Taking Zhang Xuecheng as an example, the author examines new achievements in Chinese historiography during the eighteenth century. The article finds that eighteenth-century historiography tended to summarize previous historical writings. This included Zhang Xuecheng’s work on historical theory, and the School of Textual Criticism’s critical appraisal of Chinese historical materials and documents. These two aspects of historical research constituted the two major trends and achievements in the development of eighteenth-century historiography. In the author’s opinion, although Zhang Xuecheng did not gain recognition in his own lifetime, his work influenced Liu Zhiji and Zheng Qiao and inspired the later practice of historical theory research.