Abstract:
“China has no real history” is a prejudice in the West, which is mainly prevalent from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century. This prejudice is the result of Westerners’ misunderstanding of Chinese history because of the lack of accurate knowledge of China with the traditional western historical view and thinking mode. The mainstream of western traditional historical view takes particularity and variability as its attributes of history, while excluding generality and stability from the scope of historical. After the 16th and 17th century, a series of major changes took place in western society and the West entered modern times with a dynamic face, while Chinese society entered a fairly long stage of slow development. The different historical development states of China and the West left a deep impression on the Westerners at that time. Under the influence of the binary opposition thought, this impression expanded to the two extremes of the opposition, while sporadic pieces of historical knowledge about China provided the basis for the Westerners to describe China as the “other” an image different from itself. In the “century of history”(that refers to the 19th century), in the eyes of western scholars of history, China became a “country without real history”. The root of “China has no real history” is western cultural prejudice, and its essence is Eurocentrism. Only by studying Chinese civilization, profoundly revealing and explaining the unique path, rich connotation and distinctive characteristics of Chinese history, building a discourse system of history with Chinese characteristics, and mastering the initiative to tell Chinese stories well, can we get out of the trap of Eurocentrism.
