Preliminary Research About Xiang Da’s Historical Ideas

Da Xiang (1900CE-1966CE) is a famous historian, archeologist, translator andProfessor of History Department of Peking University. He specialize history ofSino-Western transportation, Tunhuang study, China frontier race history and many otherfield study researches. With searching and collecting related works of his lifetime, this paper,are trying to analyze background and reason of Da Xiang historiography thought formation,and analyzing the meaning of Da Xiang historiography thought with three aspects of writinghistory methodology of Sino-Western relation and comparison, researching historymethodology of vernacular literature research and scene investigation, and the last one rootsof patriotism; and reviewing Da Xiang historiography thought according his mainly works,the achievement of his academic, researching history methodology and spirit, and primarydiscovery and research with its effective; and understanding Da Xiang historiography thoughtwith approaching more practical and realistic of him; and discovering Da Xianghistoriography thought’s feature and impact, and providing useful lessons and enlightenmentfor the contemporary academic research.This paper consists of the preface, four chapters of the main text and the conclusion. Thepreface introduced experience, researching fields and achievement of Da Xiang, and outlinedthe researching circumstance and composition path of this thesis. Chapter I investigates DaXiang ’s lifetime activities and his academic career. Chapter II according his lifetime threeworks of “Brief History of Sino-Abroad Transportation”,“History of Sino-WesternTransportation”,“Chang’an of Tang Dynasty and Ancient China-West Civilization”,generalizes the achievements of history Sino-Western transportation. Chapter IIIaccording Da Xiang’s Tunhuang study discovers the excellence contribution of his Tunhuangstudy academic field. Chapter IV, researching the reason of his historiography thought andanalyzes the meaning of his historiography thought. The conclusion supplies with Chinafrontier study and catalog of studies, and summaries and evaluates pursuing his study.