Gu Jiegang

Gu Jiegang was a Chinese historian, philologist, and folklorist, noted for his critiques of traditional historiography. Born to a family of scholars in Suzhou, he developed a great interest in philology and the Chinese classics from an early age. He became involved in radical politics following the 1911 Revolution, but grew disillusioned and began to focus on historical studies. He was admitted to Peking University, where became interested in critique of the classical histories, inspired by academics such as Wang Guowei and Hu Shih. After graduating in 1920, he was hired by the university; he became active in the study of folk songs and folklore while continuing his classical philological studies. He initiated a wave of scholarly controversy between the Doubting Antiquity School and conservative academics in 1923 after he published letters criticizing legendary ancient figures such as Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun as unhelpful Confucian myths. He later edited the large volume of responses he received in the aftermath into the first volume of the Gushi Bian, a seven-volume work published from 1926 to 1944.