(1) Widely set up academies and voluntary schools to expand the scope of Confucianism. When Zhang Zhidong was a scholar, he established Jingxin Academy and Zunjing Academy in Hubei and Sichuan respectively. From the use of Jing in the name of the academy, we can see his intentions. When he was the first governor, he made great achievements, advocating "reducing social capital and expanding learning", "exempting officials from respecting learning", "reviving old chapters in clearing up learning fields" and "raising funds to repair academies" and so on.
(2) Compile Xuan Xuan Yu and Bibliography Q&A to discuss the issue of priests and cultivate the seeds of Confucianism. Both books were written in 1875, when Zhang Zhidong was studying politics in Sichuan. In these two books, he expounded the academic thought of "applying the world", pointed out the academic path for young students, played the role of "teacher", showed the academic vision that ordinary feudal bureaucrats and scholars could not match, and became a powerful tool to revitalize and develop traditional scholarship with Confucianism as the core in the late Qing Dynasty.
(3) Initiate and take the lead in printing academic books, so as to provide convenience for scholars to study Confucianism. In the bibliography question and answer, Zhang Zhidong once devoted himself to the theory of "encouraging the engraving of books", arguing that "the engraver conveys the essence of the ancient philosophers, enlightens the later scholars, and is also beneficial to the task of helping the poor first, and accumulates goodness into elegance."
Zhang Zhidong likes to study classics. According to what he said in his later years: "I am most loyal to Yi, Li and Chunqiu, and I want to go back to my hometown. It's a pity that I wrote several classics and failed. " He believes that there are many ways to learn, but first of all, we should be "proficient in classics" because learning should be "based". This is the "foundation of the body" and the "root of the scholar". "If it has its roots, think all academic, copious who can royal, with its end, also useful. All talents in the world learn from learning, and learning must first seek the classics ... Its trend is natural and its order is natural. " Zhang Zhidong's achievements in the map of Tibet have also made special contributions to the cultural construction of China. When he was governor of Huguang, he first founded the Hubei and Hunan Academy, and then established Guangya Bookstore and Library in Guangdong. Raising funds to build Hubei Library and Hunan Library, which opened around the 30th year of Guangxu (1904). He also organized the Shi Jing Library with Duan Fang and others. He believes that "the library is the source of learning, and Shi Jing is the audio-visual department of the world. The scale must be grand and the collection must be extremely detailed, enough for many scholars to study. " I personally selected the museum site, bought the books of Yao and Xu, famous bibliophiles in Nanling, and merged the old books of the Hanlin Academy into the library. Miao was appointed as the librarian. And on behalf of Shi Jing Library and provincial libraries, it has made outstanding contributions to the construction of the National Library. The ancient books of Zhang Zhidong's family are also very rich. There are dozens of books in the Song and Yuan Dynasties alone. When he was in Beijing, every time he went to Liulichang, he returned with a full load. Fu Zengxiang, a bibliophile, once collected some scattered old books. His books, articles, letters, manuscripts, etc. It is all the works of Zhang Wenxiang, with more than 100 volumes. Bibliography Zhang Zhidong is proficient in bibliography. Tongzhi thirteen years (1874), when he was studying politics in Sichuan, he wrote Xuan Yu, which was devoted to research methods, scientific papers and related programs. In the second year of Guangxu (1876), he wrote a bibliography answer, listed 2200 books, and pointed out the way to read. It contains academic works since the Qing Dynasty, especially since Ganjia, and is divided into five parts: classics, history, books, collections and collections, and each part is divided into several categories. The category is not limited to the general catalogue of Four Treasures of the Study. It expounds the relationship between reading research, edition research and bibliography, which is of value to summarize the academic research achievements in Qing Dynasty and enrich the contents of classic bibliography. Calligraphy has achieved Zhang Zhidong's meticulous calligraphy and Su Shi's calligraphy, and enjoys a high reputation. He is also good at "counting the body", with vigorous brushwork, handsome and bold, ups and downs. Zhang Zhidong once taught Zhang Peilun's "calligraphy formula" privately, saying that "it is based on two characters, enriched by structure and embellished by pen", which is a common style of his calligraphy.