Abstract:

Historical perspectives are the way to reconstruct the imagination of sociology, as classical sociologists did. There are many historical dimensions in Karl Marx’s social studies: dialectical analysis on history of nature; structural perspective on prehistory of the present and history of the present; reconstructed narratives of historical events; and finally, evolution of family, ownership, state, and social formations. In the same sense, in order to understand the reality of Chinese sociey, we’d better examine the transformation of modern Chinese social thoughts and their contexts. By reinterpreting theory of the Three Eras from classics Spring and Autumn Annals, Kang Youwei proposed that the establishment of the Idea of Cosmos Unity as the universal value for world history and the building of Confucius Religion for cultivation of mores had resulted in the successful transformation of Chinese society from Era of War to Era of Peace. On the contrary, Zhang Taiyan upheld the tradition of “Six Classics are all Histories”, and pushed forward the academic change from classics to history, which was carried out by Wang Guowei and Chen Yinke. Through the method of synthetical deduction in social sciences, Wang Guowei interpreted classics by history in the work of Institutional Change in Yin and Zhou Dynasty, confirming the original principle of Zhou Regime and Etiquette on basis of patriarchal clan system, and its spirit of law, mores and institutions. On the other hand, Chen Yinke investigated thoroughly the Middle Age of Chinese history from perspective of concourse and interattestation, and outlined a historical landscape of interfusion between Hu and Han nationalities, mixing of various religions, migration of diverse crowds, and integration of different cultures and mores. In short, there are two waves of change of thoughts in Chinese modern transformation, which set up the new tradition of Classical and Historical Studies, and institutional and spiritual sources of social and political construction from then on.

Key words: history , Chen Yinke, Chinese Classics ,  Wang Guowei , Kang Youwei