Chapter 18 Eighteen visions

When Huang Yanpei visited Japan, he was filled with arrogance when he saw the Japanese government and the opposition preparing for war against China.After Huang returned home, he reported what he had seen to Chiang Kai-shek and Jiang Muran; he also reported it to Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting, who smiled and said: "If you know that the Japanese are going to invade us, will the Japanese still invade? If the Japanese are going to invade us, How do you know?" Huang replied: "Okay, I hope I'm right!" Not long after the September 18th Incident broke out, Wang Zhengting was beaten by petitioning students, and Huang Yanpei happened to see this scene, and said: "Yes, should!"

People who hold Malthusian population theory know more about Ma Yinchu.In fact, Xu Ke, the author of "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", promoted Ma's theory and Mrs. Shange's birth control theory as early as 1925. He believed that birth control has three major benefits for women: It can be avoided, and the labor of childcare can be reduced, and self-employment can not be abandoned.” He even believes that it is beneficial for birth control to prevent married women from remarrying. Wei Yuan pointed out a long time ago: "If you want to know the situation of a country, you must first be familiar with its spoken and written language... However, there are no people in China who are familiar with foreign spoken and written languages. The first foreign language school in modern China - "Tong Wen Guan" was established.However, in Japan, Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Sea Countries" has long been a classic in the hands of intellectuals.

Ito Hirobumi returned from studying in the UK, advocating the theory of optimizing race, thinking that the yellow race is weak and far inferior to the white race.After he came to power, he immediately implemented the policy of "seeking seeds". When white Europeans and Americans entered his territory, he encouraged Japanese women to have sex with them in order to improve the race.Tan Sitong was very envious of this, but he also knew that this method would be difficult to implement in China, so he sighed and wrote a poem: "Juanjuan's fragrance, shadow, dream and spiritual cultivation, this is also better than soldiers and enemies. Suddenly thinking about ten years of events, how did he ever plan to plant in Europe? ?”

Wang Maoyin was one of the few officials in the late Qing Dynasty who was proficient in economic issues. He keenly recognized the characteristics of the separation of the price and value of money, and rose to the theoretical height of "discussing fiction with reality", that is, insisting on the gold standard of money.He is the only Chinese mentioned in Das Kapital.He has a famous saying: "Officials can determine the value of money, but not the value of things. People dare not think that money is worth a thousand; During the Reform Movement of 1898, Chen Ding's reform proposals were more radical than those of Tan Sitong.He believes that there are four urgent tasks to catch up with Britain and the United States: one is to change the clothes, that is, to wear suits, so that Westerners in strange clothes will no longer be regarded as "ghosts", which is conducive to learning from the West; the other is to integrate religions, that is, to merge Both Christianity and Confucianism must worship each other; the third is language proficiency, requiring scholars to learn Spanish as much as possible; the fourth is marriage, encouraging Chinese and Westerners to intermarry, so that they can have a wider understanding of the West.Chen's suggestion aroused Guangxu's interest, and he once asked the Minister of Military Aircraft and the Minister of the Prime Minister's Yamen to read it carefully.

Every time Yan Fu had a high opinion, he commented on the Reform Movement of 1898: "The empress doomed to die, if Kang and Liang did not adopt a radical attitude, Dezong would finally be able to carry out his ambitions. But Kang was too enthusiastic, and his death turned into a tragedy of betraying the king and friends. But he ran away alone, and Shi Shiran claimed to be a loyal minister and a man of lofty ideals, which is shameless. Liang has more desires to show off, but not enough to save the country." The compradors were also the first to be conscious of commercial warfare, the most famous of which was Zheng Guanying.About a hundred years ago, there was a chapter in his famous book "Words of a Flourishing Age" devoted to business warfare.He said: "Practicing military warfare is not as good as practicing commercial warfare." "The annexation of soldiers is easy to perceive, and the harm of business is invisible to the country. If my business is not prosperous, his greed will not stop."

After Liang Qichao was exiled to Japan in 1898, he accepted the baptism of new ideas, and had more and more conflicts with his teacher.Kang Youwei thought that protecting the emperor, protecting religion and worshiping the sky should be accompanied by Confucian righteousness and self-defense. Liang Shi didn't take it seriously: "There are many people who are not suitable for the new world of Confucianism, and even more advocating the preservation of it is going from south to north." Lin Zexu was exiled, and before leaving, he handed over to Wei Yuan all the translations of "Sizhou Zhi", "Macao Daily", "Guangdong Zou Gao" and Western gunboat models.Wei persuaded Lin Baozhong with the words of Guanshan Luyuan. Lin said: "Those who start well don't have to end well. If there is nothing unexpected, then Xu will be powerless in this life. It is just a clear discussion. Brother Yu entrusted him with writing a book. I hope that my brother will do it deliberately, so that the subjects of the Qing Dynasty will open their wisdom early, otherwise they will be invincible!"

