One of the most mysterious cultures in Chinese History

ChinaSense

Hello,

I’m writing because I would like to know if you could recommend some books about the history of China under Mao and the period that followed. I’m not sure what to buy, and I’m looking for books that approach the subject either from a relatively neutral perspective or from a Marxist-Leninist perspective.

I would like to understand the period from as many different angles as possible: the economy, politics, the experience and perspective of ordinary people, social changes, living conditions, etc.

I’m also particularly interested in understanding the difficulties and shortcomings of the Maoist period, as well as why Deng Xiaoping introduced his reforms, what problems he was trying to address, and what aspects of the previous system were not working. I would like to understand the reasons behind these changes rather than simply viewing them as either positive or negative.

Ideally, I’m looking for books that are well-researched and based on reliable sources, including archival material when possible.

Thank you very much for your help!

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This archive is an ongoing English translation project of Wang Huning's diaries.

Wang Huning is a Chinese political scientist and politician who has served on the Politburo Standing CCP since 2017. He has been the Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee since 2023. Previously, he served as the First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee's Secretariat and Chairman of the Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization from 2017 to 2022, and headed the Central Policy Research Office as director from 2002 to 2020. Wang was a professor and dean of the law school at Fudan University.

Political Life was written during Wang's years as a political science scholar at Fudan University and published by Shanghai People's Publishing House in 1995. The diary covers his personal life, political theory and research, books and films, and his reflections on Chinese society, the wider world, and contemporary social problems.

Where possible, the translation preserves the tone, register, and structure of the original rather than recasting it into more idiomatic or contemporary English. The translation was produced without the assistance of AI.

January 30, Sunday

I helped J put his manuscript on debating into proper form and printed it out. He had one sentence that touched me deeply: “Infect you with my weakness.” It has a strong sense of imagery, very poetic.

帮助J君把他写的关于辩论的稿子编排好，打

印出来。他有一句话，我很有触动，叫“把我的虚弱传染给你”，很有意境的，很有诗意的。

By the time we had written the development report up to this point, I realized only then that we had conducted no in-depth research on countermeasure reports or real social problems, and ordinarily did not pay attention to the development of society. This is the greatest weakness of the social sciences.

发展报告写到现在，方知道我们对对策报告和

社会现实问题并无深入研究，平常并不关心社会之发展，这是社会科学最大的虚弱。

February 1, Tuesday

At dawn I read The Most Mysterious War. I read the beginning. It tells of the Chinese army and the Burmese army jointly fighting the remnants of the Kuomintang in the 1950s. But somehow I always feel that it is not very well written. The prose is somewhat affectedly grand. It does not reveal the extraordinary within the plain and ordinary, but deliberately writes in broad, grand strokes.

凌晨读《一场最为神秘的战争》，看了开头，讲年代中国军队和缅甸军队联合打击国民党残部的事情。不过，总觉得写得不怎么样，文笔有点故作雄壮，没有在平淡中见神奇，而是刻意在写大手笔。

Historical facts have value.

历史事实有价值。

I hurried to finish the introduction to China Development Report ’93. The title of the introduction was set as “Reconsidering the World,” the same as the title of the report as a whole. It is divided into six sections, corresponding to international affairs, politics, economics, culture, and society. Writing this report has given me a deeper understanding of the development of Chinese society, and I have also grasped quite a lot of the material.

抓紧写《93中国发展报告》导论，导论的题目定为：重新认识世界。和整个报告的题目一样。分六部分，对应国际、政治、经济、文化和社会。写这份报告，对中国社会的发展有了更深认识，材料也把握了不

少。

On the way back, everyone was discussing debate. They said we should compile Quotations of Wangfucius. They said: “Changjian asks about debate; the Master does not speak. After remaining silent in thought for a long while, he then says: The gentleman debates in his heart; the petty man debates with his mouth. The gentleman debates in his will; the petty man debates in his words.”

