Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) in Ancient CHINA

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

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performs the function of uniting people. Norms of the religion" interpreted in this way are obligatory both for subjects and the sovereign (malik), the supreme ruler who is to take measures to ensure the community life.

The article calls in question the authorship of the Sermon to sovereigns," a well-known treatise whose manuscript is kept in the National Library of Paris, traditionally attributed to al-Mawardi.

ROLE OF SCALES OF TIME AND SPACE IN MODELLING OF HISTORICAL PROCESS

## G.S. POMERANTS

Rationality or irrationality of the history depends to a considerable extent on the scale applied to it. This idea was put forward in 1784 by E. Kant who noted the trend to all-world political unification. F. Schlegel, leaning upon the Indian experience, argued that there were no planetary time; each great culture went the way from revelation to rational constructions leading to a loss of creative impulse and to a decline. The model by Kant, in the final analysis, can be traced back to Augustus and Jewish promise of Messiah, and the model by Schlegel—to the Indo-European mythologem of four centuries (golden, silver, copper and iron). These models are not mutually excluding. Total historical movement has a complex inner structure including a number of movements, each of them being evident on a certain scale of articulation of historical time and space. The article distinguishes five scales of the time and the same number of scales for the cultural space. On the super-large scale of Indian mythology, the history in general is an illusion and only eternity is real. On a global large scale accumulated changes (growth of productive forces, of population, differentiation of society and intellect; growing alienation, ecological tension etc.) are first and foremost. A middle global scale discerns wave movements, the "eternal return," the revival of archaic features in the Middle Ages and of the classics in the modern history. In Chinese historiography this is expressed by an alternation of dynasties 'in and yan. On a middle local scale the most important are cycles of rise and decline of various cultures. These movements, while they are different enough, can be considered as being rational, easily modelled. They are opposed to explosive movements directed by a charismatic leader (M. Weber) or a group of "passionaries" (L.N. Gumilyov). Here only anthropomorphous scale is possible. There are no reasons to explain Mongolian conquests besides those interlaced in Gengis Khan's personality. It is impossible to foresee what new "passionary" (Hitler, Khomeini) will frustrate all plans of sober-minded people. However, the course of time smoothes away traces of explosions and all the logic of history is restored to its rights.

## ROUND TABLE

FUTURE OF ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE EAST

Participants: N.A. IVANOV, M.F. VIDYASOVA, L.S. VASILFEV, YU.G. ALEKSANDROV, A.D. DIKARYOV, V.A. YASHKIN, A.V. AKIMOV

This Round Table concerns problems of development of the economic history of the East in the USSR. The article by A.M. Petrov "New Tasks of Ancient Science and Some Materials for Study of Economic History of the East" (1989, No 2) gave rise to the present discussion. The participants put the question: what is the reason of such a lag in the field (history of economy) which was traditionally considered by the Marxist science as a priority? A number of solutions is suggested. In the authors' opinion, use of quantitative methods would allow to reject some dogmas which need to be reviewed, e.g. the dogma of the "robbery" of the East as a source of primary capitalist accumulation. The economic backwardness of the East was, first of all, a result of the non-ability of etatist economy to ensure the extended reproduction, and not that of the "colonial robbery."

A negative influence on the East, exerted by the West, was rather that the East actively rejected all western elements, becoming more and more archaic. However, one should not consider that modernization of the eastern economy is inevitably to lead to the death of traditional structures, pre-industrial civilization. The study of economic history of the East would help understanding economic problems of the USSR.

Results of the study of economic history could be applied for forecasting trends in the following fields: global problems, studies of economic growth and analysis of precedents.

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS (UFO) IN ANCIENT CHINA

## A.D. DIKARYOV

The process of emancipation of thought in China in 1980s is particularly impressive after the spiritual vacuum of the epoch of "cultural revolution." The thirst of the whole society for knowledge based on the economic reforms, takes in a number of cases the form of unofficial science. An example of such organizations is the scientific societies of UFO fanciers with corresponding periodicals as the revue "Feidie Tansuo" ("Studies of Flying Saucers"). The efforts by Chinese scientists to find in ancient Chinese sources "historical evidences" of UFO' existence are of particular interest for Sinologists and experts in science of science. The activities of adherents of this new scientific trend in China demonstrate methodology and tasks of the Chinese historical science in general.

The article considers a number of concrete modern versions of interpretation of historical materials on extraordinary flying phenomena. A number of works criticizing the attempts to place a historical basis under this problem, as a rule, does not dispute the main modern concept of UFO as a product of alien mind.