In 1905, Xu Xilin traveled to various parts of Zhejiang and made friends with members of the party he called "Wizards". He said to people: "I have been involved in four counties, and I have gained dozens of talented people. I know what China can do." Kang Youwei put forward the equality of human nature based on the theory of temperament and human nature, while Liang Qichao said: Everyone should bring their natural talents into full play.Germany lost World War I because the individuality of the people was swallowed up by the state. Kang Youwei went to Beijing to participate in the Shuntianfu Township Examination. He passed through Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin and other places, and traveled through the concessions. He saw the magnificent palaces of the Westerners, the cleanliness of the roads, and the majesty of the patrols.So he bought a lot of books translated from Chinese to Western learning and devoted himself to studying them.

Xiong Shili is a philosopher, but he was originally a revolutionary.He began to devote himself to the revolution in 1901, and had many contacts with Song Jiaoren, Huang Xing, Hu Ying and others.Some party members once thought that Wuhan was not suitable for revolution. He retorted: "Wuchang is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the hub of the north and the south, and the security of the world. Great things can be achieved in a few years." This statement was later verified. Gu Hongming commented on the change of Gengzi: "The change of Gengzi was mostly due to the deep estrangement between China and foreign countries, which led to mutual suspicion and long-standing dissatisfaction. It was like two electric shocks, and it was out of control. Today's scholar-bureaucrats are so angry Every time he said that he was ashamed of the country, he told the imperial court that raising wages and training troops was an urgent task recently. Resurrection is nothing more than this."

In 1917, Hu Shi returned from studying in the United States. When he saw the news of Zhang Xun's restoration while on the ferry in Yokohama, he said with emotion that the fundamental problem in China was not a system problem, but a problem of human quality and cultural concepts.He was determined not to talk about politics for twenty years after returning to China, but to use literature and art to reshape the souls of the people. In 1923, when Jiang Baili and Gong Hao returned to Beijing and passed through Xuzhou, Jiang suddenly had a feeling: "One day in the future, when we fight against Japan, the Jinpu and Jinghan routes will be occupied by the Japanese army. Our national defense should be based on Sanyang. That is, Luoyang, Xiangyang, and Hengyang." Hearing this mythical and strange theory, Gong felt that Jiang was too sensitive, and thought to himself, "In the future, China and Japan will go to war, no matter what, half of our country will not fall to the enemy."

After the "May 4th" Movement, school elites were often attracted by various political forces.Li Dazhao said: "Now our university is like a virgin. Departments of transportation, research, and political science all want to seduce us, and if they fail to seduce us, they will spread rumors about us; and the national department sees that we are coveted by these departments. , I can't help but start to feel jealous, it's really annoying." Many of Hu Shi’s theories are still valid today: practice is the only criterion for testing truth; bold assumptions, careful verification; more research on issues, less talk about doctrines; tolerance is more important than freedom; China needs to cure poverty, ignorance, corruption, and disease , Disturbance, not revolution; constitutionalism is the best training for constitutionalism.etc.

