The four disadvantages are: "on the one hand, I know there is a court but I don't know there is a country." As our party said, the history of twenty-four is not history, but the genealogy of twenty-four surnames. " "On the other hand, I know a person, but I don't know a group ... the history of China, ... in essence, is the result of countless epitaphs. Husband is more expensive than history. He can tell a group of people how to negotiate, how to compete and how to unite. There are more historians today than crucian carp, and I have never heard of anyone who can see this. " "For three days, I knew there were historical traces, but I didn't know sometimes ... The saying goes: Knowing the ancient times but not knowing the present, it is said that Lu Chen and Lu Chen are guilty of our country and the historian is dead." "For four days, I know there are facts, but I don't know what is the spirit of having ideals ... history? It is said that the ideal is already ... In the history of China today, it is said that one day there is one thing, and the other day there is another thing ... It is the history of China, which is not good for the people's wisdom and consumes the people's wisdom. " "Two diseases" are: "First, you can tell stories without cutting ... People often read a whole volume, but none of them have the value of entering the brain."
Liang Qichao also said: "Alas, if there is no revolution in history, then there is no hope for our country. Everything is long, but it's great. "
Liang Qichao's criticism of traditional historiography focuses on the so-called "four disadvantages and two diseases" theory. Among them, "knowing that there is a court but not knowing that there is a country" is the first and most serious crime it imposes on traditional historiography. For Liang Qichao, the academic evaluation is still the highest. Liang Qichao said: "As our party often says, the twenty-four histories are not history, but the genealogy of twenty-four surnames. His words seem a bit excessive, but the historian's spirit is true. Historians in our country believe that the monarch is the only monarch in the world. Therefore, it is history, but it is not unheard of to talk about how a certain dynasty was gained, ruled and lost. People used to call Zuo Zhuan a book of mutual affection. Zuo Zhuan, if it has twenty-four histories, is really one of the greatest books on earth. ..... Guy was never a historian, but he wrote it for the monarch and his subjects in the imperial court. There has never been a book for people and authors. Its great embarrassment lies in not knowing the difference between the court and the country, thinking that there is no country outside the court. "