Different Core With Similar Appearance

At the beginning of 20th Century, the trend of skeptical attitude to the ancient history both emerged in Japan and China. In 1909, the Japanese historian Shiratori Kurakichi published a research paper named "The Search of Chinese Ancient Legends". In this paper he denied the existence of ancient Chinese emperors: Yao, Shun and Yu. His opinion soon caused great controversies in Japan. 14 years later, Chinese historian Gu Jiegang got the similar negative conclusion in his paper named "A Letter to Mr. Qian Xuantong to Discuss the Ancient History". Further more, he brought forward his theory that Chinese history was layer-caused on the basis of his analysis of the changes of the three emperors' image in different classic documents. As the two scholars' opinions sound similar apparently, some scholars raised their questions on the possibility of plagiarism between the two scholars. Because the evidence is limited, the reason why the two scholars' opinions look similar finally became a unsolved case in the academic field.The thesis mainly contains three parts. In the first part, the author compared the academic backgrounds of Mr. Shiratori Kurakichi and Mr. Gu Jiegang, and pointed out that they shared similar academic backgrounds, that's why they chose the same topic to discuss. In the second part, the author compared the processes of the two scholars' arguments, and came to the conclusion that they started their arguments with different previous idea in their minds. And those differences affected the accurate and reliability o the two scholars' arguments. In the third part, the author compared the two countries' social background at that time, and came to the conclusion that China and Japan's different political background, economy condition and culture institution at that time directly affect the two scholars' academic researches and their theories. And those elements also affect the emergence and development of the two countries' "history skepticism schools". Leading by Mr. Shiratori Kurakichi and Mr. Gu Jiegang, the two schools' worked according to their countries' institutions, and hope that they can offer academic supports to their countries' developments. And in this course, the Japan's sinology also finished its transfer from the traditional one to the modern one, and came to the world sinology field with a totally new look.