Yang Du’s Cultural Achievements-the Chorographic Expert In The Late Qing Dynasty

Yang Du(1834-1894),whose style name is Gongtong and pseudonym is Qiumei,was born in the late Qing Dynasty in Xiangning County,Shanxi Province.He was a successful candidate of the Provincial Examination in 1864.Yang was born in a literary family,his grandfather was a senior licentiate,and his father passed the Provincial Examination.As a kid,Yang was talented,and he received great education since his childhood.Later he was taught by great teachers like Wang Yun and Wang Xuan,and then he worked as lecturer of Confucianism in Fanzhi County,Yangqu County and Xiangyuan County.During that period,he lectured in Shanxi’s highest academies like the Lingde Academy and the Jinyang Academy,etc.Finally,Yang achieved a high reputation as an expert of local record,calligraphy and seal cutting in the late Qing Dynasty.He was good at textual research,throughout his life,Yang Du compiled 12 local records(262 volumes in total),including Local Records of Shanxi and Local Records of Xining,and Local Records of Shanxi was considered the most important work of his life,therefore he became the most productive expert in Chinese history before 1949.To better understand the thoughts of Yang’s local records,this thesis studies their prefaces,styles,characteristics and contents.As the thesis mentions,while he compiled the local records,Yang Du attached great importance to the precision of mapping,and he also attached great importance to the concision of arrangement,as he only collected practical materials.Since he was well educated,talented and diligent,Yang endeavored to enrich himself throughout his life,which had made him so outstanding.Also,the academic atmosphere of compiling local records in the late Qing Dynasty provided him a chance to show his talent.Though Lost Poems of Qiumei and Poetry and Prose of Yang Du are just a small part of Yang’s poetic collections,we may still enrich the study of Yang’s life and local history by analyzing their forms,contents and values.Besides,Yang ’ s achievements in aspects of calligraphy and seal cutting benefited him a lot for compiling local records.