The dissertation is divided into two parts: the first part, the second part, the emperor Qian Long to the emperor Dao Guang early,of the Yangzhou School - Wang Zhong, Ling Ting Kan, Jiao Xun and Ruan Yuan as the research object, to explore the they academic methodology.
The first part discusses the "pre-modern" characteristics of the Yangzhou School. This characteristic is manifested in the methods and contents of the study. The method is based on the "seeking truth from facts" in the field of traditional study of Confucian classics, The Confucianists in Yangzhou have also verified the traditional achievements in mathematics.
The academic content is based on the theory of natural human nature as the starting point to affirm the "emotion" and "demand" inherent in human nature.
Furthermore, focusing on specific people, Yangzhou Confucians emphasized the practice of "courtesy". From this level, we can see that for the height of social awareness Cognition of Yangzhou School. The above sections are different from the theory of Neo-Confucianism and can be regarded as the academic "pre-modern" features of the Yangzhou school.
The second part analyzes the way of thinking of Confucians, including the research object. First of all, it probes into the deep motivation of four Confucians such as Wang Zhong and Ling Ting Kan to construct their own academic theory from the concrete and realistic aspects and represent the orthodox nature of Confucianism.
In addition, it also explores the influence of the "qi" theory of continuous thinking on the "wisdom" theory, such as Ling Ting Kan''s "learning to ceremony restore humanity" ,and Jiao Xun''s" can know, so human nature is good" ,both of show the emphasize on wisdom way of thinking.
In the early Qing Dynasty to the mid-Qing Dynasty, the "European science from China", which gradually became the main stream of Confucianism, said that its formation was also related to the "qi" continuous way of thinking.
The purpose of this dissertation is to show the connotation of Confucian scholarship based on the study of Confucian classics in the period from emperor Qian Long to the emperor Dao Guang early, Wang Zhong and Ling Ting Kan to Ruan Yuan. This connotation has Confucianism thought of experiential level, also has way of thinking form tradition. Overall, Yangzhou School in the middle of the Qing dynasty have philosophy for its achievements.