The author has long had the ambition to improve customs, and believes that in order to understand and improve the customs of the time, it is necessary to first describe the ancient customs. The book divides the history from the Yellow Emperor to the Ming Dynasty into four eras: simplicity, complexity, exuberance, and transition from exuberance to simplicity. It hopes to summarize the ancient customs through analysis, "rectifying customs to rectify people's hearts, or to preserve the quintessence of the country." "History of Chinese Customs" was first published in 1911. It was the first monograph on Chinese social history. It was a pioneering work and still has high academic value today.
