In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the Eastern Zhejiang School of History was founded by Huang Zongxi, who advocated the study of applying the world to the world and paying attention to historical research. Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801), a native of Zhejiang Huiji, a Qing Dynasty historian, historical theorist, chronicler, and bibliographer, on the basis of inheriting the fine tradition of the Eastern Zhejiang School of History, advocated that the six classics are all history, and strongly advocated the historical meaning (Shiyi), created a more complete historical theory system, and pushed the ancient Chinese historical theory to the peak.
The Origins of Historiography
At the beginning of the book "General Principles of Literature and History", Zhang Xuecheng discusses the source of historiography: "The six classics are all history". Zhang Xuecheng believes that the six classics of "Poems", "Books", "Rites", "Music", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn" are not only "scriptures of sages who set up words to teach", but should all be regarded as historical works. Historically, there have long been debates about the differences between the classics and history. Su Xun of the Northern Song Dynasty believes that the scriptures and history have been clearly divided since ancient times, "the scriptures are simple, and the Tao is victorious; The history is detailed, and the words are victorious". In the Ming Dynasty, Pan Fu, Wang Yangming, Wang Shizhen, and Li Zhen believed that the classics and history were no different, and there was a discussion of "the five classics are all history". In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Xuecheng once again put forward this historical research proposition and carried out systematic theoretical research. In the "Eastern Zhejiang Academics" section, Zhang Xuecheng explained: "Three generations of academics, know the history but do not know the scriptures, and cut the personnel; Later generations of noble scriptures, with the history of three generations; Confucianism talks about scriptures, and it seems that there is no so-called righteousness in addition to personnel. Confucius proposed that "seeing things in action" said that the lives of heaven and man must be investigated in history, and that historiography is the foundation of historiography because it has passed through the world, and without understanding this, it is impossible to talk about historiography. One of the important reasons why the proposition of "the Six Classics are all history" is that the Six Classics belong to political canons and record the canonical system of ancient China, so history exists before the classics. The "Reign of the First King" must be organically unified with the "Time King System" in order to fully understand the meaning of "the history of the Six Classics". For example, "Yi" is based on the way of heaven and personnel, it is made according to the times, and it is constantly improved in application, not unchanged, and "change" is eternal and constant. Zhang Xuecheng deduced from "Yi" that "poems", "books", "rites", "music", "Spring and Autumn", and even all the forests involved in works are "nothing but history".
The proposal of "the Six Classics are all histories" shows the tendency of Zhang Xuecheng to pan-historiography, but its core purpose is to expand and deepen the understanding of historical truth, trace the source of historiography back to before the Six Classics, and expand the scope of ancient history research. At the same time, the "History of the Six Classics" put forward the practical effect of academic "cutting personnel", which had the significance of acupuncture and disadvantages in the Qianjia period. In view of the rigid chemical style caused by the two extremes of Sinology at that time, which "sacrificed the present to seek the past" and Song Studies, which was "empty talk", Zhang Xuecheng showed a profound concept of "applying it to the world" in "General Principles of Literature and History".
Categories of historiography
With the development of historiography to this day, it is generally believed that "historical materials" are the basis materials for studying or discussing history, while "historical works" are based on historical materials to expound "the way of knowing the common cause" and seeking its "flexibility and relaxation". Zhang Xuecheng's "General Principles of Literature and History" makes a clear distinction between "historical works" and "historical materials": historical books can be divided into two categories: "writings" and "compilations" according to their contents. Writings are the study of historians' arbitrariness, that is, historical works; A "compilation" is a compilation of documents, that is, historical materials.
Based on this understanding, Zhang Xuecheng admired the "literature is in the chronicle, and the matter is in the chronicle", believing that it "decides to take, and the body is round and uses God", and has the advantages of Sima Qian's "Historical Records" and Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian". Zhang Xuecheng also admired the general history, believing that the "General Chronicles" written by the Song Dynasty historian Zheng Qiao is a real historical work, and its characteristics include "no repetition", "equal classification", "convenient matching", "right and wrong", "to contradict the contradictions", "detailed neighbors", and "two chiefs" of "having a judgment" and "establishing a family law", a total of 8 advantages. However, the general history also has the "three drawbacks" of "no short and long", "still the original topic", and "forgetting the title".
Another outstanding contribution made by Zhang Xuecheng to historiography was the inclusion of Fang Zhi in the scope of historical research. Although China's Fang Zhi originated very early, "Zhou Li", "Zheng Zhi", "Zhou Zhi" and "Shangshu Yu Gong" all have the prototype of Fang Zhi, but Fang Zhi has always been regarded as geography. Zhang Xuecheng divided the difference between Fang Zhi and geography in terms of nature, and believed that "the study of geography has its own specialty", and Fang Zhi is not geography, but "historical style", and the two should not be regarded as the same. The content of the chronicles is to record the history of a party, so it should not be limited to the history of the region, and the study of historical documents should also be strengthened. Zhang Xuecheng advocated that Fang Zhi should be systematic in terms of style: record characters and memorabilia with "General Chronicles", record systems and codes with "Legends", record materials and poems with "Wen Zheng", and then supplement them with "Cong Tan" as an appendix. Zhang Xuecheng also advocated that all prefectures and counties should establish a historical science organization, which can collect literature and materials on a daily basis and do a good job in the basic work of compiling and revising the local chronicles. These expositions are distributed in the outer part of the General Principles of Literature and History, and today they have become the concrete practice of the study of Fang Zhi. It can be seen that Zhang Xuecheng played an important role in the development and improvement of mainland Chinese history.