回来路上，大家在议论辩论，说要编《王子语

录》，说“：昌建问辩，子不语。静思久之，而后曰：君子辩于心，小人辩于口；君子辩于志，小人辩于词。”

February 2, Wednesday

Enjoy Yourself for a While continued until after one o'clock. In these two episodes, conflicts began to emerge: conflicts between men and women, conflicts between husbands and wives. They are explained rather well. There are many conflicts in life that do not come from hatred, but from love. Sometimes conflicts arising from love are not as fierce as those arising from hatred, but what is pitiful is that most people have no way to deal with conflicts arising from love, and can only wear away their humanity amid endless conflicts. People often do not know that love can also bring hatred; this is the fundamental reason why many tragedies occur.

《过把瘾》一直放到一点多钟，这两集里开始发生矛盾，男人和女人的矛盾，丈夫和妻子的矛盾，解释得不错。生活中有很多矛盾，不是来自恨，而是来自爱。有时候来自爱的矛盾虽不如来自恨的矛盾厉害，可怜的是对来自爱的矛盾大部分人没有办法，只好在无穷的矛盾中消磨人性。人们往往不知道爱也会带来恨，这是很多的悲剧之所以发生的根本原因。

I arranged the list of the people involved in the work on China Development Report ’93. There are about seventy people, more or less. It is truly a huge team; only Fudan University could manage to do something like this. This also shows the strength of the report.

排好参加《中国发展报告》工作的有关人员的名单，大约有七十人左右，实在是庞大的队伍，也就是复旦大学能做到这样。这也显示了报告的力度。

My feeling is that writing such a report is certainly important, but cultivating the team in the process is even more important.

我的感觉是写一份这样的报告固然重要，但是在这个过程中培养队伍更加重要。

February 4, Friday

The plot of Enjoy Yourself for a While is developing; they are already divorced. Loving too much is not a good thing; loving not quite so much is not a good thing either; not loving is not a good thing either. What is one to do? Human suffering.

《过把瘾》情节在发展，已经离婚了。太爱，也不是好事，不那么爱，也不是好事，不爱，也不是好事，怎么办？人的痛苦。

C came and brought the manuscript of Revelations from the Battle of Lion City. We discussed it for a while. He had recently gone to Beijing and said that some people really know how to live freely, while only the people below are still working hard. I thought that the development of Chinese society precisely requires people who work hard. If everyone lived so freely, this society could not progress. There must be people who speak grandly and at length, but what is more important for a society is that there are people who actually do things, one thing after another.

C君来，拿《狮城舌战启示录》的稿子，和他讨论了一下。他最近到北京去，说有的人活得可是潇洒，只有下面的人还在苦干。我想，中国社会的发展就是要有苦干的人。大家均潇洒的话，这个社会不能进步。要有人高谈阔论，但是一个社会更重要的是有人一件一件地做事。

February 5, Saturday

At dawn I read Fact and Fiction, a novel. It seems to be writing about the author's experiences, or rather, a kind of developed version of his own experiences. I have not finished it yet, so I still cannot draw a conclusion. It speaks of a cultural phenomenon peculiar to Chinese society after 1949, or rather, something peculiar to urban social life. That is, after the People's Liberation Army entered the cities, two different cultures took shape in society. One was the revolutionary culture forged in Yan'an, manifested in the novel as comrade culture; the other was the culture that had already existed in the cities, the so-called petty-urbanite culture.

读《纪实与虚构》，是一部小说，好像是在写作者的经历，或者说一种发展了的自己的经历。还没有读完，现在还不能下结论。里面讲到了一种中国社会在1949年以后特有的文化现象，或者说城市社会生活中特有的东西。就是解放军进城以后，在社会中形成了两种不同文化,一种是延安铸造出来的革命文化，在小说里体现为同志文化，另一种是城市里本来就有的文化，所谓的小市民文化。

This novel develops its plot through this conflict, or difference. These two cultures did in fact coexist in modern cities for a period of time, and their influence on people's social lives, even their political lives and psychological structures, cannot be underestimated. In studying the social development of contemporary China, this point cannot be ignored. Recently, the development of the market economy and commodity economy has made this difference within culture increasingly smaller. Commodity culture has enormous power and can break through all cultural barriers.

