Qing Zuo "research Study

When it came to Qing Dynasty, the study of"Zuo Commentary", with emphasis on textual research, started a new era of summary and innovation. Many scholars emerged and fruitful achievements were obtained in the three hundred years. Without doubt, the mainstream of research method applied was textual research, which went through all the course of development.In the early Qing Dynasty, Gu Yanwu changed the trend by proposing practical and realistic study of"Zuo Commentary"with the method of textual research. He supplemented and corrected the work of"Collective Classics Annotation of Spring and Autumn Annals"by Du Yu in the Jin Dynasty from the aspects of character checking, annotating, and calendar and geography examining, and ect. This brand new approach started the study of"Zuo Commentary"in a new way in the Qing Dynasty, providing a model for the development of textual research. The study of"Zuo Commentary"gradually put emphasis on textual research from the principle in early Qing Dynasty, under the influence of the practical and realistic thought. A series of accomplishments were made on the history, geography, calendar, rites and customs and so on."Textual events in Zuo Commentary"by Ma Su's and"Ins and outs of events in the Zuo Commentary"by Gao Shiqi's both examined history and classics."Textual research of geography in Spring and Autumn Annals"by Jiang Yong's focused on Geography. Gu Donggao'"The Table of Events in the Spring and Autumn Annals"was a comprehensive book covering history, geography, calendar and rites. Mu Su, Gao Shiqi and other scholars discussed the classics according to history record. They traced the rise and fall of dynasties with textual research of historical events, while they paid attention to classical interpretation, and represented practical and realistic pursuit. The way of textual research was the most important method in their research. Gu Donggao composed"The Table of Events in the Spring and Autumn Annals", which was a comprehensive study of"Spring and Autumn Annals"and was highly spoken of for original geography verification, meticulous calendar calculation, accurate rites and customs description, cohesive theme elaboration, adequate arguments and thought-provoking remarks. As a follower of Zu Xi's thoughts, Jiang Yongyuan, an expert at astronomy and geography, applied practical method in geographical study to"Zuo Commentary"through his erudite knowledge. He not only checked and discriminated ancient places, but also corrected and complemented Du and Kong'annotation by means of etymology, semantics and phonology. It exhibited the transfer from Song Study to Sinology.With the rising of the sinological thought and the textual research, the study of"Zuo Commentary"in the Qing Dynasty came to the peak during the period of QingLong and Jia Qing. That scholars studied the classics became a trend, sharing the view that Confucianism had not gone far and its tenet should be inherited. Hui Dong established the tenet of sinology. He researched"Zuo Commentary"with sinologcial thoughts. His work"Compensatory Explanation of Zuo Commentary", the beginning of sinology, exploited and inherited the subject of the"Zuo Commentary"of sinological Confucianism. He corrected and made up Du Yu's mistakes of the explanation, with the way of discerning the word and voice. Under the guidance of Hui Dong, many scholars emerged. Two tendencies were identified in their works about"Zuo Commentary". The one was to explain the archaic principle and restore the original meaning, while the other was to criticize Du and Kong's works. There were many archaic words and pronunciation in the"Zuo Commentary". The textual research on the"Zuo Commentary"was to seek the principle according to words, pronunciation, and annotation. Hong Lingji's"Explanation on the Zuo Commentary and Spring and Autumn Annals", Ma Zonglian's"Compensatory Explanation of Zuo Commentary", Zang Shougong's"Archaic Principle of Zuo Commentary and Spring and Autumn Annals"were works of seeking archaic principles. They followed the saying"archaic learning unrises, holds the principle; archaic learning rise, research the principle". Against the backdrop, the scholars made great efforts to compile sinological works, for example, Yan Wei's the"Compiling of Explanation on Spring and Autumn Annals". Among the authors of sinological works, Jia Kui and Fu Qin took the lead. The"Compiling of Jia and Fu's explanation on the'Zuo Commentary'and'Spring and Autumn Annals'"finished with Li Yide'contribution. Sinological study of"Zuo Commentary"prospered. After Hui Dong, Dai Zhen promoted Sinology energetically, so the pursuit gradually shifted from original texts to principles. He paid attention to collating the text, studying the classics and seeking truth from facts. Being practical and realistic became a scholarly custom. The study of"Zuo Commentary"turned to textual research and annotation. The collation of thirteen classics"including"Zuo Commentary", in particular, explained the classics with words by clan of Wang in Gao You County. These works showed the essence of sinology, but not confined to its limits. The textual research of"Zuo Commentary"reached the highest level.Looking back at the archaic principle of the"Zuo Commentary", the scholars found that Du and Kong's explanation was the first to undermine the sinology. Though Du Yu followed the pattern of sinological Confucian's idea, he did not make footnotes and did not keep the archaic principle either. The scholars singled out the mistakes in the Du's works from the view of textual research and principle. At first, they just made annotations and corrections, then criticism, and total negation in the end. The strongest criticism came from Shen Qinhan's"Making up Explanation of Zuo Commentary"and Jiao Xun's"Making up Re-explanation of Zuo Commentary". Shen Qinhan was skilled in the textual research. He negated Du's"Notation of Zuo Commentary"totally from some aspects of words'explanation, annotating, rite's research and explanation of principle. Jiao Xun corrected Du's work from the view of the principle. He revealed the inner feelings of Sima clan's usurping and killing that was covered by Du Yu, and