Six Classics Are All History

Zhang Xuecheng is a thinker of Qianlong period in Qing dynasty, and the "Six Classics are all history" is the core of his thinking. Previous research on Zhang Xuecheng mostly from the historical point of view, this paper attempts to show Zhang's philosophical thought.Zhang Xuecheng's "the six classics are all history" reveal the profound practical concern. Combined with Zhang's life, The paper try to understand Zhang's thought deeply and position Zhang'thought properly.Firstly, the paper gives a brief overview of Zhang Xuecheng's life and writings. It give an analysis of his academic character, through some memories of Zhang and Zhang' academic commentary on the approach for the study. Zhang suffered a hard life. His writings did not print and publish until his death, also did not be known in academic circles at that time. It was because his choice was different from the academic mainstream and he insisted on the approach of learning by his character. Zhang early years was very unrealistic, like history, textual exclusion, and Zhang is stubborn, argumentative and opinionated, which is valuable for a scholars.The second part describes Zhang put forward the "Six Classics are all history" academic background and opportunity. Zhang put forward the "Six Classics are all history" is not a simple imitation of the previous thinking. He thought is specifically targeted at the general mood of study, combined with his temperament and experience. Because deep dissatisfaction with the textual criticism which is the mainstream in the time. Zhang put forward the "Six Classics are all history" in order to correct the partial and disadvantages. Although Zhang also have an early thought "Six Classics are all history", the compilation give Zhang a chance to read a lot of historical data, as Zhang maturity of the thought and the "Six Classics are all history" finally be presented.In the third part of this paper, it reveals the real meaning of "Six Classics are all history" through other important propositions of Zhang's thought. Saying "Six Classics are all history", Zhang's intention is to restore the original appearance of the Six Classics. Six Classics was written for the political reason, which Zhang's basic views on the Six Classics. This basic view determined the differences between Zhang and other scholars on the scholarship of Tao and substance. Tao is changing in Zhang's view, not only by being present in Six Classics. So to attain the whole Tao, only textual exegesis is not enough, the substance must be combined to set channel depth understanding of changeable Tao. Zhang stressed that the article should be used for the world, against the useless and unrelated general of the text of the virtual world. He thought the article should focus on things and bearing Tao.In the fourth part, this paper describes increase with age and academic ability Zhang Xuecheng's attitude to Dai Zhen, who is the expert of textual. Dai also affects academic path of Zhang. Zhang had a lot of dissatisfaction with textual exegesis. After the first meeting of Zhang and Dai, Zhang is the respect of his predecessors. With the promotion of Zhang's scholastic ability, he gradually realized that textual exegesis, which is advocated by Dai, is not the only way to learn. As Zhang uphold his self-confidence to learn to approach gradually, he had the intention to compete in Dai with the academic. Dai have a obvious impact on Zhang's growth of academic.This fifth part of this paper, Zhang's philosophy was positioning. On the academic positioning of Zhang, Zhang has a paper named "eastern Zhejiang academic" in which he positioned his thought. The position not only has psychological reasons, but also has the basis of academic history. Zhang's academic is the answer of an important issue in history of Chinese philosophy. In "The debate on Han and Song" of Qing Dynasty, Zhang's thought has irreplaceable value.