People's specific and subtle joys, sorrows, joys and sorrows not only shape their personal destiny, but also profoundly affect the course of history. How do human emotions affect history? How are they shaped by history? How did emotion enter the field of historical research? In J

People's specific and subtle joys, sorrows, joys and sorrows not only shape their personal destiny, but also profoundly affect the course of history. How do human emotions affect history? How are they shaped by history? How did emotion enter the field of historical research? In June this year, Wang Qingjia, a professor of history at Rowan University in the United States, published "What is the History of Emotions?" "publishing. On June 26, Wang Qingjia held a conversation with Luo Xin, professor of the Department of History at Peking University, and Wang Minan, professor of the School of Humanities at Tsinghua University, on the topic of the history of emotions.

Event site

1

The history of emotions provides us with a new perspective for re-looking at the historical process

Wang Qingjia: Today, the history of emotions can be said to have achieved very vigorous development in China and around the world. The reason why it has received so much attention is actually that I am not only interested in the field of history, but also closely related to the development of many fields such as literature, history, philosophy, psychology, society, human beings, including natural sciences, especially neuromedicine. Therefore, the prosperity of emotional history actually has its inevitability. In fact, before the rise of modern historiography, emotions were very abundant in Chinese history writing. For example, there is the so-called "Yuliang Complex" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Of course, this was written by the author of the romance, but there are similar records in historical materials. The most famous thing is that Sima Qian talked about Xiang Yu's "arrogance" and "hypocrisy" in "The Chronicles of Xiang Yu" and described his strong sense of honor and emphasis on reputation.

There are actually many writings about emotions in ancient history, but since modern times, history has emphasized impartial, objective and calm narratives, eliminating the emotion part. It needs to be emphasized that the practice of historical research in the past was to belittle the role of emotion in history, but this pursuit of rationality and objectivity only originated from a historical movement in modern times. As one of Ranke’s advocacy, “writing truthfully” has had a great influence in countries and regions outside Europe, bringing about the universal pursuit of objectivity in history.

However, judging from the academic development after World War II, with the rise of various emerging schools, especially women’s history, gender history, family history, etc., people have once again noticed that emotions have the same impact on the process of history as rational behavior. Great impact. I often talk about the occurrence of the revolution and the May 4th Movement. Of course there were rational factors, but behind the May 4th Movement was the unequal treatment we felt. This was actually a humiliating feeling. China was a participating country in the war and provided almost 20,000 workers. However, after we were invited to the Paris Peace Conference as a victorious country, we received no benefits at all. Even our territory had to be transferred to Japan. There were rational considerations in this, but at that time, these students took to the streets and rushed to Cao Rulin's house to set fire to it. This was obviously driven by emotion and was not entirely rational behavior. In fact, all social movements have this type of component in them. Emotional rendering and emotional mobilization in many areas have played a very important role in the historical process.

Wang Qingjia

Luo Xin: In the past historical research, or modern history, the research objects were initially grand narratives, initially political history, then economic history, and then many aspects were included in the scope of historical research. Come in. But in any case, the historical data of these studies are relatively stable and easy to explain. It can also be said that they are relatively rational. Some materials that are not very fluid, such as emotions, were generally not included in historical research in the past. However, with the development of the times and academics, this limitation has changed. For example, in recent decades, psychohistory has emerged, and psychology has begun to be used to study various historical figures. According to Teacher Wang, research on the history of emotions began in the 1980s. In the past decade or so, it has reached a very high level in both subject theory and practice. History is a conservative discipline, but now people have begun to accept this kind of research and regard the study of emotional history as an important part of history. This is an achievement worthy of attention.

I am currently reading a book related to the history of emotions. It takes the "crying" of the British as a research object. The book is called "Crying Great Britain". When reading this book, I often thought of Chinese history. I thought that during this historical period of almost a thousand years from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China had a mandatory morality, that is, the requirement of "filial piety". For example, it stipulates how a filial person should express his feelings after death. One of the links is about how people should "cry." I noticed that the crying of ancient people was actually very sensational, and they often cried so much that they were "stunned with grief" and even fainted from crying. After reading the book "Crying Great Britain", I learned that when British people express sadness at different times, the content and method of crying are different, the sound is different, and the occasion is different. From this point of view, we can find that emotions such as "filial piety" are sometimes not just an emotion, and sometimes they even have nothing to do with emotion at all. It is a code of conduct. Of course, most of this kind of expression is performance, it is necessary, and the content it requires was particularly detailed in ancient times. Moreover, in different eras, the requirements for expressing this emotion are also different.

