"There is no need to go back as far as the Qian Jiasheng period. It is said that Tongguang is already at a loss."
On October 13 and 14, the 11th "Jusheng Academic Forum" multi-disciplinary special topic "Zhongxing Wanran: The Tongguang Era in Modern Chinese History" The workshop was held in the Jingyuan Second Hospital of Peking University. This workshop was co-organized by the Peking University Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Commercial Press. It was convened by four young scholars, Lu Yin from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Han Ce from the Department of History, and Tian Geng and Ling Peng from the Department of Sociology. A "reinterpretation" of "Tongguang ZTE" from a multidisciplinary perspective.
The prelude to the endless discussion on the imperial examination
had begun the day before. On the evening of the 12th, Professor Yang Guoqiang of East China Normal University was a guest at the "Peking University Literary Research Lecture". The theme of his speech was "The Suspension of the Imperial Examination and Its Impact on Chinese Society". Professor Yang Nianqun of the Institute of Qing History of Renmin University of China was the host. "Abolition of the imperial examination" is an old issue, but Mr. Yang Guoqiang's academic characteristic is to come up with new ideas from old issues and common historical materials.
Lecturer Professor Yang Guoqiang and host Professor Yang Nianqun
Professor Yang Guoqiang's lecture started with the famous saying of Wu Rulun in the late Qing Dynasty: "When there is something going on in the world, fame will come in many ways." He pointed out that after the imperial examination system was established in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Chinese scholars basically entered the official career through the imperial examination. , but in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, two other channels were added: donation (paying money to buy an official) and recommendation (recommending an official by a big official). The former is to maintain a balance of revenue and expenditure without increasing taxes, while the latter is to achieve things based on people. It was not "routine" at first, but as the crisis became more serious, it became a large-scale and long-term event. At this time, these two ways were different from the official way and the official way through the imperial examination. The imperial court worked hard to maintain that "officials can be donated, but fame cannot be donated" because behind the imperial examination are thousands of scholars. But after a long period of accumulation, donations and recommendations finally changed the official society. As a result, the imperial examinations were overwhelmed by strange methods, and people began to ignore the imperial examinations.
Professor Yang Guoqiang noticed that there has been no interruption in criticism of the imperial examination since the Tang and Song Dynasties. Commentators often claimed that the imperial examination selected too many people, failed to recognize character, and that the literature deviated from Confucian classics. However, the imperial examination system could continue for more than 1,300 years despite these ills, which shows that it still has a reasonable side. Although the imperial examination is based on knowledge, the most important thing is fairness. Fairness sometimes conflicts with knowledge standards. When there are more and more scholars in the world, fairness affects people's hearts more deeply than knowledge standards. Criticisms of the imperial examinations in history have mostly focused on the failure of the imperial examinations to select ideal Confucian gentlemen, or criticized the eight-part essay of the time for not conforming to the meaning of the sages and classics. However, starting in the 1870s, the focus of discussion became that the imperial examinations could not produce talents capable of responding to changing times. However, at that time, the recommendation of officials was very popular, and Westernization was in a different style. These discussions did not lead to changes in the imperial examination itself.
Professor Yang believes that the real turning point for the abolition of the imperial examination was before and after the Reform Movement of 1898, with the "Shi Wu Bao" and other new public opinion as important positions. From Yiwei to Yisi, in less than ten years, the imperial examination was overthrown by the school on the grounds that "talents come from the school". Later Liang Qichao admitted that the imperial examination was not an evil system, but it was no longer appropriate at this time. They launched a "general attack" on the imperial examination, demanding that the imperial court drastically change the imperial examination and set up schools throughout the prefectures and counties. In fact, it is to defeat "foolishness" with "wisdom" and defeat justice with knowledge. Compared with the previous period, the new school of argumentation relied on newspapers. Late Qing journalists did not have the awareness of "speech responsibility" that scholar-bureaucrats had before them. Their judgments were often external and based on imagination, which was inevitably arbitrary and superficial. However, under the pressure of the critical situation during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, these remarks affected scholars with unprecedented depth and breadth, causing echoes and crowds of scholars, and determined the ideological trend at the turn of the 19th century and the 20th century.
Lecturer Professor Yang Guoqiang
Professor Yang Guoqiang further pointed out that while the imperial examination was overthrown by schools, the social structure of modern China also underwent many changes, which can be summarized as four "disjunctions": the disconnect between urban and rural areas, and the disconnect between intellectuals and the masses. Disconnection, the disconnection between the coast and the inland, and the disconnection between the socio-economic foundation and the upper-level political thought are accompanied and intensified. The battle between Xuetang and Imperial Examinations is at least directly related to the first two disconnections and indirectly related to the last two disconnections.For Chinese political history, the imperial examination system maintained the openness of state power for 1,300 years and created a civil government that integrated culture and politics. Although the imperial examination was a system for selecting officials, it actually became a political structure. This dual social and political structure was broken down by public opinion in the late Qing Dynasty.
