Professor Chen chih's work is mainly composed of four parts: textual criticism of Ran Shu, economic history of Chin and Han dynasty and its relations with people, bamboo slips of Chu-yen, and the eaves tiles and pottery inscription. Ran Shu Hsin Cheng, the New Textual Criticism of Ran Shu, is the representative work of Professor Chen's study on Han Shu, Until now, there are three editions in print for the work, one published by Tientsin People's Publisher in 1959, another one by the Ting-wen Publisher of Taipei in 1988, and the third one by Tientsin People's Publisher in 1979as the second printing of of the second edition. Strictly speaking, there are only two editions since the Ting-wen edition is only a reprint of the 1959 edition by Tientsin People's Publisher. This article is to explore the causes for the reprinting of the work only in the form of second printing and also the absence of the first printing in the second edition. Moreover, I will try to discuss the differences of these two editions in its basic structure, addition and erasion of the annotations, interpretations and material sources. This might help the readers to a better understanding of the work.
