Chapter 153 travel around

In 1903, Liang Qichao went to the United States at the invitation of the American Royal Society.During his stay in the United States, Liang Qichao called on President Roosevelt of the United States, extensively contacted people from all walks of life, and visited many places. He found that the United States had obvious disadvantages such as racial discrimination and the disparity between rich and poor. There is nothing darker than New York."After comparing the United States with Japan and the United Kingdom, he believes that a democratic republic is not as good as a constitutional monarchy.He believes that the American-style separation of powers "can only be applied by Americans, but people from other countries must not apply it. If our country implements it hastily, it will not only fail to lead to governance, but will inevitably lead to chaos."When Liang Qichao got up to return to China, the Chinese and Americans greeted each other warmly, "the sound of the explosion stretched for more than a mile."

The trip to the United States, on the contrary, strengthened Liang Qichao's idea and determination to support the constitutional monarchy.He wrote in "New World Travel Notes": "Liberty cloud, constitutional cloud, republic cloud, like winter kudzu, like summer fur, beautiful is not beautiful, which is not suitable for me!" He even said: "Today's Chinese people, You can only be subject to dictatorship, not republic." After World War I, because of Liang Qichao's contribution to the declaration of war against Germany, the Beijing government asked Liang to organize a "European Study Group" to study in Europe, communicate with important people from various countries, strengthen exchanges, and carry out side activities at the Paris Peace Conference. In addition to Liang Qichao, members of the "European Study Group" also included Jiang Baili, Zhang Junmai, Ding Wenjiang, etc., all of whom were intellectual elites of the younger generation in China at that time.

Liang Qichao said the purpose of his study trip to Europe: "The first thing is to seek some knowledge by myself, and to see how this unprecedented historical drama ends, so as to broaden my horizons. The second thing is also because I am dreaming of justice and humane diplomacy. The Second Peace Conference really intends to fundamentally transform the irrational international relations in the world and establish a basis for permanent peace. If we want to use our personal qualifications to express our grievances to the world public opinion, it is also a part of our national responsibility.”

Liang Qichao traveled to many countries in Europe. He witnessed the bankruptcy of the omnipotent dream of science, and also met a large number of outstanding people. Among them, the life philosopher Bergson and the famous diplomat Deer Gassa were the most praised by Liang. The person I dream of seeing." During this trip to Europe, Liang Qichao also saw many problems and disadvantages in Western society. He wrote: "But I feel that the surrounding colors are dead, the sound is dead, the sky is dead, and the earth is dead." Liang believes that, The development of science destroys the power of religion and philosophy that supports people's spiritual world, makes people's excessive pursuit of material life lead to spiritual emptiness, and causes ruthless struggles among people.After he returned to China, he declared that Western civilization had gone bankrupt, advocated the development of traditional Chinese culture, and used the "inherent civilization" of the East to "save the world."

In August 1919, Liang Qichao was invited to visit the library of Leiding University in the Netherlands (now the library of Leiden University in the Netherlands). A book printed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.With the sensitivity and sense of responsibility of a statesman and historian, Liang Qichao entrusted Tang Zaifu, the Chinese Minister to the Netherlands who visited with him, to copy the five printed books and bring them back to the country, so that they would not be long-term works in the library. products", and "make up for the shortcomings in the history of our country".