Today, the magnificent masterpiece "World History" is finally lucky enough to have a quick look. Facing a hundred episodes, trying to understand the whole picture is like swallowing an elephant with a snake, which is time-consuming and laborious. The analysis of the catalogue, from the beginning to 3 1 episode "Chinese and foreign ancient cultural exchanges", is a summary of the ancient part of world history. The beginning of Episode 32, The Opening of New Routes and Early Colonization of Europeans, can be regarded as the beginning of modern world history. This can be proved by time: Constantinople, regarded as the last fortress in medieval Europe, fell in 1453, while Columbus discovered the new continent in 1492. Having made this clear, for me who don't know much about the modern history of the world, I can completely focus on the first 3 1 episode, which is the most cost-effective way to watch it. Although you can see the leopard in the tube, you can also see it.
The following points are some thoughts and inspirations after my views. 1. Why didn't this film mention the history of China alone?
The first thing that must be clear is the definition and connotation of world history. At least for a long time, world history was regarded as synonymous with foreign history in China, and the history of China was not only isolated, but even opposed to world history. However, the origin of civilization is not a single point, and the source of East Asian cultural circle with far-reaching influence in today's world is Chinese civilization. Thus, the history of China also exists as an important part of world history, and should be treated equally, neither specialized nor belittled. So I guess the editing is based on the following considerations. 1. As the first large-scale documentary on world history in China, this film has been talking about the Bandung Conference since ancient humans, showing a magnificent historical picture of human survival, struggle, development and progress for millions of years, with the aim of hoping that China people can read and think about human history from a brand-new perspective. Compared with the education and dissemination of mature China history, China people obviously lack world history, so they are more visually fresh. In the era of fast food, the efficiency of information intake is very important, and maximizing the effectiveness of time is bound to be the pursuit of editors. Second, I hope to reveal the similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign cultures in a comparative way. As one of the cradles of ancient civilization, Chinese civilization has a long history of nearly 4000 years, and its rich and colorful culture complements the civilizations all over the world. It is through the wonderful descriptions of other civilizations that this film reflects the colorful Chinese civilization, which not only helps viewers to think and compare independently, but also leaves enough room for association. Two. On the imbalance of historical interval segmentation
The first episode of this film tells the beginning of human history-people in the Stone Age. Now through the mainstream theory, we know that Lamarck, the oldest ancestor of mankind, is in the transitional stage between apes and humans. Later, it evolved into the earliest direct ancestor of mankind, Australopithecus Australopithecus, a man in the process of formation. The above two stages are the first stage of the development of primitive society, that is, the primitive group period. What really entered human history was the early Homo erectus, which was in the second stage-the period of consanguineous family commune, and lived between 3 million and 200,000 years ago (the above figures are perceptual data). This stage marks the beginning of the Stone Age. Since then, the speed of human evolution has suddenly accelerated. About 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, human beings evolved from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens, living a primitive commune life with matriarchal system as the main body. Obviously, compared with Homo erectus, the historical interval of Homo sapiens is greatly shortened. Thus, the primitive social history, which accounts for 99% of the length of human history, only accounts for one episode in this film 100, which well reflects the imbalance of historical intervals. Here, the famous Fibonacci sequence is introduced as an analogy model: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 2 1 ... The later, the greater the interval between the two numbers. Human history is like a Fibonacci sequence arranged in reverse order, which is reflected on the time axis. The history of the human world is the history of civilization, and the wheel of civilization rolls forward with acceleration! In today's information explosion, we feel the intensification of changes, and the word "changing with each passing day" seems to be insufficient to describe the movement of the world. When we are filled with emotion, we will naturally have some ideas when we look back and see how our ancestors walked step by step on thorns.
3. Different understandings of world history As early as ancient times, historians' narrative scope has expanded to their own known world, but it is limited by various conditions and fails to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the whole world. For example, the Historical Records written by Sima Qian mentioned the names of Rest, Daqin, Daxia and so on. Even Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, wrote history, which is no longer confined to Greece. People in different times and regions will have different perceptions of world history.
Some people care about the Islamic world, some people care about the Christian world, and so on. Until the end of 15, the development of navigation brought the discovery of the new continent, the closed state between continents was broken, the geographical limitation of history was greatly weakened, and people's cognitive vision of the world was greatly broadened. If we understand this point, we can well understand why the Western Europe-centered theory advocated by Frank and Hegel appeared in the18th century, and why the theory of civilized units represented by Spengler and Toynbee broke out on this basis, and regarded world history as the history of the collapse and growth of various civilizations, as well as the global historical view of Stavri and Anoos, which has been highly respected in recent years. It is thought-provoking that when we review world history from a single perspective in the documentary, can it become the ultimate truth? Will it be covered by a new angle in a few years? The answer is self-evident.
4. Make it clear that the source of civilization lies in West Asia and North Africa, and affirm the special role played by the Mediterranean in human history.
When we trace back to the source, follow the contemporary western civilization, cross the ancient Roman civilization and see the ancient Greek world, how can we ignore the Egyptian father and the Mesopotamian mother of ancient Greek civilization? We have no intention to compare the advantages and disadvantages with the length of civilization, let alone belittle Chinese civilization. We should clearly see the opening of the Mediterranean and the geographical closure of China, and also see the impact of different civilizations on the world. To explore the source of human civilization, we can't bypass North Africa and West Asia, let alone their cultural mother river-the Mediterranean Sea. To understand this, we can get information from the following examples.
1. Ancient Greek civilization began its journey from Crete-Mycenae civilization, and the communication between Crete and Egypt began in 4000 BC. Whether it is Crete's writing, stone tools or murals, we can deeply feel the influence of the ancient Egyptians. 2. As one of the most important symbols of civilization, the creation of letters came from the well-known Phoenicians, and it was on this basis that the Greeks added vowels, improved the alphabet system and got Greek letters, which are the predecessors of the most influential Latin and Slavic languages in the world today.
3. Religion is a special carrier of the spread of civilization. Looking back at the history of world religions, we can clearly see that Judaism originated in ancient Palestine, that is, on the east coast of the Mediterranean, and Christianity rose on the basis of Judaism. The relationship between Islam and the Christian Pope is also obvious. It can be seen that the three major Abrahamic religions that have the greatest influence on human history all come from West Asia.
4. The Mediterranean Sea is located at the junction of Europe, Asia and Africa, where many cultures meet and diverge. Glory belongs to Greece and greatness belongs to Rome. When we hear this famous saying handed down from ancient times, we should not forget that it is the extremely deep cultural layer of the Mediterranean that nurtured the Greeks and Romans. The Mediterranean has always been in the mainstream circle of world culture, with the ups and downs of Aegean civilization and Latin language. Bright Mediterranean, accompanied by the same brilliant Mediterranean civilization.
These are my views and thoughts on this documentary in combination with the books I have read before. Shallow mistakes are inevitable, and I can only throw a brick to attract jade. Generally speaking, this documentary is worth seeing and recommending. When we put individuals in the world civilization, we can see their insignificance, so understanding the process of the world is also a responsible attitude towards life.