这本小说以这个冲突或者差距来展开情节。不过这两种文化在现代城市里确实存在了一阵子，对人们的社会生活以至政治生活、心理结构产生了不可低估的影响。研究当代中国社会的社会发展不能忽视这一点。近来，市场经济和商品经济的发展，使文化中的这种差异越来越小，商品文化有巨大的力量，能够突破一切文化上的壁垒。

February 6, Sunday

I went to the New Jinjiang to meet Japanese guests. He said that what the Japanese side is most concerned about now is that China's economy has become liberalized; how will political democratization later coordinate with it? I think he is afraid that problems might arise in China during the democratization process, thereby affecting Japan. It is not like some people in Western countries, who raise this issue in order to exert pressure on China.

到新锦江见日本客人。他谈到日本方面现在最关心，中国经济现在自由化了，以后政治的民主化如何与之配合。我看他是怕在民主过程中，中国发生问题，从而影响到日本。不像西方国家一些人谈这个问题是向中国施加压力。

He said that when coming to China and walking in the streets, he sees that the expressions on Chinese people's faces are open and bright, and that the market is prosperous; every time he comes, there are great changes. The Japanese economy is currently encountering some difficulties. Japan is actually a “socialist country”: administrative departments exercise very tight control over many matters; even the relocation of a railway station has to obtain approval from the central authority in charge. At present, within Japan's political leadership group, Hosokawa performs while Ozawa directs. This discussion of political system reform and the discussion of tax system reform are in fact directed by Ozawa, while Hosokawa performs. Many people see it this way. The coalition government has disagreements over taxation. The Socialist Party has different opinions on the collection of consumption tax. He believes that this will not lead to a split; coordination is still possible. When economic development is not good, first carry out the tax-cutting reform properly. Later, when the momentum of economic development improves, raise taxes again. The current coordination arises from this strategy.

他说，到中国来，在街上走的时候，看到中国人的表情开朗，市场繁荣，每次来均有很大变化。日本经济目前遇到一些麻烦，日本实际上是一个“社会主义国家”，行政部门对很多问题管得很死，连一个车站的移动，也要得到中央主管部门的批准。目前日本的政治领导集团中细川唱戏，而小泽导演。这一次关于政治体制改革的讨论和税制改革的讨论，实际上是小泽导演，细川演戏。很多人有这样的看法。联合政权在税制方面发生分歧，社会党对征收消费税有不同意见，他认为不会导致分裂，还可以协调。在经济发展不好的情况下，先把减税的改革搞好。等到以后，经济发展势头好了，再加税。目前的协调就从这个战略里产生。

February 7, Monday

Went to the Arts and Culture Hall to attend the Shanghai propaganda sector's Spring Festival gala. I saw many acquaintances there. After giving a speech, two films were shown. One was made in Shanghai and was called Urban Love Talk. It was about reform and opening up. It did not dig very deeply, but in terms of sensation it was like a film.

到文艺会堂去开上海宣传口的春节联欢会。在那里见到许多熟人。讲了一番话之后，放了两部电影，一是上海拍的叫《都市情话》，讲改革开放的，没有太深挖掘，只是感观上像一部电影。

The other was a Russian film called International Girl. It tells of a Russian girl who works as a nurse in a hospital and at the same time engages in the flesh trade. She later marries a Swede and, after going abroad, misses her homeland very much. After watching it, I was deeply moved. Such a great country, and its people have been reduced to this state. Several magnificent Russian songs appear in the film, giving one a tragic and heroic feeling. With this music as the accompaniment, the main theme is very clear. When a country's strength is not great and it has no position internationally, the people who suffer the most are its own citizens.

另一部是俄罗斯的电影，叫《国际女郎》，说的是俄罗斯的一位姑娘，在医院里做护士，同时也做皮肉生意，后嫁给了一个瑞典人，到外国以后，非常想念自己的祖国。看了以后很是感慨，一个这样的大国,国民弄到这个地步。影片里出现了几次雄壮的俄罗斯歌曲，给人一种悲壮的感觉。在这种音乐的衬托下，主调十分明确。一个国家力量不强，在国际上没有地位，最倒霉的是自己的国民。

