Chinese Historiography - Recent Trends

Recent Trends

The late 20th century and early 21st century has seen a large number of studies of Chinese history that seek to challenge traditional paradigms. The field is rapidly evolving, with much new scholarship. Much of this new scholarship comes from the realization that there is much about Chinese history that is unknown or controversial. To give one such controversy, it is an active topic of discussion whether the typical Chinese peasant in 1900 was seeing his life improve or decline. In addition to the realization that there are major gaps in our knowledge of Chinese history is the equal realization that there are tremendous quantities of primary source material that have not yet been analyzed.

Recent Western scholarship of China has been heavily influenced by postmodernism, seeking to question modernist narratives regarding China's backwardness and lack of development. The desire to challenge the preconception that 19th-century China was weak, for instance, has led to scholarly interest in Qing expansion into Central Asia, where they were much more successful for a time than elsewhere. In fact, postmodern scholarship largely rejects grand narratives altogether, preferring to publish empirical studies on the socioeconomics and political or cultural dynamics of smaller communities within China.

Current scholars also attempt to assess source material more critically. For example, for a long period it was assumed that Imperial China had no system of civil law because the law codes did not have explicit provisions for civil lawsuits. However, more recent studies which use the records of civil magistrates suggest that China did in fact have a well-developed system of civil law, in which provisions of the criminal code were interpreted to allow civil causes of action. Another example has been statements made by intellectuals of the mid-Qing dynasty which were hostile toward commerce. Recent studies using sources such as magistrate diaries and genealogical records show that these statements should not be taken at face value, without also counting the the powerful unwritten influence merchants exerted on government policies. The division between the world of the merchant and that of the official was far more porous than traditionally believed. In fact, the growing consensus is that the anti-merchant statements of the mid-Qing record a growth of power and influence rather than the opposite.

Finally, current scholars are assessing new and previously overlooked documentary and historical evidence. Examples include masses of governmental and family archives, economic records such as the census tax-rolls, price records, and land surveys. In addition, there are large numbers of cultural artifacts such as vernacular novels, how-to books, and children's books which are in the process of being analyzed for clues about day-to-day life.

In contrast, Chinese historical scholarship remains largely nationalist and modernist or even traditionalist. The legacies of the modernist school (such as Lo Hsiang-lin) and the traditionalist school (such as Chien Mu) remain strong in Chinese circles. The more modernist works focus on imperial systems in China and employ scientific method to analyze epochs of Chinese dynasties from geographical, genealogical, and cultural artifacts: for example, from Carbon-14 dating and geographical records to correlate climates with cycles of calm and calamity in Chinese history. The traditionalist school of scholarship resorts to official imperial records and colloquial history works and analyzes the different dynasties' rises and falls using a Confucian philosophy, albeit modified by an institutional administration perspective.

From the beginning of Communist rule in 1949 until the 1980s, the focus of Chinese historical scholarship was largely on peasant life interpreted via the officially-sanctioned Marxist theory of class struggle. From the time of Deng Xiaoping on, there has been a drift towards a Marxist-inspired nationalist perspective and consideration of China's contemporary international status has became of paramount importance in historical studies. The current focus tends to be on specifics of civilization in ancient China, and the general paradigm of how China has responded to the dual challenges of interactions with the outside world and modernization in the post-1700 era. Long-abandoned as a research focus among most Western scholars due to postmodernism's influence, it remains the primary interest for most historians inside China.