The reason why our emotions can be studied in a historical way is that it is not simply a natural emotion. It is not just a creature that changes emotionally and physically after experiencing external or internal stimulation. This resulted in certain reactions. It is precisely because human emotions have dual attributes, both natural and cultural, that the intervention of history is possible and the study of the history of emotions is necessary. Teacher Wang in "What is the History of Emotions?" "This book has discussed the historicity of emotion many times. What is historicity? Historical means that between different groups of people and different cultures, that is, between different places and different times, the amount of emotion and the expression of emotion are different, changing, and different. How we express, how we begin to feel, this feeling is not completely natural, but is affected by culture, psychology, cognition and other aspects. And, how do you recognize this emotion, how do you express it, how do people around you explain it, how do you face it, etc. These will change greatly with culture, time, and space, and this change will It is the real research object of history and the most valuable research object of history.

Luo Xin

2

The emotional turn was the first to occur in the field of cultural theory

Wang Minan: From a cultural theory and philosophy perspective, there are actually two clues to the emotional turn. One clue is related to psychoanalysis, which is Freud. theory, identity politics, etc. Another clue is the French philosopher Deleuze, who rediscovered the 17th-century philosopher Spinoza and his ethics, reinterpreted it and called it "emotional geometry." The "affect" here, we translate it as "emotion", refers to the flow and change of emotions. Deep in the human heart, no emotion is stable. People are a changing emotion. process. Spinoza said that man is an emotional being. This is a very bold statement. It can also be said that it is the first time in the history of European philosophy that human beings are regarded as emotional beings.

Spinoza proposed the existence of emotions in the context of his contemporary philosopher Descartes. We know that the most important point of Descartes’ philosophy is that he regards people as rational beings. His “body-body dichotomy” regards people as rational beings. Because people can doubt and think, He is therefore brain and heart, and has nothing to do with the passions of the body. In the 17th century, this was not only true in the field of philosophy, but also in the social field. For example, during the Renaissance, a "madman" could mix with normal people on the street, and the "madman" was sometimes even regarded as a "madman" Apocalypse"; but by the 17th century, "madmen" were locked up and ostracized. Foucault's "History of Madness in the Classical Era" talks about how rationality took the dominant position in European society. This echoes Descartes' philosophy.

People's specific and subtle joys, sorrows, joys and sorrows not only shape their personal destiny, but also profoundly affect the course of history. How do human emotions affect history? How are they shaped by history? How did emotion enter the field of historical research? In June this year, Wang Qingjia, a professor of history at Rowan University in the United States, published "What is the History of Emotions?" "publishing. On June 26, Wang Qingjia held a conversation with Luo Xin, professor of the Department of History at Peking University, and Wang Minan, professor of the School of Humanities at Tsinghua University, on the topic of the history of emotions.

Event site

1

The history of emotions provides us with a new perspective for re-looking at the historical process

Wang Qingjia: Today, the history of emotions can be said to have achieved very vigorous development in China and around the world. The reason why it has received so much attention is actually that I am not only interested in the field of history, but also closely related to the development of many fields such as literature, history, philosophy, psychology, society, human beings, including natural sciences, especially neuromedicine. Therefore, the prosperity of emotional history actually has its inevitability. In fact, before the rise of modern historiography, emotions were very abundant in Chinese history writing. For example, there is the so-called "Yuliang Complex" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Of course, this was written by the author of the romance, but there are similar records in historical materials. The most famous thing is that Sima Qian talked about Xiang Yu's "arrogance" and "hypocrisy" in "The Chronicles of Xiang Yu" and described his strong sense of honor and emphasis on reputation.

There are actually many writings about emotions in ancient history, but since modern times, history has emphasized impartial, objective and calm narratives, eliminating the emotion part. It needs to be emphasized that the practice of historical research in the past was to belittle the role of emotion in history, but this pursuit of rationality and objectivity only originated from a historical movement in modern times. As one of Ranke’s advocacy, “writing truthfully” has had a great influence in countries and regions outside Europe, bringing about the universal pursuit of objectivity in history.

