Chapter 16 Chapter 15 Wei Yuan and Xiangshan and Songyin——Sino-Japanese progressive thinkers during the Opium War

The middle of the 19th century was an important turning point in the history of East Asia.Since the Opium War in 1840, China and Japan have been knocked open by force by Western powers, opened up under the guns, and were forced to be included in the capitalist world market. The history of East Asia has entered the modern era.Through cultural exchanges between China and Japan, a number of Chinese works introducing world history and geography and discussing the Opium War were introduced to Japan, and were quickly reprinted, translated and widely circulated, causing great shock and repercussions among Japanese people of insight. Japan's understanding of Western culture and the formation of reform ideas all played a certain role.The influence of Wei Yuan, a progressive thinker during the Chinese Opium War, on Japanese reform thinkers Sakuma Shoyama and Yoshida Shoin is a typical example.

Stimulated by the failure of the Opium War, a group of patriotic and enlightened people of insight among the Chinese landlord class intellectuals began to open their eyes to see the world, understand the international situation, study foreign history and geography, sum up the lessons of the failure of the Opium War, and look for ways to save the country and resist method of foreign enemies.The Opium War and the opening of the closed door after the war also enabled them to acquire a lot of Western knowledge by collecting foreign newspapers, books and maps brought into China, interrogating prisoners during the war, and asking foreign businessmen and missionaries directly.Against this background, the first batch of works introducing and studying world history, geography and current situation appeared in modern China, the most important of which was Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Sea Countries".

Wei Yuan (AD 1794-1857), courtesy name Moshen, was born in Shaoyang, Hunan.He once studied at Yuelu Academy, passed the examination in 1822, and served as an aide to Jiangsu local officials and a county magistrate for a long time.With a large number of writings and poems handed down, he was a famous thinker and writer in the middle of Qing Dynasty. In June 1841, Lin Zexu, a national hero who had served as an imperial envoy and led Guangdong's anti-smoking and anti-British struggle, was attacked and framed by the capitulation faction. On his way to exile, he passed Zhenjiang and met his friend Wei Yuan.The two stayed in the same room and talked to each other all night long.Lin Zexu handed over the manuscript of "Sizhou Zhi" compiled by himself in Guangzhou to translate the British Murray's "Encyclopedia of World Geography" and some other excerpted and translated foreign materials to Wei Yuan, and asked him to further study foreign history and geography. , to compile a new book.After Wei Yuan was entrusted, he started working immediately and devoted himself to writing. In addition to citing the full text of "Sizhou Zhi", he also cited 14 kinds of historical annals, more than 70 works of famous Chinese and foreign ancient and modern writers, and various memorials and other historical materials. Finally, in December 1842 , compiled 50 volumes of "Illustrations of Haiguo", which he revised and added successively. In 1847, it was added to 60 volumes, and in 1852 it was increased to 100 volumes.The one-hundred-volume book has about 880,000 characters, and there are 75 maps of various kinds, and 42 pages of diagrams of Western ships, guns, and utensils.In addition to including the history and geography of dozens of countries on five continents, its content also includes four volumes of "Creating the Sea", which summarizes the experience and lessons of the Opium War, and discusses the strategy and tactics of coastal defense, and three volumes of "Preparing for the Collection of Barbarians" and about imitating Western ships. There are more than ten volumes of treatises and illustrations on guns and introductions to Western science and technology.This is the first important work on world history and geography compiled by the modern Chinese themselves, and it was also an encyclopedia with the richest content on world knowledge and coastal defense at that time.In addition, Wei Yuan also wrote "Sheng Wu Ji" and other books describing the previous wars in the Qing Dynasty.

