The speaker, Teacher Huang Yinong, demonstrated how to conduct research on taboo avoidance using e-archaeology in this lecture. First, Teacher Huang posed the questions, “Did taboo avoidance really exist in the Qing Dynasty?” and “Are all instances of taboo avoidance just missing the last stroke?” When searching for the character "弘" from the Qianlong period, it was found that not every instance exhibits taboo avoidance; likewise, upon browsing the character "玄," it became clear that taboo avoidance could manifest not only as missing the last stroke, but also as missing the first stroke or both the first and last strokes.

So, did the taboo against the character "胤" really only appear after the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne? Literature indicates that instances of taboo avoidance for the character "胤" existed during the Kangxi period, prompting the question: Is the character "胤" a colloquial form? Or was it avoided early because the names of all the princes included the character "胤"?

If it were a colloquial form, then during the Shunzhi period, there would almost certainly be little to no avoidance of it. Therefore, we need to consider who in the Kangxi era needed to avoid it. Based on current knowledge, we know that the Second Prince, Yinzhen (胤礽, 1674-1725), was designated as the Crown Prince in the 14th year of the Kangxi era (1675). Next, we must reconfirm whether there were any instances of taboo avoidance regarding the character "胤" prior to this. If not, did they avoid the character "礽"? Teacher Huang emphasized that in e-archaeological research, it is crucial to have a clear sense of the questions being asked, and to be willing to "play" with the data. Sometimes, a hypothesis may be found to be invalid after thorough verification, necessitating the reformulation of the question and a review of the literature.

When dealing with databases, it is also very important to determine the publication year of books. Teacher Huang pointed out that by examining the preface, one can usually ascertain the year. However, care must be taken with certain local gazetteers that label pages as "yet a few pages," which means one cannot rely solely on the preface to judge the time, as this indicates some sections were added later on by later generations.

This lecture helped us recognize the importance of databases in historical research. While we may already be aware of certain information, are we truly able to effectively utilize the functionalities provided by databases? This is still a question. Furthermore, asking good questions can advance our research; after all, e-archaeology is not a cure-all, but rather a tool to help us tread more steadily and venture further in historical studies.