totally negated the value of Du's work in the principle.The scholars in the period of Qian Long and Jia Qing researched the"Zuo Commentary"all by the way of textual research. And this method was more and more mature. The collation and study about the"Zuo Commentary"by the scholars of textual research, laid the foundation for establishing the new explanation on"Zuo Commentary"by Liu clan in Yi Zheng. He replaced Du's works of sinological explanation, and assembled the achievement of"Zuo Commentary"in the Qing Dynasty. His works"textual research of old explanation about Zuo Commentary"was the culmination in the field of study of"Zuo Commentary"in the Qing Dynasty.In the late Qing Dynasty, as all kinds of social conflicts became more and more severe, the call for change and reform emerged. Influenced by western sciences, textual research of classics turned to seeking the principle. So was the case for the study of"Zuo Commentary". Scholars holding classics in esteem appeared in Chang Zhou. Examining and explaining"the Spring and Autumn Annals of Gong Yang Clan"in West Han Dynasty, they considered that"Zuo Commentary"was fabricated by Liu Xin. The intense debate occurred between archaic and contemporary schools about the"Zuo Commentary". Represented by Zhang Taiyan and Liu Shipei, the archaic scholars disagreed with new school's opinion. Since the textual research of Liu Shipei kept abreast of times, it became the final glory. It also indicated that the study of"Zuo Commentary"moved toward modern times.This dissertation selects the works of thirteen kinds of"Zuo Commentary", starting from Gu Yanwu in the early Qing Dynasty to Liu Shipei in the late, as they all study the"Zuo Commentary"with the method of textual research, and are the representatives on the study of"Zuo Commentary"at different periods and fields. Based on the case study, the dissertation reviews the most influential achievements of textual research about the"Zuo Commentary. Then it focuses on the content, academic views and approaches, at the same time, pays attention to other writings in order to achieve an overall understanding by comparison and contrast. The prosperity of subject of"Zuo Commentary"in the Qing Dynasty is closely related to the rising of textual research and the politics. Examines the development of the textual research of"Zuo Commentary"with regard to social politics and the trend of thoughts, this dissertation studies the features of"Zuo Commentary"in different periods, summarizes its achievements and probes into the development pattern.The author believes that classics of the Qing Dynasty are unique, while the textual research of"Zuo Commentary"can be of the most importance. The Confucian scholars of the Qing Dynasty make unprecedented achievements in the research of"Zuo Commentary". The first is to collate the texts. The"Zuo Commentary"has circulated for two thousand years, so there contains a lot of mistakes and errors due to repeated manuscripts copying and reprinting. The Confucian scholars of the Qing Dynasty examined the classics from the etymology, semantics and phonology. It was the first time that they corrected the text of the"Zuo Commentary"in a comprehensive manner, and applied it to Du and Kong's works. The second is to compile sinological explanation. The Confucian scholars of the Qing Dynasty believed that the viewpoint of Du clan overshadowed Jia and Fu's opinion. They collected the ancient books widely to compile the sinological views and restore the original looks so that the later generations were able to appreciate the sinological study of"Zuo Commentary". The third is to criticize Du's works. Few scholars doubted Du Yu's"aggregative explanation"before the Qing Dynasty. However, they had the courage to defy the authority. Treating sinology as the tenet, they checked and corrected the mistakes from semantics and principle. The fourth is to establish the new explanation. They were dissatisfied with"the explanation"of the Tang Dynasty, discarded Du Yu's works. Regarding the sinology as the tenet, they composed the new explanation of the"Zuo Commentary"by gathering the essence of various doctrines. In the period of Qian Long and Jia Qing, the new explanation of various classics emerged one after another. The"explanation of old one on the Zuo Commentary and Spring and Autumn Annals"by Liu clan in Yi Zheng could be the first. Other achievements of textual research in institution, history, geography, calendar and so on, were also very prominent.Quite different from academic atmosphere in the later of Ming Dynasty, the Confucian scholars of the Qing Dynasty were tired of the subjective thinking and turned to objective observation, holding that"vacancy is easy, reality is not false". It was the academic trend that the study of"Zuo Commentary"by the scholars in the Qing Dynasty was based on the truth and facts. The textual research was the mainstream of the subject on the"Zuo Commentary". Gu Yanwu was the first to begin the trend. The scholars of textual research on the"Zuo Commentary"in the period of Qian Long and Jia Qing all attached importance to words, rhyme and tone, and annotation. They did textual research to seek the principle. With the tide of Sinology, the study of"Zuo Commentary"made the era of textual research. In the late Qing Dynasty, more new thoughts were infused into the study of"Zuo Commentary"from the debates between ancient and contemporary schools. The ancient Confucian scholars paid much attention to principle when researching the"Zuo Commentary", affected by western sciences and stimulated by the contemporary thoughts. It returned to the tradition of being practical and realistic in pursuit of studies in service for national democratic revolution. However, being practical and realistic was the major method in the study of"Zuo Commentary".The achievements of textual research about the"Zuo Commentary"were very prominent in the Qing Dynasty. The scholars sought the original meaning with the method of textual research and made an overall summary of previous studies and achieved the historical summit in the study of"Zuo Commentary". The academic achievements and value laid a solid foundation for the modern study of"Zuo Commentary".