His father, Tanpei Aoki(青木坦平), was a traditional Chinese doctor and was a local influential person.

He was lectured from Naoki Kano(狩野直喜), Kōda Rohan, Torao Suzuki(鈴木虎雄), Naitō Konan, etc.

[3] Around the 1920s, he knew Hu Shih, Zhou Zuoren and Lu Xun, and keep in touch through letters.

For the promotive preparation to the professor, he also became as a visiting researcher to abroad, Ministry of Letters, and studied in China.

He taught there until 1947, and he brought up younger scholars, Kōjirō Yoshikawa, Takeshiro Kuraishi(倉石 武四郎) etc.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Aoki's work was considered an important contribution to translating and studying Chinese literature.

The book quoted the "Startling Dream" scene from [Jin Shengtan's version of the] Xixiang ji (Story of the Western wing) [in which Student Zhang dreams that his beloved Cui Yingying, from whom he is temporarily separated, follows him while she is simultaneously being pursued by a bandit].

Wang Chün-yüh (C: 王俊瑜, P: Wáng Jùnyú) published a Chinese version in 1933, titled Chung-kuo ku-tai wen-i ssu-ch'ao lun (T: 中國古代文藝思潮論, S:中国古代文艺思潮论, P: Zhōngguó Gǔdài Wényì Sīcháo Lún).