In his letter to congratulate the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on its establishment, Comrade Xi Jinping emphasized that it is a fine tradition for the Chinese nation to attach importance to history, study history and draw lessons from history for more than 5000 years. Contemporary China is the continuation and development of historical China. In order to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, it is more necessary to systematically study Chinese history and culture, to deeply grasp the historical law of human development, to draw wisdom from in-depth thinking of history and to move towards the future. This important exposition profoundly expounds the great significance of historical research, which will surely become a powerful ideological driving force to promote the development of Chinese historiography. To uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, we must raise our understanding of Chinese history to a higher level. This is the glorious mission of contemporary history researchers.
Deeply Exploring the Path of Chinese Historical Development under the Guidance of Marxism
To raise our understanding of China's history to a higher level, we must explore the road of China's historical development in depth. Exploring the road of China's historical development is a very important and magnificent subject, and we must adhere to the guidance of Marxism. In the report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Party, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out that the development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics must be guided by Marxism, adhere to the position of Chinese culture, base itself on the reality of contemporary China and combine the conditions of the present era. This is also the principle that we must follow in exploring the road of China's historical development, especially to highlight the important guiding significance of Marxism in the 21st century and contemporary China to historical research.
China's history contains rich experience, wisdom and creative spirit. The development of the Chinese nation not only conforms to the common law of the development of human society, but also has its own distinct characteristics. One of the most important tasks in the study of Chinese history in the new era is to explore the way of Chinese history development in depth under the guidance of Marxism. What stages has the evolution of Chinese history gone through and what are the basic characteristics of each stage? Among all countries in the world, China's feudal society has experienced the longest time and the highest degree of development. What are its main operating mechanisms and what are the regularities? What is the internal motive force that has promoted the development of the Chinese nation's pluralism and integration for thousands of years? The Chinese nation has created a splendid culture. What is the essence of its success? How has China strengthened its ties with other countries in the world for thousands of years and made great contributions to the development of human civilization? Focusing on the general topic of the road of China's historical development, and constantly introducing new achievements on the basis of previous scholars'existing achievements, we can further deepen our understanding of the laws of history and stimulate national self-confidence and pride. We should adhere to the guidance of Marxism, clarify the internal relationship between the past and the present from the perspective of continuity of historical development, reveal the laws contained therein, and provide historical basis and spiritual nourishment for the current determination of "four self-confidence". This subject is of great significance and arduous task. It can be pushed forward in the form of cooperative research.
Strengthen the Theoretical Innovation in History Research
Strengthening theoretical innovation is the inherent requirement of raising the understanding of Chinese history to a higher level. It is also the inevitable requirement of constructing the discipline system, academic system and discourse system of history with Chinese characteristics. It is also the common appeal of many scholars at present. The theory of historical research is a proper summary of a historical phenomenon or a certain historical period. It has important guiding significance for specific research work because of the realization of essential knowledge. In order to compose a new chapter in the new era, China's historiography should put theoretical innovation in an important position to embody the Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and Chinese style of China's historiography.
Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, Chinese scholars have put forward many theoretical propositions in the study of Chinese history, which has played an important guiding role in the research work. For example, in the field of ancient Chinese history research, we put forward the pluralistic and integrated pattern of the Chinese nation, the development of historical and cultural identity and unified multi-ethnic country, the unbalanced development of feudal society in China and the feudalization process of vast frontier areas, the historical outlook of the Great Song Dynasty and the new "Song Xue" outlook, and the early industrialization of Jiangnan area in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. These theoretical propositions are sufficient to illustrate our There is good momentum. The formation of a theory needs a process of continuous improvement and perfection. For example, in the 1950s, Chinese historians put forward the idea of "the germination of capitalism", which aroused heated discussion and became one of the "five golden flowers" of the historians, and played a significant role in promoting the study of economic history in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since then, some researchers have put forward different opinions that the idea of "the germination of capitalism" elevated the prosperity of cities and the development of handicraft industry in the later period of Chinese feudal society. Academically, it is not surprising that a theoretical point of view has been criticized. Therefore, we should not dare to make theoretical innovations. In recent years, some scholars have put forward the viewpoint of "early industrialization in Jiangnan region", which is broader and longer than the viewpoint of "budding capitalism", but it also refers to the active commerce and developed commodity economy in Jiangnan region in the late Ming Dynasty and later, and has new economic factors compared with traditional society. This shows that the view of "the germination of capitalism" is a summary of objective historical phenomena and has theoretical innovation value. As for how to name and evaluate properly, we can freely discuss and express our opinions.