Evidential scholars reacted to the innovations of Neo-Confucianism by turning back to the original classics, employing philological techniques to try to authenticate the real words of Confucius.
Scholars in the evidential scholarship tradition attacked the heterodox and subjective ideals of "Song learning" as having betrayed the true teachings of Confucius, resulting in decadence, individualism, and factionalism in the Ming court.
While it may appear to be concerned with philological minutiae, the debate between the Neo-Confucianists and the adherents of Han learning had considerable repercussions, weakening the cosmological underpinnings of the imperial state, although not its political dominance.
This Qing era revival movement called for rationalist and practical evidential research in fields such as astronomy, linguistics, mathematics, geography and technology, to counter the metaphysical speculation of Neo-Confucianism.
According to B. Elman, many Han Learning proponents were involved in opposition to Heshen's clique (1746–1799), thus suggesting that typical portrayal of this group as apolitical should be reconsidered.