A Review of Wen Ting-shi's Political Thoughts and Academic Achievement

Wen Ting-shi advocated ancient and modern times and China as well as foreign countries should be connected,which was used by reform times,learning should change along with age.He made a self-criticism on defects in Han Song learning.In order to improve China's political system,he compiled New Translation of Various Nations' Politics to introduce political system of Western world.He sought Western scientific knowledge which was beneficial to the people's livelihood.He compared Chinese religion with foreign religion,and analyzed characteristics of Confucianism and Mohism,introduced theory of Buddhism equality,analyzed whole world and human society,and explained metempsychosis thought.He was good at historiography,and collected,classified and discriminated historical materials;he criticized Poetics of Qing Dynasty,researched rise and fall of Ci-ology,on which he had original views.Because his works were mainly in critique,didn't form a system,so he didn't become a great master.However,he was a prophet in ideological change and academic innovation.