中国史学,源远流长,博大精深,为世所罕见,亦为世所公认。它不仅在中华文化的发展中具有伟大的意义,它在世界文化的发展中也具有重大的意义。有趣的是,前些年,在中国学术界,关于传统史学的议论,有种种看法。其中有一种看法,是对传统史学持否定态度的。持这种看法的朋友,至今还是有的。这也不足为奇,研究学问的人,总是会有自己的看法的。但是,我想文化是有传承性的,史学也一样。全盘继承是不可能的,全盘否定恐怕也不行。在文化(包括史学)发展的长河中,人们的“现代”,并不是以不承认“过去”来实现的;人们在学术上的进步,也不是以全盘否定在当时也是进步的历史遗产来实现的。在这里,重要的问题在于,一是历史地看待历史遗产,给其恰如其分的评价;二是创造,在前人的基础上进行创造。 Chinese history, long history, broad and profound, rare for the world, but also recognized by the world. It is not only of great significance in the development of Chinese culture, but also of great significance in the development of world culture. What is interesting is that in previous years there were various opinions in the Chinese academia about the discussion of traditional history. One of them is that they hold a negative attitude towards traditional history. There are still friends who hold this view. It is not surprising that people who study science always have their own opinions. However, I think culture is inheritance, history is the same. Overall succession is impossible, I am afraid that the overall negation can not. In the course of the development of culture (including history), people’s “modernity” is not realized by not admitting “the past.” People’s academic progress is not achieved by a total negation of the historic heritage that was also progressing at that time of. Here, the important issues lie in the fact that one is to historically view the historical heritage and give it a proper assessment; the other is to create and create on the basis of the predecessors.