Chapter 20 Chapter 19 The Hundred Days Reform, the Founding of the Republic of China and the May 4th Movement

China's defeat by Japan from sea to land in 1894 and 1895 had serious repercussions.The purpose of China's war is to maintain North Korea as a vassal state. After this war, this situation has been lost and will never return.The Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan and Penghu were thus ceded to the victorious country.The 200 million taels of silver indemnity for defeat is an extremely unbearable financial burden.In addition to the commercial concessions made by China to Japan, in addition to those proposed by European and American countries, there was also a clause that Japan could open factories in Chinese cities, which was written into the Treaty of Shimonoseki.Of course, because of the most-favored-nation rule, this privilege is also shared by other countries.Finally, with the intervention of Russia, France, and Germany, the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula did not become a reality, and China added an additional compensation of 30 million taels. However, the tsarist government only waited for 3 years and proposed to rent the entire peninsula to Russia for 25 years.Since then, this area has been in the hands of Russia, and then it was handed over to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. After the Second World War, it was once again controlled by the former Soviet Union. It was not until 1955 that China regained its sovereignty. It has been 60 years since then.

Being defeated by Japan, China felt deeply ashamed and humiliated.China had fought Japan in the past, but never considered the Japanese a superior opponent.Needless to say, racial superiority was inevitable on both sides, and it was one of the causes of the war of 1894.One point that has not been noticed at this time is that the modernization of a country is mainly based on the principle of commercial organization on state affairs. Therefore, the division of labor and cooperation in public affairs and the division of labor and cooperation in private life lead to the same end, and the increased Efficiency improves the functioning of the country.The resulting mobility has nothing to do with character.Japan had already developed in this direction in the late Tokugawa shogunate. Compared with most peasants who could not be classified in China, it was obviously more efficient, and the difference was also evident on the battlefield.

At the turn of the two centuries, the racism that spread throughout the world reached its apogee.Kaiser Wilhelm II was its ardent spokesman.The Japanese easily accepted his explanation.The Japanese are patriotic and warlike, which seems to be much stronger than the lazy and lifeless Chinese.When Ito Hirobumi negotiated with Li Hongzhang, he definitely grasped the opportunity to retaliate.In the past, when many Chinese writers mentioned Japan in their writings, they paid little attention to the sensitivity of the Japanese people and blindly wrote in contemptuous words.Li Hongzhang and senior Chinese officials were treated rudely by the winners, and there were also reasons for this.

This deep shame and humiliation has injected the reaction of the Chinese people into the opposite extreme.One faction advocates accepting the superiority of the Japanese and should hire Ito as the prime minister of China.Another faction advocated not to recognize the peace treaty.Japan's request to China might as well be divided into several parts, and given to Tsarist Russia and other countries as rewards, as long as they send troops to Japan.Although Li Hongzhang did not take it up, he has been influenced by this statement.In 1896 he signed a secret treaty with the Russian Foreign Minister, known in the West as the Li-Lobanov Treaty, in which the concessions given to imperial Russia included the construction of the Eastern Railway through northern Manchuria.It was rumored that the Russian side had signed a contract with Li Hongzhang with generous bribes.

This defeat to China's biggest difficulty is still compensation.Only external borrowing can solve the problem.There are plenty of people willing to lend money to China.But each of them represents a foreign government, and their purpose is to use China's customs duties and inland industrial and mining rights as guarantees for loans.Before the Sino-Japanese War, China's foreign debt was not much.Since then, China's administration has been completely controlled by foreign banking groups.All export and import tariffs, income from salt tax, and inland re-exports are also collateral for foreign debts.Later, because the construction of the railway also involved foreign debts, it sparked the revolution in 1911.The above situation basically remained unchanged after China entered the era of the People's Republic of China.It was also because of the handling of tariff revenue that Sun Yat-sen had disputes with Western countries, so he decided to unite with the Soviet Union.

Go back to the 19th century. 1898 was a time when all sorts of events came.Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan all formed circles of influence in China at this time.If any province of China falls into the sphere of influence of a certain country, China must declare that this province will never be ceded to other countries.If one of the important port cities is leased to a country that enjoys power, the lease period is 99 years.China is not allowed to fortify inside or outside, nor is it allowed to send troops into the vicinity, usually at a distance of 15 miles.In addition, the big powers also exclusively enjoy the right to railway industry, mining and laying telecommunications in the province.If China itself builds such projects in the province, it cannot invest in third countries or hire engineers from other countries.Among them, there are examples of such conditions that are proposed by foreign powers in the form of ultimatums and must be accepted within 48 hours.This situation led Sun Yat-sen to call China a sub-colony, that is, a sub-colonial colony that, unlike China, served only one master.When China was oppressed by foreign powers at the turn of the century, the "Open Door" policy proposed by US Secretary of State John Hay twice in 1899 and 1900 did little practical benefit to China.

