What is "kaozheng"

Kaozheng 考證 ("search for evidence"), also kaoju xue 考據學 ("evidential scholarship") - a school and approach to study and research in China from about 1600 to 1850. It was most prominent during the rule of Qianlong and Jiaqing Emperors of the Qing dynasty (hence the alternate name :zh:乾嘉學派). For ancient Chinese texts it corresponds to the methods of modern textual criticism and this was sometimes associated with an empirical approach to scientific topics too.