ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY IN MODERN CHINA

Author(s): R. Moritz
Source: Cina, Supplemento No. 2. XXVITH CONFERENCE OF CHINESE STUDIES
PROCEEDINGS. UNDERSTANDING MODERN CHINA: PROBLEMS AND METHODS (1979), pp.
261-265
Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40855515
Accessed: 01-09-2017 07:11 UTC

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 R. Moritz

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNDERSTANDING

OF HISTORY IN MODERN CHINA

In traditional Chinese thinking history is seen as a successi

of cycles. This approach can be traced back to Mencius (Meng-T
and to philosophers of the Han period such as Tung Chung-shu in h
Ch'un-ch'iu fan-lu and to Wang Ch'ung in his Lun-heng (Animadv
sions). Later it is found in Neo-Confucianism, with Ch'eng Yi a
typical example, and in the works of Shao Yung, influenced by th
Buddhist idea of « kalpas » or world periods. Specific historical co
ditions also gave rise to conceptions in which history was regarde
as non-cyclical, chief among them being the Legalists, Ho Hsiu in t
Han period, and at a later stage, Wang Fu-chih. But these concepts
not play a dominant role.
The prevalent view of the cyclical nature of history was relat
to the belief that past, present and future are congruous and t
history is not a dynamic process, but the continuous reproduction
itself. The most conspicuous feature of this approach is that it
turned towards the past. It rests on two premisses:
1. China is identical with civilization per se, history bein
exclusively the history of the Chinese and China embodying abso
political and moral norms.
2. Thinking follows a pattern in which the object is, in essenc

261

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conceived as subject-related, the relationship between the subject and
the object not being a matter for theoretical reflection. The object
does not enter the mind as an object.
What is lacking here is a sense of relativity both on the political-
geographical level and in epistemological terms, the two being conceptual-
ly closely related. In two regards, there was no stimulus to take the
objective element as a yardstick, a fact that owes much to the traditional
conception of history.
Objective conditions changed after 1840 when China was drawn
into the whirlpool of world history. Chinese society began to go
through an ideological process which might be described as an enforced
shift towards the objective. Complicated and contradictory rather than
harmonious, the process is still not completed. Its first effect was to
produce an awareness of objective conditions in a geographical sense.
The imperialist powers were very active in their policy towards China,
pursuing their imperialist designs in a way that China could hardly
influence, rather than acting as « marginal zones » of the « Middle
Kingdom ». This marked the beginning of the arduous road leading
from the illusion of t'ien-hsia (all under heaven) to the reality of kuo
(the State). It also signalled the end of the traditional view of history.
The changed objective conditions prevailing in society gave rise to
evolutionist concepts, incorporating elements of foreign schools of
thought such as those of Huxley, Spencer and Social Darwinism. It
was no longer possible to ignore the world outside China. While China
was previously regarded as synonymous with civilization, there was
now a growing awareness of her relationship to the world, with all the
tensions this involved, and of the need to come to terms with it in
the realm of ideas. It is in this context that the concept of history
as a process of gradual change was evolved, as exemplified by K'ang
Yu-wei. This approach was shared by Liao Ping who spoke of evolution
from barbarism towards civilization with the union of the world as the
culminating point and by T'an Szu-t'ung who used the Ch'ien hexagram
of the I Ching to describe the stages of evolution, and not least by
Sun Yat-sen who was also an evolutionist in his view of history.
The objective dialectics of the historical process led to evolutionism
being discarded. The contradictions that developed in China and in
the world at large, China's growing dependence on others and last
but not least, the traumatic experience of seeing the « Middle Kingdom »
pushed to the sidelines of world history were the crucial factors in this