In the summer of 1898, the Beijing bureaucracy experienced an unprecedented situation.From June 11 to September 21, a total of 103 days, the imperial court issued more than 200 edicts and instructions, declaring that the organization of the government must be reformed, the budget will be prepared, the navy and army will be modernized, and all educational systems and civil organizations must also be reformed. Reorganization, all agriculture, industry and commerce must be upgraded to meet world standards.If this set of tasks could be completed by a proclamation before the emperor's dragon chair, China should at once become a modern state.However, this determination to Westernize is presented in a posture that is contrary to Western habits. The "Hundred Days Restoration" used will power as the tradition, and quoted the principle of truth from top to bottom.This approach believed that when a job was announced by imperial decree, it was equal to the actual completion of the work.

The reformers were not completely ignorant of what was wrong with it, they did it anyway. After 103 days, all movements were abruptly terminated, and the emperor was placed under house arrest, never to regain his freedom for life. Six reformers were executed, two of the most prominent leaders were exiled abroad, and some 40 other officials were dismissed. Emperor Guangxu (real name Dai Tian, ​​reigned from 1875 to 1908) was the sister of Empress Dowager Cixi and the son of the old Prince Chun.Prince Chun Yizhen is the son of Daoguang.Guangxu was only three years old when his cousin, Emperor Tongzhi, died without an heir in 1874.Cixi, who is strong-willed and shows off her power, is appointed as the heir to the throne.But until his death in 1908, Cixi never relinquished her status as de facto monarch.Even if she does not listen to politics behind the curtain, she still holds power behind the scenes.Use trusted bachelors and eunuchs to contact courtiers.When the dynasty entered its twilight period, if the governors and other important ministers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the senior generals of the navy and army had relations with this back door, their official positions would be difficult to protect.

Emperor Guangxu was quite sensible, but also easily moved. He would cry when he saw a memorial to the point.The secluded life at court and the lack of opportunity to implement his own decisions since childhood were serious flaws for a monarch who wanted to change the destiny of a vast country.The patrons of his reform were Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, both from Guangdong Province.Kang is a scholar of classics, good at using the words in ancient books that are conducive to reform to innovate and translate them into today's flaunts.Liang tends to be more pragmatic. His writing is fluent and popular, and his narration is not only classical.Before 1898, they had advocated reform for at least 3 years.They used the popularization of new education as a forum, organized conferences, gave speeches everywhere, issued periodicals, and raised funds to implement this purpose.It was also sponsored by Western missionaries, which made the movement spread widely.If the Self-Strengthening Movement can be called the reform of shipbuilding and cannon, the Hundred Days Reform can be called the reform of budgeting and writing the constitution. Although Kang Liang and others have other cities in their hearts, their ambitions exceed the current plan.

Cixi paid close attention to what her nephew was doing, but did not intervene directly in a short period of time.One proximate cause for her action seemed to be personnel.When the emperor consistently excluded those who opposed the reform and promoted his cronies, the conflict between the old and the new factions was inevitable.It also triggered the mutual jealousy of the Manchu and Han ministers.It is said that the emperor will receive Ito Hirobumi and may be persuaded to visit Japan, which became a momentary alarm.In the end, the reason for the coup was that the emperor summoned Yuan Shikai, the procurator of Zhili, and did not pass Rong Lu, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang.The latter is a Manchurian, and also a confidant of the Empress Dowager.

