On Shi Jingqian's Research On The History Of Chinese Lower Class People

The American sinologist Jonathan D.Spence rose to fame because of a book,“The Death of Woman Wang”.He gained great acclaim from the academic circles for his first research on the history of the lower classes of China.The reason why this research can cause great repercussions is that the study of the history of the people at the lower level does not occupy the mainstream,and most of the related studies have just started.This paper centers on the history of the lower classes of China,and is supplemented by other works,such as “The Gate of Heavenly Peace” and combined with the relevant research results of academic circles to probes into the contents and related problems of the history research of the Chinese lower-class people.Because of his academic life experience and the change of historical thoughts in the 20 th century,Jonathan D.Spence focused his attention on the research field of the history of the lower class.According to the time clue,the research content can be divided into two transition periods:The first period of transformation was the study of the lower classes in the Ming and Qing dynasties,including the research of Jonathan D.Spence on women preserve chastity after the death of her husband and inheritance,peasants' miserable life and heavy taxation,the harm and their sources of soldiers and bandits,and the lack of social responsibility of non-elite intellectuals,which reflects the historical thought of Jonathan D.Spence as well as his values.The second period of transition is the study of the lower classes since the end of the Qing Dynasty,including the discussion on the issues related to the gradual emancipation of women,the strike movement of workers for their own rights and interests,and the courage of intellectuals to bear the social responsibility of Opening the Peoples Wisdom,which reflects Jonathan D.Spences overall thinking and framework in the study of the history of the lower class.The study of the history of the lower class written by Jonathan D.Spence includes his cognition and thinking of history and it is also an important embodiment of his unique method of managing history.The research methods of the history of the Chinese lower class mainly include the quantitative research method,the interdisciplinary method,and the micro historical research method and so on.Based on the above research methods,Jonathan D.Spence is able to show the characteristics of his extensive selection of historical materials,the addition of montage effect and the literary narrative method in the study of the history of the lower class.It embodies the originality of historical thoughts.The historical study of Jonathan D.Spence is to achieve the purpose of "educating people by history".His research was influenced by the trend of thought in historiography,and Jonathan D.Spence promoted the birth of the theory of China-Centric View with his research.As a representative figure of overseas Sinologists,Jonathan D.Spence's research has a certain role in promoting the culturalexchange between East and West.There is no doubt that the unique method of historical management also led to his limitations in the study on the history of the lower classes of China.