The 14th Anniversary of Bo Yang's Death 丨 "Read "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" with the mood of reading a newspaper, and only then can you discover its function"

text/Bo Yang

hourly news press: April 29 is the 14th anniversary of the death of writer Bo Yang . His words are as sharp as a knife, and "The Ugly Chinese" has made him a symbol of the times, allowing Chinese people to fully ferment their reflection on traditional culture.

On April 29, 2008, Bo Yang died of respiratory failurein Gengsin Hospital in Xindian, Taiwan. He was 89 years old. According to his last wish, his family scattered some of his ashes in the waters near Green Island. Two years later, his wife Under the escort of his son, some of Bo Yang's ashes were buried in Fushouyuan Cemetery in Xinzheng, Henan, his hometown.

Bo Yang’s works are still being published today. In 2021, Oriental Publishing House will publish Bo Yang’s "Bo Yang’s Tongjian Chronicle" (all ten volumes). The price of the hardcover version is as high as 1499 yuan, but the publishing house said this The 5,000 copies of the book have all been sold out and are being urgently reprinted; " Bo Yang's vernacular version of Zi Zhi Tong Jian " will also be released at the end of June. The following is the preface (excerpt) of "Bo Yang Edition Tongjian Chronicle" (excerpt), hourly news forwarded with authorization:

" Zizhi Tongjian " is one of the two most valuable history books in China. Browse this book, You can gain a systematic and full understanding of China's ancient and medieval societies from the 5th century BC to the 10th century AD, which is more than 1,300 years old. Reading "Tongjian" is like reading the newspapers issued every day at that time. There are cloudy weather in astronomy, joys and sorrows in the world, bloody fights on the battlefield, political conspiracy and struggle; some people are happy, some are crying, and some are happy. Get bubbling, some people have been miserable.

In this newspaper, one can read long and righteous speeches of careerists, and one can also hear weird and shameless whispers of politicians. Day by day, these newspapers were bound into volumes, and it became the bound book "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" that we see today. Only by reading "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" with the mood of reading a newspaper can you discover its function.

Thanks to Mr. Sima Guang for his contribution. He created this bound edition of the newspaper, which is called the "Chronicle" style, and also collected a large number of political news, military news, and economic news that the editor thought were the most important at that time. And some astronomical or other social news.

However, just like any good thing must have shortcomings, it is impossible for a newspaper to publish a special news. Assuming that this news has continuity, it is impossible for a newspaper to report only this news every day. Large-scale wars or political disputes often last for several years, ten years, or even decades. Therefore, if a reader wants to obtain a complete report on a certain event from "Tong Jian", he will be exhausted.

And this shortcoming appeared immediately after the publication of "Tongjian". Just because "Tongjian" is too heavy and has too many articles, there is nothing to do for a while. It was not until the appearance of Mr. Yuan Shu and in the twelfth century a hundred years later that this problem was solved. He picked out all the related events in "Tong Jian", that is, cut out all the reports on a certain topic in the newspaper, reassembled and pasted them in order, this task sounds like a piece of cake, but he was full of it. It took at least two years before it was initially completed, and it was named "Tongjian Chronicle". In modern language, it is "Zi Zhi Tong Jian Historical Story".

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​​Someone once thought that "Benmo" could replace "Tongjian", but the facts proved that it could not, just as newspaper scrapbooks cannot replace newspaper bound editions. "Tongjian" is like a vast ocean, with tens of millions of fish and thousands of species; " Chronicle of the Beginning and the End of " is like a series of ponds. Although there are tens of thousands of fish in each pond, they are all of the same nature and species.

Although this book uses Mr. Yuan Shu's name "Chronicle of History", and Mr. Yang Wanli 's preface, it is not a translation of Mr. Yuan Shu's original work. Yuan Shu's version of "The Chronicle of Chronicles" comes from Sima Guang's version of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", while this book comes from "Bo Yang's version of Zi Zhi Tong Jian". The chapters in Bo Yang's version have the division method of Bo Yang's version. The reason why I used "Chronicles of the History" instead of "Tong Jian Stories" is that it has been used for a thousand years, and it is indeed a good title.

This article is an original work of Qianjiang Evening News. Without permission, reprinting, copying, excerpts, rewriting, and network dissemination are prohibited. Otherwise, this newspaper will pursue the legal responsibility of the infringer through judicial channels.