"The Classics Discussion Society" of the Early Ch'ing

Wang Fan-sen

Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica

    In this research project, I studied "The Classics Discussion Society" (Chiang-ching hui) of the early Ch'ing period, I reconstructed the organization, communication patterns, publishing, and other activities of this organization. Special attention has also been paid to topics such as: How could a group devoted to the study of the classics grew up in the area where Liu-Tsung-chou's and Huang Tsung-hsi's tradition was most prosperous? How did the members of this group became the progenitors of Ch'ing scholarship? I believe that this studying contributes to a better understanding of the transition from Ming learning-of-mind (Hsin-Hsü eh) to the Ch'ing evidential research style of learning.

Keywords: The Classics Discussion Society, Liu Tsung-chou, Ch'ing intellectual history