Gu Jiegang

Also known as Ming Jian

Gu Jiegang, originally named Songkun and with the courtesy name Mingjian, came from Suzhou and graduated in philosophy from Peking University in 1920. In 1923, in a letter to Qian Xuantong printed in the journal Dushu zazhi, he argued that ancient history had been built up in layers: the later the age, the longer the legendary past it described and the larger its heroes grew. The debates this provoked were gathered in Debates on Ancient History (Gushi bian), whose first volume appeared in 1926 and seventh in 1941. In 1934 he and Tan Qixiang started the fortnightly Yugong and its society for the study of historical geography. In 1954 he moved to the history institute of the Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and he later helped lead the punctuated editions of the Comprehensive Mirror (Zizhi tongjian) and the Twenty-Four Histories. He died in Beijing in December 1980.