Mathematics ("arithmetic" in ancient times) is a discipline with a time-honored history in China. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the introduction of modern mathematics, many ancient Chinese mathematical traditions have lost their practical value. Modern scholars Li Yan (1892-1963) and Qian Baocong (1892-1974) adopted modern mathematical methods to organize the ancient mathematical heritage of China, and created the discipline of the history of Chinese mathematics. Since then, scholars at home and abroad have been engaged in this field and have written masterpieces on the history of mathematics, which is known as the old history.

This book takes a different approach based on the not that much researched mathematical literature in the Confucian classics, and reveals through detailed analysis the independent algorithmic tradition that has been gradually formed by Chinese Confucians since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the tradition of arithmetic represented by the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, which is listed as one of the official disciplines. The author then takes the relations between arithmetic and scripture as a perspective, reviews the whole process of the rise, development and decline of the Confucian algorithmic tradition, and further reveals the interactions between rites, yi, xi, Western studies, and textology and arithmetic, and regards "arithmetic as one of the six arts", which is a new history.