Chapter 16 Republic and Monarchy Questions

The Revolution of 1911 in 1911 overthrew the autocratic monarchy that lasted nearly two thousand years and established the Republic of China, which was an epoch-making event in Chinese history.Hu Shi didn't know much about it at first.When he heard the news of the Wuchang uprising overseas, he was naturally very concerned; he once ridiculed Yuan Shikai, who was ordered by the Qing court, "what a fool and despicable".However, he was most concerned about his eldest brother and nephew Ming in Hankou, as well as his own business in Hankou.Until the anniversary of the Revolution of 1911, the weather was hazy and rainy, and the autumn wind was bleak.At this time, Hu Shi, after being cultivated by the political life of the American democratic republic, spontaneously had "long thoughts" about the established Republic of China.In this year, Hu Shi wrote to Hu Shaoting:

The situation of the motherland is changing with each passing day, and the largest republic in the world has fallen to the ground! The wanderers who have gone abroad look forward to the west, cheering and encouraging, how can they be themselves! The feeling of joy and encouragement was vivid on the paper, and he said, "I wish I could fly back to work for Xin Guo". ② However, Hu Shi credited the revolution of 1911 with the overthrow of the imperial system and the establishment of the Republic of China in the name of Liang Qichao, a royalist who insisted on reformism! He believed that Liang Qichao was "the greatest hero of our country's revolution, and his contribution was to revolutionize our country's ideological circles. In the past 15 years, people in our country who know a little about national ideology and the general trend of the world are all thanks to Liang."and say:

Last year's Wuhan revolution, so those who were able to respond to the whole country in one fell swoop, the national ideological and political thought has penetrated deeply, so the momentum is like a bamboo ear.Even without Liang's pen, how could he succeed so quickly even though there is a hundred grandson Zhongshan Huang Keqiang! "Writing has indeed had a great influence among young intellectuals, and its contribution to ideological enlightenment and propaganda should be properly affirmed.However, the Liang family still adhered to the reformist road of constitutional monarchy and opposed the revolutionary road of Sun Yat-sen's faction.However, Hu Shi exaggerated the ideological enlightenment role of the royalist Liang Qichao, and belittled the achievements of the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen Huang Keqiang in leading the revolution. This is a biased view that clearly deviates from reality, and it can also be seen how much Hu Shi was influenced by Liang Qichao's reformist thought. deep.

For the new Republic of China, Hu Shi still loves it.He cannot tolerate all kinds of acts that damage the Republic of China. At that time, there was an Englishman named JOP Bland who came to the United States from London and lobbied everywhere to slander the Republic of China.Bruce once worked in the Chinese Customs, and his speeches published in the newspapers were very deceptive and inciting.Hu Shi was very angry after reading it, and immediately wrote to the "New York Times" to refute Bruce's lies.One night, Bruce gave a speech in Qiserjia on the topic of "The Turbulent Situation in China", and Hu Shi also went to listen to it.Bruce opposed Americans' recognition of the Republic of China. He said that the big powers could not recognize the Republic of China because the Republic of China had not yet been recognized by the Chinese people.After hearing this, Hu Shi stood up and questioned Bruce in English. What is the basis? Bruce hesitated and couldn't answer, so he had to change his words and said that he had never said such a thing.Chinese students studying in the U.S. were outraged by Blonde's slanderous remarks against the Republic of China. Many students in Boston, New York and Itseria exchanged letters to discuss ways to boycott. On November 22, the Chinese Students Association in the United States held a special meeting to discuss.Hu Shi made a suggestion at the meeting:

Set up a communication department in the student union, which specializes in translating the speeches of the British and American countries against our country, and publishes them in various domestic newspapers, "to warn people in our country, hoping to eliminate party disputes, benefit selfishness, and save the country for the country." . ④ This shows his sincerity in safeguarding the Republic of China. The great thief Yuan Shikai, after he stole the throne of the President of the Republic of China, was still not satisfied, and dreamed of being an emperor again.He first carried Confucius out, and staged a farce of honoring Confucius. From 1913 to 1914, the Yuan family successively promulgated several orders and regulations on respecting Confucius and offering sacrifices to saints.When Hu Shi saw it in the United States, he once ridiculed Yuan's "such an order is ridiculous, the so-called non-donkey is not a horse"; It is "a piece of empty talk, meaningless, and verbal slander, which is ridiculous and lamentable".At that time, although Hu Shi did not necessarily see Yuan Shikai's ambition to overthrow the republic and restore the monarchy, he also pointed out that Yuan Shizun's Confucian edicts blamed the disaster of freedom and equality after the change of the state system, which was a big fallacy. ⑤ Isn't this also a defense of a democratic republic?