However, judging from the academic development after World War II, with the rise of various emerging schools, especially women’s history, gender history, family history, etc., people have once again noticed that emotions have the same impact on the process of history as rational behavior. Great impact. I often talk about the occurrence of the revolution and the May 4th Movement. Of course there were rational factors, but behind the May 4th Movement was the unequal treatment we felt. This was actually a humiliating feeling. China was a participating country in the war and provided almost 20,000 workers. However, after we were invited to the Paris Peace Conference as a victorious country, we received no benefits at all. Even our territory had to be transferred to Japan. There were rational considerations in this, but at that time, these students took to the streets and rushed to Cao Rulin's house to set fire to it. This was obviously driven by emotion and was not entirely rational behavior. In fact, all social movements have this type of component in them. Emotional rendering and emotional mobilization in many areas have played a very important role in the historical process.

Wang Qingjia

Luo Xin: In the past historical research, or modern history, the research objects were initially grand narratives, initially political history, then economic history, and then many aspects were included in the scope of historical research. Come in. But in any case, the historical data of these studies are relatively stable and easy to explain. It can also be said that they are relatively rational. Some materials that are not very fluid, such as emotions, were generally not included in historical research in the past. However, with the development of the times and academics, this limitation has changed. For example, in recent decades, psychohistory has emerged, and psychology has begun to be used to study various historical figures. According to Teacher Wang, research on the history of emotions began in the 1980s. In the past decade or so, it has reached a very high level in both subject theory and practice. History is a conservative discipline, but now people have begun to accept this kind of research and regard the study of emotional history as an important part of history. This is an achievement worthy of attention.

I am currently reading a book related to the history of emotions. It takes the "crying" of the British as a research object. The book is called "Crying Great Britain". When reading this book, I often thought of Chinese history. I thought that during this historical period of almost a thousand years from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China had a mandatory morality, that is, the requirement of "filial piety". For example, it stipulates how a filial person should express his feelings after death. One of the links is about how people should "cry." I noticed that the crying of ancient people was actually very sensational, and they often cried so much that they were "stunned with grief" and even fainted from crying. After reading the book "Crying Great Britain", I learned that when British people express sadness at different times, the content and method of crying are different, the sound is different, and the occasion is different. From this point of view, we can find that emotions such as "filial piety" are sometimes not just an emotion, and sometimes they even have nothing to do with emotion at all. It is a code of conduct. Of course, most of this kind of expression is performance, it is necessary, and the content it requires was particularly detailed in ancient times. Moreover, in different eras, the requirements for expressing this emotion are also different.

The reason why our emotions can be studied in a historical way is that it is not simply a natural emotion. It is not just a creature that changes emotionally and physically after experiencing external or internal stimulation. This resulted in certain reactions. It is precisely because human emotions have dual attributes, both natural and cultural, that the intervention of history is possible and the study of the history of emotions is necessary. Teacher Wang in "What is the History of Emotions?" "This book has discussed the historicity of emotion many times. What is historicity? Historical means that between different groups of people and different cultures, that is, between different places and different times, the amount of emotion and the expression of emotion are different, changing, and different. How we express, how we begin to feel, this feeling is not completely natural, but is affected by culture, psychology, cognition and other aspects. And, how do you recognize this emotion, how do you express it, how do people around you explain it, how do you face it, etc. These will change greatly with culture, time, and space, and this change will It is the real research object of history and the most valuable research object of history.

Luo Xin

2

The emotional turn was the first to occur in the field of cultural theory

Wang Minan: From a cultural theory and philosophy perspective, there are actually two clues to the emotional turn. One clue is related to psychoanalysis, which is Freud. theory, identity politics, etc. Another clue is the French philosopher Deleuze, who rediscovered the 17th-century philosopher Spinoza and his ethics, reinterpreted it and called it "emotional geometry." The "affect" here, we translate it as "emotion", refers to the flow and change of emotions. Deep in the human heart, no emotion is stable. People are a changing emotion. process. Spinoza said that man is an emotional being. This is a very bold statement. It can also be said that it is the first time in the history of European philosophy that human beings are regarded as emotional beings.

Spinoza proposed the existence of emotions in the context of his contemporary philosopher Descartes. We know that the most important point of Descartes’ philosophy is that he regards people as rational beings. His “body-body dichotomy” regards people as rational beings. Because people can doubt and think, He is therefore brain and heart, and has nothing to do with the passions of the body. In the 17th century, this was not only true in the field of philosophy, but also in the social field. For example, during the Renaissance, a "madman" could mix with normal people on the street, and the "madman" was sometimes even regarded as a "madman" Apocalypse"; but by the 17th century, "madmen" were locked up and ostracized. Foucault's "History of Madness in the Classical Era" talks about how rationality took the dominant position in European society. This echoes Descartes' philosophy.