In the 1930s, Tao Menghe wrote an article "The Hope of Our Small People", which put forward three requirements for those in power: respect for life, respect for property, and respect for personality. Lu Xun said: "Rather than worshiping Confucius and Guan Yu, it is better to worship Darwin Ibsen." Lu Xun also said: "Genius is not a monster that grows on its own in the deep forest and wilderness. It is produced and bred by the people who can make genius grow. Therefore, without this kind of people, there will be no genius... But now, people in society Discussion and trends, on the one hand, of course require geniuses, but on the other hand, they want him to perish, and even want to sweep away the soil that has been prepared.” After the Battle of Tingsi Bridge, Jiang Baili asked Wu Peifu for orders to persuade Sun Chuanfang to send troops to help.Sun Chuanfang wanted to sit back and watch the success or failure, so he was vague.Jiang Baili knew that Wu Peifu would be defeated, so he left and never returned.As expected, Wu Peifu fell into a slump, and Sun Chuanfang immediately paid the price for his short-sightedness. Jiang Baili once said that the Chinese nation has never been known for its military strength, and its national history is not famous for its martial arts; but every time it uses self-defense, it can also defeat powerful enemies. That is to say, China cannot fight a war of aggression, but is good at self-defense. After the "July 7th Incident", Jiang Baili often said, "If you can't fight, you must fight; It doesn't matter, just don't compromise with him, the final victory will definitely be ours. If you don't believe it, you can open your eyes and watch; we will all see it, unless you are a short-lived ghost." Jiang's words are almost chanted For a while, it was a pity that he became a "short-lived ghost". When Japan surrendered, there was a proposal to list the emperor as a war criminal. Chen Yinke was very worried when he heard the news. He thought: "Japanese soldiers regard the emperor as a god, so they must resist desperately to protect the emperor. If the emperor is kept and strives for peace, the Japanese army will If we don’t dare to defy. In this way, our side’s sacrifice will be small, and the opponent’s surrender will be easy.” In 1940, Chen Yinke went to Chongqing to attend the Academia Sinica meeting and met Chiang Kai-shek for the first time.From the perspective of a historian, Chen concluded that Jiang was not capable enough to do anything, so he wrote a poem: "Zixiao spent his whole life traveling in Shu, and went to Yuzhou for no reason. The heroes of the thousand-year-old base are exhausted, and the Yangtze River flows day and night for thousands of miles. If you eat clams, you will know the world. Seeing Huachou approaching the tallest building. The lights in the capital are on spring and cold nights, and a dream is blurred and graying." Chen Yinke talked about Chinese and Western studies: "China's philosophy and art are far inferior to Greece, and not only science is inferior to Western countries. But the ancient Chinese were good at politics and practical ethics, and their strengths were the way of self-cultivation, family governance, and world peace. , the shortcoming lies in the gains and losses of practical things, the observation is too clear and the lack of profound and far-reaching thinking. Therefore, the new culture must absorb and import foreign traditions on the one hand, and on the other hand not forget the status of the nation, and seek the opposite and adapt to the same." Jiang Tingfu believed that Lin Zexu's dismissal before the Opium War was the great fortune of Lin's life and the great misfortune of China's national destiny. "If Lin does not go, he must fight, and if he fights, he will lose. If he loses, his reputation may be equal to that of Ye Mingchen. But if Lin loses, China will make peace quickly, and if peace is made quickly, the losses will be reduced. It is possible that China's reform can be advanced by 20 years. .” At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhu Jiahua was in charge of Zhejiang.Before the Japanese army occupied Hangzhou, the Kuomintang planned to burn Hangzhou to implement the "Scorched Earth War of Resistance".Zhu Jiahua strongly opposed it. He said to his subordinates many times: "Outside the scorched-earth resistance war is very popular. Once Hangzhou retreats, you must prevent it." He arranged manpower to prevent the plan from being implemented.Zhu Jiahua believes that the property in this place is still Chinese, and he cannot burn his own city to the ground. Sun Jianai said: "If there is something missing in middle school, use Western learning to make up for it; if there is something lost in middle school, use Western learning to make up for it." Yan Yangchu said: Rich people and rich countries must realize that you are safe only when poor people and poor countries are satisfied.You can call it sensible self-interest. In the early 1950s, in order to protect the city wall of Beijing, Lin Huiyin fought hard at the National People's Congress, and even broke into the office of Beijing Mayor Peng Zhen to argue.It is said that Peng Zhen couldn't hold her back, and finally came up with Mao Zedong's instructions to suppress her: "The city wall is a symbol of feudalism, and it is the emperor who blocks the peasants." When the Sanmenxia project was proposed, Huang Wanli, Huang Yanpei's son, a hydraulic engineering expert who studied in the United States, criticized some "experts" for abandoning the common sense that "water flow must tend to carry a certain amount of sediment" and falsely claiming that the lower reaches of the Yellow River will become clearer in order to please the people. and government.He also proposed a plan to lower the water level of the reservoir and leave a large drainage hole at the bottom of the dam to discharge sand, but it was not adopted. In 1960, the Sanmenxia Dam began to store water, and the sediment at the tail of the reservoir quickly accumulated and extended upstream, threatening the safety of the ancient capital of Xi'an. The situation was more serious than Huang Wanli expected. In 1964, Zhou Enlai presided over the Yellow River Control Conference, and the Sanmenxia reconstruction plan determined was exactly Huang Wanli's opinion that was rejected at the beginning.By this time Huang had been classified as a rightist for several years. In 1962, Yang Weiming wrote "Remembrance of the Current Situation", and he read the manuscript to several members of the village branch committee.Jia Shengcai, the branch secretary who had always supported Yang Weiming, stood up excitedly before Yang finished reading: "Old Yang, this article speaks what everyone thinks, it is really good, do you want me to sign it? The team leader Zhao Zhengao, a young man under 30 years old, immediately expressed his opinion: "Okay, I will also sign my name." The deputy secretary Fan Yishan said: "That's right, but if you look at the posture of the Central Committee, I'm afraid it will never be done." No, it won’t work, I won’t sign this name!” This farmer from the Seventh Brigade in Chengguan Town, Huxian County, Shaanxi Province, demanded respect for the law of value in an era when super-economic coercion and totalitarian thinking are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.Yang finally died in the "Cultural Revolution" and was called a "civilian thinker" by later generations. In December 1978, at Yan Lihua’s home in Xiaogang Village, 20 farmers including Yan Hongchang, Yan Fuchang, Yan Jiaqi, and Yan Guopin wrote a letter of guarantee for household contracting of production by handprints, etc. The head of the household signs and seals, and if he is capable in the future, each household guarantees to complete the annual handover and public grain of each household, and will not (again) ask the state for money and grain; Gan) heart, and our members also promise to support our children until they are 18 years old.”