Fred's Historiography Thought And Historiography Method Research

Wakeman was an important historian in the modern Chinese studies in the United States, and made a great contribution to the studies. He was one of the historians who lead the focus of the research from Western’s position to Chinese’s.He did his research on western’s position at the beginning of his study life. But he found the way that learned from his teacher could not explain the way that China moving on with his deep research. So he tried another way. He did his research from the inside of China wishing find the power that promoted the history. At the same time, he creatively explained the role of the external factors that played in Chinese history. He thought the fact that affected modern Chinese history was not certain one. The inside and external factors restricted the development trend.He was good at using social science research methods in his history research, and he was a successful historian in interdisciplinary research. The social science research methods also inspired him to pay close attention to the people living at the bottom of the society. He researched the civilians’living conditions in wide historical background, and researched their effort on Chinese history. New research methods brought new enter point. These methods not only promoted wakeman’s research, but also affected the next generation modern Chinese historians. In addition to using new methods, he worked hard in historical mining and innovation of writing style. With the gift of language, he could read the history material directly.At the same time, he found the old material’s new value. The European literature research that he majoyed at the undergraduate stage laid the foundation for his history research. In addition to these, Wakeman did well in reusing historical data and making new writing styles. He made balance between Literature and History perfectly.