Zhang Xuecheng
Zhang Xuecheng (Chinese: 章學誠; Wade–Giles: Chang Hsüeh-ch'eng; 1738–1801) was a Chinese historian and philosopher during the Qing dynasty. His father and his grandfather had been government officials, but, although Zhang achieved the highest civil service examination degree in 1778, he never held high office. Zhang's ideas about the historical process were revolutionary in many ways and he became one of the most enlightened historical theorists of the Qing dynasty, but he spent much of his life in near poverty without the support of a patron and, in 1801, he died, poor and with few friends. It was not until the late 19th century that Chinese scholars began to accept the validity of Zhang's ideas.[1]
His biographer,
His magnum opus, On Literature and History (Wénshǐ Tōngyì 文史通義), was published posthumously, in 1832. In Zhang's view,
References
- ^ Hiromu Mimose, "Chang Hsueh-ch'eng"
- ^ Nivison, Chang Hsueh-ch'eng p. 1
- ^ Hiromu Mimose, "Chang Hsueh-ch'eng"
Further reading
- David S. Nivison, The Life and Thought of Chang Hsüeh-Ch'eng, 1738-1801. (Stanford, Calif.,: Stanford University Press, Stanford Studies in the Civilization of Eastern Asia, 1966). Google Books
- ISBN 0-8047-6128-0.
- Mimose, Hiromu (1943). . In Hummel, Arthur W. Sr. (ed.). Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.
- Eduard B. Vermeer, "Notions of Time and Space in the early Ch'ing", in: Junjie Huang, Erik Zürcher, Time and Space in Chinese Culture, ed. BRILL, 1995 ISBN 978-90-04-10287-3, on Chang Hsüeh-ch'eng pp. 227– 233
