桐城派是中國文學史上的重要流派，”有清一代的古文，前前後後殆無不與桐城關係”(郭紹虞語)。桐城古文的流派，前後有三個重要時期：一是姚鼐晚年在注南的書院學；二是道光年間梅曾亮在京師傳桐城古文義法；三是咸同間曾國藩登高一呼，奠定了桐城古文的中興局面。這三個時期中，桐城古文義法經由梅曾亮，如何在京師以及全範圍內流傳，在以往的”桐城派”研究中，是一個非常薄弱的環節。梅曾亮傳播桐城古文，是通過師友交游的方式，不同於姚鼐的書院講學和曾國藩的幕府納士。這種交往難以從文論的角度來討論，但在眾多的清人文集中，又留有清晰的印跡。本文從京師士大兼的交往方式和特定的文人圈子入手，以具體史料來原梅曾亮在京師的師友交游，和他周圍古文圈子的形成。同時，本文也兼顧這一古文圈子與京師其他士大夫圈子離合交錯的關係，從而鈎沉出道光年間桐城古文經由梅曾亮的京師交游傳播到全國的具體過程。

The t’ung-cheng school is a very important literary genre in Chinese literary history, “All prose of Qing dynasty have relationship with t’ung-ch’eng prose”. There are three important periods of time in the diffusion of T’ung-ch’eng prose writing law. In the first period Yao Nai teached in colleges of south city in his senectitude. In the second period Mei Tseng-liang associated with his “mentors and firends” in Hsunan-an of capital during Tao kuang period. In the third period Tseng Kuo-fan advocated T’ung-ch’eng Prose utmostly during Xian Feng and Tong Zhi period, causing the resurgence of the T’ung-ch’eng school. Among these periods, the study about the second is the most feeble tache. The method of Mei Tseng-liang transmited T’ung-ch’eng prose writing law in capital, id different from Yao Nai’s giving lectures and Tseng Kuo-fan’s setting up his private bureaucracy. It’s hard to discuss this association from the point of literary theory, but there have left a lot of testimony in poetry and prose anthology of Qing literati. My thesis starts with the association of capital literati, through citing detailed historical materials, to revivify the history of Mei Tseng-liang and the acient prose group around him. At the same time, I also pay attention to the other literati circles in capital, analyzing their anfractuous relationship, accordingly attest to the particular process of T’ung-ch’eng ancient prose spreading to all of the country through Mei Tseng-liang.