“New historiography” by Liang Qichao

Abstract

© 2019 Izdatel'stvo Nauka. All rights reserved. The article presents the first Russian translation of the introductory essay from the treatise The New Historiography (1902), written by Liang Qichao (1873-1929). This text was programmatic in the “historiographic revolution” declared by Liang Qi-chao, which was to lead to a complete ideological, social and philosophical restructuring of Chinese society. Liang Qichao published a treatise, while in exile in Japan, not constrained by the prohibitions of traditional Chinese culture of the Qing dynasty. His main task was the apology of a new consciousness, the construction of a new identity - the Chinese nation that had not existed before - and the justification of a new, civic history. A new perception of historical reality must correspond to a new form of writing. It is remarkable, however, to express the revolutionary ideas of Liang Qichao used traditional forms and the ancient literary Chinese language. The ideal of a civilian historian was for him Voltaire and Edward Gibbon, who, declaring the complex social and political tasks, combined in their texts an exquisite literary style and appeal to the widest sections of the reading public.