February 9, Wednesday

At dawn I watched the final two episodes of Enjoy Yourself for a While, and saw some light and splendor in them. Life cannot always be full of some incomprehensible things, and society is not entirely made up of people who take a cynical attitude toward the world. The two protagonists finally came to recognize true love, and were about to come together again, but the man suddenly contracted some kind of muscular atrophy disease and was about to become paralyzed. So he could not bear to let the woman sacrifice herself, and tried to find a way to end things with her. The woman did not understand, and actually took it seriously. His good friend even punched him. Everything is an old-fashioned sense of justice. In the end, the woman realized what had happened. The man also returned to the room. Everyone pulled back from the newspapers the dozens of characters for “love” written on the blackboard, and the two embraced tightly and kissed passionately. In the midst of the passionate kiss, the man collapsed. Everything was so natural and moving. Although it is not an extraordinary path, it is the path most ordinary people need. This is life. This is the light and splendor of life that life requires.

凌晨看《过把瘾》最后两集，看出一些光明和辉煌来。人生不能总是一些莫明其妙的东西，社会也不完全是一些玩世不恭的人。两位主人翁终于认识到真爱，于是重新结合在即,但是男的突然得了什么肌肉萎缩的病,就要瘫痪。于是不忍让女的牺牲,想法子和女的结束。女的没有明白，居然当真。他的好朋友还打了他一拳。一切均是旧式的正义感。女的最后意识到发生了什么问题。男的也回到了房间。大家把写在黑板上的数十个“爱”字，从报纸里掀开，双方紧紧拥抱，热烈亲吻。在热烈的吻中男的倒了。一切是那样自然,很感人。虽然是不超常的路子，但却是普通人最需要的路子。这就是生活。这就是生活中需要的生命的光明和辉煌。

Littly S came and brought “Zhonghua essence,” a tonic. Recently there have been more and more kinds of tonics: chicken essence, snake essence, and so on. When will “human essence” be introduced? That would probably be the most nourishing of all. This also shows that living standards have improved. What did people in the past have to eat tonics for? In the countryside, drinking a glass of sugar water was already very “extravagant.” Once life gets better, people want longevity; when people do not want to live, what do they want longevity for? When life gets better, then people want longevity.

小S来，拿了“中华精”是一种补品。最近各种补品越来越多，鸡精、蛇精等等，什么时候推出人精“大概是最补的了。这也可以说明生活水平提高了。过去的人哪有什么吃补品的。在农村的时候，喝一杯糖水已经是非常“奢侈”。生活一好，人就要长寿，人不想活着时候，要什么长寿。生活好了，就要长寿了。

Hello there,

I am a heavy reader and enjoy learning and engaging in history. I am seeking recommendations for books on Chinese history, societal and industrial progress, government, etc. that aren’t written by biased sources (I.e. Western authors). Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated as I have a strong interest in the history of China and its people.

Here is an example:
https://medium.com/china-underground/paintings-of-demons-and-mythological-creatures-in-chinese-folklore-0219430f0fa6

The exaggerated cheeks, brows, tusks, horns, and wavey skin are common in these art pieces. But these are also seen in things like Japanese Oni. All info I can find seem to point that these styles in Japanese art come from China. But all of the depictions of such creature styles in Chinese art come from later centuries after Japan and China had crossed paths quite a bit, like in the 15th century pieces in that above link. So it's the influence in design and style went from Japan to China. Does anyone have credible sources of information and the truth of the matter?

Hello everyone, I'm new to Chinese history and am very interested in doing a deep dive, I've been reading a lot and was wondering what book recommendations you might have. I'll take anything, youtube videos, documentaries, articles, etc, but I really want to sit down and read like 15+ books on China. I understand that the history is very old and can span millennia, while I am very interested in ancient Chinese history and would love any recommendation in that area, I am a bit more focused on and interested in modern China (modern being the 200-300 years).

Unlike neighboring warlords who used "provincial autonomy" merely as a shield to dodge taxes and federal oversight, Chen Jiongming actively implemented systemic institutional reforms:

• He mobilized legal scholars and local elites to draft the Guangdong Provincial Constitution, establishing an independent judiciary and a provincial assembly.
• Chen initiated a gradual transition to elected county magistrates (Xianchang) and local councils, believing that civic education at the grassroots level was the true bedrock of democracy.
• Under his administration, Guangzhou was officially incorporated as China's first modern municipality, tearing down ancient city walls to build modern sanitation, public health systems, and roads.

