Therefore, exegetics is a very comprehensive knowledge, including linguistics, history and culture, philosophy and sociology.
The history of exegetics can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. A large number of calligraphy books and dictionaries appeared in the Han Dynasty, such as Shuowen Jiezi, Jiyun and Guang Yun. These books cover many aspects of Chinese characters, such as sound, meaning, form and method, and become the main reference materials for later exegesis. After the Tang Dynasty, exegetics gradually became an independent science, and many famous exegetists set foot in it.
Such as Sun and Han Yuhe in the Tang Dynasty and Xu and He in the Song Dynasty, whose works played an important role in the development of exegetics.
The research methods of exegetics are generally divided into philology and linguistics. Philology mainly studies the problems such as the shape, meaning, usage, phonology and so on in China ancient books and documents, as well as the evolution process of the characters themselves. Linguistics mainly studies linguistic phenomena such as pronunciation, semantics and grammar, and the relationship between Chinese characters and Chinese language structure. In the research of these two aspects, there are often many problems and controversies, which require researchers to think deeply and analyze comprehensively to determine the correct explanation and understanding.
In a word, exegetics is a profound and long-standing knowledge, which plays an important role not only in restoring the original meaning and usage of Chinese characters, but also in the accumulation and inheritance of Chinese culture. For ordinary people, knowing some knowledge of Chinese exegetics can not only improve their language ability, but also better understand and appreciate the ancient culture of China.