Time for the Modern State"

In 1861, the young Cixi launched the "Xin You Coup", which began her "listening to politics" for more than half a century. At this time, on the other side of the earth, the famous British legal historian Maine, in the book "Ancient Law" , wrote in great detail the most essential difference between modern countries and pre-modern countries - " from identity to contract ".

In pre-modern countries, there was a one-dimensional dependence between people. Whether it was the general public or the social elite, they could not escape the blood dependence of "monarch, monarch, minister, father, son and son", and "lead the soil". On the coast, could it be the personal attachment of a king and minister".

After the emergence of the modern concept of equality for all, individuals broke free from the attachment structure of blood and became independent and free individuals.

This leads to a classic paradox - since people are born with freedom and equality, why build a country?

Because the state can provide the most basic order, otherwise society will fall back into a savage jungle state and fall into a war of "all against all".

However, the state must promise that everyone remains a free and equal person in a state of being ruled.

That promise is the Constitution. That's why Rousseau said, "It is only after we become citizens that we truly begin to become human beings."

It can be seen that the fundamental difference between tradition and modernity is not science, technology, market, or even a political system, but whether the source, attribution, and boundaries of power are stipulated in the form of constitution, and from this core proposition as the origin , to build a legal and institutional system.

Teacher Wang Renbo said: "The Constitution is the Greenwich Mean Time that defines the modern country. " The first and second volumes of "China Since 1840" discuss the modernity of law and the Chineseness of law .

China's three major transformation dilemmas since 1840

In 1840, in the face of the mighty force of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, the majesty of the Qing Empire was swept away, the eternal dream of the Celestial Dynasty was shattered, and a bloody gap was opened on the heavy and rusty gate of the country, and the vigorous modernization transformation began. .

However, the order of the Chinese Empire, which has been polished for thousands of years, has gradually become more refined and perfected. Its operation is as precise as a clock, and its degree of tightness does not leave any room for the transformation of the country marked by constitutionalism.

In the book "China since 1840", Mr. Wang Renbo summed up three major "transition dilemmas":

◎Transformation dilemma 1 : Modernization is an order of infinite expansion. When China was forcibly dragged into the modern world system, it immediately fell into a dilemma: if it followed the old rules, it would naturally lead to a dead end, but if it was radically Westernized, there would be a reaction of rejection and social collapse. To paraphrase a popular saying: if you don't modernize, you will die; if you modernize, you will die.

Roughly since the Axial Age , Chinese culture and the West are almost completely different in major issues such as political system (centralization and decentralization), economic system (free market and government-business economy), and legal system (rule of man and rule of law).

A person's repeated behavior forms a habit; a common habit of a group is a custom; a region's custom constitutes a tradition; a tradition accumulated over thousands of years is a culture. As the only society (Toynbee) that has survived to this day, it is almost an impossible task to change the culture in China.

The difficulty of China's modernization transformation is evident.

◎Transformation dilemma 2 : The basic aspect of the history of Western civilization is that from tradition to modernity, it is necessary to “centralize power first (build a secular absolutist state), and then decentralize power (on an equal foundation, let power be separated and balanced)” process . However, as a super-large central empire with a history of 2,000 years of unification, China, if it "centralizes power first", the inertia of history is likely to return to tradition immediately, leaving the fragile modern transformation stillborn.

Teacher Wang Renbo said: "The transformation of modernization requires a 'legal supreme authority', through which various resources are mobilized and various forces are organized, so as to lead modernization into the road of success."

However, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, China is like a mosaic. From a distance, it seems to be a whole, but from a close view, it is full of fragments. The authority of the central government has declined. autonomous power.

Under such circumstances, even if the Republic of China, known as the "first democratic republic in Asia", the ultimate effect of its constitution, far from being able to form an effective separation of powers and checks and balances, has further aggravated division and turmoil.

Since then, after the turmoil, the centralization of power has been completed, but in the second half of the transformation, the difficulties faced remain the same.

In this regard, Mr. Wang Renbo spent three chapters in the book, analyzing the most important constitutional practices since the 1950s—the May Fourth Constitution, the Seventh Five-Year Constitution, and the Eighty-two Constitution. Finally, Mr. Wang Renbo wrote sensitively and sternly:

"The revolutionary narrative connected with class has not become the past. It still exists in the present. While participating in the shaping of China's modernity, it also shapes itself. This is an unavoidable Chinese characteristic when modernity moves towards the great power of the East."