Kant has a very famous saying: What is enlightenment? The core of enlightenment is the public use of one's reason. Rationality is nothing more than reasoning, repeated thinking, and repeated judgment. This has nothing to do with emotion, but upholds the supremacy of reason. Therefore, from the 17th century to the 19th century, European rationalism was too strong, although at this time there was also a short-lived reaction against rationality by the Romantics. In the 20th century, I think this time may also contain the last and deeper rejection of emotion, which is the structuralist trend of thought. Structuralism is not just against emotions. It fundamentally rejects the subject and believes that individuals have no agency and are nothing more than a product of larger structures and systems. This is what Foucault calls "the death of man" and "the death of man". The death of subjectivity”. European philosophy in the first half of the 20th century has always emphasized the death of subjectivity and the power of structural systems. When we were in school, the latest trend of thought that we first came into contact with was the so-called structuralism. Under its influence, we all believed that emotion was a very different thing. Something worthy of trust has no agency and cannot serve as a basis for explanation. Therefore, irrational and emotional functions are rejected and suppressed into the depths of darkness. Europe has a long tradition of rejecting subjects and emotions.

But on the other hand, regarding this supremacy of reason, Spinoza believed that emotion is the basic motivation for a person to choose something. Emotions include both spiritual and physical things. This argument refutes Descartes’ dualistic theory of mind and body. The body and the soul are actually inseparable - when a person is very happy, the body will react, such as dancing; if a person is very sad and sad, the body will naturally shrink. Emotion means simultaneous physical and psychological changes. Including Hegel's "Master-Slave Dialectic". He believed that the biggest characteristic of people being together is the need for recognition and recognition, that is, the struggle for recognition. From the same perspective, the feeling of needing to be recognized, or the sense of self-esteem, is an emotional thing. Saying "man is an animal that needs to be recognized" is equivalent to saying "man is an emotional animal". As an emotional Existence, the core of human beings is to seek to satisfy the emotion of being recognized and respected.

The so-called "genealogy of morality" from Spinoza to Hegel and even Nietzsche is nothing more than talking about how emotions such as resentment, guilt, shame, and guilt are born. From the perspective of the slave's morality, guilt and guilt are good emotions, but from the perspective of the master's morality, they are bad emotions. This moral war between the master and the slave is a history of the evolution of emotions. The genealogy of morality starts from It's basically a spectrum of emotions. Therefore, Deleuze was influenced by Nietzsche and Spinoza and later talked about "desire"; other French philosophers such as Bataille talked about "ambivalent emotions". I think "ambivalent emotions" are very interesting. It refers to, for example, when a person particularly likes something, he is also most afraid of it. The things that tempt you the most are also the things you fear the most. The thing you are most greedy for is also the thing you reject the most. The Apollonian spirit and the Dionysian spirit mentioned by Nietzsche, as two opposing extreme emotions, later influenced Bataille and Foucault. They broke through the cage of structuralism and broke the shackles of reason with irrational intoxication. Influenced by these French philosophers, including Deleuze, Foucault, and Nietzsche, the topic of emotion has returned to the theoretical community and has become a hot issue, which may subsequently have an impact on other disciplines.

Wang Minan

3

The history of emotions allows us to see that the binary opposition method is going bankrupt

Wang Qingjia: What Teacher Wang just said has done a good job of sorting out the interdisciplinary nature of the history of emotions, especially the background of cultural studies. After the 18th century, it is true that the Enlightenment moved towards a dualistic opposition. On the one hand, it emphasized the so-called universality of ideas, and on the other hand, it emphasized the opposition between emotion and reason. In Kant and Hegel, they both had very Strong hope that the difference between the two can be pointed out. This also brings a perspective of gender history, which regards men as the rational gender and women as the perceptual or emotional gender.So how to reflect the masculinity and feminine temperament? In fact, before the 18th century, European men still used perfume, put on lipstick, made wigs, and even wore skirts and high heels. But after the historical gendering that emphasized the emotions of both sexes, men and women began to have great changes in their clothing.

