Chapter 14 postscript

After more than four years, this manuscript was finally completed.At the last full stop, facing the orange light, after taking a long breath, I covered my eyes and meditated, my heart was still not calm, and I felt that I still had a few words to say. I remember that one afternoon half a year after the start of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties Project, a friend called me and said that he was commissioned by Zhejiang People's Publishing House and wanted me to write a book about the implementation of the project.After listening, my first feeling was that the other party might have found the wrong person.Although I didn't know much about the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties at that time, I already knew a thing or two through the media.In my impression, this is a large-scale project listed as a national key science and technology plan. It is a large-scale operation combining social science and natural science. The entire project is huge, the composition of disciplines is complex, and the number of participating scholars is so large. On a par with a mere archaeological excavation?This subject should be handled by people who have both literature and history, so that they can handle it with ease, so as not to miss everything. It is difficult for a writer like me to control.In view of the foreseeable difficulty, I feel that my knowledge is shallow and I can't bear the heavy responsibility, so I tactfully evade this invitation.

After a while, comrades from Zhejiang People's Publishing House made a special trip to Beijing to find me and talked about the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties Project again, hoping that I could muster up the courage to go into battle and complete the writing of the project.At the same time, they also talked about the value and significance of writing this work from the perspective and perspective of publishers.Under the encouragement of the other party, I couldn't make any further excuses, so I boldly said that I might as well give it a try.Of course, we know in our hearts that the tacit understanding reached at this time can only be regarded as wishful thinking, and whether this idea can be put into reality depends on the attitude of the engineering side.

So, the next morning, my comrades from Zhejiang and I visited Mr. Zhu Xuewen, director of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties Project Office.After explaining the purpose of coming, I hope that I can start from the entry situation, attend some seminars held by the project, and please allow simple interviews with relevant experts and scholars.Judging from the situation of the conversation, Mr. Zhu's attitude does not advocate too much media involvement in this matter, especially against the swarming hype that is currently fashionable.His main reason is that the project has just started, and both organizers, experts, and scholars feel heavy responsibility and pressure, and there are a lot of difficult problems to be solved urgently, so they don’t want project participants to share information for media interviews. heart and delay work.Facing Mr. Zhu's attitude, we explained and gave a lot of reasons. What we can recall now seems to be mainly emphasizing that our intervention is different from hype. The country has done this big thing, whether it is for the present or for the future. , there should always be a more detailed record.Although the project itself will also leave records, after all, the angle of choice is different.The records of engineering are more academic, and it is difficult for ordinary people to understand. Now the government is promoting the popularization of science. If the deeds of engineering can be expressed in the form of literature, it should be a meaningful thing, especially for For the general public and teenagers, the significance may be greater.Maybe Mr. Zhu felt that what we said was reasonable, so he agreed to the above request.

However, after Mr. Zhu agreed, there were several verbal agreements: 1. No matter what kind of meeting you attend, you will not publish any press releases in the media after the meeting. 2. Before the end of the project, no interviews and other forms of interview drafts will be published. 3. Do not delay the normal work of experts due to interviews. The time and place of interviews shall be selected by experts. 4. During this period, I will decide whether to continue to observe the meeting and interview according to my interests. If I feel that the content of the project is boring or difficult to grasp the subject, I can quit at any time.

Regarding the above four agreements, I made a promise on the spot, and this matter is considered finalized.Since then, as the only non-researcher, I have the honor to attend almost all the academic seminars within the engineering, and start to interview and ask some experts and scholars involved in the engineering.As time went by, I learned a little bit about the engineering situation, and I also saw a little way to some subjects that were extremely unfamiliar to me. I progressed in this way, and later I was able to start writing.Later, there was this book that everyone saw. Regarding the merits of this book, and whether it has achieved the effect we expected at the beginning, it is up to the readers to judge, and I don't need to rap here.But one thing that makes me quite proud is that when I first got involved in this subject, it goes without saying that according to Mr. Zhu Xuewen’s estimation, I may gradually lose interest due to the complexity and incomprehension of engineering subjects, and finally gave up interviewing and writing , but I persisted.I think this accident, in addition to my growing interest in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, is also the result of a sense of responsibility and the belief that the Qingshan will not let go.Without this, it would be impossible to do this work.

The Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties Project, as a group behavior, the results achieved, of course, cannot be simply attributed to a single person, but the crystallization of collective wisdom. It is the result of full cooperation with the organizers, specific researchers and ordinary workers in the background.As for the people and things I mentioned in the book, they are just a part and some aspects of the project.Due to the limitations of subject matter, space and style, there are still many experts, scholars and other staff who have made outstanding achievements and made contributions to the project, but have not been able to express them in this work. Unfortunately, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the participants in the project.

What needs to be explained is that I am just an observer during the implementation of the project, and I am trying to record the process of the project and the results obtained as realistically as possible in a documentary way. It is the hard work of researchers, not my invention, just like Yi Wang Yuannian Tian Zaidan is Liu Ciyuan, Zhou Xiaolu and other experts' tireless observation and calculation, rather than my observation and calculation results. Incomprehensible. The last thing I want to say is that during the process of interviewing and writing this book, I have received enthusiastic support and corrections from many people. Here, I would like to express my sincere thanks.

Yue Nan May 2001 at Dinghui Temple in Beijing