◎Transformation dilemma 3 : In traditional society, there is a clear distinction between the elite and the people. The former actively seeks and even throws their heads and sheds blood, while the latter is the opposite. It is no different from the quiet times that are often said today. Therefore, in the transition to modern times In the process, the strange phenomenon of "the people are not in a hurry, the elites are in a hurry" naturally appeared.

The logic of power in traditional society is "to fight the country - to sit on the country". Politics is the business of bureaucrats and literati. For the people, the government is just the object of tax payment, whether it is handed over to the Li (Tang) family or Zhao (Song) home, there is no substantial difference.

However, the constitution as a transition to modernity is a non-coercive contract between the state and the people. If the people do not participate, no matter how perfect the constitution designed by the elite is, it will be nothing but a castle in the air. Rooted and sprouted.

On the one hand, there is the tradition that the people are not anxious for the elites, and on the other hand, the reality that it cannot function without the participation of the people constitutes an important reason for the repeated failures of the revolving lantern-like constitutional experiments since 1840 and the repeated setbacks of the modern transformation.

The three classic dilemmas can be summed up in a word. The transformation since 1840 is like an old bottle cannot contain new wine. If you use a new bottle from another company, it will also make your own wine taste bad. This is the problem of China's reform. where. It can be seen that the road ahead is narrower than imagined .

"Uncle Wang in the legal world" is a lonely and sensitive person

Teacher Wang Renbo once told such a story:

"One day it was so cold that I finally got into the car. As soon as I got in the car, Brother Jing kept nagging. He asked me which unit I belonged to and what I did. I answered truthfully and told him that I taught the law. Law? Answer, it teaches the most worthless law. Brother Jing replied, oh, it teaches the constitution?!"

This short story is undoubtedly a vivid metaphor for Wang Renbo's constitutionalism in China.

◎ He described himself as a "lonely sensitive person". In the voyage across the Three Gorges of History, many subjects that are traditional in the West, such as political science and constitutional law, often seem to be a bit ahead of time, and Mr. Wang Renbo is undoubtedly one of the few genuine constitutional scholars.

"They try to give up thinking about their external situation and throw their minds into dreams and nothingness, but they are reluctant to part with this seductive world; they are both supporters of this world and helpless ones of this spiritual world." This is the lonely and sensitive person in the eyes of Teacher Wang Renbo.

◎ He is known as a scholar with profound humanistic feelings and critical spirit in the legal circle. In 2003, Wang Renbo published The Chinese Way of Modern Politics. His student Yu Ge asked: "Why is it not the way of modern politics in China?" He smiled, "Subconsciously, what I want to highlight is 'modern politics'. See it as a common universal value, regardless of whether China, The United States, any country must comply."

◎ The former spiritual leader of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, now the doctoral tutor of China University of Political Science and Law, is very good at ridicule. He also has another title - "Uncle Wang in the field of law". A scholar asked him at the dinner table: Mr. Wang, how do you write the word rule of law? He turned slightly sideways, his eyes squinting: write as you say, write as you say.

In addition to being able to "speak", this uncle Wang in the legal field is also an "all-round player" in painting, music, film, and photography. Of course, what impresses all the students who have just entered the hall of law is his tall and handsome appearance and charming demeanor when speaking.

In the book "China since 1840", Mr. Wang Renbo believes that any experience in modern times is the common choice of the people in that period. History is like the clothes cut by a nation. Once put on, it can never be taken off again. down.

As the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen said, " Everyone is responsible for the society to which he belongs, and he has a share in the ills of that society ".

The mistakes of one generation should be shared by at least three generations. Without such courage and determination, we may never be able to progress.

Today, when "history fever" is popular, some books pursue "history is actually very interesting", some books pursue "history has pictures and truth", and some books seek "the ultimate law of history". But there are always some books that stubbornly ask "the real problems of history", and use real problems to reconnect major events, big figures, and important ideas. Teacher Wang Renbo's book "China Since 1840" undoubtedly belongs to the latter. .

If the road ahead is narrower than imagined, we should face up to the real problems of history.

Of course, the people who understand the value of this book the most should be the first reader of the book and the publisher who communicates with the author the most, Mr. Fan Xin and his editors. Their recommendation for this book is: "China Since 1840" The "moments" and "concepts" of key figures are intertwined, discussing the evolution and transformation of modern China, integrating the insights of historians, the rigor of jurists, and the wisdom of philosophers in one book.