Editorials

Commendable revision

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-11 07:53

History is the best mirror of the times. History helps us understand ourselves better, underpins our individual and collective identities and informs our future choices.

The government's decision to revise the Twenty-Four Histories - China's dynastic history from antiquity until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) period - is commendable.

The program, which is to be completed by 2015, is supposed to remove and correct the mistakes historians made in 1967 when they revised Chinese history in order to serve political ends at a time when the nation was in early grip of the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976).

The latest revision is expected to reveal history as it was. History repeats itself, but never exactly. There will certainly be far fewer mistakes if the past is subject to deep study.

History is an unbroken chain of experience and the basis of our culture. It accords in each one of us lasting pride about our country, giving Chinese a sense of survival, growth and regeneration. Without it, we would have no soul.

In the era of globalization, it is very important that Chinese citizens are taught the nation's history and tradition. Otherwise, they will stand uncertain and defenseless before the world, knowing neither where they came from nor where they will go.

The future stems out of the past, and a country's history is a statement of its values and hopes, and will forecast what is to come.

The proposed revision of Chinese history books should hopefully leave a closer-to-history record of the past for the benefit of future generations.

(China Daily 08/11/2010 page8)