这里所说的“导言”,是指中央广播电视大学开设的“中国通史”课所用教材《中国古代史纲》的“导言”。在这个“导言”中,主要讲了两个问题:一是中国古代历史的由来,也就是“人类的起源”问题和中国古人类问题;二是学习中国古代历史的意义。这两项内容都不属于中国古代史本身,但又都与中国古代史有密切关系,必须在讲授中国古代史之前讲清楚,因之就将这两项内容归入“导言”中。 关于“人类的起源”问题,在我们今天的中国,似乎问题不很严重。广大劳动人民不甚关心这个问题;而且由于唯物主义的影响较大,“上帝造人”之说并无基 The “introduction” referred to here refers to the “introduction” of the textbook “History of Ancient China” used by the “General History of China” course opened by the Central Radio and Television University. In this “Introduction,” we mainly talk about two issues: First, the origins of ancient Chinese history, that is, the “origins of mankind” and the problems of ancient Chinese; second, the significance of learning ancient Chinese history. Neither of these two elements belong to the ancient Chinese history itself, but both are closely related to the ancient Chinese history. They must be made clear before the ancient Chinese history is taught. Therefore, these two items are included in the Introduction. As for the issue of “the origin of mankind”, in our present China, it seems that the problem is not serious. The majority of the working people are not very concerned about this issue; and because of the greater influence of materialism, there is no basis for “making God a man.”