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 and failed to comprehensively examine his relevant discussions. 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 profound and insightful views of others, leading to misattributed praise and commendation. The author, of course, does not possess the ability to bridge multiple disciplines, but only dared to act with the boldness of a newborn calf and made efforts 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. However, this time, under the guidance of Mr. Qi and the influence of the pragmatic and innovative academic atmosphere of the Song History Research Center, the author attempted to comprehensively reveal Hu Yinglin's historical status in the study of traditional academic history, 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 relationship 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 Chinese 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 state of books in the Ming Dynasty, he conducted an in-depth study of the history of Chinese classical bibliography, which served as the foundation for all his academic research. Therefore, the main content of this book is primarily focused on this part. It includes 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 foundation for later generations in terms of the research system and basic framework of studying 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 third chapter. 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 later research on the history of book-related undertakings.
Chapter 4 examines Hu Yinglin's achievements in textual criticism. It includes a brief account of the state of textual criticism before Hu Yinglin, the reasons for Hu Yinglin's compilation of specialized works on textual criticism, his classification of ancient forgeries, the "Eight Methods of Textual Criticism" he summarized under the principle of "familiar with this book and the endings of other books," his attitude, practice, and characteristics in textual criticism, etc. Hu Yinglin's exploration of forgeries was directly derived from his study of the history of bibliography. He was a scholar who conducted theoretical discussions and methodological summaries on traditional Chinese textual criticism. With his rigorous and realistic attitude of seeking truth, he critically examined over a hundred ancient forgeries, integrating theory and practice organically 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 since 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 scholarly demeanor and deep thinking made his historical criticism, whether it was his theory of the "Three Lengths and Two Virtues" required of historians, his theory that historians possess unique talents, his theory that historians often suffer misfortunes, or his exploration of the principles of historical criticism, both theoretically and practically significant. 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 scholarly emphasis on 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 scholarship. 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 errors in Yang Shen's works, his historical and textual criticisms, as well as his textual critical spirit, attitude, principles, and exploration of academic norms. In the academic atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty where plagiarism was rampant, Hu Yinglin was not constrained by the trend and rooted in a wide range of books, expressing his own scholarly insights, making significant contributions to the normal development of traditional Chinese scholarship.