Dong Xun was an important official in the late Qing Dynasty,who entered officialdom through the imperial examina-tions in 1840.Besides his official duties,Dong Xun was devoted to writing and produced numerous works,including notebooks,poems,fugues,self-compiled chronicles,annotations of"Heroes of Sons and Daughters",town chronicles,and specialized works on water conservancy of the Grand Canal.The specialized work on the Grand Canal,"Jiangbei Yuncheng",is his most im-portant work.Living in an era of drastic confrontations and collisions between Eastern and Western civilizations during the transi-tion from the old to the new,Dong Xun's thoughts were relatively complex.His enlightened and progressive aspects are manifes-ted in:first of all,helping to open his eyes to the world,actively learning and accepting new things;secondly,advocating the use of Elements of International Law to safeguard national interests in handling affairs between China and foreign powers;and thirdly,respecting and practicing the practical and applied thoughts of the Yangzhou School of Confucianism.Dong Xun also had his limitations,such as opposing the"conversion of grain transportation to silver tax",which can be seen as opposing the mone-tization of grain tax as a kind of in-kind tax,and advocating the restoration of grain transport,insisting that it should not be aban-doned,which were against the trend of the times.
Dong XunDifen bookstore"Jiangbei Yuncheng"grain transport
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