Professor Yang’s final conclusion: When the imperial examination was abolished in the 31st year of Guangxu’s reign, the world did not respond strongly. This was due to the prevalence of donations and recommendation, which had already destroyed or replaced the function of the imperial examination. But on top of this, the imperial examination system was a social structure that integrated culture and politics. Those in power in the Qing Dynasty rashly suspended it under the instigation of public opinion, causing lasting turmoil in modern Chinese society. The real response will have to wait until after the early Republic of China. The root cause of all kinds of chaos is that the abolition of the imperial examination left a lot of social and political problems that cannot be solved in the short term.
Lecture site
Rethinking "Tongguang ZTE"
On the morning of October 13, the "ZTE Wanran: Tongguang Era in Modern Chinese History" workshop was held at the Jingyuan Second Hospital of Peking University. The convener Lu Yin first introduced the purpose of the meeting. He pointed out that the renaissance situation during the "Tongguang" (Tongzhi and Guangxu) period in the late Qing Dynasty brought about thirty years of relative unity and stability in modern Chinese history; as an era that is not far away from the past but is neither ancient nor current, the 19th century The cultural and institutional transformation from the 1960s to the 1990s still leaves more room for self-selection. In recent years, with the continuous emergence and compilation of new historical materials, as well as the introduction of multiple perspectives on modern countries and societies, academic circles are increasingly realizing that the constant and changing political and human affairs of this period have subtle and rich connotations, and many new The problem still needs to be solved by scholars of literature, history and social sciences.
Lu Yin
Professor Yang Guoqiang then gave the first keynote report "History and Figures in the Tongguang Era". He pointed out that the Tongguang era began with the Gengshen Revolution and ended with the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1899, which was caused by the internal and external troubles of the Xianfeng Dynasty. Internal troubles refer to the Taiping Civil War that lasted for more than ten years, which led to a series of profound changes in China at that time; foreign troubles refer to the Battle of the British and French Allied Forces. It is not only two generations but two types of people who are dealing with this period of change and crisis. The two groups of characters are very different: the former generation, such as Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Hu Linyi, and Liu Kunyi, had a personal spirit; while the later generation, such as Kang, Liang, Yan, and Zhang, only saw their personal spirit. The gushing words. The previous generation responded by adapting to concrete matters such as transportation, mining, and industry; the subsequent generation responded by adapting to ideas, but the transformation of society with ideas was in limbo from the beginning. Compared with the previous generation whose life goals remained largely unchanged, many of the latter generation rebelled against tradition in their early years and returned to tradition in their later years, acting inconsistently. From the superficial point of view, these differences are due to the increasing depth and breadth of the impact of the Western Wave. But the deeper reason is probably the result of modern Chinese people embracing Western learning with Qing Dynasty scholarship.
Workshop site
The first paper presentation started with Zeng Guofan. Ling Peng, Department of Sociology, Peking University, wrote "The History of the Formation of the "Book of Rites": Also Discussing the Changes in the World Seen by Zeng Guofan during the same period of Xian Dynasty"" From the fourth year to the fourth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan’s emphasis on "rituals" The understanding is biased towards the external rules of etiquette for all things in the world; from then to the ten years of Tongzhi, Zeng experienced the corruption of the Hunan Army, the Ge Lao Hui, and the Tianjin Mission Case, and had personal experience of "the world is changing day by day, and human relationships are changing day by day." Formed an increasingly in-depth understanding of "the world". Faced with the turbulent and extremely abnormal public sentiment, Zeng proposed that rituals should be formulated in daily routines, so that they could be practiced and taught and used to become customs.
Gao Bo, Department of History, Renmin University of China, "The Rise of the Concept of "Taishi and West as Three Dynasties" since the Late Qing Dynasty and the Fission of the Theory of Chinese Style and Western Use - Taking Liao Ping and Wang Guowei as Examples" discusses the role of the theory of Chinese style and Western use in The changes that occurred from the middle and late Guangxu period to the early Republic of China. In his view, once the corresponding relationship between the West and the three generations is established, the West can be defined by the three generations, or the West can be defined by the West by the three generations.Those who responded systematically to this reversal were Liao Ping, who discussed the correspondence between unity and civilization within the Chinese ideological tradition, and Wang Guowei, who proposed the Yin-Zhou reform theory. They did not change their understanding of the West and China. Instead, it borrows from Chinese history to directly transform the traditional understanding of the three generations.