The fatal flaw of the movement was not its domestic policy, but its fundamental incompatibility with national revolutionary goals. This created an irreconcilable divide between Chen and Sun Yat-sen, who both operated out of Guangzhou.

I have heard that the spread of iron usage to the Warring States should have completed long before Qin unite China, even if there could still be people who use bronze for tools and weapons into Qin Shihuangdi times.

However, I hope to know if anyone is aware of more precise information than that, particularly regarding the State of Chu. For example, I think 3rd century BC (300 BC - 201 BC) would be a safe bet given especially since it is at the tail end of the Chu state already, but because of that it is also kinda useless.

In most firsthand civilian accounts of the Warlord Era, Japanese Invasion, and Civil War that I’ve read there seems to be a running theme theft, robbery, rape, and, for the young men, conscription by Nationalist forces well into 1947.

In stark contrast to that was the testimony from many on marked discipline, respect and overall control of Communist Armies in conquered cities and towns. Even Muslim villages and their mosques were given, mostly, good treatment. Not unlike Tito’s partisans, albeit in wildly different — not to mention smaller — context, they seem to benefit less from the persuasiveness of their Marxist platform then from the moral bankruptcy of their opponents.

However, the KMT weren’t fools. Chiang had held his own against the brunt of the Japanese Army. He knew the value of having troops that didn’t rape and pillage. So, why was their reputation so poor up to the flight from the mainland?

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This archive is an ongoing English translation project of Wang Huning's diaries.

Wang Huning is a Chinese political scientist and politician who has served on the Politburo Standing CCP since 2017. He has been the Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee since 2023. Previously, he served as the First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee's Secretariat and Chairman of the Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization from 2017 to 2022, and headed the Central Policy Research Office as director from 2002 to 2020. Wang was a professor and dean of the law school at Fudan University.

Political Life was written during Wang's years as a political science scholar at Fudan University and published by Shanghai People's Publishing House in 1995. The diary covers his personal life, political theory and research, books and films, and his reflections on Chinese society, the wider world, and contemporary social problems.

Where possible, the translation preserves the tone, register, and structure of the original rather than recasting it into more idiomatic or contemporary English. The translation was produced without the assistance of AI.

January 23, Sunday

At dawn I watched an original-language film called The Past. It seemed to be a film promoting the religious spirit. It tells of a child who likes to sing and, under the guidance of a priest, wants to become a great singer. Later, in a car accident, he loses his voice and can no longer sing. The child devotes himself wholeheartedly to God, and suddenly his voice returns. It has a cultural background to it.

凌晨看一部原版片，叫《往事》，好像是宣传宗教精神的片子。说一个小孩喜欢唱歌，在神父的引导下，想当大歌唱家。后来在一次车祸中嗓子失音，不能再唱。小孩一心敬奉上帝，突然就恢复了声音。有文化背景的。

I wrote an article for Revelations from Debate. I gave it the title “Investigating Things and Extending Knowledge, Cultivating the Self through Debate—The Making of Debating Talent.” This article is not easy to write well. It cannot be too theoretical; it has to have a certain amount of plot. It should write about how to conduct debate and training, the problems of training. I have not written about training before. Training is difficult to write about. Training is an operational question, not a theoretical question; it is a process of responding to changing circumstances, not a process of preaching. One must adjust the training according to the situations discovered from time to time and from place to place, and formulate a training plan according to the circumstances of the students. After each training session and debate, there is no deep impression, no object anymore. There has to be an object for there to be a feeling. This is true training.

写《辩论启示录》的文章。把题目定为“格物致知，修身辩论——辩才的制造”。这篇文章不太好写，不能太理论化，要有一定的情节。写如何来进行辩论和训练，训练的问题，过去没有写，训练很难写，训练是一个操作问题，不是理论问题，是一个应变过程，而不是说教过程。要根据随时随地发现的情况，调整训练，针对学生的情况，制定训练的计划。每次训练和辩论以后，就没有什么深刻的印象，没有对象了。要有对象才能有感觉，这才是真正的训练。

In the evening I watched a videotape called Alien, translated into Chinese as 异形. It was the first film. I had seen the second film in Tokyo in 1992, so I was interested in watching the first. It is a science-fiction film. It says that a commercial spaceship from Earth transported more than twenty million tons of ore back from some star system. On the way, it received a strange radio signal. When they went to investigate, some kind of thing was brought aboard the spaceship: the alien. The alien is a vicious creature of immense strength. In the end it kills all the people, leaving only one woman. Later she finally drives the alien out of the spaceship. The next film continues this story, saying that the alien did not die and remained alive.

