(Article/Liu Xiangyang, Photo/Li Yunlong, Review/Pu Chuanxin)
On 6 May 2024, researcher Wang Chaoguang, former director of the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), former deputy director of the Institute of Modern Chinese History, and president of the China Sun Yat-sen Research Society, was invited by the Department of Student Work of the Party Committee of the NPU and the School of Marxism to visit the Aoxiang Lecture Hall, and gave the speech of "The Revival of the Chinese Nation in the Time and Space of History: A Multi-dimensional Examination of Relationships Between Modern China and the World," he brought a wonderful academic report and a profound and lively great ideological lesson for the teachers and students attending. The lecture was hosted by Professor Wang Yongping of the School of Marxism, and Pu Chuanxin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School, introduced researcher Wang Chaoguang's work history and academic achievements.
Fellow Wang Chaoguang examined the proposition of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in historical time and space in a multi-dimensional manner by integrating world history and Chinese history under the perspective of global history, looking around the world and caring for the motherland. In the vertical dimension of time, the lecture selects the Foreign Affairs Movement and the War of Resistance Against Japan, and compares the Meiji Restoration of Japan and the World War Against Fascism, highlighting the importance of grasping major historical nodes and opportunities. In the horizontal spatial dimension, the lectures sorted out the historical lineage of local separation and national unification in Chinese history, highlighting the significance of national unification and centralisation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. On the premise of "right place, right time", the factor of "human harmony" is extremely important. The lecture focuses on the awakening of national consciousness and the rise of nationalism in modern China, the subjective initiative of important figures such as Sun Yat-sen and Gu Weijun, as well as the shaping of modern Sino-foreign relations under the leadership of the Communist Party of China in the revolution, and highlights the Chinese people's self-consciousness, initiative, and activism in the modern history of the Chinese people.
To sum up, researcher Wang Chaoguang believes that the relationship between modern China and the world, starting from the Sino-foreign relations with China as the main body, has presented diversified scenarios under the multi-dimensional observation angle, and has gone through a course from low to high. There are lessons of lost opportunities due to passive responses and successes due to active seizing of opportunities; inspired by the rational, tolerant anti-imperialist, revolutionary pioneers and progressive sages endeavoured to give full play to the initiative of human beings, to make use of the strengths and avoid the weaknesses, and to transform the objective possibilities into practical realities; After the founding of the Communist Party of China, it has correctly responded to the world situation, led the Chinese revolution, and pushed forward the reorientation and reshaping of modern Sino-foreign relations.
During the talk, Liu Xiangyang, Fang Xiaojie, Wang Xinrui, and Fan Mingfang of the School of Marxism, had an in-depth exchange with researcher Wang Chaoguang from the themes of grand narrative and modern Chinese history, the value stance of Chinese and foreign history writing, and the major theoretical issues of modern Chinese economic history research respectively. Pu Chuanxin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Marxism, concluded the lecture from both academic and practical perspectives, and from the perspective of implementing the fundamental task of establishing moral education in colleges and universities, and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in a comprehensive manner with Chinese-style modernisation.