The first thing that started in the afternoon was Jiang Ming, a special researcher at the Chinese and Foreign Modernization Process Research Center of Fudan University, giving a keynote report "Jiashenyishu" and major changes in the political situation. "Jiashen Yishu" was the second major change of power in the upper echelons of the Qing court after the "Xinyou Coup" in 1861. This change in the central structure had a profound impact on the trend of China's modernization and the subsequent failure of the Sino-Japanese War. Due to the lack of first-hand historical data, previous research mostly relied on unofficial notes and the memories of later generations. However, key issues such as Cixi 's planning, the role of Prince Chun, and the drafting of Yizhi remain to be explored. This coup formed a "troika" with the Empress Dowager Cixi as the core and the joint governance of Chun Wang Yixuan, Li Wang Shiduo, and Beile Yikuang. At the beginning of their journey, they felt that the country was in a difficult situation. After the Sino-Japanese War, Prince Gong came back, but his courage, planning, and sense of responsibility were not as good as before. He accompanied the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Qing Dynasty as they gradually came to an end.
Jiang Ming
"Qingliu and Westernization "Each Have Their Facades" by Dai Haibin, Department of History, Fudan University? ——The article "A Brief Introduction to the Early Interaction between Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong", starting from the broader interaction between Li and Zhang, sorted out the relevant historical facts about the early interaction between the two. Both of them were important ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, and they have long been regarded as representatives of "ministers" and "Confucian ministers", "Westernization" and "Qingliu". Their ideas and actions are not consistent with each other, and they have a long-standing grudge against each other. "Qingliu" and "Western Affairs" as "facade words" point out that the essence of their political affiliation or academic orientation is not completely consistent with the name and reality, and on the other hand they reflect a group position that must be implemented to the end.
Sun Ming of the Peking University Political Science Research Center's "The Sacrifice of the Capital Temple and the Power of Ritual System: Focusing on the Creation of the Jifu Philosopher's Temple in the Sixth Year of Guangxu" was chaired by Li Hongzao, and co-authored by Zhang Zhidong and other Zhili provincial capital officials The built Jifu Philosopher's Temple is an example, which provides a new perspective on the social life of scholar-bureaucrats. The Jifu Philosopher's Shrine is a group of the "North Qing Dynasty" group who responded to the strengthening of the court and scholarly etiquette at that time, declared their political and cultural attitude of emphasizing etiquette and advocating famous religions, expanded the connotation of "politics", and included society with relatively political connotations. , cultural activities within sight.
"Zhang Zhidong's Position in the Post-Sino-Japanese War Political Situation: Focusing on the Supervision of Hubei" written by Ji Chen from the Simian Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities of East China Normal University explores Zhang Zhidong's actions and actions during his supervision of Hubei from the perspective of regional politics Its cause and effect. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Zhidong's political status began to become prominent. The subsequent reorganization of the central committee and the improvement of his reputation made him break the tradition of the two governors of Naojiang being the head of the Xinjiang ministers, and became the twin stars of the political arena at that time together with Liu Kunyi. Under his long-term supervision of Hubei, the status of Hubei and even Huguang also became important, and his control over the jurisdiction far exceeded that of ordinary governors.
On the morning of 14th, Professor Zhang Jian from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University gave the third keynote report " Sushun and Late Qing Society in the Diary of the Pei Wei Chamber". He first told the origin of the article: 1. The appearance of modern poetry outlined by Chen Yan, Wang Pijiang and others; 2. The anecdote style outlined by Xue Fucheng, Huang Jun, Xu Yishi and others. The face of modern history; 3. The emergence of massive new data has brought the possibility of re-consideration. "Diary of Peiweishi" was written by Gao Xinkui, a famous scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. He once visited the shogunate of Zeng Guofan and read to the powerful official Sushun. First-hand historical materials about Sushun are extremely difficult to obtain. Therefore, the historical materials about Sushun recorded in the diary are extremely valuable. They confirmed some rumors and disproved many exaggerations, conjectures and rumors. In addition to matters related to Sushun, because the author mostly made friends with important state ministers and celebrities, his diary also contains records of the political situation and social ecology of the late Qing Dynasty, revealing a chaotic situation in which the generals are not the country, and the people are not the people. , is shocking, and also has relatively important historical value.
Zhang Jian
Li Kaijun, School of Liberal Arts, Shandong University, "The Influence of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties on "同光体" Poetry Writing" takes Chen Sanli, Zheng Xiaoxu's early poetry creation and Shen Zengzhi's poetics as examples to examine the influence of the poetic styles of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties. The inner influence of the "Tongguang Style" poets in the late Qing Dynasty broke the previous academic opinion of equating "Tongguang Style" with the "Song Poetry School".
