Introduction
According to the author, this is a history of 4,000 years of China to understand the essence of “China” and “Chinese people”. It was a history of massacres. The book shows the brutality not seen in other ethnic groups, the system and culture of eunuchs, the system of enumeration and foot-binding, and the basic way of thinking of the Chinese people. It also includes the dark history of the Chinese Communist Party. This is a book that should be read by China admirers without much thoughts.
How did I come across this book?
I knew about this book from an advertisement on a train. Then, after hearing the author’s own appeal on YouTube and a critique by Kaoru Arimoto, who co-hosts Toranomon News with the author, I decided to read the book.
Impressions as a whole
This book was written with the intention to let many Japanese who think that Japan has learned a lot from importing Chinese civilization from the past, that there are excellent classical and historical books on Chinese culture, and that it is a matter of culture to know them, know that this is a complete “misunderstanding.
Therefore, it can be said that the book only picked up shocking contents to shatter Japanese people’s illusion of China.
In Japan, people generally take for granted the phrase “China’s 4,000-year history” and have a strong belief that China has a much longer history than Japan’s and that it was a great country in the past, superior to Japan.
I think there are many factors. The introduction of Buddhism, the influence of classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics, and novels such as “Sanguozhi” (The Legend of the Three Kingdoms). Although we do not consider China after the Qing Dynasty to be more advanced than Japan, we have a vague longing to think that China was a great country in the past.
I was fascinated by China when I read “Sanguozhi” as a boy. I have been involved with China for most of my life.
For a typical Japanese like myself, this book is a relentless presentation of a ton of historical facts, saying, “This is a total fantasy, wake up.
I believe that a country that deserves the title of “great” or “superior culture” is one that has “admirable morals”. A country that lacks morals and is severely dehumanized cannot be called a country of greatness or superior culture, no matter how advanced its civilization is. China claims to have a history of 4,000 years, but I am sorry to say that it has no morals. At least not in the way we Japanese think of morality. To put it simply, humanity and human rights are completely lacking.
“Forbidden History of China” by Naoki Hyakuta, Asuka Shinsha, P1-2
To quote from the “Foreword,” I think it is fair to say that through “Forbidden History of China,” this book was written with malicious intent to discredit “China” and “the Chinese people.”
Therefore, those who think it is in bad taste or who have an aversion to it should not read it.
On the other hand, I recommend this book to those who, like me, have faced China in some extent, have a deep knowledge of Chinese history, or have traveled to China many times and admire its long-standing scenic spots and places of historical interest.
This is because their thoughts and perspectives may be one-sided.
A History of Massacres
I would like to note a few stories that caught my attention.
The book describes the view that Japan imported a lot of culture from China during the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty envoys, but did not include the culture of eunuchs and the Lingchi Penalty (a brutal killing method in which human flesh is cut and killed a hundred times, skinned and killed, etc.).
This view may seem a leap if we consider it from a literature-centered perspective, but the dispatchers spent a year or two in Sui and Tang China to “collect advanced technology, political systems and culture, as well as Buddhist scriptures,” so they must have seen these systems as well. I think I saw these systems as well.
On a different note, the author is very critical of Liu Bang.
He is often portrayed as a sturdy man with a large scale, but this is a complete lie. Liu Bang was a very brutal man without much ability.
Is this really true? In Ryotaro Shiba’s “Xiang Yu and Liu Bang,” popularity is emphasized in contrast to Xiang Yu. It may be true to say that this is a novel, but it may be that the Shiba historical view is brainwashing the Japanese people even in China as well.
Hong Xiu-quan, the religious leader who led the “Taiping Rebellion,” purged the number two position and massacred some 40,000 people, including family members, officials, and their families. Later, the Qing’s Zeng Guo-fan fell on Nanjing and destroyed Taiping Heaven, killing 100,000 people in three days.
Cannibalism
At the beginning of this chapter, the author says, “You need to be prepared to read it.
Cannibalism has been practiced in both Europe and Japan, but in most cases it was the result of a massive famine. In China, on the other hand, there has been a “custom of eating human beings” since ancient times. That is what I write simply.
The following quote is from an article written by Kuwabara Jitsuzo, a great scholar of Oriental history, in 1924 in Toyo-gakuhou (Journal of Oriental Studies).
The Shina people have a long-standing culture that they should be proud of, but they have continuously practiced cannibalism for more than 3,000 years, from ancient times up to the present day. Probably no other nation in the world has as rich historical records of cannibalism as the Chinese. There is no room for doubt that the Chinese have had the custom of cannibalism since ancient times, as there is clear evidence of it in the history of China.
(Omission.) He divides cannibalism in China into five cases. (omission) He divides cannibalism in China into five categories: “in times of famine,” “when people were besieged and ran out of food,” “as a luxury item,” “cannibalism out of hatred,” and “for medical purposes.”
“Forbidden Chinese History” by Naoki Hyakuta, Asuka Shinsha, P71-72
I don’t dare highlight it because I don’t feel comfortable emphasizing it, but he goes on to say that it is a “luxury item.”
