Chapter 150 seek

At the age of 17, Liang Qichao got acquainted with Kang Youwei. When the two met for the first time, Liang was overwhelmed by Kang and worshiped under Kang's family.Liang Qichao later recalled his first meeting with Kang and said that Kang Youwei used "the sound of the tide of the sea as a lion's roar".Receiving this blow, Liang was at a loss for a while, and realized that what he had learned before was just a stepping stone to the imperial examination, not any knowledge at all.Therefore, Liang immediately withdrew from Xuehaitang and worshiped Kang Youwei as his teacher.From then on, under the guidance of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao abandoned the study of exegesis, accepted Kang Youwei's reform thoughts and political ideas, and gradually grew into Kang Youwei's right-hand man, known as "Kang Liang" in history.

In 1890, Liang Qichao went to Beijing to rush for the exam and lost his name to Sun Shan. When he returned to Guangdong, he passed through Shanghai and saw "Yinghuan Zhilue" introducing world geography and the translation of Western books by the Shanghai Machinery Bureau. His eyes were wide open. In 1895, after the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895-1895, the news that the defeated Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan reached Beijing, causing outrage. On April 22, Liang Qichao, who was rushing for the exam in Beijing, and his teacher Kang Youwei wrote a ten-thousand-word "Letter to the Emperor", which was jointly signed by candidates from eighteen provinces. On May 2, under the leadership of Kang and Liang, jurors from eighteen provinces and thousands of citizens gathered in front of the "Capital Procuratorate" and asked to play the role of the emperor.Kang and Liang put forward the idea of ​​"rejecting peace, moving the capital, training troops, and reforming the law" in their letter.The history of this letter is called "the letter on the bus".

Before the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao’s main ideas came from Kang Youwei. Liang Qichao used his pen full of emotion to expound Kang Youwei’s messy and profound thoughts, and cheered for Kang’s "constitutional monarchy" thought; Many people have contacts, and ideas gradually shift from reform to revolution. After the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao was originally "determined to die", but only because of Tan Sitong's solemn entrustment and the help and persuasion of Japanese Minister Lin Quan, he escaped from the tiger's mouth. Influenced by Kang Youwei in his early years, Liang Qichao advocated "respecting Confucianism and protecting religion". Huang Zunxian and Yan Fu often refuted this, thinking that "Confucianism cannot be protected."Affected by it, Liang Qichao's thinking began to change, advocating the new theory of freedom, equality, and natural human rights, and he was willing to cooperate with Sun Yat-sen. In 1902, based on the principle of "I love Confucius, I especially love the truth; I love my ancestors, I especially love the country; I love the old man, I especially love freedom", Liang Qichao publicly published the article "Protecting Education Is Not Why Respecting Confucius", arguing that There is no need to protect the religion, and it cannot be protected. From now on, we can only work hard to protect the country. He said that he "was also the hero of the Baojiao Party in the past, and now he is also the enemy of the Baojiao Party", which was severely criticized by Kang Youwei.

With the change of thinking, Liang Qichao's political views also changed.During his escape to Japan, Liang Qichao had a very close relationship with Sun Yat-sen and Chen Shaobai who were also in Japan, and sometimes they had long talks late into the night.Liang and Sun Zeng planned to cooperate to form a party.Liang and some disciples of the Kang family jointly wrote a letter to the teacher Kang Youwei, urging him to retire.After Kang Youwei learned of Liang Qichao's change of thought, he was very angry, severely criticized him, and immediately ordered Liang to leave Japan to go to Honolulu to handle the affairs of the Royal Association.

Helpless, Liang Qichao had no choice but to follow his teacher's order and come to Honolulu.Honolulu was the birthplace of the Xingzhonghui, and Sun Yat-sen was very influential among the local overseas Chinese.So before leaving, Liang asked Sun to write a letter of introduction, and Sun Yat-sen was naturally very happy.Taking advantage of Sun's relationship, Liang Qichao not only raised a large sum of money in Honolulu, but also turned the local revolutionary group into a royalist organization.Sun Yat-sen was very angry when he learned about it. Since then, Sun Yat-sen and Liang Qichao have turned against each other.

At this time, Liang Qichao's political stance changed from radical to conservative, from revolutionary to reform.Liang Qichao opposed revolution and republic, and advocated reform and constitutionalism. He believed that in China, an autocratic country with low people's intelligence, the result of revolution would only be a democratic autocratic country in the form of a republic. The wave of revolution in China became more and more violent. The revolutionaries published articles in their own newspaper "Minbao" to refute the royalist ideology of the reformers. Liang Qichao was at a disadvantage in this debate.From then on, he turned his main energy into the research and practice of "enlightened autocracy".After the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Liang Qichao tried to make the revolutionaries compromise with the Qing government.

After the founding of the Republic of China, Liang Qichao turned to support Yuan Shikai, and according to Yuan's intention, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the United Party were merged to reorganize into the Progressive Party to compete with the Kuomintang led by Sun Yat-sen. In 1913, the Progressive Party formed the "Talent Cabinet", and Liang Qichao was appointed Chief Justice.After Yuan Shikai's ambition to proclaim himself emperor was exposed, Liang Qichao began to recognize Yuan's face. He resolutely broke with Yuan and planned to fight against Yuan with his disciple Cai E.

After Yuan Shikai's death, Liang Qichao and Duan Qirui opposed Zhang Xun's restoration together, and later became Duan Qirui's chief financial officer of Beiyang government and supervisor of the General Administration of Salt Affairs. In November 1917, the Duan cabinet was forced to step down, and Liang Qichao resigned accordingly. Liang Qichao's political dream was finally shattered. After Liang Qichao's disciple Dai Kan, the governor of Sichuan, was shot dead by Liu Cunhou's Sichuan army, Liang went around Beijing to argue for Dai.After Cai E died of illness, the Sichuan and Guizhou Army led by Dai Kan was the only remaining political capital of Liang Qichao and the Progressive Party.Dai Kan's death marked Liang Qichao's withdrawal from the political arena.

At the end of 1918, Liang Qichao visited European countries and learned about many problems and disadvantages of Western society.After returning to China, Liang Qichao preached that Western civilization had gone bankrupt, advocated the development of traditional culture, and used the "inherent civilization" of the East to "save the world". After the "May 4th" Movement, Liang Qichao moved against the trend again, advocating reform, seeking eclecticism in science and metaphysics, and seeking a "third party" besides the KMT and the Communist Party. In his early years, Liang Qichao regarded science as the source of disasters; but in 1922, when he gave a lecture on "Scientific Spirit and Eastern and Western Cultures" at the China Science Society, he said: "After the Qin and Han Dynasties, anti-scientific spirits have permeated China for two thousand years", "Pray for science The society can become a doctor trusted by the people, and I hope that Chinese culture will add this powerful new ingredient (scientific spirit) and make it shine again!"

Liang Qichao once compared Mozi with Marx, but he believed that China should only have the spirit of socialism, and should not truly implement socialism.