Wei Yuan's works were introduced to Japan as Chinese books brought by Chinese merchant ships to Japan for sale in the Qing Dynasty.According to the original records of imported Chinese books in the Edo period preserved in the Nagasaki Library, it can be found that Wei Yuan's "Shengwu Ji" was first brought in by a Chinese merchant ship in 1844, and was taken by the old Chinese (the most senior below the shogun) Official) Masahiro Abe bought it. In 1845, another one was imported, which was purchased by Nakamura Makino Tadaya. In 1846, Chinese merchant ships brought three volumes, which were respectively bought by senior middle-aged Aoyama Tadayoshi and Toda Tadaon, which shows the importance attached to "Shobuki" by the Japanese shogunate at that time.Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Sea Countries" was first introduced to Japan in 1851, and three volumes were brought by Chinese merchant ships to Japan.However, because it was discovered that there were prohibited words related to Catholicism in the book, it was required to be handed over for processing according to the shogunate law. Later, two of them were requisitioned by the official imperial library and learning, and the other was bought by Makino Tadamasa, who was concerned about the world situation.In the second year, another "Pictures of Sea Country" was imported, which was kept by the Nagasaki Club. In 1854, two Chinese merchant ships brought a total of 15 copies of "Pictures of Sea Countries", seven of which were requisitioned by the government, and eight were sold on the market.By 1859, the price had more than tripled as the "Sea Country Illustrated Records" were in short supply in the Japanese market.

After Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Sea Country" and "Shengwu Ji" were introduced to Japan, they were quickly valued and welcomed by Japanese people of insight, and they were translated, explained, commented, and published one after another.In just the three years from 1854 to 1856, there were 21 selected editions of "Illustrations of the Sea Country" published in Japan, including reprinted editions (engraved in the original language) and training editions (with training and reading symbols added next to the upper and lower sides of the Chinese characters). or kana) and 15 reconciliation versions (Japanese translations).It is probably rare in the history of cultural exchanges between countries in the world that a work has so many translations in another country within just a few years after its publication.Wei Yuan's other famous work "Sheng Wu Ji" also has several reprinted editions in Japan, such as "Sheng Wu Ji Cai Yao", "Sheng Wu Ji Appendix", and "Stones from Other Mountains".

Why did Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Sea Countries" and other works arouse the Japanese's great interest?This is because books such as "Pictures of Sea Countries" opened their eyes. They not only provided a lot of knowledge of world history and geography, but also summarized the experience and lessons of China's Opium War, and put forward many suggestions for strengthening coastal defense and resisting foreign enemies.This was a great inspiration and help to the Japanese who did not know much about the world situation at the end of the Bakumatsu and were eager to strengthen their coastal defenses in the face of invasion by Western powers.Therefore, the Japanese call it "a useful book" and "a must-read book for warriors all over the world." It can be said that books such as "Haiguo Tuzhi" have influenced the intellectuals of the last generation of the Shogunate in Japan, especially for those who demanded to resist foreign enemies and reform internal affairs. People with lofty ideals inspired the Meiji Restoration in Japan.

Sakuma Xiangshan (1811-1864 A.D.) was a famous reform thinker and an advocate of the theory of respecting the emperor and founding the country in the late Tokugawa period of Japan.He is a native of Matsushiro, Shinano country. His surname is Sakuma, his first name is Kai, and his nickname is Xiangshan. It is said that he imitated Lu Xiangshan, a philosopher of the Song Dynasty in China.He once opened a private school in Edo, Xiangshan Academy, and taught Sinology and Western Studies, and taught military science and artillery. In 1854, he was implicated and imprisoned for seven months for encouraging his student Yoshida Shoin to smuggle overseas.In this book, Sakuma Xiangshan once talked about his feelings after reading Wei Yuan's "Pictures of the Sea Country" and "Shengwu Ji".He said: In 1842, Sanada Xingguan, the lord of Matsushiro in Shinshu, served as the old middleman and managed the coastal defense. "Eight Strategies for Coastal Defense").Later, Xiang Shan read Wei Yuan's "Sheng Wu Ji" and found that this book was also "written with emotion on current events".Look at Wei Yuan's "Preface to the Records of Shengwu" written in July 1842, only four months before he wrote the letter in November.Sakuma Xiangshan couldn't help feeling a lot of emotion, and said in amazement: "Woohoo! Yu and Wei were born in different lands, did not know each other's names, and wrote words with a sense of the time. They were both at the same age, and what they saw coincided with each other. What a strange thing. You can really be called overseas comrades!" ("Xingjianlu")

