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During the period of the last stage of Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, a large number of historical documents were lost in the frequent wars and turmoils. But "Tang Zhi Yan" , written by Wang Dingbao(870~941A. D.), as a literary sketch which gives a special account of the Imperial Examination System and the fashions of that period, still comes down and provides extremely rare historical materials on study of Imperial Examination System of Tang Dynasty for us. Many historians think much of its literary importance. The predecessor scholars have done some work over the "Tang Zhi Yan" and its author—Wang Dingbao, but the special studies were absent. Therefore, on the basis of parsing the document, I will try my best to probe into the study of the importance of this literary sketch— "Tang Zhi Yan" by citing other correlative materials.The prelude,I set forth the aims, methods and significations of the task chiefly. Then, I will review and summarize the former productions which have been achieved on this thesis.The first chapter—textual research on Wang Dingbao's life. Wang Dingbao, whose father's name was "Xuangui" and original family home was Langya, was born in 870(A. D., Xiantong 11th, Emperor Yizong of Tang Dynasty), and passed an imperial examination in 900(A.D., Guanghua 3rd, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang Dynasty). Indor to keep away from chaos caused by war, Wang Dingbao retreated to Chu. The Count instituted him to Rongguan Xunguan soon. After the tour of duty, he went to Guangzhou, and assisted Nanhan , as a prime minister later. He had many friends and possessed a wide knowledge. "Tang Zhi Yan" was finished before Liu Yan (one emperor of Nanhan) set up his count. Wang Dingbao met his death in 941 (A. D., Dayou 14th, Nanhan, Five Dynasties).The second chapter—textual research on editions of "Tang Zhi Yan" . This book had 15 voluminosities and 103 portions, and was spread widely in Song Dynasty. It was printed into 15 rolls and published in 1211 ( A. D., Jiading 4th, Southern Song Dynasty). The Hand-copied in Ming Dynasty rooted in the edition of Song, which is the pioneer and integrative edition we can consult. Among the many editions of "Tang Zhi Yan" , the Hand-copied in Ming Dynasty and the edition of "Ya Yu Tang Cong Shu" are the best editions of all. Contemporarily, there are other 7 full-editions, 8 abridgement editions and 5 punctuation and marks to writings editions.