The article ""Tongguang Style" and the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty" written by Lu Yin of the Chinese Department of Peking University goes beyond poetry. From the perspective of scholar-official exchanges, combined with the political situation and academic changes in the late Qing Dynasty since Tongguang, he re-examines "Tongguang Style". The process of constructing the poetics of "Light Body". He pointed out that the emergence of the concept of "Tongguang" in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China was closely related to the popularity of "Tongguang style" poetry. After the 1898 Movement, poets such as Chen Yan and Shen Zengzhi respected the "Three Yuan" style of poetry in the Zhang Zhidong shogunate. Sheng, repeatedly mentioning "Tongguang", has the implicit meaning of sentimentalizing the current situation and highlighting the trend.
The afternoon report started with Xiang Qiaofeng from the School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University. His "Genealogy of Official Promotion in the Late Qing Dynasty: Looking at Sun Baoqi 's Political World from the perspective of Marriage" analyzes Sun Baoqi's official experience at different stages and marriage relationships of different generations, and analyzes the official career of this bureaucrat's descendant who was born in Yinsheng, and his How to export your own information to society, and how to use social changes to your own advantage. After the abolition of the imperial examination, the paths for officials to become official became more and more complicated, with different "paths" (the process of becoming an official) and "roads" (the political spirit and means of becoming an official). There are officials, different positions and positions, and the three are intertwined. . Through Sun Baoqi's life and deeds, we can get a glimpse of the political world of the late Qing Dynasty.
"Crisis and Collapse: Xinjiang Rating Operations during the Xiantong Period (1851-1864)" written by Liao Wenhui from the Institute of Ancient Books Collation of Sichuan University tells the story of the Xinjiang region, which has long relied on the assistance of various inland provinces, and encountered problems since the mid-Qianlong period during the Xiantong period. Xinjiang has faced unprecedented financial difficulties since the establishment of its governance system. In order to deal with this crisis, the central government of the Qing Dynasty and Gansu and Xinjiang continued to make attempts and modifications in terms of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, and even adopted expedient measures such as reducing payment and releasing salaries. However, Xinjiang’s fragile financial foundation, limited open source potential, and difficulty in saving money have been fully exposed in various response measures. The financial crisis and lack of payment of wages eventually weakened the combat effectiveness of the garrison in Xinjiang and intensified social conflicts.
Zhang Xiaochuan, School of History, Culture and Tourism, Sichuan Normal University, wrote "Chinese "Rejection" and "Welcome" of Western Ethnic Knowledge in the Late Qing Dynasty", which discusses the reaction of Chinese people after Western ethnic knowledge entered the Chinese world. After the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War, with the rise of the crisis of partition and the awareness of sowing disasters, the theory of racial classification appeared in large numbers in Chinese discourses. It gained new meaning through deductions, comparisons, explanations, and further questioning, refutation, and argumentation by scholar-bureaucrats. Examining the process from the initial introduction of this new knowledge to its submersion into "common sense" reveals the most tortuous and profound part of the spread of Western learning to the East.
Cui Wendong, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, "The Changes in the Image of the Patriots at the end of the Tokugawa Period and the Transformation of the Thoughts of the Scholars in the Late Qing Dynasty - Focusing on the Late Qing Interpretation of Meiji Chinese History Biography" is based on two Chinese-language biographies of the restoration history at the end of the Tokugawa Period, "Zunban Chronicle" and " "Biographies of Great Men of Modern Times" as an example, discusses how intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty influenced the Chinese intellectual community by translating and adapting the Chinese works of Meiji sinologists in response to the historical and cultural context of the time. Faced with the same themes and texts, different figures such as envoys to Japan, literati, and reformers interpreted very different images of the patriots at the end of the Bakumatsu period. Such changes witnessed the transformation of the thinking of scholars in the late Qing Dynasty.
Finally, Han Ce from the Department of History at Peking University presided over the roundtable discussion as one of the conveners. Zhang Jian, Tian Geng, and Gao Bo, representing scholars from literature, society, and history respectively, gave introductions and led to the summary of the workshop.
Han Ce
This workshop is based on "small but refined" in-depth exchanges, emphasizing multi-disciplinary collision and inclusion, with young backbone scholars in the field of modern China studies as the main body, and focusing on the intergenerational inheritance of academic and cultural heritage. Whether it was thematic reports, reviews, or Q&A sessions, there was no shortage of wonderful exchanges and collisions. Under the intersection of political history, intellectual history, literary history, and social history, the workshop has opened up a new horizon for the continued in-depth study of modern Chinese culture and society.
Workshop group photo
(Photography: Wang Rui, Shi Han, Chen Tianchuan, Wang Jingya)
