Henri Maspéro And His Study Of Chinese Ancient History

Henri maspéro is an important figure in the French sinology in the first half of the 20 th century.He has a wide range of research and is particularly good at Chinese ancient history.La Chine Antique is the only published work during his whole life,it also represents the highest achievement of his study of ancient Chinese history.This book won the "Prix Stanislas Julien" in 1927,and it is of great significance for exploring maspéro's research characteristics and methods of study if we can base on the works.The full text has three chapters,counts 60,000 words.The first chapter records maspéro's life and academics.From the 1980 s,our country regained its interest in sinology,but there has been a lot of blank in the research of maspéro.Therefore,in this chapter,I will sort out the family background,mentoring relationship and study experience.Then discuss his reasons for investing in the field of Sinology,and how these above-mentioned conditions lay the foundation for the following discussion.The second chapter describes the research characteristics of La Chine Antique.Start with the version of this book,identify the relationship between different versions,and these opinions of scholars at home and abroad.Then,based on the version in1927,combined with other maspéro's discourses,I focused on his research ideas on the origin of Chinese civilization and how he developed his research in three different texts.Because he grew up in the French social science background,he used to use the overall vision to observe the various elements of China,thus presenting a more complete social picture.Finally,maspéro has depth research on ancient Chinese religions,same as Buddhism and Taoism.The role of connection of ancient religions,the introduction and spread of Buddhism,the significance of Taoism.The third chapter discusses maspéro's research methods.Starting from La Chine Antique,it can be found that maspéro's choice of ancient Chinese literature is quite skillful and can be recreated using the literature.In addition,the profound linguisticbackground allows him to use it as a tool to study ancient Chinese history.He is instructive in his research on the origin of Chinese civilization and cultural exchanges between China and the West,and has an impact on the development of domestic historiography.Finally,what is rarely mentioned is that he used sociological method to study history and it played an important role in his study of ancient Chinese society.