章太炎與錢玄同清末相識於日本，彼時錢玄同甚為崇拜前者，不但仔細閱讀其著作，還在日記中記下心得，同時極力迴護章氏，非常不滿與其觀點相左者。當章太炎決定設壇講學後，錢玄同奔走聯絡，促成其事。並在此其間常向章氏問學請益，二人學術上的交流甚頻繁。在人生觀方面，章、錢頗有共識，即強調「辨誠偽」，對改善民德三致意焉。錢玄同青年時代接觸到大量晚清國粹派之學說，並對章太炎藉國粹激動種性心有戚戚焉。因此他主張未來中國應全盤復古，從語言文字，到典章制度，皆應保持中國自身特色。然民國建立後，錢玄同目睹袁世凱帝制自為，深受刺激，是故對中國傳統的態度急轉直下，鼓吹應徹底批判。猶有進者，錢玄同認為漢字是阻礙中國發展的主要禍首，於是提倡廢除漢字，而在這表像背後，其實顯示出在思維方式上依然深受章太炎影響，即非常重視語言文字在一國文化中的地位。錢玄同雖然師從章太炎，但對乃師經說吸收之處卻著實有限。他在清末接觸到晚清今文經學後，便頗認可其中的托古改制、素王變法之論，並對康有為、崔適的辨偽著作青睞有加。在以反傳統為旨歸的古史辨運動中，這些學術積累一觸即發，提供錢氏遍疑群經，推翻古史系統豐厚的思想資源。而在此主旨下，章太炎經學觀中帶有批判色彩的部分遂被錢玄同給予部分肯定，然其「建設」的面向，卻非已立志抨擊舊學的錢玄同所能理解。

Qian Xuantong and Zhang Binglin met in Japan at the end of the Qing dynasty. Qian was a admirer of Zhang at the time. He read over his books and defended Zhang against people with different views. Qian also contributed significantly to Zhang teaching establishment and they had frequently scholarly discussions and exchanges. They share the same value of life, which insisting on the difference between true and false. Qian Xuantong was exposed to thoughts of Chinese culture quintessence school in the later Qing dynasty at his young age, and agreed with Zhang's claim to incent the nation by Chinese culture quintessence. In his view, language and law must maintain the uniqueness of the Chinese culture. However, after the founding of the Republic of China, Qian changed his mind completely after Yuan shikai's restoration. This event led him to believe that Chinese, as a written language, hindered the development of China and therefore should be abolished. However, he was still influenced by Zhang strongly because of the factor that it was Zhang's theory that language is a vital element of culture. Although Zhang was his teacher, Qian didn't accept much form Zhang. When he learned the New Text Confucianism in Late Qing Dynasty, he turned to the idea of reforms based upon ancient political system, and became a supporter of Kang Youwei and Cui Shi. His new thoughts later became an important source of his criticism of traditional thinking during the anti-tradition movement. It could therefore be argued that though Qian adopted Zhang's spirit of criticism but Zhang's theory of ＂contribution＂ was beyond his comprehension.