In fact, as Teacher Wang said, Hegel should be said to be the main promoter of rationalism in the field of history, because he regarded the expansion of rationality as historical research, which is the process of history or historical development. Main motivation. Marx transferred rationality and explored the driving force of historical development from the perspective of material conditions. But even someone like Hegel, he talked about "recognition" being an important driver of history. Rationality is interactive with positivity and enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is often expressed as a desire to be recognized or a sense of equality.

Luo Xin: I think that as a research direction, the history of emotion has a very valuable value. In the past, we regarded reason and emotion as completely opposites. Although we recognized that humans are rational animals and emotional animals, there seemed to be a strong tension between the two, and we always regarded them as opposites. It seems that we look at many things in a binary and oppositional way of thinking. It is very possible that in many of our current studies, especially in non-humanities research, we have seen the bankruptcy of this binary opposition method. So, will this dualistic way of thinking face huge challenges in academic research involving people and society in the future, and will it be replaced by something else in the future?

Based on the history of emotions, it is very possible. As both Teacher Wang and Teacher Wang mentioned, there is an emotional part in human rationality, and there is also a rational part in emotion. It's possible that it's hard for you to distinguish or separate it, say it's anger, jealousy, or affection, and there's nothing rational in it. There may also be deep rationality at work in these strong emotions. It is very likely that in the direction of research in this area, in the future we will increasingly break down those pure and simple binary opposition thinking, because they are relatively primitive and elementary thinking, such as day and night. , male and female, positive and negative yin and yang, etc. Perhaps in the future, we will slowly develop thinking that can adapt to diversity and complexity.

"What is the history of emotions?" 》, written by Wang Qingjia, edition: Guangqi Bookstore, June 2024.

Wang Minan: I will continue the issue of binary opposition discussed by Teacher Luo. It is easy for us to regard emotion as a natural thing, such as your anger or shame. It originates from the body and is a natural thing. But in fact, from another perspective, many emotions are not purely natural, they are also things of human culture.

Taking Europe as an example, we can tell from the history books and intellectual history that Greece is generally very sunny. Greeks have no sense of guilt, and there is no such thing as guilt. We talk about the guilt, guilt or shame of Europeans now. According to Nietzsche's moral genealogy research, it mainly comes from Christianity. He said that this is because of the invention of God, and then because God gave up his own children to save us. sacrificed, so now we always feel indebted to God. This concept and feeling of guilt has become a psychological state of Europeans. He said that since Christianity, Europe has become a desert of guilt. So Nietzsche said that emotion itself is invented. It is not an absolutely natural thing like Mencius said, it is something that develops in your body. Emotions certainly have a natural side, but they also have a cultural side. So from this perspective, if we want to talk about emotion, it is really difficult to say that it is a natural thing, but it cannot be said that it is a cultural thing. Emotion itself is to destroy the dichotomy between nature and culture. . This is a sense in which I mean to break the binary opposition emotionally.

There is another binary opposition.Emotion itself may be a driving force of history, right? Teacher Wang, you mentioned in your book that Gu Jiegang studied the frontier because of his emotional problems. This feeling was very accidental. If we study it entirely from an emotional perspective, we can probably say that history has great contingency. Yes or no? Does that mean that history must be accidental? But I think it is inevitable for Gu Jiegang to study the frontier. From this perspective, if we use emotions as the driving force for various actions, we can say that history is not inevitable, it has a contingent side. I think this can probably be regarded as a breakdown of binary opposition, that is, from an emotional perspective, it breaks down the opposition between contingency and necessity.

Wang Qingjia: Emotional history is actually just a new direction, and historical research is not just one direction. The study of the history of emotions can enrich some of our historical methods. In fact, history education in American universities will also allow students to read literary works, which are some literary works that can reflect the spirit of the times. For example, when studying post-war youth culture in the United States in the 1960s, they would ask students to read "The Catcher in the Rye." To reflect on the impact and destruction of European civilization by World War I, I will read "All Quiet on the Western Front". Including the very famous book "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" in our historical circles, there are actually many speculative and emotional descriptions. It is precisely because of such a kind of writing and description that such a book can have so many readers. Readers, there is still a big market up to now.