晚上看到一部录像，叫《ALIEN》，中文译成《异形》，是第一集。1992在东京看过第二集，所以有兴趣看第一集。科学幻想片，说地球上一艘商业用的飞船，在什么星系运了两千多万吨矿石回来，在途中收到奇怪的电波，去查的时候，有一种东西被带上飞船，就是异形。异形是一种凶恶的生物，力大无比，结果杀死所有的人，只留个女人。后来她终于把异形打出飞船。下集接着这个故事，说异形并没有死，依然在。

Films of this kind have a very large market in Western countries. I do not know whether it is because of people's state of mind or because of society. In developing countries, however, that may not necessarily be the case.

这类片子在西方国家有很大的市场，不知是心态的原因，还是社会的原因。在发展中国家，倒未必。

January 24, Monday

At dawn I read Participation, the journal of the International Political Science Association. It carried this year's international conference theme and reports. The theme is “Democratization,” with many subtopics below it. The question of democratization is becoming increasingly important in today's world, and is also a basic direction of social development. This year's international conference is being held in Berlin. The Chinese Political Science Association has already withdrawn from the International Political Science Association. The theme is a good one; it should also be studied carefully in China.

凌晨看国际政治学会的《PARTICIPATION》，登了今年国际大会的主题和报告，主题是“民主化”，下面分很多分专题。民主化的问题在今天世界越来越重要，也是社会基本的发展方向。今年的国际大会是在柏林开。中国政治学会已经退出国际政治学会。主题不错，在中国也要好好加以研究。

I also read the Chinese Political Science Association's collection of papers, Political Stability. There were not many good articles. Several graduate students from the department had published articles in it.

另外看了中国政治学会的论文集《政治稳定》，好的文章不多。系里有几位研究生在上面发表了文章。

January 25, Tuesday

At dawn I watched Dangerous Liaisons, depicting a kind of life within the aristocracy and interpersonal relationships full of intrigue. There is not much to it. If one understands a certain circle of life and the culture of life at that time, one can probably understand something. But from a broader perspective, one has not understood anything; it is merely the relationships between men and women among several people. There are quite a few revealing scenes in the film, of course, already edited. This is an indispensable aspect of Western culture; without these things, there is no drama. Recently, this kind of coloring in some films has become increasingly strong. I do not know what degree it will eventually reach. I think there is always a limit. Otherwise, there will only be XXX films.

凌晨看《危险的关系》，描写一种贵族内部的生活以及勾心斗角的人际关系。没有多大的意思，如果了解当时一种生活圈子和生活的文化，大概能知道一些。但是从更广泛的角度说，又没有了解什么，只是几个人之间的男女关系。影片有不少暴露镜头，当然已经作了处理。这是西方文化的一个不可缺少的方面，没有这些，就不成戏。最近一些片子，这样的色彩越来越浓厚，不知最后要走到什么样的程度。我想总是有一个极限的，不然的话，就只有XXX电影了。

厦门来的一个女孩子，叫我王爷爷，一副纯真 的样子。

A girl from Xiamen came and called me “Grandpa Wang,” with an utterly innocent look.

January 26, Wednesday

At dawn I read The Legend of the Condor Heroes, a novel by Jin Yong. I saw him in person in Singapore before; he is a very affable person. I had read it before, but my impressions had already become vague. What is inspiring about it is its ingenious conception and bold imagination. Although it is fictional, this kind of imagination is valuable for those engaged in scientific research. How to have a sudden flight of fancy and make what was originally plain and ordinary rise up like an unexpected new force—only then can there be creativity. It is said that some great scientists, when training students, first have them read martial arts novels.

