On January 27-29, 1999, the Faculty of History of the Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted the "XI Sergeyev Readings" dedicated to the memory of a prominent Russian antiquarian, Professor B. S. Sergeev, who for a number of years headed the Department of Ancient World History. The readings were conducted jointly with the Russian Association of Antiquities Scholars. The conference was opened by the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, Professor L. S. Leonova, who made an introductory speech. At the plenary session on January 27, six reports were heard. The head of the Department of Ancient World History, Professor V. I. Kuzishchin, made a report on the creative path of the recently deceased E. S. Golubtsova, Chairman of the Russian Association of Antiquaries, who for many years headed the Department of Ancient History of the Institute of Universal History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician G. M. Bongard - Levin, editor-in-chief of this publication, head of the Center for Comparative Studies of Ancient Civilizations, made a report on the analysis of the activities and long-term work plans of the editorial board of the leading scientific journal of specialists in ancient history-Vestnik Drevnoi Istorii. S.I. Kucher (Moscow) in his report "The people and power in ancient China", taking as a starting point the position of the "Shi Ching" that all the riches of the earth are the property of the ruler, and all the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom are his servants, compared it with the actual reality of the first millennium BC, recorded in other sources, including features of Legist and Confucian texts. After analyzing the concepts of both teachings, the author came to the conclusion that even in autocratic legalism, a lot of attention was paid to the people, their rights and a quiet life, with a certain restriction on the ruler's self-will; in Confucianism, the relationship between power and people should have been based on mut ... Read more