During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Gu, Huang Zongxi and others advocated that academics should be linked with the contemporary era, opposed the disadvantages of empty talk about the study of mind and nature in Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties, and advocated Sinology. They opposed the subjective interpretation of the Six Classics by Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties, and advocated starting from primary school to revile the true meaning of famous things. From the standpoint of anti-Qing dynasty, they advocated practical use. However, with the consolidation of the Qing regime, the Qing government advocated sorting out and revising the classic literature while promoting the literary inquisition and strengthening ideological constraints, so as to divert the people's anti-Qing struggle. In this context, it is impossible for Gu and others to study real social problems, but their research methods that attach importance to textual research have had a great impact and soon become a trend. Later, Yan Ruoqu, Hu Weiwei and others made a model of textual research on the works of Gu and Huang. Hu Weiwei is proficient in Confucian classics, especially in the study of geography. His works "Yu Gong Cone Finger" and "Yi Tu Ming Bian" have made certain contributions in distinguishing the authenticity of ancient books and advocating the spirit of doubting the ancient times. Yan Ruoqu is a famous textual research scholar. He has profound attainments in classics and history, and he is also good at geography. After 30 years' stealth, he wrote a book, Shuzheng of Ancient Books of Shangshu, which proved that the ancient books of Shangshu were forged by people in the Eastern Jin Dynasty by rigorous textual research. Starting from Yan Ruoqu and Hu Weiwei, a style of study has gradually formed, which is divorced from social reality and textual research for textual research. This style of study became more popular in Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, forming a textual research school called Ganjia School.
Scholars believe that the prosperity of textual research in Qing dynasty is due to the policy of literary inquisition in the early Qing dynasty. For example, Meng Sen said, "Since Qianlong, I have learned a lot about the world, and it is easy to avoid it when I touch it. I dare not do anything. I diverted my energy and focused on Confucian classics and exegesis of famous things, and my achievements surpassed those of previous Confucianism. " (Notes on the History of Ming and Qing Dynasties). Xiao Yishan said: "Scholars with national ideas are unwilling to be shameless yes-men under foreign policy, dare not be fierce revolutionary parties, freely study knowledge, and are afraid of crossing the net. What else can they do? " We had to "preserve our sanity" and "there are still ancients" and drill into that pile of old paper. "("Qing history ")