The shock of the old: architectural preservation in Soviet Russia

In Soviet sources from the Brezhnev era, the history of architectural preservation after 1917 was presented as a triumph of rational state‐building and cultural organisation: with the support of Lenin, the Bolshevik government had rapidly put in place effective measures to protect historic buildings for future generations. As this article shows, the evolution of legislative and practical measures was considerably more complicated than this optimistic representation would suggest. In the early Soviet period, a highly ideologised understanding of the past meant that preservationist ambitions might (especially during the ‘Great Break’ of 1928–1932) be seen as intrinsically reactionary. The canon of historical buildings was shaped by perceptions of centrality to Soviet values, as well as historical and aesthetic importance. The article also explores the transformation of attitudes to architectural heritage as a response to destruction by the invading forces during the ‘Great Patriotic War’, after which commitment to preservation became far more whole‐hearted, although enforcement and financial support continued to be inconsistent. The Soviet case indicates not just the importance of heritage preservation to the cultural ambitions and self‐image of the modern state but the limits of commitment to preservation and the pressure placed on this by the commitment to all‐out modernisation and to the propaganda of new identities and values.     

孙中山与苏俄关系论析

本文运用近年新解密的俄罗斯档案及国内孙中山研究中发掘的有关文献资料,对孙中山与腚苏俄关系问题进行一些新的审视和探析.1917年俄国十月革命胜利后,孙中山十分关注俄国的沧桑巨变,进而由外交接触到联俄政策的酝酿,由确立联俄政策再到"以俄为师".他晚期政治理想中有着浓厚的"恋苏"情结.孙中山晚年既要苏俄的援助,又要维护中华民族利益,还要防止俄式共产主义和苏维埃革命的输入,在联俄与防俄间充分发挥了他的政治平衡.同时,孙中山在与共产国际和苏俄关系的互动中呈现出鲜明的策略性、现实性和独立自主性.苏俄在处理与孙中山的关系上存在大国沙文主义倾向.     

从宋代义理化史学到清代实证性史学的转变

在中国古代史学发展史上,如果从史学思想的角度考察问题,就会发现我国传统史学经历了从宋代义理化史学到清代实证性史学转变的过程。这两种史学思潮在史学本体论、史学认识论和史学方法论各方面都显示出截然不同的特征。揭示由宋代义理化史学到清代实证性史学转变的内涵及其意义,有助于阐明中国传统史学发展中某些内在规律。可以进一步深化史学史的研究。     

中国史学的遗产、传统和当前发展趋势

我国是一个史学大国,我国史学的特点是:历史记载和历史撰述的连续性;传世的历史文献十分丰富;历史编纂形式的多样性;重视人事、重视经世致用的社会性。中国史学在长期的发展中,为我们留下了丰富的史学遗产,形成了一些优良传统。近年来我国史学有了很大的发展,但也存在一些问题。有造诣的史学工作者,应该关注史学发展趋势,关注有倾向性的史学现象,促进中国史学沿着正确的方向健康地发展,这是我们史学工作者的社会责任和历史使命。     

Experimental history: the appeal of postmodemism in historiography

Use, truth and time constitute the basic elements of the epistemological structure of history. That structure went through three stages: pre-modern (from ancient times to the late eighteenth century, before the professionalization of history took place), modern (the period of professional history, from the late eighteenth century to the 1970s), and post modern (post 1970s). In these three stages, use, truth, and time successively occupied the core of the epistemological structure of history. Postmodernist history, which puts time at the core of its epistemology, is an extreme form of historicism. Even more than historicism, it has emphasized the determining effect of time and change on historical truth and historical consciousness. The privatization of historical narrative and reading has prodded history to become experimental. Experimental history no longer proclaims the truth about the past. Instead, under specific historical circumstances, it strives to produce texts that will be recognized by individual historians and provides these texts to readers, who will make their own judgments. Whether these texts are true will be decided through the uses they produce. In this way, any historiographical practice will be an experiment conducted by an historian in the present and that will consist in searching for the truth about the past. The success of this experiment will depend entirely on the experimental environment, that is, on the conditions provided by the reading environment. __________ Translated from: Beijing Shifan Daxue Xuebao 北京师范大学学报 (Journal of Beijing Normal University), Vol. 5, 2004     

