Chapter 32 Section 2 Development of the Restoration Movement

The main leader of the bourgeois reform movement was Kang Youwei.Kang Youwei (AD 1858-1927), formerly known as Zuyi [yiyi], styled Guangsha, nicknamed Changsu.A native of Nanhai County, Guangdong, also known as Mr. Nanhai.Born in a family of bureaucratic landlords with "scholarship for generations", he grew up in Guangdong, the earliest area where Western powers invaded and capitalist culture was introduced.Kang Youwei was educated in strict Confucianism since he was a child. When he was a teenager, he said that he would call the study of Confucius and Mencius, and his relatives and friends gave him the nickname "Sage".Because Confucius was known as "Su Wang", he was a little taller, so he called himself "Chang Su" and determined to surpass Confucius.In the third year of Guangxu (AD 1877), 19-year-old Kang Youwei came to Guangzhou and studied under the famous Confucianist Zhu Ciqi (named Jiujiang) for three years.Mr. Zhu's thoughts of "helping people and managing the world, not just empty talk" had a profound influence on Kang Youwei. What's the use?At this time, he turned his attention to the real society where the nation is in peril and the country is weak and the people are poor.In the fifth year of Guangxu (1879 A.D.), 22-year-old Kang Youwei traveled to Hong Kong, Shanghai and other places successively. He came into contact with Western learning for the first time, which opened his eyes.He read books introducing the West, such as "Compilation of Recent Events in the West", "New Records of Around the World", Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Sea Countries", Xu Jiyu's "Yinghuan Zhilue" and other books.From then on, he gradually gave up the academic path of researching and textual research, bought a map of the earth, collected books of Western learning, and paid attention to the development of Western learning.In the eighth year of Guangxu (AD 1882), Kang Youwei "taught Western learning extensively, and began to explain the old views" ("Kang Nanhai's Self-Compiled Chronicle"), that is, he vigorously preached Western learning and gave up his own views on old learning.At this time, he determined to "run the world".Kang Youwei wrote the "Book of Great Harmony" with reference to Chinese and Western theories, describing an ideal "Da Harmony World" in the future.He divided the development of society into three stages, namely "the era of chaos", "the era of peace" and "the era of peace".This reflects Kang Youwei's ambition to explore social issues and reform.

After the Sino-French War, Kang Youwei realized some truths after several years of groping. He believed that the only way to save China was to restore China; to restore China, the only way was to learn from foreign countries.From then on, he devoted himself to political activities.From the fourteenth year of Guangxu (AD 1888) to the twenty-fourth year (AD 1898), in 11 years, Kang Youwei wrote to Emperor Guangxu seven times, proposing reforms. In the fourteenth year of Guangxu, Kang Youwei went to Beijing to take part in the general examination.On the eighth day of October, he submitted "The First Book of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty", describing the crisis situation of foreign powers invading China.It is believed that "within ten years, prosperity and strength can be achieved"; in 20 years, "the land will be restored and the blood (snow) will hate shame" ("Kang Youwei's Memorial" see "The Reform Movement of 1898" II).It is a pity that the letter was blocked on the way and could not be delivered to Emperor Guangxu.But it had a certain impact on the society at that time.The following year, he returned to Guangzhou.In the seventeenth year of Guangxu (AD 1891), Kang Youwei gave lectures in the "Wanmu Thatched Cottage" to publicize his reform ideas.A group of enthusiastic youths who were interested in reform, Liang Qichao, Chen Qianqiu, Mai Menghua, Xu Qin and others all voted under his sect.These students later became the backbone of the Restoration Movement.Especially Liang Qichao is his right-hand man.At this stage, Kang Youwei's reformation thought became more and more mature, and he wrote the monographs "A Test of the New Study of Apocrypha" and "A Test of Confucius' Reform".In the previous book, with the spirit of criticism of the so-called "law of the ancestors, no one dares to change", he believed that since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Gu Wen Shang Shu", "Zhou Li", "Zuo Zhuan", "Mao Poems" Wait, Wang Mang asked Liu Xin (Xin Xin) to forge it when he reformed.Later generations do not have to abide by the precepts of the ancestors, but can establish new laws on their own.In the latter book, he took Confucius as a precedent for the reform, and believed that Yao and Shun's "great cause of virtue" was Confucius' false use of the words and deeds of ancient sages and kings to promote his political ideas and establish Confucianism and Confucianism.Today's reform still needs to reform the old system.These two works are the important theoretical basis of Kang Youwei's reform and reform.After his two books were published, they aroused great repercussions in the national ideological and academic circles.Just as Liang Qichao commented: "This is actually one of the great hurricanes in the ideological world." .

In April of the 21st year of Guangxu (AD 1895), the Qing government approved the Treaty of Shimonoseki.On the same day, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao joined forces with candidates from 18 provinces in Beijing to submit a letter to the emperor.The Wan Yan Shu was drafted by Kang Youwei in a few days and nights, and it was signed by more than 1,300 people.In the letter, they put forward the political program of the reform, mainly refusing to negotiate peace and opposing the ceding of Taiwan; demanding reform, developing production, enriching the country and supporting the people; Administrative agencies, abolishing idle and useless agencies, sending ministers to travel abroad, etc.They asked the Metropolitan Procuratorate to submit the letter to Emperor Guangxu, but they were rejected.This is the well-known "sign on the bus" in the modern history of China. Although the "Public Letter" was unsuccessful, Kang Youwei and others published it throughout the country, arousing widespread attention from people from all walks of life and promoting the development of the reform movement.

Kang Youwei and other reformers vigorously advocated the organization of societies and founded newspapers and periodicals in order to cultivate key forces and spread reform ideas throughout the country.In the 21st year of Guangxu (AD 1895), Kang Youwei established the "Strong Society" in Beijing and published "Chinese and Foreign Jiwen".In October of the 23rd year of Guangxu (AD 1897), Yan Fu, Wang Xiuzhi and others founded Guowen Bao in Tianjin.Soon after the establishment of the Beijing Strong Society, a branch was established in Shanghai.Then Huang Zunxian, Liang Qichao, and Wang Kangnian presided over the distribution of the national "Current Affairs News".In the more than three years from Maguan Peace to the Reform Movement of 1898, a total of 49 associations, schools, newspapers, etc. were established in various places and abroad, covering Beijing, Hunan, Guangdong, Shanghai, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Hubei, Fujian and other places. Overseas Singapore and other places.Most of the participants were young people in their 20s and 30s.Among them, there are many talents who are "handsome and calm".During this period, there were about 53 kinds of privately run newspapers and periodicals across the country.Among them, there are 27 kinds in Shanghai.It can be seen that the national reform movement developed rapidly.