Qian Mu or Ch’ien Mu (Chinese: 錢穆; 30 July 1895 – 30 August 1990) was a Chinese historian, philosopher and writer. He is considered to be one of the greatest historians and philosophers of 20th-century China. Qian Mu, together with Lü Simian, Chen Yinke and Chen Yuan, was known as the “Four Greatest Historians” of Modern China.
Mr. Qian Mu is my most respected historian. The true enlightenment of my historical outlook is due to him, started with A General History of China (國史大綱) in my middle school days.
When the Chinese War of Resistance broke out in 1937, Qian Mu hastily fled from Beiping (now Beijing) to the rear of the Great Southwest, losing all of his teaching materials from his years of teaching. At a time when China was facing a period of national survival, Qian Mu felt that China’s fortunes were dwindling, and although he himself believed that the war against China would be won, he also had the worst intentions for China’s fate. He wrote the book, A General History of China, in a remote place in the Yunnan countryside with the spirit that “the Chinese will write the last book of Chinese history”, hoping that if China were to lose the war, at least one book of Chinese history would be left to future generations, so that they would know about China’s history and civilizational achievements and be inspired to revive China.
A General History of China is a general history treatise written by the modern historian Qian Mu, which focuses on the development of China from ancient times to modern times. The entire book is largely consistent with Qian Mu’s ideological viewpoint: the emphasis on the value of tradition. He opposed the use of science or Marxism by modern Chinese academia to deny the characteristics of ancient Chinese society. In his book, he said, “If we seek to create a new view of ancient history today, we should also revise the extreme skepticism of recent people.”
I still remember the night when I was reading the preface of this book. Mr. Qian Mu’s comparative analysis of Chinese and Western history and culture in the book is so incisive. In the process of reading, it was even as if there was a big clock in my brain that was being rung again and again, shocking many of my worldviews in the past.
凡读本书，请先具下列诸信念：
一、当信任何一国之国民，尤其是自称知识在水平线以上之国民，对其本国已往历史，应该略有所知。(否则最多只算一有知识的人，不能算一有知识的国民。)
二、所谓对其本国已往历史略有所知者，尤必附随一种对其本国已往历史之温情与敬意。(否则只算知道了一些外国史，不得云对本国史有知识。)
三、所谓对其本国已往历史有一种温情与敬意者，至少不会对其本国已往历史抱一种偏激的虚无主义，(即视本国已往历史为无一点有价值，亦无一处足以使彼满意。) 亦至少不会感到现在我们是站在已往历史最高之顶点，(此乃一种浅薄狂妄的进化观。) 而将我们当身种种罪恶与弱点，一切诿卸于古人。(此乃一种似是而非之文化自谴。)
四、当信每一国家必待其国民具备上列诸条件者比数渐多，其国家乃再有向前发展之希望。(否则其所改进，等于一个被征服国或次殖民地之改进，对其国家自身不发生关系。换言之，此种改进，无异是一种变相的文化征服，乃其文化自身之萎缩与消灭，并非其文化自身之转变与发皇。)
《国史大纲》钱穆
Translated in English:
Please read this book with the following beliefs.
1. When it is believed that nationals of any State, especially those who claim to be above the level of knowledge, should have some knowledge of their own past history. (Otherwise only a knowledgeable person at most can be counted, not a knowledgeable national.)
2. In particular, those who are said to have some knowledge of their country’s past history must be accompanied by a warmth and respect for their country’s past history. (Otherwise, only some foreign history is counted, not knowledge of national history.)
3. A person who is said to have a warmth and respect for his or her own past is at least not subject to a radical nihilism about his or her past (i.e., to regard his or her past as having little value and nothing to satisfy him or her). Nor does it at least feel that we now stand at the highest point in history (a shallow and arrogant view of evolution.) And we are treated as sins and weaknesses, blaming the ancients for everything. (This is a specious cultural condemnation.)
4. To believe that each country can have a hope of moving forward when the number of its nationals who have the above-mentioned conditions increases. (Otherwise its improvement is equivalent to that of a conquered or sub-colonized country and has no bearing on the country itself. In other words, such improvement is a cultural conquest in disguise, the shrinking and annihilation of its own culture, not its own transformation and empire.)
A General History of China, Qian Mu
What Mr. Qian Mu influenced me most is that without understanding the historical development of philosophy, politics, culture, economic and the significant changes of the country, the judgement of current reality could only remain at a shallow level. All things have a cause and effect. Yet we can easily be blinded by shallow appearances. In an age when everyone thinks they have the ability to think independently, they are somehow more likely to fall into the trap of blind criticism.
The “warmth and respect” for history, as Mr. Qian Mu highlighted, has now become a rarity. It has been replaced by a radical nihilism – the imputation of all the evils and weaknesses of the present to tradition. Yet how much is known today about the true cultural traditions that have continued for over two thousand years?
When there is a disconnect between the perception of the present and the past, how can one be sober about the present’s predicament and make real improvements?
In 1949, Mr. Qian Mu became the first president of New Asia College (新亚书院), one of the three established colleges of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Its educational purpose is to “Trace its roots back to the spirit of the Song and Ming Schools of Education and to adopt the system of instructors in Western European universities, and to use humanistic educational purposes to bridge the world’s western and eastern cultures and to seek a future for the peaceful society and happiness of mankind” (“上溯宋明书院讲学精神，旁采西欧大学导师制度，以人文主义之教育宗旨，沟通世界中西文化，为人类和平社会幸福谋前途”).
In 1967, Mr. Qian Mu left Hong Kong and started to live in Taiwan. After being blinded by illness, he wrote “Late Learning of Blind Words” (《晚学盲言》) with the help of his wife. In 1986, he gave his last lesson in the Su Shu Lou(素书楼) and gave a parting message: “You are Chinese, don’t forget China!”
Whenever I read a book written by Mr. Qian Mu, I always fantasize that if he were still alive, I might be able to do a little errand for him. I also thought that I should visit New Asia College and Su Shu Lou when I go to Hong Kong and Taiwan, to mourn and pay homage to Mr. Qian at his old residence.
Ironically, these two places are already long gone. The development of these places over the last 30 years has been the opposite of what Mr. Qian believed all his life. Hopefully, Mr. Qian’s last wish will one day be fulfilled.
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Keep Wild and Carry On 
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