Contents: Coming out of the Middle Ages: historical reflections on the late Ming to the late Qing -- The drama of "god-making" 360 years ago -- The Confucius of history and the history of Confucius -- Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Yang Guangxian -- Han learning and Western learning in the Eighteenth Century -- Yangming scholarship in early modern China -- A historical investigation into the early formation of the historical materialist viewpoint in China -- China's lost renaissance -- Appendix: The strange ideas of philosophers as one historical period supersedes another.

Keywords: Johann Adam Schall von Bell 湯若望, Yang Guangxian 楊光先, Kang Youwei 康有為, Neo-Confucianism , Historical materialism , May 4th movement, Hanxue 漢學.

Part I: Statesman and centenarian: Ma Xiangbo as witness of China's early modernity, by Zhu Weizheng 朱維錚, translated by Wu Xiaoming -- Christianity and cultural conflict in the life of Ma Xiangbo, by Li Tiangang 李天綱, translated by Ruth Hayhoe -- Standing between two worlds: Ma Xiangbo's educational thought and practice, Lu Yongling.
Part II: Selected translations of Ma Xiangbo's essays and speeches, translated by Ruth Hayhoe, with Hong Xiaochun and Lu Yongling.
Part III: A Bibliographic index to the life and work of Ma Xiangbo (Chinese), compiled by Lu Yongling

Essays and speeches:
The need for political parties and their responsibilities (1908)--A letter to the Pope asking Him to promote education in China (1912)--The Hanxia Academy of Humanities and Sciences (1913)--Nine documents on the Hanxia Academy of Humanities and Sciences (c. 1914)--Some suggestions on setting up a French-style academy (date uncertain)--Should a head of state preside over religious ceremonies (1914)--An introduction to philosophy (1926)--Using scholarship to spread religion (1932)--Religion and culture (1933).
Hanxia kaowenyuan 函夏考文苑