Taiwan-born author Huang Wen-xiong also writes in “‘Shokujin Bunka’ de Yomitoku Chugokujin no Shotai” (The True Identity of Chinese People as Deciphered by ‘Shokujin Bunka’) (Hikarland) that in Chinese history books, there are 119 references to “cannibalism” due to famine, 1,008 references to “eating human flesh” and 236 references to “replacing children for eating”.
As an example, the book introduces the story of the Emperor Huan of the Qi Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, who was a gourmand who loved delicacies from the mountains and the sea, and the cook, Yi Ya, killed his own small child and made soup with the child’s meat.
This story must be famous because it also appears in Atsushi Nakajima’s “Meijinden”(Biography of a Master). When the gourmand Emperor Huan of Qi wanted to taste a delicacy he had never tasted before, the chef Yi Ya made meal with his son to be steamed and roasted. (from “Meijinden” by Nakajima Atsushi)
Although it does not appear in Eiji Yoshikawa’s “Sanguozhi,” as read by the Japanese, Liu Bei Xuan-de, while on the run after his defeat by Lv Bu, was treated to a meat dish by Liu An, a fisherman. It was the human flesh of his wife. Later, when Liu Bei met Cao Cao and told him the story, Cao Cao was so moved that he sent out an envoy to give Liu An a hundred ryo of gold.
In “Zizhi Tongjian”, it is written that the price of human flesh in a market in the Tang dynasty was 100 fen per loaf of meat, and the price of dog meat was 500 fen per loaf of meat.
The “History of Ancient China” written by Martino Martini, a Jesuit monk in the Ming Dynasty, also mentions that “human meat is sold openly in markets just like pork.
I cannot (and will not) write here about the astonishing story written in “Tangren Shuohui,” a collection of tales compiled during the Qing dynasty. As for cannibalism, it may be enough just to read this case.
Incidentally, it is written that Nakajima Atsushi’s “Sangetsu Ki” is based on the “Biography of a Tiger” in this book. Perhaps what Atsushi Nakashima sought in the Chinese classics was a mysterious and bizarre world.
Eunuchs and Foot-binding
Eunuchs were officially abolished in 1912, when the Republic of China was established. The practice of foot-binding was also abolished around the same time, and then completely eliminated during the Cultural Revolution, which means that it existed 100 years ago.
Eunuchs originally began when men who had conquered and enslaved a different ethnic group were castrated. The author speculates that the purpose may have been to prevent the increase of descendants of hostile foreign tribes.
Castration was also said to have been necessary in the king’s back palace in order to make arrangements for sexual affairs. It is not hard to understand, but I wonder why only China has a long history of eunuchs.
Here are some of the sagas of eunuchs.
As I read them, I realized that the impact of eunuchs on Chinese history was greater than one might think. Zhao Gao, a eunuch beloved by the First Emperor, drove his eldest son Fu Su to suicide after the death of the First Emperor, and then enthroned his youngest son Hu Gai to become his puppet. He framed the First Emperor’s other sons for his crimes, and executed his minister Li Si. Finally, he also killed Hu Gai.
With no one left to rule, Qin was defeated and destroyed by Liu Bang’s army only three years after Shi Huang’s death. A single eunuch changed the course of history.
Wei Zhong-xian, a eunuch who was active during the reign of Emperor Tianqing in the Ming Dynasty, tortured and killed his political opponents one after another and called himself “堯天舜徳至聖至神.” The Ming Dynasty was destroyed by Li Zi-cheng shortly thereafter, and it is written that Wei Zhong-xian’s purge of political opponents may have been a remote cause.
Imperial examination – Keju (科挙)
This is mentioned in this book, but there is no better way to understand it than to read Miyazaki Ichisada’s “Kakyo” in Japanese (科挙).
The degree of difficulty is said to have been 3,000 times greater in the most severe period.
In principle, there is the “Tong-shi”, for children under the age of 14, which was broken down into three kinds: the “Xian-shi”, the “Fu-shi”, and the “Yuan-shi”. The “Xian-shi” includes the fifth round of examinations, The “Fu-shi” includes the third round, and The “Yuan-shi” includes the fourth round, and only after passing these exams can one become a student of a national school.
Then, serious examinations start, The “Ke-shi” the “Xiang-shi“ the “Hui-shi”, and the “Dian-shi” examinations. The “Ke-shi” is the preliminary examination, and the “Xiang-shi” and after are the real tests.
Students stayed in this room for three days and two nights and worked on their answer sheets. No meals were served, so students brought their own rice and cooking utensils, and cook rice for meals during the examination. Only water seemed to be plentiful in the facility.
During the exam, the entrance to the facility is locked and never opened until after the private viewing. In other words, no one is allowed to leave the facility under any circumstances during the exam. This is even if a student suddenly becomes ill. If by some unfortunate chance he or she dies, the officer will throw the body out of the facility.
