tells you about this day in history for five minutes every day.
On February 23, 1873, a brilliant figure in modern history, Liang Qichao, was born in Xinhui, Guangdong. It would take me three days and three nights to talk about Liang Qichao. This name appears too frequently. Politically, he participated in the reform and party politics of the Republic of China. In terms of public opinion, he ran a newspaper and participated in the Paris Peace Conference. It was a sentence he sent back to China that triggered the May 4th Movement in 1919. Academically, he was One of the four great mentors of the Tsinghua Academy, he is respected as a master of Chinese studies in all classics and history. He is also a legend in the education of his children. He gave birth to nine children, three of whom were awarded the title of academician (the eldest son, Jian Shi) The scientist Liang Sicheng , the second son Liang Siyong, the archaeologist, was elected as an academician of the Academy of Chinese Academy of Sciences of the National Government in 1948, and the youngest son Liang Sili, a rocket control system expert, was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences of the People's Republic of China in 1993). The other children are also leaders in their industries. So when it comes to talking about Liang Qichao, there are endless topics to talk about if you slice it from any angle. He is so rich and thick that it is difficult to use more than a thousand words to introduce the whole story of Mr. The well-known Liang Qichao is a core member of the Reform Movement of 1898, so today we will focus on the "changes" in Liang Qichao's life.
Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao received traditional Chinese education at home since he was a child. His initial goal was to participate in the imperial examination and win the gold medal like most scholars at that time. He is very talented in reading. When he was seventeen years old, he won the Juren . This is a rather rare achievement. Needless to say, there is such an extreme example as "Fan Jin passed the examination". Kang Youwei, who later became his teacher, was known as the Kang Sage of Nanhai. He was already 36 years old when he passed the examination. At this time, Liang Qichao was very proud. The second year after he passed the imperial examination, he went to take part in the joint examination in Beijing, which was to take the imperial examination. This time he failed. Although the examination room was not ideal, this year he met the person who changed his life - Kang Youwei. Although Kang Youwei had not yet published his two famous works "Confucius Reform" and "New Learning Apocrypha" in which Confucius was dressed as the chief architect of the reform reform, the theoretical system had generally taken shape and had been published in 1888 He began to write a letter to the emperor. Liang Qichao was convinced by this unfinished theory. Liang Qichao had never heard such a novel point of view and immediately made a very surprising move and worshiped Kang Youwei as his teacher. At this time, Kang Youwei was just a scholar but became Liang Qichao's teacher. A year later, in 1891, Liang Qichao and others invited Kang Youwei to give lectures at Wanmu Thatched Cottage in Guangzhou, and created theories for reform and reform, thus embarking on the path of reform and self-improvement. Liang Qichao also embarked on a lifelong journey of continuous innovation.
Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao
During the reform period, Liang Qichao and his teacher were collectively called "Kang Liang". Their reform path was not smooth. First, Kang Youwei's theory was too novel and radical and was resisted by many traditional scholars. Two generations of imperial teachers Weng Tong and said that Kang Youwei's theory was "Wild Fox Zen". The master of Chinese studies Zhang Taiyan also judged Kang Youwei to be incompetent in learning. For this reason, Liang Qichao and Zhang Taiyan put aside their scholarly elegance and had a fist fight. Simply put, the root of the controversy is that Kang Youwei believes that the books read by Confucians today are not the original meaning of Confucius, but were fabricated by the Confucian scholars Liu Xiang, Liu Xin and his son in the late Western Han Dynasty to help Wang Mang usurp the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the so-called orthodoxy of Confucianism is now It is wrong, and reform must be carried out along the original intention of Confucius. Kang Youwei's theory was finally shattered by Qian Mu's "Chronology of Liu Xiangxin and His Son". Qian Mu also became famous in the field of history because of this matter. This is another story. The second reason why
is not going smoothly is that these two people really have no political experience. In 1895, after the disastrous defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the two established a strong society in Beijing, and bureaucrats from all over the country enthusiastically donated money. Li Hongzhang , who was very interested in the reform, also donated money. But because Li Hongzhang's reputation was so bad at the time, they turned away Li Hongzhang's donations.Although Li Hongzhang is now generally considered a traitor and has a not-so-good reputation, if you look carefully at the history of the late Qing Dynasty, you will find that Li Hongzhang was involved in almost all successful undertakings. Li Hongzhang was not a theoretician, but he was one of the most capable, competent and successful bureaucrats in the Qing Dynasty at that time. If Li Hongzhang had participated in the Reform Movement of 1898 and , perhaps the effect would have been better. It’s not like Kang Liang never thought of asking important officials from the Qing court to participate. They found Zhang Zhidong . Zhang Zhidong was of course also a famous official in the late Qing Dynasty and a member of the Westernization faction. It is said that when Liang Qichao went to see Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Zhidong deliberately turned him away in order to test Liang Qichao's talent and sent him a first couplet, "Sishui River is the first, Si Shixia is the second, I live in Jiangxia, Which one is first, which one is second?" Here Zhang Zhidong divided Jiangxia, where Jiangxia is located, into four rivers, lakes and seas, and the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Liang Qichao, a talented scholar who was famous all over the world, questioned him. If Liang Qichao is right, he will be seen, otherwise he will not be seen. Liang Qichao, a talented man, wrote that "the three religions of Confucianism come first, and the three talents of Confucianism come last. How dare a young man, a Confucian, come first and come last?" He transformed his identity as a Confucian into the ranking of the three religions, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and the three talents of heaven, earth and people. His answer was neither humble nor arrogant. Zhang Zhidong was also overjoyed and warmly received Liang Qichao.