Although Sakuma Xiangshan admired Wei Yuan's works very much, he did not blindly accept all of Wei Yuan's views, but put forward his own coastal defense proposals based on the actual situation in Japan.For example, he disagreed with Wei Yuan's strategy of only emphasizing strong walls, clearing the field, and strict defense, but advocated paying attention to guns and ships, and actively attacking the enemy in the open sea.He also criticized Wei Yuan's book "Pictures of Sea States" about the study of gunboats, which was too superficial.It is believed that Wei Yuan lacked in-depth research on gun science.Sakuma Xiangshan strongly advocated learning advanced Western science and technology, strengthening coastal defense, reforming internal affairs, criticizing the seclusion and corruption of the shogunate, advocating the theory of respecting the king and founding the country, and was finally assassinated by the anti-barbarians in 1864.The thoughts of Wei Yuan and Sakuma Xiangshan are both patriotic and innovative thoughts that emerged under the impact of Western aggression. They became the pioneers of the reform thoughts in China and Japan respectively. They are truly "overseas comrades".

The other is Yoshida Shoin (1830-1859 AD), a student of Sakuma Xiangzan, a famous reformer, and an advocate of the theory of respecting the emperor and eliminating barbarians.His surname is Yoshida, his first name is Jufang, and his nickname is Songyin. He is from Dicheng, Changmen Kingdom.When he was studying in Kyushu in his early years, he borrowed Wei Yuan's "Sheng Wu Ji" from others, and strongly sympathized with Wei Yuan's point of view that "one must first understand the barbarians" in order to deal with foreign enemies. In 1854, he attempted to use the opportunity of the US ship to come to Japan to break through the Iron Curtain and study abroad. Unfortunately, he failed to smuggle into the US ship and was arrested and imprisoned in Yeshan Prison.Song Yin still did not forget to explore the way to save the country while in prison. He read a lot of books and wrote "Reading Notes of Wild Mountain Prison", which mentioned his experience of reading Wei Yuan's "Pictures of Haiguo" many times.He believes that the defense, war, and peace discussed in "Chi Hai Pian" are very pertinent, and if implemented according to this, it will be enough to deal with the aggression of Britain, France and Russia.He also pointed out the situation Japan was facing at that time: Russia, the United States, Britain, and France are now harassing Japan one after another, so it is very timely that Wei Yuan's books are widely popular.

Yoshida Shoin also put forward different views on some of Wei Yuan's views.For example, regarding the relationship between Western powers, Wei Yuan believes that Russia, the United States, and France all hate Britain, so China can get their land and water assistance.Yoshida believes that this is unreliable. The great powers often "sacrifice righteousness when they see benefits". As long as it is beneficial, they can ally with the enemy and instead regard the alliance as the enemy.He gave an example: when Russia and Turkey went to war, Britain and France helped Turkey together (referring to the Crimean War), which shows that Wei Yuan's analysis of the world situation is still "inappropriate". At the end of 1855, although Yoshida Shoin was released from prison, he was still under house arrest. He gave lectures to young people who came to seek advice in his cell. It was only in 1856 that the permission of the Changzhou feudal government was obtained, and Matsushita village school was established. The students came from all walks of life, such as samurai, businessmen, and farmers. Restoration father.Yoshida Shoin used the world knowledge provided by books such as "Haiguo Tuzhi" and combined with Japan's actual situation, on the one hand to criticize the shogunate's policy of sequestering the country, and on the other hand to put forward the idea of ​​respecting the emperor and rejecting the barbarians.Finally, in the "Anzheng Prison" in 1859, he was executed by the shogunate at the age of 30.

Sakuma Shouzan and Yoshida Shoin were outstanding reform thinkers at the end of the Tokugawa period in Japan. They enthusiastically absorbed the knowledge of world history and geography and the experience of the anti-aggression struggle from Wei Yuan’s works, and at the same time analyzed them from the actual situation in Japan and put forward their own opinions. This is also true. A desirable attitude in cultural exchange.