| Weng Fanggang (1733—1818) styling himself Zhengsan, Xuyi, Tanxi, Yizhai and Xuzhai, is from Daxing in Beijing, with its ancestral home in Putian, Fujian. He is from Daxing under the jurisdiction of Shuntianfu (today’s Beijing City). As the successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations in the17th year in Qianlong’s Reign (1752), he was elected as Shujishi in the Imperial Academy, and then the Imperial Editor. He had served as the Examiner in provincial and county-level exams in Jiangxi, Hubei and regions south of the Yangtze River as well as the Exam Governor in Guangdong, Jiangxi and Shandong. He had once been promoted as the Scholar in the cabinet. In the38th year in Qianlong’s Reign (1773), he started compiling books in Sikuquanshu library. In the42nd year in Qianlong’s Reign (1777), after resigning the posts of Assistant Imperial Proofreader and Chief Imperial Proofreader, he dedicated himself to the compilation of books about inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone tablets, seal characters and official scripts. In the55th year in Qianlong’s Reign (1790), he was ordered to Shengjing to serve as the Chief Imperial Proofreader of Wenyuange Sikuquanshu. In the60th year in Qianlong’s Reign (1795), he was demoted as the Imperial Attendant Scholar in the cabinet. In the4th year in Jiaqing’s Reign (1799), he was granted Diplomatic Governor and resigned in the9th year in Qiaqing’s Reign (1804). He died in the23rd year in Jiaqing’s Reign (1818)Weng Fanggang was one of the four calligraphers in Qing Dynasty and the famous epigraphist, who was equipped with profound knowledge of Confucian classics. Based on the comprehensive compilation of Weng Fanggang’s writings, the author of this thesis places him to the large historic background in Qing Dynasty with the research methods of philology, epigraphy and calligraphic philology and intends to conduct a relatively comprehensive and detailed investigation and analysis on Weng Fanggang’s knowledge of Confucian classics, epigraphy and calligraphy.The whole thesis can be divided into three chapters. The first chapter explores Weng Fanggang’s inherent Confucian thoughts through researching his writings about Confucian school, which reveals that he is not the sheer "mediator between Han and Song Dynasties", but a "Neo-Confucian with a good command of Confucian thoughts in Han and Song dynasties who obeys Confucian school of idealist philosophy and absorbs thoughts of Ma Rong and Zheng Xuan". Based on the case study of "Bronzes and Stone Tablets Inscriptions in Han Dynasties" which is the representative work of Weng Fanggang, the second chapter deals with the comprehensive and detailed studies on its background, writing process, characteristics of its style, and its influences, the analysis on the academic, historic, calligraphic and philologic values of "Bronzes and Stone Tablets Inscriptions in Han Dynasties", and discussions on the limitations and mistakes of Weng Fanggang and his works. By virtue of the comprehensive study of prefaces and postscripts in Weng Fanggang’s calligraphy works in the third chapter, the author finds out Weng’s thoughts about calligraphy and notes, clarifies in detail Weng’s understanding of the problems existing in official scripts, new official scripts and imperial seal scripts, and discusses the impact of Weng’s calligraphic thoughts on the calligraphy circle in North Korea. Through the above-mentioned discussions, Weng Fanggang’s historic status and influence in the entire philology field in Qing Dynasty are analyzed.
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