“Forbidden Chinese History” by Naoki Hyakuta, Asuka Shinsha, P144
When a person passed the “Xiang-shi,” he or she became a raised person and received a huge amount of honor.
The “Hui-shi” was the last test substantially, but before that, there was a qualifying test called the “Juren-fushi”. If the results were extremely poor, the candidate would be disqualified. This book did not say whether it is an absolute or relative evaluation, but if the latter is the case, then there were always people who went from heaven to hell.
Wikipedia summarizes the enrollment process of Imperial examination very well.
Now, there were no limits to “Keju” (科挙), but the author called it a “spectacular waste of time”. The reason is that there was only one scope of the examination: the Chinese classics, “the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism.” Since serious study for the Chinese classics began at the age of about 6, and the average age of those who passed the exam was 36, I have to agree with the author’s opinion to a great extent.
Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Mao Zedong’s basic strategy is clearly written.
He explains that Sun Wen, who was troubled by the war against the warlords, accepted the acceptance of Chinese Communist Party cadres in exchange for Soviet Union’s financial support for the “First United Front”. This was new to me. However, when I went back to my world history textbooks, I found that it says, “With the help of the Soviet Union. It may be the same thing as “in exchange for Soviet Union’s financial aid to the KMT (Kuomingtang)” but it left a completely different impression on my mind.
This chapter seems to refer to Shi Ping’s “The Chinese Communist Party: A Hundred Years of Darkness” (Asuka Shinsha).
First of all, the reason why Mao Zedong defeated Chiang Kai-shek with so much power was because he gathered a lot of soldiers. China has revealed very little about how he gathered them, but it was “one village, one burn, one kill, in addition all are forfeited.
(Omitted.) They would take the village ragtag gangsters into their ranks, broke into the landowner’s house, tied up and tortured the family, took all their property, and burned the land contracts and other documents.
(Omitted.) The communists then gathered the villagers in one place and put the landowner on trial by the people and executed him on the spot.
(Omitted.) They then recruited able-bodied young men from among the villagers to become party members and head for the next target village.
By repeating this process, the CCP took control of an area inhabited by 36 million people in just five years. About 100,000 landowners were killed during that time.
“Forbidden Chinese History” by Naoki Hyakuta, Asuka Shinsha, P200
The tragedy of Changchun in 1948 is also mentioned. The actual experience is described in detail in “Cha Zi” by Homare Endo. (It has been sitting on my bookshelf for years. My father read it earlier than I and cried).
In response to the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, the liberal countries imposed various sanctions, including economic sanctions, against China. Japanese government opposed it, and at the G7 summit in July of the same year, the joint sanctions were not imposed.
The prime minister at the time was Sosuke Uno and the foreign minister was Hiroshi Mitsuzuka. It is said that there are many theories as to why the two men made such a great effort for China.
Curious, I went online and came across an article in the Nikkei Shimbun titled, “Japan, G7 Summit ‘One against Six,’ Caught Between China and West at Tiananmen Square (Diplomatic Documents Released)”-it is written in Japanese. We do not know what was behind this devoted defense of China. Was it, as the author says, a “yearning for China” as a wonderful Confucian country, or a sense of atonement for China in World War II?
As a student at the time, freshly enrolled in the Asian Studies Department, I was a vague supporter of the Japanese government’s view that it was “not a good idea from a long-term, big-picture perspective. This coincided with the time when I cried reading Toyoko Yamazaki’s “Daichi no Ko” (Child of the Earth). My parents’ generation is influenced by “aspiration” to China and “sense of atonement,” while I myself am influenced by the “aspiration” I inherited from reading “Sanguozhi” when I was a boy.
I have blew a whistle against Japanese people’s misguided admiration for Chinese culture. The Japanese view of China has been completely distorted by “Sanguozhi” and “Water Margin” written by Japanese authors. Japanese writers have taken the stories in “Shiki” and other books and converted them into the Japanese style, portraying them with very attractive characters. I dare say that these are “Japanese stories” set in China. There are no real Chinese people in them.
“Forbidden Chinese History” by Naoki Hyakuta, Asuka Shinsha, P213-214
I can’t even think of a word to say. I am the very epitome of this.
I still believe that I am not wrong in my assertion. And if you want to know what the real Chinese are like, you should read “Zizhi Tongjian”. It describes to no end how dirty and cunning the Chinese are, how they delight in trickery, and how skilled they are at deceiving their opponents. I wrote in Chapter 7 that this book was Mao Zedong’s favorite book, which is quite understandable when you see what he did.
“Forbidden History of China” Naoki Hyakuta, Asuka Shinsha, p. 214
If I call myself a China watcher, “Zizhi Tongjian” is a must-read book, I thought again. But It seems that “Zizhi Tongjian” complete translation has not yet published in Japan as the author writes in the postscript. (I found that Takashi Tokuda, self-professed China historian, published the complete translation in Kindle.)
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version), and revised a bit by me
