姚際恆、崔述、方玉潤的《詩經》學著作，無不表現出「獨立」、「超然」、「懷疑」的特色，這樣的同質性，使吾人可以稱其爲清代「獨立治《詩》」三大家。 姚氏等三人分據清代初、中、晚三個時期，卻又同時隔絕於主流的學術之外，當時的學術思潮對三人的影響不大，而且三人或有意或無意地貶抑當時的主流學術價值觀，以是在治學、研經的途徑、方法上顯得與眾不同。 姚氏等三人的解《詩》著作不僅與當時的學術主流有極大的差距，連學術派別都無法劃分，不是漢、宋兼採，也不走考據路線，更非屬今文經學系統。這三人的著作在當時都鮮爲人知，直到民國初年才受到學者注意，並給予極高的評價，至今日已成爲學術上的重要研究對象。 本文考察姚氏等三人的解《詩》方法，檢視其對於《詩經》傳統詮釋的態度，以及各人對於傳統的取捨，檢證近代學者對於三大家著作的評語，用意在擴大研究的視野，並確認三人在《詩經》學史上的實際價值。

Yao Jiheng, Cui Shu, and Fang Yurun are three important scholars on The Book of Songs in the Qing dynasty. Their separate studies of The Book of Songs are characteristic of detached, inquisitive, and independent attitudes. Yao, Cui, and Fang lived in the early, mid- and late Qing dynasty, respectively, all standing away from the main stream study of the classics. They scarcely followed the thoughts of their contemporary scholars, but rather, intentionally or not, debased them. Together, they differed conspicuously from other scholars in their research orientations and methods. Their studies of The Book of Songs were so special that none of them could be attributed easily to any specific scholarly schools. Their scholarships could be categorized as neither the Han-style, the Song-style, the exegetic style, nor any system in ”the modern texts of the classics.” Their scholarships did not earn much attention until 1910s, the early period of the Republican era, but have since invited serious studies. This article discusses the methods Yao, Cui, and Fang each used in their studies of The Book of Songs, their individual attitudes toward its hermeneutic tradition, the ways in which they each turned away from traditional interpretations, and modern scholars' commentaries on their work. The purposes of this article are to expand the scholarly scope of this particular classics and to confirm the importance of the scholarships established by the three scholars in the hermeneutic history of The Book of Songs.