On Han-Sheng Chuan's Historiography

Han-sheng Chuan is a pioneer in the field of Chinese social and economic history research in the 20 th century.His historical research has always followed the trend of the times and guided by the appropriate historical concepts.From the early view of social history to the diversified view of history to the global view of history of the world system,every metabolism of his historical concept can continuously introduce and absorb new theories,new methods and new historical materials into his economic history research,and finally realize his historical characteristics of connecting the ancient with the modern and integrating the Chinese with the western.On the one hand,the formation of the characteristics of Chuan's historiography stems from his ups and downs of life experience,on the other hand,it benefits from the guidance and Inspiration of many good teachers and friends,such as Tao xisheng,Fu Sinian,Yan Gengwang,Liang Fangzhong,etc.When he was studying in Peking University,he was full of historical books,at the same time,he widely absorbed the cultivation of Tao xisheng,Fu sinian,Qian Mu and other famous teachers and various schools of learning,which accumulated profound historical information for him.In the aspect of historical practice,Chuan has contributed many times to "Shi Huo semimonthly",and has also made preliminary achievements in the study of the history of China's guild system.After taking office in the Institute of history and language,Chuan worked hard in the collection and textual research of historical materials,and took the advantages of pottery and Fu.As a result,he flourished in the study of cities and canals in the Tang and Song Dynasties,as well as in the field of currency and price history.Under the influence of A.P.Usher and John U.Nef,Chuan tried to apply the western industrial location theory to the study of China's modern industrialization during his tenure in Taiwan.He elaborated the reasons for the failure of Han ye ping company's operation from capital,transportation,location,system,production and other aspects,and revealed the root cause of China's slow industrial development.When he was in charge of Hong Kong,Chuan devoted himself to studying the influence of the maritime silk trade in Ming and Qing Dynasties on China's currencyand price,and finally completed the systematic study of China's monetary and economic system.The diversity of the expansion of historical materials provides the inexhaustible high-quality materials for Chuan.The diversity of critical vision and theoretical methods brings him countless inspiration and skills.Focusing on the comparative study of Chinese and foreign economic history as well as the economic factors behind the political and military system,he has been able to do well in the specific social and economic research.Chuan devoted his whole life to learning and teaching with great enthusiasm,which not only cultivated many talents for the study of Chinese economic history,but also injected fresh faces of Hong Kong and Taiwan into the development of Chinese new historiography.His spirit of governing history and educating people is worthy of being remembered by later generations of scholars.