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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 8

Publication Date: August 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.108.15270.

Yao, J., & Chen, L. (2023). Discuss: Several Problems in the Chinese Ancient History Textbook of Zhu Shaohou Version. Advances in

Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(8). 132-145.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Discuss: Several Problems in the Chinese Ancient History

Textbook of Zhu Shaohou Version

Jianguang Yao

School of History, Culture and Tourism, Yulin Normal University, China

Lingfei Chen

College of Foreign Languages, Yulin Normal University, China

ABSTRACT

The textbook Ancient History of China edited by Zhu Shaohou and others is the most

widely used textbook for the course "Chinese ancient history" of history majors in

Chinese universities. This textbook has been revised multiple times in the past 40

years, but there are still many problems, such as contradictory expressions of the

same problem, lack of pronunciation and meaning labeling of rare characters in

ancient literature, omission of legal and diplomatic aspects in the history of Song

and Yuan , inaccurate use of historical materials, and obvious untrue statements;

Part of the content is outdated, neglecting the important role of maps, schematics,

datasheets, and physical photos in students' construction of specific historical time

and space and understanding of relevant content. These issues reveal that there is

room for improvement at all stages of the compilation process of undergraduate

history textbooks in Chinese universities, and it is urgent to attract the attention of

the historical community and management departments.

Keywords: Undergraduate, Ancient history of China, Textbook, Errors and defects,

Improvement, Discussion.

INTRODUCTION

At present, there are a few textbooks for the course of "Chinese ancient history" for

undergraduate history majors in Chinese universities, and the commonly used one is ancient

history of China (Volume I and Volume II) (hereinafter referred to as “textbook”), which is

mainly edited by Zhu Shaohou, Qi Tao, Wang Yuji, published by the Straits Publishing House

Distribution Group and Fujian People's Publishing House. The first edition of this textbook was

released in 1982, and by 2000, five editions had been revised. This year is already the 13th year

of using the fifth edition. The reason why it is popular is because it has rich historical materials,

simple writing style, and has absorbed some relatively recent cultural relics, archaeological and

historical research results, including a certain amount of social life and customs content.

However, during the six years of teaching with this textbook, I found that many problems were

not noticed every time they were revised, which made it fail to achieve the correctness,

preciseness, integrity and timeliness that it should have as a textbook for undergraduate history

majors. It brought inconvenience, illusion and even confusion to students' study, caused

difficulties for students to construct the knowledge system of Chinese ancient history, and

affected the full play of its functions as a textbook.

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Yao, J., & Chen, L. (2023). Discuss: Several Problems in the Chinese Ancient History Textbook of Zhu Shaohou Version. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 10(8). 132-145.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.108.15270

ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN PROBLEMS IN THE TEXTBOOK

Overall, the main problems with textbooks include: conflicting statements about the same

problem; The rare ancient Chinese characters in ancient literature are not labeled with

pronunciation and meaning; There were omissions in the writing of some historical periods;

Inaccurate use of historical materials, and even obvious statements that do not match historical

facts; Some outdated content was not updated timely; Neglecting the important role of

presentation methods such as timeline, maps, diagrams, datasheets, and physical photos in

students' construction of specific historical time and space and understanding of relevant

content. Below, each of these issues will be explored one by one.

Conflicting Expressions

On page 47 of Volume I of the textbook, it is said that the main crops of the Shang Dynasty, such

as Shu (黍), Ji (稷), Su (粟),Mai (barley), Lai (wheat), Bi (秕), Dao (rice), and Shu (soybean),

were all found in the oracle inscriptions. Here, "Su" and "Ji (稷)" are juxtaposed, indicating two

different crops. A crop called "Bi" is also listed, with annotations for Mai, Lai and Shu (soybean).

On page 72, it is said that "During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the types of crops increased, such

as Dao, Liang (sorghum), Su, Mai, and Ji (稷)..." Here, "Su" and " Ji (稷)" are still considered two

different crops. But on page 137, when talking about the types and distribution of the main food

crops during the Warring States period, it said: "Six food crops, such as Ji (稷), Shu (黍), Dao,

Mai, Shu (soybean) and Ma (hemp), are commonly planted. Ji (稷), also known as Su or He, was

drought resistant and processed into Xiaomi. It was mainly produced in the North China Plain

and the Loess Plateau and was the main food for the people of the north. Shu (黍), namely

‘Shuzi’, is called ‘Huangmi’ after being peeled. At that time, it was the main grain second only to

Ji(稷)in the north”. Obviously, this statement is completely opposite to the previous statements

on pages 47 and 72, treating "Su" and "Ji (稷)" as the same crop. Afterwards, on page 245, when

discussing the diet of the Western Han Dynasty, it was said that "... but the people of the border

counties mainly relied on miscellaneous grains, such as Su, Mai, Shu (黍), Ji (稷), Jingmai (秔麦

), Kuomai (扩麦), Men (穈), Pang (䅭), Huang (䅣), Shu (秫), as well as Dou (beans), records in

the Han bamboo slips can be used as evidence." Obviously, here, "Su" and "Ji (稷)" were

considered two different crops, and several unfamiliar crop names, including "Kuomai", were

listed alongside them. Also, when discussing Khitan agricultural production on page 28 of

Volume II of the textbook, it is said that "in the old land, there were various types of

miscellaneous grains such as Liang (sorghum), Shu (黍) and Ji (穄)." Here, "Ji (穄)", which is not

familiar to ordinary person, appeared alongside "Shu (黍)," and, like page 245 of Volume I, there

were no annotations [1].

The conflicting statements about crop names in different chapters of the same textbook listed

above can cause confusion for every attentive teacher and student. Which statement is correct?

What crops do "Ji (穄)", "Bi (秕)" and "Kuomai (扩麦)" specifically refer to?

Let's refer to another textbook first. The annotation of "Shu (黍)” and "Ji (稷)” on page 102 of

the second edition of Ancient history of China, edited by Zhao Yi and Zhao Yifeng, and published

by the Higher Education Press, is as follows: "Shu (黍) and Ji (稷) were the two most common

crops in ancient Chinese literature. These two crops are relatively similar. Shu (黍) is Huangmi,

also known as Big huangmi, which has viscosity; Ji (稷) is Guzi (Setaria italica), also known as