By August 1915, under Yuan Shikai's instruction, Yuan's American adviser, Frank J. Goodnow, gave speeches across the United States and published the article "The Republic and the Monarch" to create public opinion for Yuan's restoration of the imperial system.Yang Du, Sun Yuyun, etc. followed closely to organize the organization of the preparatory meeting, and stepped up advocacy of the monarchy in accordance with Goodnow's tone.After Hu Shi learned the news from the newspaper, he believed that "Gu's speeches and compositions in this country all said that there is no degree of republic in my country, and his words are so controversial that they are enough to deceive the world....It has a great impact on the future of our country's republic, and we must argue." .Therefore, he wrote two English articles, "China and Democracy" and "Goodnow and China's Stubborn Reaction", and sent them to New York Monthly and New Republic Weekly respectively.The article refuted Goodnow's fallacy:

Professor Goodnow, and some other well-meaning constitutional authorities, hold that the Orientals are unfit for a democratic form of government, because they have never had a democratic government.On the contrary, young China believes that precisely because China did not have democracy in the past, it must have democracy now.Young China also believes that if the first Republic of China had a long democratic life, it would have established a fairly strong control in China by then, and has four years of political experience of a democracy, although this experience is still imperfect , and then the vast majority of Chinese people will be able to understand what is the true meaning of a republic. ⑥

At this time, Hu Shi was already a fighter who publicly defended the democratic republic. Yuan Shikai finally ordered to change Yuan Dengji.However, this great careerist and conspirator who betrayed the Republic of China immediately fell into a frenzy of angry condemnation from the people of the whole country.His 83-day dream of being an emperor was finally shattered; moreover, he became a lone husband and a thief of the people, and died of fear amidst the scolding of the people all over the country.The Chinese living in the United States also danced and celebrated with their foreheads and hands.Hu Shi said that this is really "accused by thousands of people, he died without illness"; and pointed out that the death of Yuan's death is more than justified! Because:

Yuan's crime is to prevent China's 20 years of progress.Today, his whole body has been ruined, how can he redeem his guilt?⑦ Yuan Shikai's theft of the country, proclaiming himself emperor, bankruptcy, and death was a dying struggle of the autocratic monarchy in modern Chinese history.It provides people with profound historical experience and painful historical lessons.The Yuan family went against the grain, and there were so many trumpeters, so many people who carried the sedan chairs for him, and so many people came forward to persuade them to advance. This shows the people that there is still a market for despotism among some people, and it is impossible to eliminate it all at once.However, what the people want and the trend of the times is a democratic republic; those who go against the trend of history and engage in authoritarianism will never end well. Yuan Shikai is a living and dead witness!

Hu Shi also summed up the lessons of history through Yuan's death.He still couldn't forget Kang Youwei's Reform Movement of 1898 led by Liang Qichao, and believed that "Yuan's crime of betraying Kang and Liang is really invincible".If the Yuan family hadn't informed the Empress Dowager Cixi and Rong Lu back then, and the coup d'etat of 1898 would not have been overthrown, "then the 20-year New Deal may have made China prosperous and strong." It is precisely because of this that Hu Shifang said that "Yuan's crime is to prevent China's 20 years of progress."However, Hu Shi's horizons were wider than before, and American political life instilled more ideas of democracy and republic in his mind.He thought that even if the Reform Movement of 1898 was successful 20 years ago, it was only a constitutional monarchy, and there could be no "fundamental solution"; the imperial family, aristocrats, and bureaucratic politics of the Qing Dynasty would inevitably be preserved, and the result would inevitably be "a kind of superficial New Deal, temporary public order, and republicanism." Instead, the movement will be blocked", and the revolution will eventually be inevitable. The course of domestic history in the past 20 years made Hu Shi see:

Because of the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, China's progress in the past 20 years all started from below rather than from above.The result is the revolution of 1911 and today's revolution, so that once the imperial system of thousands of years was overthrown, the Qing Dynasty of three hundred years would also be destroyed, and the remnants of the bureaucracy today seem to be destroyed; The problem has been somewhat fundamentally resolved.And this sort of fundamental solution is the gift of the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898. ⑧ This "fundamental solution" shows that Hu Shi's ideological understanding has improved a little. He no longer put all the success of the 1911 Revolution in Liang Qichao's name. Take half a step. ① See "Zanghui Room Notes", Volume 1, diary from October 12 to 30, 1911.Shanghai Yadong Library Edition, pp. 81-86. ② See "Hu Shi Research Collection", edited by Yan Zhenwu, Beijing Joint Publishing, February 1989 edition, p. 225. ③Volume 1 of "Notes of Zanghui Room", diary on November 10, 1912.Shanghai Yadong Edition, p. 122. ④Refer to Volume 2 of Notes from the Zanghui Room, diaries on November 19, 21, and 22, 1912.Shanghai Yadong Edition, pp. 120-127. ⑤ Refer to "Zanghui Room Notes", Volume 3 "Twenty-six Presidential Orders That Are Neither Donkeys nor Horses" (January 23, 1914), Shanghai Yadong Edition, pages 162-163; Volume 7 "Three Eight Yuan Shizun Kong Ling" (November 16, 1914), Shanghai Yadong Edition, pp. 468-470. ⑥Refer to "Zanghui Room Notes", Volume 11, "Six Discussions on Yuan Shikai's Proclaiming Emperor" and "Second O Piping Gudenot's Fallacy", see Shanghai East Asia Edition, pages 741-748, 768.Monthly (The Outlook), originally translated by Hu Shi for the New York "Outlook".For the citation here, see "China and Demecracy" ("China and Democracy") attached to "Six Discussions on Yuan Shikai's Proclaiming Emperor". The Chinese translation has been edited by Professor Li Zibin from the English Department of Wuhan University. ⑦ "Zanghui Room Notes", Volume 13, "Yuan Shikai died on the 13th" (June 7, 1916), Shanghai Yadong Edition, pp. 926-927. ⑧ "Zanghui Room Notes", Volume 13, "The Fourteenth Discussion on the Failure of the Reform Movement of 1898 is Not Unprofitable for China" (June 7, 1916), Shanghai Yadong Edition, p. 928.