Research On Cen Zhongmian's "History Of The Sui And Tang Dynasties"

Cen Zhongmian was a prominent historian in China in the 20 th Century.He was a self-taught scholar who had made a comprehensive and intensive study in many academic fields.His academic experience has gone through four stages: study,amateur study,work in the history language institute and teaching in sun yat-sen university.While he devoted most of his time and energy to the study of the history of Sui and Tang Dynasties in his life.In addition to many monographic studies,his monograph,The History of Sui and Tang Dynasties,is most representative of his systematical study on the history of Sui and Tang Dynasties.The History of Sui and Tang Dynasties is derived from teaching materials used by Cen Zhongmian in class.It is composed of two parts,the history of Sui Dynasty and the history of Tang Dynasty,involving a wide range of themes and the major issues during that time.It is written in classical Chinese.Meanwhile,it is a theme-oriented note-type historical monograph with the obvious characteristic of textbook style.Some important innovative ideas concerning important issues,such as the “three-time expedition to Korea” by Emperor Yang of Sui,“the Guan Long group”,“marking off of generals and ministers of state in the Tang Dynasty”,“An-Shi Rebellion”,Li Deyu and “The Struggle between Niu and Li”,have been put forward in the book.This book also embodies the characteristics of historical study of Cen Zhongmian,including the outstanding spirit of historical criticism,attention on the timeliness and the cosmopolitanism in the study of history,and the integration of theoretical reflection on history into the specific analysis.It has a significant historical status,therefore,detailed inquiry on this book is necessary.