Preface 2: History Needs to Be Re-examined

Xie Xuanjun

Mr. Zhong Wen spent over ten years writing historical accounts of more than 40 modern figures, including Yuan Shikai, Sun Yat-sen, and Mao Zedong. Recently, Mr. Zhong Wen focused his efforts on updating these accounts, titled *Re-examining*. He also asked me to write a preface and provide commentary, stating, “Questions are welcome; length is not a matter of personal preference.”

I found *Re-examining* to be a book that basically covers three regimes—the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China; however, it is not strictly a formal history.

More than a century has passed since the Xinhai Revolution in China, but civil war has never ceased, and the country has never been unified. Therefore, the “change of dynasties” has not been completed. The Chinese tradition of “the later dynasty writing the history of the previous dynasty” has thus been unable to be realized. In this sense, *Re-examining* has value.

I see the Beiyang Government as the first Beijing regime, and the CCP government as the second Beijing regime—these two northern regimes, though powerful, failed to unify China. As for the Nanjing Government and the Taipei Government, these two southern regimes similarly failed to fulfill the historical mission of changing dynasties. Therefore, the mission of establishing a “new kingdom” and creating a new history can only be left to the “Third China” that I anticipate.

Since the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China still coexist today (2024), now is not the time to formally write the *History of the Qing Dynasty*, the *History of the Republic of China*, and the *History of the People’s Republic of China*. Therefore, Mr. Chung Wen’s book, *Re-understanding*, is all the more precious and worthy of a place in the field of historical writing.

January 15, 2024, Philadelphia, USA