They deeply believed that they should take science as their standard and improvement as their goal
When researching, they insisted upon the “continual search for materials from the Highest Heaven above to the Yellow Springs of the Netherworld below,” as well as the need to “let materials speak for themselves alone”
They bore with them feelings of nationalism, and against the background of that time,
always thought of what could “help the country to survive,” making their own “scientific” research echo and work in concert with “reality”
They were ethnologists, physical anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians
Their footsteps tread upon the borderlands, as they put their scientific principles and nationalistic feelings into practice step by step
In China, they were leaders in the development of their particular fields of specialization
At the same time, they made these fields a direct part of China’s national discourse and the process of Chinese nationalization!
