Abstract: Chinese opera historians in the first half of the 20 th century continued the discussion of the classical propositions of ancient opera studies in their historiography of traditional Chinese opera. They conducted historical criticism through reconsidering the classical propositions and appropriately placed them in the historical context, thus making it a part of historical narrative. There are four categories of classical propositions that entered into the historical studies in this period: classification, comparison, revelation of causes, story prototype tracing. The reconsideration of classical propositions has not only historiographical value, but also twofold significance at the level of opera history. On the one hand, historians sorted out ancient people's "trans-time-andspace" debates before reopening the discussion, which are actually reviews of ancient studies of opera. On the other hand, the differences in perspectives and viewpoints between modern historians and ancient people reflect that the studies of opera history have entered into an era of logical positivism.

Key words: ancient opera studies, classical propositions, historiography of opera, writing strategy, academic transformation