Gongyang Zhuan played an important role in the works of the Changzhou School of Thought (常州學派) proponents. The school held an important position during the late Qing Dynasty as a mainstream center of learning with scholars such as Kong Guangsen (孔廣森), Zhuang Cunyu (莊存與), Liu Fenglu (劉逢祿), Gong Zizhen (龔自珍), Wei Yuan (魏源) and Kang Youwei (康有爲) amongst others. The school's main target for criticism was the Old Texts (古文經). In particular, Kang Youwei's interpretation helped facilitated the widespread doubt on the Old Texts among intellectuals, and thus creating a sympathetic audience for his reformist ideas, which later became well known in Hundred Days' Reform.
