Fan Wenlan - Half-Bran

A contemporary Chinese writer and historian. A native of Shaoxing County, Zhejiang Province, he was educated in the Four Books and Five Classics, but in middle school he was an avid reader of translated Western novels. In 1914 he entered the Chinese Literature Department at Beijing University. After graduating, he became secretary to the school's principal, Cai Yuanpei, but it is said that he studied in Japan, where he was opened to Marxism. After returning to China, he taught at Nankai University, and published An Introduction to the Classics in 1926. He was also involved in the anti-imperialist patriotic movement, and in 1930 he met with Lu Xun and other representatives of the League of Left-Wing Writers at his home in Beijing.

It was around this time that he turned to history, publishing A Brief History of the Official History in 1931. In 1940, he left Henan University and went to Yan'an to join the Communist Party. In 1941, he wrote A Brief History of China as a textbook for Communist Party officials, which was highly acclaimed as a textbook on Chinese history from a Marxist perspective. In 1945, he published Modern History of China, Vol. 1, and worked energetically on revising A Brief History of China, while in 1950 he became director of the Institute of Modern Chinese History at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and in 1954 he became a delegate to the 1st National People's Congress.

[Akira Kasugai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、現代の文学者、歴史学者。浙江(せっこう)省紹興(しょうこう)県の人。四書五経の教育を受けたが、中学時代には西欧の翻訳小説を愛読した。1914年に北京(ペキン)大学中国文学科に入学。卒業後、校長蔡元培(さいげんばい)の秘書となったが、日本に留学し、マルクス主義に目を開かれたといわれる。帰国後、南開大学で教鞭(きょうべん)をとり、26年に『群経概論』を出版。一方、反帝愛国運動にも関与し、30年には北京の自宅で魯迅(ろじん)らの左翼作家連盟の代表と会っている。

　このころから歴史学に転じ、31年に『正史考略』を出版。40年には河南大学を辞して延安に行き共産党に入党。41年に共産党幹部教科書として『中国通史簡編』を著し、マルクス主義の視点にたつ中国史の教本として評価された。45年には『中国近代史　上』を出版、『中国通史簡編』の修訂に精力的に取り組む一方、50年には中国科学院中国近代史研究所長、54年には第1回全国人民代表大会代表となった。

［春日井明］

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