- Gu Jiegang
Infobox academic
name = Gu Jiegang
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birth_date = 1893
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death_date = 1980
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residence =China
citizenship = Chinese
nationality =
ethnicity = Han
field = Chinese historian
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alma_mater =Peking University
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known_for =Yigupai
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footnotes =Gu Jiegang (zh-tsw|t=顧頡剛|s=顾颉刚|w=Ku Chieh-kang) (1893-1980) was a Chinese historian who is known best for his seven volume work "
Gushi Bian " (古史辨 "Debates on Ancient History"). He is considered the founder of the Skeptical school of early Chinese history, known as "yigupai ".Biography
Gu Jiegang was born two years before China's defeat in the
First Sino-Japanese War . As a result, the country during his early years was wrought with turmoil. During high school, Gu briefly joined a revolutionary group during the1911 Revolution . However, he soon realized that he had "no personal aptitude for politics, and no ability in promoting great social movements". He developed an interest in history while being a student atPeking University , and resolved to use a new historical narrative to calm his country's social and political turmoil.cite journal | author=Hon, Tze-Ki| title=Ethnic and Cultural Pluralism: Gu Jiegang's Vision of a New China in His Studies of Ancient History| journal=Modern China| year=1996| volume=22| issue=3| page=315-339| url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0097-7004%28199607%2922%3A3%3C315%3AEACPGJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5| pages=315| doi=10.1177/009770049602200303]Historiography
Gu has been viewed as something of an enigma by many scholars. His work has been characterized as scientific and antitraditional, while at the same time showing pride in Chinese culture and believing that the Chinese identity would withstand modernization. The German scholar Ursula Richter characterized this discrepancy by labeling Gu "the traditional and yet modern scholar who was true to tradition also in that he 'obeyed yet resisted'". [Hon (1996), pp. 315-316.]
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