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Keywords:: Rulin waishi; family information of Wu Jingzi; history of the research on Rulin waishi

Abstract:: This article briefly describes the author’s academic research on Rulin waishi 儒林外史（literally Unofficial History of the Scholars） in more than half a century. He began his work from the study on the family information and thoughts of Wu Jingzi, which resulted in a biography of Wu Jingzi, the great literary master in the Qing Dynasty. On this basis, he started the project exploring the thought and artistic achievements in Rulin waishi by means of the method of punctuation and annotation, which had rarely been used since the May Fourth Movement. The author’s four rounds of punctuation and annotation on Rulin waishi have all been published. After that, he completed a book entitled The Research History of Rulin Waishi which focuses on the predecessors’ research achievements in their studies on this great Chinese literary classic. He introduces some academic problems and expresses his point of view when writing about the history of his own study. The book also occasionally shows the author’s academic research method, for example, the relationship between literature and history, which, in the author’s eyes, can be evidenced by each other but cannot be used as a proof to replace each other. This has also been demonstrated with some examples given in the book.