The Training of History / By Cao Shuji

**Genius is not trained,** **Most people are just average.** **Groups of average people need to know the methods of research,** **Need to know the way of writing, need to undergo training in history.** "I am writing this book as an autobiographical work. Through this book, I summarize my methods of nurturing talent, and also recall the past, expressing my longing for the teachers who nurtured and taught me." "The training methods in history are actually some of my experiences from forty years of research and teaching. Every teacher has their own experience, and if no one organizes it, it remains unknown." This book is not written for history geniuses, but for the majority of ordinary history students and young scholars. Professor Cao Shuji has condensed over forty years of academic and teaching experience into this small book, frankly discussing and offering actionable guidance on what constitutes a good thesis, how to discover problems within historical materials, and the methods and techniques required for writing a good thesis. ◇ I do not emphasize the "consciousness of problems," but rather discovering problems from the data. ◇ Historical materials are not your relatives; they are meant to be challenged. Do not follow the materials; read them against the grain. ◇ I advocate for "crushing" reading, word by word, sentence by sentence, squeezing every drop of moisture from the historical materials. ◇ Writing an essay is like fighting a war, with both offense and defense. ◇ Formal beauty and content beauty are consistent; if the form is not beautiful, the content must have problems. Full Title: The Training of History Author: Cao Shuji ISBN: 978-988-237-390-7 Binding: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese Pages: 220 Dimensions: 215 x 146 x 17 mm **Author Biography** **Cao Shuji** Founding Director of the Department of History at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, currently an Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong. His research primarily focuses on the demographic history of China, the history of Chinese migration, the history of Chinese diseases, the economic history of China, and the history of China's South China Sea. He has published numerous academic works and edited several local documents, with over a hundred articles published in journals such as "Social Sciences in China," "Historical Research," "Modern China Studies," "Chinese Economic History Research," "Chinese Demography," "Party History Research of the CPC," and "Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica."