Author: Hu Ping
I dare not say, for Jews, religion is their history. But I do dare to say that for Chinese people, history is our religion.
Chinese people lack religion and external transcendent faith, but it is not that they lack moral adherence or the pursuit of life’s meaning. What others have provided by religion is provided by history here here. Others rely on religion, but we rely on history.
We do not believe in the immortality of the soul, but we do believe in the three immortalities of virtue, words, and achievements. In other words, we believe that people can be passed down through their virtue, words, or achievements. Immortality means being immortal in the continuation of humanity, that is, in history. We do not believe in the judgment of the end, but we do believe in the judgment of history. We do not believe in a just God, but we do believe in a just history.
We do not believe in heaven or hell, nor that good people ascend to heaven and enjoy eternal happiness, nor that bad people go to hell to be punished forever. But we believe in history, that good people will be remembered for generations, and that bad people will be infamous for generations.
Compared with other ancient civilizations, China has the longest, richest, most continuous, and most complete historical records. Chinese history has at least two characteristics: first, its insistence on authenticity, unafraid of power and its straightforward writing; First, it emphasizes moral judgment, with the Spring and Autumn style implying praise and criticism.
writing history with praise or criticism. Some modern Western scholars may disagree (note), but it is crucial for us Chinese. “Confucius composed the Spring and Autumn Annals, and the treacherous ministers and traitors were afraid.” In China, bad people don’t believe in hell and do anything; the only thing they can still fear is the judge of history. Therefore, Chinese history cannot but fulfill the role of moral judgment. Wen Tianxiang died with composure, and his spiritual support was ‘to leave a loyal heart to illuminate history.’ Qin Hui plotted against Yue Fei and hesitated for a time—not out of fear of being reprimanded while alive, but fearing he would be scorned after death and be remembered in history. During the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi was framed by Mao Zedong and left speechless. He could only comfort himself with this sentence: “Fortunately, history is written by the people.” ”
In China, history is the instinct of good people in real life to avoid harm and seek benefit. The only support for upholding moral ideals is the only hope for the unfortunate when trapped in desperate situations, and the only fear that villains dare not act recklessly despite their great power. The more extreme the situation, the more the Chinese people feel reliance on history. “Only in times of hardship does integrity appear, each one recorded in painting.” Perhaps some Chinese people have never felt this dependence; they think they can live morally without relying on history. In fact, it’s simply because they are either too lucky, or too shallow and naive, never experiencing or considering the isolation and helplessness humans face in the face of violence and disaster in this world.
Dostoevsky said: “If God did not exist, everything would be possible.” Nietzsche said, “God is dead.” Many Chinese scholars have elaborated on these two sentences, inspiring deep reflection. But in the Chinese context, these comments seem like nitpicking at an itch. Because Chinese people never believed in the God in the minds of Westerners. The problem in the West is that, due to the decline of faith in God, it has triggered a serious moral crisis; However, in China, moral order does not depend on faith in God. Our religion is history. Religious crises are their stories; history is the real story. If our history is in crisis, our morality will also be in crisis.
Lin Zexu lamented in his later years: “Who decides right and wrong in history?” The significance of this statement to Chinese people can be easily compared to the two quotes of Tuo Weng and Nietzsche mentioned above. Once we Chinese begin to doubt history, doubt whether history can distill truth, doubt whether history can reach universally accepted moral conclusions about people and events, and doubt the fairness and reliability of history; In other words, once we Chinese lose our naive faith in history, our traditional moral order is fundamentally shaken (which is precisely the problem modern Chinese face). Totalitarianism is history’s greatest enemy. Authoritarian rulers carefully and systematically distort history, drowning out the truth with lies. Mao Zedong demanded “turning history upside down again,” completely overturning traditional historical evaluations. But conversely, this also shows that authoritarian rulers, like us, value history greatly; they attempt to replace previous history with their own set of history—including their own historical narrative and their own set of historical moral judgments. It seeks to steal the sacred aura of history, so it still retains its sacred appearance.
later totalitarianism changed the approach. It must change its approach, because by the later stages of totalitarian rule, the historical narratives fabricated by rulers had become flawed and lost their deceptive power; Its moral judgment of history is also contradictory and can no longer hold its ground. In the post-totalitarian era, rulers must continue to weave and construct their own history using old methods, while on the other hand, they begin to encourage cynicism toward history, striving to dissolve the sanctity of history in the minds of the Chinese people.
similar to the Qing dynasty imperial dramas from a few years ago under the title “Dramatic Storytelling” and the current “Heroes.” These films and dramas praise autocracy and secretly align with the “main melody”; If you want to criticize, it will claim it’s just a joke and entertainment, so why take it seriously? It’s like someone pretending to be drunk and insulting someone—because they’re pretending to be drunk, they know exactly who should and shouldn’t be scolded; But if you argue with him and he acts drunk, it will seem like you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.
setting aside whether it’s real or pretending to be drunk, this frivolous attitude toward history is also worrying. Kundera said: “The struggle of humanity against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” “The traditional methods of great power over history are smear and distortion, attempting to pass falsehood as truth, evil as good; When this technique failed, it put on a playful, playful expression. It strives to make people believe that the debate between the truth and falsehood of historical facts and the debate over evaluating history are actually unimportant; Don’t treat history as so solemn or sacred. At first glance, cynicism toward history seems to treat both the powerful and the rebels equally, good and evil equally. It dissolves both the sacredness of the rebels and the sacredness of the powerful, mutually recognized;But in reality, those in power can disregard history. To be precise, those in power initially try to use history and thus fabricate it (think of the “Ministry of Truth” in “1984”). After the forgery fails, the powerful become furious and turn to desecrate, mock, and destroy history. But we cannot do without history. Dissolving the sanctity of history leads people to simply “live in the present,” taking immediate interests as the sole criterion for life. Therefore, it benefits those in power but harms those who resist and the masses, and it benefits evil but harms good.
For Chinese people lacking religion, if history is no longer sacred, then what is sacred? What kind of life would it be if Chinese people lost their sanctity?
As Chinese people, we must hold a deep respect for history.
Note: Among Western scholars, some also advocate that history has a moral purpose. Take Acton, for example, the British historian famous for the saying, “Power leads to corruption, and absolute power leads to absolute corruption.” Acton was a liberal. He believed that making judgments about history was the responsibility of historians. After collecting evidence without bias, historians must make judgments and describe personality based on these facts. He agreed with Edmond. Burke’s view is, “True political principles are those that also enhance morality”; He warned historians: “No one can tolerate anyone or escape history for any reason, and history has the right to eternal punishment for its errors.” ”
February 2003