当代中国历史学的学术转型与创新 --试论旧课题的改造和新课题的建立

以往中国历史学轰轰烈烈的专题讨论,不仅凝聚了史学界的绝大部分精力,而且形成了一整套的中国化马克思主义历史理论或历史解释系统。它决定着中国史学的研究与编纂,塑造和影响着人们的思维方式。当前的史学学术转型无论如何不可能回避这些旧课题。从史学学科体系的角度看,改造旧课题,将其转换成为新课题,应该,而且可以成为史学学术转型的突破口。     

Geographical Metanarratives in Russia and the European East: Contemporary Pan-Slavism

A specialist on Russian geopolitical metanarratives investigates the re-emergence of Pan-Slavism in the ideological landscape of contemporary Russia. Arguing that it is a heterogeneous assemblage of both mutually antagonistic and complementary narratives about the unity of Slavic peoples, the author posits that Pan-Slavism's durability lies not in its conceptual coherence but rather its emotional appeal to disparate Slavic peoples in the former Soviet Union as well as Eastern and Southeastern Europe. After briefly tracing the history of Pan-Slavism from its 17th-century roots through World War I into the Soviet period, he explores the metanarrative's capacity to take modern Russia's geopolitical thinking in new directions, including the potential to replace Russians' center-periphery worldview with a that of a cosmopolitan network of kindred nations affording Russia greater access to the European community.     

The Empire of the Hittites

Abstract

The paper deals with six recent studies which relate to the on-going debate over the chronology of the eleventh to the ninth century B.C.E. strata in the Levant and thus to the history of the region in the Iron Age. The paper takes issue with methodological problems relating to the questions of ethnographic comparison in archaeology, interpretation of biblical sources by archaeologists, pottery typology and dating. It offers a different interpretation of the finds at Hazor, Beth-shemesh, Tel Batash, Horbat Rosh Zait, and Bethsaida.     

帝国论与俄罗斯帝国的形成及其特点

20世纪是"帝国崩溃的世纪",国内外学者们对帝国学和帝国的关注度逐渐提高。本文将立足于帝国学的角度,分析帝国的类型,并考察苏联的前身——俄罗斯帝国的形成过程及其特点,指出俄国斯帝国是一个中央集权的强大的非殖民帝国,在自身社会发展过程中结合了东方专制制度和欧洲专制主义的特性,是各民族团结的典范。     

Population Trends in the Russian Federation: Reflections on the Legacy of Soviet Censorship and Distortions of Demographic Statistics

A noted demographer assesses the reliability of data in the 1989 census of the Soviet Union for 14 regions of the Russian Federation affected by distortions designed by Soviet authorities to conceal the populations of "secret towns" of the military-industrial complex. More specifically, using declassified population data available but only selectively published following the disclosure of these hidden settlements (and their populations) in 1994, he re-estimates the urban populations of these regions in 1989, and compares differences in 1989-2002 population change indicated by use of the original and adjusted 1989 data sets. Distortions of up to 10 percent of the regional populations (and as high as 13 percent for their eponymous regional capitals) are examined in light of their implications for the calculation of a variety of demographic and population-based indicators in studies of Russia comparing the late Soviet and early post-Soviet periods. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J11, O18, R23. 8 tables, 35 references.     

Observations on the Costs of the Yukos Affair to Russia

A prominent senior British specialist on the Russian economy reviews some consequences of the Russian state's dismemberment and partial re-nationalization of the Yukos oil company. The implications for state interventionism of Russia's engagement in international markets are assessed, and the effects of market feedbacks to Russian policymakers analyzed. Also considered is the question of whether Russian economic structure is changing in ways that could lessen the vulnerability of business to state action. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, F23, F32, L71. 4 figures, 1 table, 16 references.