However, the Reform Movement of 1898 failed in the end. During their exile overseas, Kang and Liang had different understandings of the reasons for the failure, which gradually evolved into the master and apprentice parting ways. Kang Youwei was a stubborn royalist. He believed that the reason for the failure was the destruction of Cixi . He never considered whether the emperor system was correct and reasonable. Even during the Republic of China, he firmly believed that having an emperor was better than not having an emperor, and that it must be It was Puyi who became emperor, so Kang Youwei played a very disgraceful role in the subsequent restoration of Zhang Xun . Sometimes I have been thinking, if Kang Youwei had lived a few more years, would he have supported the establishment of the Puppet Manchukuo? It's hard to say with his character.
Liang Qichao is constantly reflecting on the past, using the self of today to deny the self of yesterday. As long as he feels that this theory is right, he will learn it. Including those traditional bureaucrats of the Qing Dynasty, Liang Qichao, who was frustrated, once again discovered their shining points. It is said that he once persuaded Li Hongzhang to become the president of China during the Gengzi Revolution. Shortly after Li Hongzhang's death, he published "The Biography of Li Hongzhang ". It can be said that he expressed understanding and sympathy for Li Hongzhang without any biased and emotional accusations. . While living in Japan, he also had contact with Sun Yat-sen and learned about revolutionary theories. Throughout his life, he always maintained an open-minded learning mentality and constantly made himself iterative and updated. At the juncture of several changing times, he always stood on the relatively progressive side. Even in order to introduce Western medicine to China, he insisted on using Western medicine to treat his own diseases. Unfortunately, Western medicine failed to save his life and he passed away at the age of fifty-six.
Liang Qichao in the Republic of China
After the Revolution of 1911, he was invited by Yuan Shikai to form the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the Chinese Kuomintang to run for Congress. In 1915, Yuan Shikai overthrew the Republic and proclaimed himself emperor. Liang Qichao wrote "What a So-Called Problem with the State System" to criticize Yuan for proclaiming himself emperor, and went south to engage in the movement to overthrow Yuan. After Zhang Xun's restoration in 1917, Liang Qichao actively participated in Duan Qirui's rebellion and served as the chief financial officer of Duan Qirui's cabinet. In 1919, as an advisor to the Chinese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, he immediately spread the news back to China, which directly triggered the May Fourth Movement. Of course, Mr. Liang Qichao is not proficient in everything. Although he always stands in the advanced queue, his political experience is not very glamorous. He is a good ideological enlightener and theorist but not a successful political practitioner.
In his later years, Liang Qichao returned to his study and focused his energy on academic research and supporting underachievers. Chen Yinke, the leading figure in the field of Chinese history in the 20th century, entered Tsinghua University to teach at Tsinghua University through Liang Qichao's recommendation. His "Chinese History Research Method" is still a must-read for history majors today.For those of us who are not majoring in history, the concepts of the four ancient civilizations that we are familiar with and the rediscovery of historical materials about Zheng He's voyages to the West are all outstanding contributions of Mr. Liang Qichao.
Mr. Liang Qichao also left more than 400 letters home to his children. Different from our traditional impression of the serious feudal patriarch, Liang Qichao is completely portrayed as a loving father and super daddy in his family letters. Many parents say they want to be their children's friends, but in the process of getting along with them, they often go out of their way and suffer from the lack of role models. Then you might as well read Liang Qichao's family letters. Each letter carries the warmth of his father, conveying sincerity, peace and sincerity in the words. Maybe we can't have his extraordinary wisdom in life, but we hope we can have his sincerity. Mr. Liang Qichao's life is worthy of our repeated reading and understanding.
I have always remembered Zeng Wenzheng's two words most in my life: "Don't ask about harvest, but ask about hard work." What will your achievements be in the future, and how much do you think about him now? How anxious is he? On the one hand, we must not be arrogant and arrogant, but on the other hand, we must not be timid and discouraged. We must do our best and do whatever we can. In this way, we can achieve nothing without being satisfied, and we can always contribute a lot to society. My lifelong learning has been concentrated on this point, and I hope you can all apply this spirit of mine.
——"Liang Qichao's Family Letter"
Liang Qichao and his children
