Knowing the Order

The opening of "e;The Great Learning"e; states: "e;All things have their roots and branches, all affairs have their ends and beginnings. To know the order of things is to be close to the Way."e; The title of this book, "e;Knowing the Order,"e; does not attempt to be "e;close to the Way,"e; but rather because the content of this book often involves the investigation of modern figures, historical events, and documents, to determine their chronological order and to seek their origins and ends. The articles included in the book mostly start with the textual research of scattered documents and obscure human affairs. The author believes that the former task is similar to the repair and splicing of cultural relics fragments, by finding the edge traces or original patterns of the fragments, to corroborate them with known historical events or documents, in the hope of slightly uncovering the hidden. And social changes often revolve around the rise and fall of individuals, so the latter task pays attention to "e;the connections and disconnections between people, the interactions between events,"e; and naturally becomes the necessary path to delve into history.