In the PreQing times important approaches to studies of The Notes of Varieties of Trades had been done basically by providing notes and annotations. Later some more approaches had been introduced, such as the school of supplement and textual research, with the latter as the latest. After that, especially in the recent hundred years, the studies of The Notes of Varieties of Trades turned mainly to mathematic and scientific approaches. Finally, in the recent 30 years, with the rise of industrial design in China, there has been an evergrowing trend to investigate The Notes of Varieties of Trades in terms of theoretical consideration of aesthetic design. However, the three approaches to the studies of The Notes of Varieties of Trades are of prominent features of their days and have each disadvantages of its own.

The Notes of Varieties of Trades; notes and annotations; industrial design