So it should be said that the study of emotions is everywhere. Now the research on the history of emotions has just put it on the table, hoping to rationalize it. It is also a method and direction of historical research. Maybe we can do further exploration.

finishing/Liu Yaguang

editing/Liu Yaguang

proofreading/Zhang Yanjun

In fact, as Teacher Wang said, Hegel should be said to be the main promoter of rationalism in the field of history, because he regarded the expansion of rationality as historical research, which is the process of history or historical development. Main motivation. Marx transferred rationality and explored the driving force of historical development from the perspective of material conditions. But even someone like Hegel, he talked about "recognition" being an important driver of history. Rationality is interactive with positivity and enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is often expressed as a desire to be recognized or a sense of equality.

Luo Xin: I think that as a research direction, the history of emotion has a very valuable value. In the past, we regarded reason and emotion as completely opposites. Although we recognized that humans are rational animals and emotional animals, there seemed to be a strong tension between the two, and we always regarded them as opposites. It seems that we look at many things in a binary and oppositional way of thinking. It is very possible that in many of our current studies, especially in non-humanities research, we have seen the bankruptcy of this binary opposition method. So, will this dualistic way of thinking face huge challenges in academic research involving people and society in the future, and will it be replaced by something else in the future?

Based on the history of emotions, it is very possible. As both Teacher Wang and Teacher Wang mentioned, there is an emotional part in human rationality, and there is also a rational part in emotion. It's possible that it's hard for you to distinguish or separate it, say it's anger, jealousy, or affection, and there's nothing rational in it. There may also be deep rationality at work in these strong emotions. It is very likely that in the direction of research in this area, in the future we will increasingly break down those pure and simple binary opposition thinking, because they are relatively primitive and elementary thinking, such as day and night. , male and female, positive and negative yin and yang, etc. Perhaps in the future, we will slowly develop thinking that can adapt to diversity and complexity.

"What is the history of emotions?" 》, written by Wang Qingjia, edition: Guangqi Bookstore, June 2024.

Wang Minan: I will continue the issue of binary opposition discussed by Teacher Luo. It is easy for us to regard emotion as a natural thing, such as your anger or shame. It originates from the body and is a natural thing. But in fact, from another perspective, many emotions are not purely natural, they are also things of human culture.

Taking Europe as an example, we can tell from the history books and intellectual history that Greece is generally very sunny. Greeks have no sense of guilt, and there is no such thing as guilt. We talk about the guilt, guilt or shame of Europeans now. According to Nietzsche's moral genealogy research, it mainly comes from Christianity. He said that this is because of the invention of God, and then because God gave up his own children to save us. sacrificed, so now we always feel indebted to God. This concept and feeling of guilt has become a psychological state of Europeans. He said that since Christianity, Europe has become a desert of guilt. So Nietzsche said that emotion itself is invented. It is not an absolutely natural thing like Mencius said, it is something that develops in your body. Emotions certainly have a natural side, but they also have a cultural side. So from this perspective, if we want to talk about emotion, it is really difficult to say that it is a natural thing, but it cannot be said that it is a cultural thing. Emotion itself is to destroy the dichotomy between nature and culture. . This is a sense in which I mean to break the binary opposition emotionally.

There is another binary opposition.Emotion itself may be a driving force of history, right? Teacher Wang, you mentioned in your book that Gu Jiegang studied the frontier because of his emotional problems. This feeling was very accidental. If we study it entirely from an emotional perspective, we can probably say that history has great contingency. Yes or no? Does that mean that history must be accidental? But I think it is inevitable for Gu Jiegang to study the frontier. From this perspective, if we use emotions as the driving force for various actions, we can say that history is not inevitable, it has a contingent side. I think this can probably be regarded as a breakdown of binary opposition, that is, from an emotional perspective, it breaks down the opposition between contingency and necessity.

Wang Qingjia: Emotional history is actually just a new direction, and historical research is not just one direction. The study of the history of emotions can enrich some of our historical methods. In fact, history education in American universities will also allow students to read literary works, which are some literary works that can reflect the spirit of the times. For example, when studying post-war youth culture in the United States in the 1960s, they would ask students to read "The Catcher in the Rye." To reflect on the impact and destruction of European civilization by World War I, I will read "All Quiet on the Western Front". Including the very famous book "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" in our historical circles, there are actually many speculative and emotional descriptions. It is precisely because of such a kind of writing and description that such a book can have so many readers. Readers, there is still a big market up to now.

So it should be said that the study of emotions is everywhere. Now the research on the history of emotions has just put it on the table, hoping to rationalize it. It is also a method and direction of historical research. Maybe we can do further exploration.

finishing/Liu Yaguang

editing/Liu Yaguang

proofreading/Zhang Yanjun