At the age of 20, I went to Beijing to study, made friends with Tan Sitong and other celebrities, and discussed strategies when I was worried about my country and hurt my country. He despised the study of imperial examinations, devoted himself to grave-robbing canon, and was good at edition and bibliography. He once talked with Ye about editions, including a book engraved in Song Dynasty and a book engraved in Yuan Dynasty, a book engraved by a certain family and a book engraved by whom. He once wrote Jing Shi Zhi, imitating the style of the Bibliography of abstinence and fasting compiled by Mo Youzhi and Jiang Biao, but he never succeeded. In the early years of the Republic of China, the collection of books in Zhijingzhai was scattered, and many fine inscriptions in the Song Dynasty flowed into places such as Li Jingmai and Liu Tizhi, which were originally acquired by Fu Zengxiang, Mo Ji Bo and Xu Shao in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Guangdong, sent him to Japan to inspect the school, and then presided over the school affairs in Guangzhou. After resigning, he lived in Beijing, languished in his later years and died in Beijing; There is also a collection of works by Ding.

Historical research lists Levin's four sons in the late Qing Dynasty as: Tan Sitong, whose real name is Fu Sheng, Zhuang Fei, son of Tan Jixun, governor of Hubei and governor of Huguang; Chen, whose name is Sanyuan, is the son of Chen Baozhen, the governor of Hunan Province. Wu Baochu, whose real names are Sui Jun and Yan Fu, whose real names are Jia Gong and Beishan, is the son of Wu Changqing, the magistrate of Zhejiang Province. Ding Huikang, whose name is Shu Ya, is the son of Fujian Governor Ding Richang. It is the most common candidate for the "four sons of the late Qing Dynasty".

For example, Wang Bijiang's A Collection of Guangxuan Poetry Circles and a Brief Biography of Modern Poets, Wang's Modern Biography is Lou's Poems, Hu Xian's Forty Years of Old Poets in Beijing, and Chen Shengcong's Poems on Fishing Songs are all held together.

However, the appellation of "four sons of the late Qing Dynasty" is actually different. Chen Yun, the first-class scholar of Xu, is known to the world for his four sons: Tan Zhuangfei (heir, the stepson of Hubei Governor), Tao Zhuocun (Bao Lian, the governor of Shaanxi but Gansu) and Wu Yanfu (Bao Chu, therefore the governor of Guangdong Navy), and Chen Tan is also a beautiful man for a while. (Ding Huikang, therefore, the eldest son of the Governor of Fujian, who was also famous at that time, was called Sizi, or Ding, which was not fixed at all. ) "It can be seen that there is Tao Baolian without Ding Huikang. Press: Tao Baolian, Zizhuo Village, son of Mo Tao, Governor of Xinjiang and Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.

In addition, Yu Shaosong's Diary of the Eighteen Years of the Republic of China (1929) contained on June 22: "Sun Mulao (according to Sun Baoqi) had a younger brother named Zhong Yu, who died. In the Qing Dynasty, Ding, Tan and Chen were also called four sons. " Sun Bao, also named, was handed down by his father, Sun Yijing Guangxu. He served as the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Finance, his father-in-law Li as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and his brother Sun Baoqi as the prime minister of the Republic of China.

However, Sun Bao's reputation is bleak, ranking among the "four sons", which seems to be out of proportion, and this statement is still an isolated evidence and cannot be accepted. Or is it because (Sun) Bao and (Tao) Baolian have similar pronunciations, so Yu Shaosong misremembered for a moment?

Wu Baochu said in Wang Jian's poem "Chronicles of Continued Books" that ... he was also called the four sons of Qing Dynasty with Shu Ya (Wellcome) in Ding Haifeng, Sanyuan (Li San) in Chen Yining and Luodong (Shunde). "Here, Luo is one of the four sons, not to mention. Press: Luo, Zi Dong, was also a celebrity in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, but he was not a big official. What is ziyun? This is because both Luo and Wu Baochu are official titles, so Wu was mistaken for.

After the "four sons of the late Qing Dynasty", there are also "four sons of the Republic of China". Note: "Man refers to the four sons of modern times, one is (according to Yuan), the other is Yu, the third is Zhang Xueliang, the fourth is Xiao Jia, the son of Zhang Jian, and the fourth is Zhang Xiaoruo, the son of Zhang Jian. Some people also said: one is Pu Dong, the owner of the Red Bean Pavilion, the other is Yu, and the fourth is Zhang Xueliang. This sentence was widely circulated in Shanghai and later spread to Beijing. I lived in Haidian for more than ten years before, and I was also referred to as Yu Yue: one of these four sons. "

The "Four Scholars in the Late Qing Dynasty" coincided with the era of great changes in the collision between China and the West and the alternation of the old and the new, so there were many generous acts in pointing out the country and rectifying the righteousness. After the Revolution of 1911, the world collapsed and changed. The so-called "four sons of the Republic of China" have lost their heroic spirit, but they still have a romantic attitude in literature and art. Today, there are still many new aristocratic families, but their literary talent is acceptable, just romantic.