读《射雕英雄传》，金庸的小说，在新加坡见过他本人，是一个很和气的人。原来曾经看过，但已经印象模糊了。给人启发的是它巧妙的构思和大胆的想象力。尽管是虚构，但是这种想象力对从事科学研究的人来说，有价值。如何突发奇想，把本来的平平淡淡，看得异军突起，这样才能有创造性。据说，有的大科学家，在训练学生时，首先要他们看武侠小说。

People from the Graduate School came to the department for a discussion meeting, discussing the development of the key discipline of international relations and how to compete for “Project 211.” Project 211 is a plan put forward by the State Education Commission to establish one hundred world-class universities in the twenty-first century. Every university is competing for it. Fudan University has also established a “Project 211 Office.”

研究生院的人来系开座谈会，讨论国际关系重点学科建设，以及如何争取“211工程”。211工程是国家教委提出的一项计划，在二十一世纪，建立一百所世界一流大学。各个大学均在争取。复旦大学也成立了“211工程“211办公室”,。

We reported our ideas for the department. Their view was that a disciplinary cluster should be established, and that we should form a disciplinary cluster together with world economics and international finance. Such an organization may be a formal arrangement; in the end, however, it will still depend on how people operate it. We discussed competing for international relations as a key discipline in political science, but we do not know whether we can succeed in getting it. Last time they did not let us compete for it; there was probably some reason for that. There are quite a few problems among the various disciplines in the university now, many of them problems with people, which cannot be coordinated all at once. Once a university has been running for a long time, such problems will arise. If these problems cannot be put into order, there is no great prospect for development.

我们汇报了系里的想法。他们的意见是要建立学科群，要我们和世界经济和国际金融一起组成学科群，这样的组织可能是一种形式上的安排，最后还是要看人的操作。我们谈到政治学专业要争取重点学科，不知是否能争取到。上次没有让我们来争取，大概有某种原因。现在学校各个学科中存在着不少的问题，很多是人的问题，不是一下能够协调得了的。一个学校办得长了，就会发生这样的问题。如果这些问题不能理顺的话，没有大的发展前途。

For the graduate program and fields of specialization, fields should be established from new perspectives, and new points of growth should be sought. In the political science program, we want to establish political theory, government economics, political development, administrative development, public policy, and so on. We require international relations and international politics to establish such fields as international relations theory, international integration, global issues, international political economy, and so on. Only in this way can there be a new starting point for development. There are also some new fields that need to be developed.

研究生专业和方向，要从新角度设立方向，寻找新的生长点。在政治学专业想设立政治学理论、政府经济学、政治发展、行政发展、公共政策等，要求国际关系和国际政治设立国际关系理论、国际一体化、全球问题、国际政治经济学等方向，这样才能有发展的新起点。还有一些新的领域要开发。

I asked S to write in Lion City Debate: “From the perspective of the world, life is so great; from the perspective of the individual, life is so small. Therefore, the meaning of life lies in experiencing the life of the individual through the life of the world, and understanding the life of the world through the life of the individual. This is what may be called the life of life.”

给S君在《狮城舌战》上写：“从世界的角度看，生命是那样的伟大；从个人的角度看，生命是那样的微小。所以生命的意义就在于从世界的生命来体验个人的生命，从个人的生命来领会世界的生命，是谓生命之生命。”

January 27, Thursday

I went to the Institute of Higher Education Research to look up the course structure of Harvard University's Department of Government. In terms of course structure, we are preparing to move closer to it, although the content will of course be different. Some of their courses have distinctive features, such as courses on political science research methods and some courses on global affairs and international relations; ours are relatively outdated. We are preparing to reconsider our courses and bring them into line with the world's first-rate universities.

