Cloth and Scholarship: Hu Yinglin and the Study of the History of Chinese Scholarship

Author: Wang Jiachuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: In the author's opinion, the research of predecessors also has some shortcomings caused by objective reasons, and disciplinary classification is one of them, which led to the fact that the research of predecessors was basically limited to a specific topic. Some of them did not even read through all of Hu Yinglin's surviving writings to comprehensively examine his related arguments. Moreover, due to various reasons such as period-specific research and taking things out of context, Hu Yinglin's insights were mistakenly regarded as the outstanding views of others, leading to misattributed praise and commendation. The author, of course, does not possess the ability to bridge multiple disciplines, but only dares to act with the boldness of a newborn calf, striving to do so. The author's previous studies and research were mainly focused on clarifying the academic achievements of Hu Yinglin, and the review of predecessors' research achievements was basically the same. This time, under the guidance of Mr. Qi and the innovative academic atmosphere of the Song History Research Center, a horizontal and vertical comparison was made, aiming to comprehensively reveal Hu Yinglin's historical status in traditional academic history research, which became the only theme of this book. Paying attention to uncovering the methodological factors in Hu Yinglin's academic research is also a basic content of this book.
Chapter 1 briefly introduces the life and interests of Hu Yinglin, with a focus on objectively, comprehensively, and clearly revealing the true nature of his friendship with Wang Shizhen, correcting some superficial and erroneous understandings and conclusions of predecessors. Chapter 2 discusses Hu Yinglin's contributions to the study of the history of classical bibliography and his bibliographical thoughts. The author believes that Hu Yinglin first appeared as a bibliographer and an expert in the history of bibliography. In order to compile a bibliographical work that reflects the book situation of the Ming Dynasty, he conducted an in-depth study of the history of classical bibliography, which is the cornerstone of all his academic research. Therefore, the main content of this book is primarily about this part. It involves the compilation of Hu Yinglin's works, his bibliographical aspirations and practices, his summary of bibliographical works and book classification methods of past dynasties, his own book classification methods, as well as his evaluations of historical bibliographical works and various bibliographies, and his in-depth study of important bibliographers such as Zheng Qiao and Ma Duanlin. Through his multi-faceted exploration of the development of classical bibliography, Hu Yinglin completed a comprehensive summary of the history of classical bibliography. The content he covered laid a research system and basic framework for later generations to study the history of classical bibliography from a methodological perspective. The study of the history of classical bibliography led Hu Yinglin to consciously examine the development of book-related undertakings in ancient times, which is the content of this book's Chapter 3. This aspect of Hu Yinglin's research, like his study of the history of classical bibliography, holds significant methodological importance for establishing the basic ideas and framework of the later study of the history of book-related undertakings.
Chapter 4 examines Hu Yinglin's achievements in textual criticism. This includes a brief account of the state of textual criticism before Hu Yinglin, the reasons for Hu Yinglin's writing of specialized works on textual criticism, his classification of ancient forgeries, his "eight methods of textual criticism" summarized under the principle of "familiar with this book and the end of all books," his attitude, practice, and characteristics in textual criticism, etc. Hu Yinglin's exploration of forgeries was directly derived from his research on the history of bibliography. He was a scholar who conducted theoretical discussions and methodological summaries on traditional Chinese textual criticism. With his rigorous, realistic, and objective approach, he critically examined over a hundred ancient forgeries, integrating theory and practice, and becoming an important practitioner in the history of textual criticism. His works also became a model for textual criticism books that combined theory and practice in the modern era, making significant contributions to the development of textual criticism.
Chapter 5 examines Hu Yinglin's contributions to history. According to Hu Yinglin's own classification, he was not a true historian but rather a historian of historical criticism. However, his erudite and thoughtful academic demeanor made his historical criticism, whether the theory of the "three strengths and two virtues" of historians or the theory of the special talent of historians, the theory of the misfortunes of historians, and the exploration of the principles of historical criticism, both theoretically and practically meaningful. His understanding of historical materials and annotations, as well as his practice of annotating historical books, showed that he was not just engaging in empty discussions but was closely connected to historical practice, reflecting his academic style that values practicality. Some of his specific historical criticisms were also inherited and developed by later generations. Hu Yinglin regarded textual criticism as the essential element of his academic research. His characteristic of examining everything he encountered and everything he did made textual criticism the main content of his academic research. Chapters 6 and 7 of this book are dedicated to discussing Hu Yinglin's various textual criticisms, including his examination of the errors of Yang Shen, his historical and textual criticisms, as well as his textual criticism spirit, attitude, principles, and the exploration of academic norms. In the academic atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty where plagiarism was rampant, Hu Yinglin was not constrained by the trend, rooted in numerous books, and expressed himself in writing, emphasizing the study of self-acquired knowledge, making important contributions to the normal development of traditional Chinese academic research.