Scholars of this period preferred to work directly from original material rather than plowing through heaps of derivative writings. For example, the Song literary lion Ouyang Xiu was especially fond of rubbings taken from the inscriptions on ancient bronzes, and epigraphy--the study of stone and bronze inscriptions--was popular as a way of coming into contact with the age of antiquity.
當時的學者作學問講究一手資料，不喜在故紙堆中打轉，例如文學領袖歐陽修就對古銅器上面的文字拓片特別感興趣，讓古物說話，以還原古代生活的「金石學」在當時十分興盛。