The style of historiography
Zhang Xuecheng takes the interpretation of historical meaning as the purpose of the book, and advocates that academic research should have insightful opinions, which is related to the academic atmosphere in the mid-Qing Dynasty. He wrote in the article "Book with Wang Longzhuang": "Today's scholarly atmosphere is too much to collect and too little, just like a mulberry cannibalizing a leaf and cannot be extracted. Clumsy writing of "General Principles of Literature and History", with discussions in the middle to open up, is really a last resort and plays, opening up its roots for the historiography of the ages. Contrary to the extreme phenomenon of "empty talk" in the middle of the Qing Dynasty and the end of the Ming Dynasty, since Gu Yanwu founded the school of examination in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, to the Qianjia period, scholars have formed another extreme of overemphasizing the collection of facts: the way of learning is rigid, burying one's head in the pile of old papers all day long, looking for chapters and sentences in the classics, and doing uncreative work such as material sorting, comparison, and research. Scholars are ignorant of the world, and their research content is trivial and tasteless, and it is also divorced from social reality.
In Zhang Xuecheng's view, the so-called "skill" and "learning" are "similar but different", and there is a difference between cloud and mud. Although the study of evidence does have its intrinsic value, this kind of superficial material presentation can only be "skill", and learning is based on the thinking and sublimation of materials. Therefore, Zhang Xuecheng's starting point in writing "General Principles of Literature and History" is consistent with the significance of historical research, which is to illustrate the historical meaning, and the historian has gained insight into the changes and evolution of historical development through research, and supports the world religion in his writings to correct people's hearts.
The task of historiography
When Zhang Xuecheng passed the sixtieth year, he wrote an article "Shangyin Chu Zhen Pavilion Study", saying: "Xuecheng reads books and writes, shame is empty words, the "Tongyi", although the title of literature and history, and in the world to teach the people Yi, people's hearts and customs, not three compliments, often deduce the ancient and modern, stealing the poet's righteousness. The "world" here refers to Confucianism. Zhang Xuecheng believes that no matter how the times change, historical research always has a clear task: "Compendium of heaven and man, push the road, so through the changes of the past and the present, become a family." Chronicle of Heavenly Men means that historiography should not only record basic elements such as people and events, but also record natural phenomena such as astronomy, so as to clarify the relationship between natural changes and social changes. Pushing the Ming Avenue means that historiography should be able to summarize the causes and experiences of civilization, society, and historical evolution and change; The change through the past and the present is to analyze the origin of a specific historical event in the process of its occurrence, development, and results, so as to discover the laws of history in the changes of the world through the ages. Judging from this content, the reason why Zhang Xuecheng admires the general history is precisely because the general history is more conducive to finding laws and order in the process of reading the evolution of social history.
The task of historiography is also to manifest "historical virtue". Zhang Xuecheng believes that "the noble ones in history are also righteous, and the things that are possessed are also the things that are relied on." Historical research "is cautious in distinguishing between heaven and man, and doing its best to benefit man", and the objectivity of historical facts referred to in "heaven and man" is higher than the subjectivity of historians, and subjective opinions cannot override objective historical facts. Scholars should have a basic attitude of respect for historical authenticity. "Do your best to benefit others" is the "historical virtue" that Zhang Xuecheng said, and it is a correct attitude towards governing history. "If you want to be a good history", you must first have historical ethics.
Through historical research, scholars should establish the intrinsic connection between society and "Tao", and make it clear that scholars need to pay attention to the reality that society "has needs", "depression" and "disadvantages", which is the value pursuit of "people who speak up". "The incident comes from the latter, the Six Classics cannot be spoken, and the purpose of the Six Classics is fixed, and it is written at any time to investigate the avenue."
Zhang Xuecheng is consistent in his words and deeds, and he has been concerned about academic issues for most of his life. In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), after the death of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing gave death and Shen, confiscated and confiscated the mansion, cleansed the officialdom, and obeyed the advice. Zhang Xuecheng has traveled in the north and south of the river for many years, and has a deep sense of the social problems at that time, and under the inspiration of "the Son of Heaven has asked for words", he has successively written six political treatises, such as "The Book of the Ruling Minister", "The Book of the Prime Minister of the Han City", "The Book of the Minister of the Han City", "The Book of the Three Shang Han City Ministers", "The Book of the Study of the Yin Chu Zhen Pavilion", and the "Book of Tribute with Cao Dingxuan".
The General Principles of Literature and History has established a complete system of historiographical theories, and the historiographical concepts such as "application to the world", "history of the six classics", "historical meaning", "outline of discipline and heavenly people" and "historical virtue" have profoundly influenced later generations and played an important role in the development of historical theory. Zhang Xuecheng also established a new theoretical system of Fang Zhi on the basis of absorbing the experience of his predecessors in cultivating Zhi, and put forward important views such as "Zhi belongs to the history of faith", "three books", "four bodies", "Fang Zhi distinguishing style", and the establishment of "special Zhi department" in the local area. All of the above are synthesized in the work "General Principles of Literature and History", which also established Zhang Xuecheng's important position in the field of Qing Dynasty historiography.