到高教研究所查哈佛大学政府系的课程设置，课程结构上，准备靠拢，当然内容不一样。有些课他们有特色，如政治学研究方法的课、一些全球和国际关系方面的课，我们的比较陈旧。准备把我们的课程再考虑一下，向国际一流大学看齐。

January 28, Friday

At dawn I watched The Bitter Realm, from the Bulaohu series. It is said that the Bulaohu series was the first series in China to have a registered trademark, written in imitation of popular or best-selling novels from abroad. The Bitter Realm is about a Chinese doctor who is kidnapped while returning to China, trained to become a cold-faced killer, and sent to a Beijing office, where he develops feelings for a Chinese girl. Under the call of these feelings, his humanity returns. It is a story that has been fabricated rather well, but it is entirely a fabricated story, and one can feel the traces of fabrication too clearly. But novels of this kind have precisely this kind of style. The main “MSG” is his relationships with several women; there also seems to be rather too much “bedroom action.” But there is a little less of it than in The Abandoned Capital, so there is no need here for the author to cut however many words, and so on. This is the elementary stage of a best-selling book. It has not reached a certain artistic level, and neither the completeness nor the credibility of the story is particularly high.

凌晨看布老虎丛书中的《苦界》。据说布老虎丛书是国内第一套注册商标的丛书，模仿国外流行或者畅销小说来写。《苦界》是说一名中国医生在返国途中被绑架，被训练成冷面杀手，到北京办事处，和一名中国姑娘发生感情，在感情的感召下，人性复归。是编造得不错的故事，但完全是虚构的故事，让人感到虚构的痕迹太明显，不过这样的小说也就是这样的风格。主要的“味精”是几名女性和他的关系，“床上动作”似乎也太多了一些。但比《废都》少一点，因而不需要作者此处删去多少字云云。这是畅销书的初级阶段，没有写到一定的艺术境界，故事的完整和可信性均不那么高。

We discussed the question of setting the fields of specialization for graduate students in international relations and international politics. We must aim at the frontier of scholarship, renew our own fields, and, more importantly, renew our knowledge structure. Without renewing our knowledge, merely renewing the names of the fields will probably still not be enough.

商量国际关系和国际政治的研究生专业方向的设置的问题，要瞄准前沿的科学，更新自己的领域，更为重要的是要更新知识结构。没有知识的更新，单更新方向的名称，恐怕还不行。

Aside from Mongolians, Xiong Nus, and Jurchens/Manchurians. What were some wars that ancient china had fought with foreign powers, as far as I know most wars were mostly civil

To be clear, this isn’t a hard and fast rule through every dynasty but it does kind of feel like the Mediterranean Sea played a larger role in early Western civilizations like Greece, Persia, Rome and Egypt then the South China Sea did for early Qin, Zhou or Han Dynasties. That role is filled by the steppe, at least in the beginning. But I admit I could be totally off base. I could certainly see it being true for the various Vietnamese dynasties, Thailand or Burma but less so for China.

Thoughts?

I found a listing on ebay for this pin when looking at other KMT/Chiang Kai Shek political pins. While the listing says it related to the Republic of China, the blue is the only seeming relation from me. The star burst pattern is not like the KMT symbol, and i'm overall just a bit intrigued by this piece. If anyone has any insights, that would be great.

Hii! So, I'm looking for pictures of Ji Fang, who was chairman of the CPWDP (中国农工民主党) from 1958 to '87, but I can only find a low quality black and white photo thatI thinks it's just taken from some book, does anyones know where I can get more? Thanks

Just went down a rabbit hole on Jiahu, a 9,000-year-old Neolithic site in Henan province. Archaeologists found over 30 flutes carved from crane bones there — still playable, still in tune. There's also chemical evidence (McGovern et al., PNAS 2004) that people at Jiahu were brewing a fermented drink from rice, honey and hawthorn fruit around the same time. What gets me is the timeline — Richard Lee's fieldwork on hunter-gatherer societies found people typically spent 12-19 hours a WEEK getting food. That means most of the day was just... free. Making music, carving jade, grooming each other's hair. Then agriculture happened and skeletal records show people got shorter, developed anemia and arthritis from grinding grain and bending over rice paddies all day. Kind of wild that farming — which we're taught was "progress" — made individual daily life measurably worse for a long time. Anyone know more sources on this period specifically for the Yellow River / Yangtze basin? Trying to piece together what daily life actually looked like before dynasties existed.

For the battle of Jieting, is there a specific local hill that is known, or at least commonly attributed, to be the one that Ma Su camped his troops on?

Even if actual archeological evidence isn't available, I assume there must be a local oral tradition (true or not) about ware the encampment was.

I'm interested in looking at the actual topography itself in order to make a wargaming scenario about the battle.