Outline of National History is a general history treatise written by Qian Mu, a modern Chinese historian, and it was written in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period. At that time, Qian Mu was a professor of history in Peking University and went to China with the National Southwest Associated University during the war. In Yanquan Temple, Kunming, Yunnan, Qian Mu began to focus on the textual research and writing of China's general history.
At that time, the plight of life, the lack of materials and the situation of internal and external troubles made Qian Mu think about the fate of China in the whole book. Qian Mu pointed out that "the first task in the history of governing the country is to find its unique spirit within the country and the nation", and hoped that as an elite in the middle reaches of the Anti-Japanese War, he could draw strength from such a historical outline of publicizing talents.
The influence of the work:
After the publication of the Outline of National History, it was listed as a university book of the Ministry of Education of the National Government of the Republic of China, which was popular all over the country. It is a masterpiece that awakens the soul of China, defends the enemy and saves the country during the period of national peril, and expresses China people's deep love for the motherland.
The Outline of National History initiated a new style of compiling general history. It attaches great importance to political system, academic thought and social economy. Social economy is the lowest foundation, political system is the top structure, and academic thought is the backbone of the middle layer. In the concrete elaboration, it is not a rigid and mechanical dogmatic diagram, but an objective demonstration, grasping the outstanding changes in each historical period and looking for its dynamics throughout history.