A few years ago, in advocating electronic textual research, historian Huang Yinong anticipated that it would bring a golden age for history and the humanities, especially for younger scholars. Broadly speaking, taking an e-textual approach simply means that scholars make full use of the internet and readily accessible digital resources in their normal scholarly pursuits, almost instantaneously granting them access to information their predecessors could perhaps not access at all. This process can reinvigorate disciplines by accounting for previous generations’ gaps in knowledge. Today’s emerging academic environment is better endowed than that of the old professors with encyclopedic knowledge. Some have even asserted that textology is undergoing a “scientific revolution”, transcending its old paradigm à la the American scientific historian Thomas Samuel Kuhn’s concept of a “paradigm shift”.

 

While e-textual study is the product of the network age, this approach echoes the reformation of history research championed by the pioneers of the New Philology School in early 20th century. The core intellectuals of the movement, Hu Shi and Fu Sinian, sought to revamp the whole concept of historical research in China, focusing on the collection of new historical evidence to build and refine arguments; they drew inspiration from the methodologies of the natural sciences. Although e-textual research is not based on a theoretical framework as full-fledged as that of the New History School, they have much in common—both start with a presupposition and a clear, inquisitive awareness guiding the search for and discovery of evidence. However, unlike the e-research which focuses exclusively on textual data, the approach proposed by the New Philologists not only expanded textual data in the purview of their scholarship, but also extended that purview to intangible material such as national customs and evidence gathered from field work. As such, these scholars employed much broader research methods. As the abundance of loanwords and variations in the literature and documents from the Pre-Qin Era to Han Dynasty has made data-searching more difficult, e-textual research is largely concentrated in the study of the Ming and Qing dynasties. In contrast, the New  Philologists took the pre-Qin era through Han Dynasty as their focus, and extended their research throughout the entirety of Chinese history.. Even so, the New Philologists were still criticized for operating under presuppositions by Wang Guowei, the founding father of New History, who observed, “Scholars are supposed to have questions through intense reading, rather than directing their research with baseless questions.” For the scholars committed to e-textual research today, Wang’s warning is still worth considering.

 

The electronic system has made research much more convenient, and some have even said a scholar with encyclopedic knowledge, like the historian Chen Yinque (1890-1969) would feel inferior were he alive again. However, e-textual study may also enable academic misconduct. In order to ensure the originality of his or her research, a scholar should first read intensively, building a profound knowledge of history. However, some scholars have launched into e-textual study with presuppositions which they try to ratify through their research. Even worse, in some cases, some scholars have fabricated historical events—out of the partial understanding they start to search for materials to support their assumptions and simply provide far-fetched, strained explanations. How can they even be compared to, let alone surpass Chen Yinque and the historian Qian Mu when the truthfulness of their “research” is questionable? Chen Yinque and Qian Mu do not only deserve merits for enriching research material and textual criticism, but also for valuing general education in history.

 

As has been put forth by Huang Yinong in his effort to set a good example of e-textual research, this research approach must be founded in and stem from a profound knowledge of history. Through this cultivation, the inquisitive awareness and investigative skill will be fortified to effectively and honestly make use of e-textual research. This approach is merely a supplementary, rather than a comprehensive and completely trust-worthy means. 

 

Xie Naihe is professor from School of History and Culture at Northeast Normal University. 

 

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 409. Jan 25.

 

Chinese version:

http://www.csstoday.net/Item/45517.aspx

Translated by Jiang Hong

Revised by Charles Horne