262

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development. The course of history itself made it necessary for new
concepts to be evolved. It was in this situation that under the impact
of the October Revolution in Russia Marxism found its way into
China. The Marxist view of the relationship between objective and
subjective conditions was of especial importance for overcoming the
trauma of national subjugation. Unlike traditional Chinese thought,
Marxism stresses the role of the object, including society with its
intrinsic laws of development, the latter being in marked contrast to
ideologies such as positivism and pragmatism which were imported in
the '20s. At the same time, it stresses that history is the result of
both objective and subjective factors. Marxism defines the subjective
factor as the reflection of objective conditions. What is important in
this context is that it does not postulate a linear dependence, a mechanistic
causal relationship between the two. Largely because of external factors
of progress, the subjective factor is capable of developing both itself
and, owing to its role in history, the objective conditions of social
progress, but only in conformity with the objective laws of history.
This provided a theoretical solution for China's « development gap »
problem, enabling it to be solved in practical terms, too. It is a specific
feature of Marxism that it emphasizes the intrinsic laws of objective
social reality while recognizing the importance of the subjective factor
in the historical process. When after the founding of the People's
Republic of China the transition to socialism was initiated, it became
possible, in principle, to translate this concept into practice, to achieve
mastery over society - perceived as objective reality - on the basis
of its own, objective laws.
However, the actual course of the historical process in which an
awareness of the objective element has been developing in China is
highly contradictory owing to the influence of the nationalistic and
sino-centrist view taken of China's relationship with the world at large.
Epistemologically, the first stage in the process of becoming aware of
objective reality was the perception of the world outside China, which
in a way constitutes objective reality in a geographical sense. In this
overriding process, the nationalistic view of the relationship between
China and the world simultaneously generated a disregard for the
intrinsic laws of society, though only as a transient phenomenon of
historical development. In marked contrast to the Marxist approach,
the relationship between objective and subjective conditions is separated
from internal and external factors of progress in Mao's thinking. The

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relationship between objective reality and subjective activity is seen
as dichotomous, formally corresponding to the traditional Yin-yang
pattern. From the mid-ßOs it became increasingly apparent that in the
final analysis this would lead to the hypostatization of the subjective
element.

It should be mentioned in this context that in the ideological

development of the People's Republic of China the relationship between
the subjective and the objective has always been a matter of controversy.
This is borne out by the arguments about the relationship between
of mind and matter in the period 1958-60 as well as by Mao's remarks
on the question « Where do people's right ideas come from? », made
basis and superstructure in the period 1955-58 and about the identity
in 1963, the debate over « apriorism » in the early 70s and, finally,
the dispute with the « Gang of Four ».
In Maoist, as opposed to traditional, thinking, history is looked
upon as a process of continuous change, but as one that lends itself to
artificial manipulation. In line with traditional patterns of consciousness,
the desire to hasten the progress of history out of nationalistic, sino-
centrist motives has led to a specific form of moral dogmatism. Seen
against the background of the historical process of becoming aware of
the objective element, this situation reveals the compulsion emanating
from objective reality, though disguised under the cloak of subjectivism.
In Maoism it finds its expression in the formulation of the task of
developing society. The dilemma is that on the one hand the nationalistic
view taken of the relationship between China and the world at large
sets limits to the recognition of the objective factor by encouraging the
negation of its intrinsic laws, while on the other hand the Chinese
leadership must take the objective element into account, faced as it is
with the need to develop the productive forces. On the basis of its
own goals it is increasingly facing contraints resulting from the develop-
ment of the productive forces. The more this is so, the less does the
time factor lend itself to manipulation. Because of the goals due to be
attained by 2000, the impact of this objective factor on the Chinese
leadership becomes more intense. The contradiction discernible here
is, basically, little more than a manifestation of the conflict between
subjectivism and objective reality as reflected in Maoism. The sub-
jectivistic Maoist approach towards the objective nature of social relations
has produced a kind of conflict between the aims set for the year 2000
and the means of achieving them. The inner dynamic of the objective

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factor has made itself more and more felt in this connection, especially
after the « Cultural Revolution ». This process took place in political
form, involving bitter struggle within the Chinese leadership. It was
not automatic, but associated with the intriguing phenomenon of an
increased counter-trend towards subjectivism, especially in the years
1975-76, as part of the campaign for the « Strengthening of the
Dictatorship of the Proletariat ». This exacerbated contradictions
tremendously, in particular those between politics and economics, making
certain adjustments inevitable. One consequence was the elimination
of the « Gang of Four ». Developments since then have shown that
this adjustment to objective reality is only partial, as it is restricted
by subjectivist views of history, notably by a subjectivist conception of
socialism. The contradiction between subjectivism and objective social
reality has not ceased to exist.
Developments have shown that undue emphasis on the subjective
element hinders progress, constituting an ideological impediment. The
general thrust of development is towards removing this impediment in
a complicated and contradictory process. Here we have a major cause
of the tendency towards the disintegration of the edifice of Maoist
thought, underlining the fact that there is no sovereign history of
ideas. The development of ideas is rooted in the objective social
process of life.

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