History academy marks 5th year

Fruits of Chinese civilization celebrated in detail with publishing of new books

The Chinese Academy of History issued two books to mark the fifth anniversary of its founding at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

The books, Outline of Chinese History (New Edition) and Concise History of Chinese Civilization, follow the outlines of Chinese history from the origins of civilization to modern times, reflecting on its development from various facets including politics, economy, culture and national unity.

Their publishers said the books explore the driving forces and genes of Chinese civilization based on new achievements in historical and archaeological studies.

In Concise History of Chinese Civilization, its authors chart the evolution of ancient China, including its governance patterns, world views and ritual systems.

The Chinese Academy of History was founded on Jan 3, 2019. President Xi Jinping issued a congratulatory letter for its founding, calling on the country's historians to improve their research and innovation to better summarize historical experience, reveal patterns and grasp the trend of history.

Xi visited the academy on June 2, and underlined the importance of shouldering new cultural missions and building a modern Chinese civilization.

Li Guoqiang, deputy director of the academy, said at Thursday's news conference that the new books echoed Xi's remarks to clarify the trajectory of the evolution of Chinese society and tell the general patterns of Chinese history.

"In the books, we also reveal exchanges between Chinese civilization and its overseas counterparts in history and demonstrate their global significance in a modern context," he said.

"From its origins more than 5,000 years ago, Chinese civilization showed its feature of diversity and inclusiveness," said Li Xinwei, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and co-author of Concise History of Chinese Civilization.

"Various cultures were nurtured across a vast land, but frequent communications and close links between different regions also bred many shared cultural elements," he explained. "The cultural core of Central China later emerged with a great horizon for politics that set a basic tone for later Chinese history."

According to Li Guoqiang, the country's past five years have witnessed the fruitful achievements of other studies concerning the histories of the Communist Party of China, ancient China and the world, since the establishment of the academy.

For example, the seven-volume General History of Dunhuang was published last year tracing a two-millennia vicissitude of a pivotal city on the ancient Silk Road.

Best known for its UNESCO World Heritage Site the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu province, is a trove of Buddhist art and precious ancient manuscripts. However, recordings in ancient Chinese books about the place were generally scattered and lacked systematic clues, said Li Meitian, a professor at Renmin University of China.

"The new book fills a gap and gives a comprehensive review of its history," the professor commented. "It is a monumental work to introduce our own perspective on Dunhuang studies and correct some previous misunderstandings among scholars."

Because of the history in the early 20th century, many Dunhuang manuscripts were lost to Europe and Japan, and related studies used to be centered overseas until the situation began to change in recent years.

Chinese historians also showed their own observations on world civilization. Last year, the four-volume Grand General History of Byzantine Empire was published. It was the first multi-volume general history book about that empire compiled by Chinese scholars.

"The books reflect Chinese scholars' viewpoints and analysis of world history," said Yan Shaoxiang, a professor at Capital Normal University. "The authors have included Byzantine emperors' biographies in the book. That format was a tradition of Chinese histography in ancient times."

Chinese scholars also published a general history of Arabic nations in Africa for the first time in 2022. Yan said these books also provided crucial references for the Belt and Road Initiative.