On Tang Degang's Contribution To Oral History

Tang Degang(1923.8.23-2009.10.26),the Chinese American scholar,historian and biographer,was devoted to studying the history of the Republic of China and the oral history during his lifetime.He had written biographies for several politician of Republic of China.He helped to enroll oral history to historical subject research had deep effect on historiography group.Different from the traditional oral biography methods,his method emphasized on the confirmation of oral historical facts and material.This helped to make the oral history more real.This not only further improved the contents of Republic of China,but also had directive significance to the theory and practice of oral history.Through description of Tang's personal narratives and scholarship,this study emphasizes on analysing Tang's works of oral history and studying his oral history of Hu Shi,Li Zongren,Zhang Xueliang and Gu Weijun.The writer hopes to systematically analyse the forming process,content and instructional method of Tang's oral history,especially his contributions on oral history,on the basis of previous research achievements.Tang's outstanding performances can be seen in the history of Republic of China and the study methods.Tang's oral history interpreted the history of Republic of China from multi-angles and further improved the content of the history of Republic of China.Tang's modern oral history methods play an important role to contemporary oral history development.Therefore,it is necessary to summarize Tang's significance and effect on oral history of China and highlight his oral historical position.