Here we have to believe Yuan Shikai's speech to the "London Times" a few years later, where he proposed that the reason he betrayed everyone was that the reformers instigated him to murder the empress dowager, who was in fact also the emperor's adoptive mother.Or we should believe the reports of "Shanghai Zilinxi News" and "Shen Shen", which mentioned that Guangxu secretly ordered Yuan Shikai to escort Yu Gong.The development of the fact is that Yuan Shikai became an informer. He betrayed the emperor and reformers and sided with Empress Dowager Cixi and Ronglu.When Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly returned from the Summer Palace to the palace in Beijing, the plans of the reformers were frustrated.They were purged, and all government orders related to state affairs were abolished and the situation before the Hundred Days Reform was restored. Emperor Guangxu and his cronies had to pay the price of back and forth actions and secret exchanges. When it comes to the subject matter of history at present, the author has no other choice but to follow the explanations of previous historians in his narration, but he wants to remind readers today that in explaining the above events, the arguments of the predecessors have generally become useless.Because when they criticized the above deeds, they lacked the depth that people can see today. They emphasized the personal relationship between the parties and underestimated the organizational and structural reasons.The Hundred Days Reform shocked all the military personnel. Their official ranks and positions were obtained from the background of the Eight Banners Green Camp, and it also made all the civil officials eclipsed.This point has also been emphasized by previous historians.We have to go one step further: they not only maintain vested interests, but in fact they also represent the logic of the empire and Chinese social organization.For hundreds of years China relied on a hereditary military cadre with little technical upbringing and a bureaucracy that excelled in writing, whose ideological cohesion became the rock of this permanent organization.Such an arrangement does not care about technological progress, but only seeks to win social stability. Therefore, it constitutes a national uniformity and makes the empire unshakable.If these supporting forces are eliminated, the national organization will also collapse immediately.But another difficulty is that there can be no talk of reform without declaring that sooner or later such organizations must be replaced. The Hundred Days Reform failed, and Guangxu was criticized as hesitant and timid.But there is no historical evidence to explain that he had other options.Because of the emperor, he set an example as a human being, representing traditional morality.This kind of virtue comes all the way from the village house and passes through the whole society, with "filial piety" as the first.If he makes a decision, he will damage his impression in the eyes of his subjects and the position of emperor.He may, as Kang Youwei suggested in early September, leave Shanghai.But in doing so he betrayed both social customs and his own dynasty.If the reformers were willing to be so thorough, why did they have to cling to Emperor Guangxu and the Qing Dynasty, which were no more than a drag on reform?Couldn't they simply establish the Republic of China and simplify the problem?The subsequent evolution of facts also shows that history has finally accommodated this line for sure. It's just that the problem is so big that its procedure cannot be simplified.Tan Sitong has already seen that the future of the revolution has a long way to go.He was one of the six people sentenced to death in a fit of rage by Empress Dowager Cixi.He is determined to be a martyr, and he is unwilling to escape.In his suicide note, he mentioned that unless the old and the new parties bleed everywhere, China will always have no hope: "Reforms in all countries are all formed by bloodshed. Today, China has never heard of anyone who shed blood because of reforms. This is why China is not prosperous. If there are any, please start from the same generation." .” On September 28, 1898, he fulfilled his prophecy and was sent to prison on the day of fortitude, and soon became one of the Qing Dynasty officials who supported the Boxers. After a coup d'état on September 21, Cixi attempted to dethrone Guangxu from the throne and replace him with the Xiaotong Emperor.However, she encountered opposition from several southern governors and a group of social and cultural leaders. The latter was centered in Shanghai and supported by Western countries.Kang Youwei, the leading figure in the Hundred Days Reform, fled to Hong Kong and was assisted by the British. Liang Qichao left Beijing to go abroad under the protection of the Japanese embassy.The envoys of various countries still asked about the whereabouts of Emperor Guangxu again and again, also with a questioning attitude.The Empress Dowager's attempt could not be realized, and her anti-foreigner psychology intensified, which later affected her judgment on the Boxers. According to the literal interpretation, the Boxers are a group that upholds righteousness and supports peace.It is just one of the secret associations of the people of North China. Members practice martial arts and preside over mysterious assembly ceremonies, so they are also called "Boxers" and "Boxers".Some of them claim to practice qigong to block bullets.At the end of the century, Shandong residents clashed with German expatriates and Chinese Christians, and the Boxers got involved and took the opportunity to stir up trouble and expand.Soon after, they attacked outsiders when they saw outsiders, destroying all utensils imported from abroad.In 1899, the governor of Shandong, himself a xenophobe, called members of the Yihe League "righteous people" and took them into the regiment for training.The following year, the Boxers spread to Zhili Province.Among Cixi's cronies, only Ronglu Justification and Tuan are not available. At this time, the queen mother's state of mind is worth guessing.Her uncertainty, sometimes clearly born of fear and hesitation, is not always firm and thorough.The imperial edicts issued during this period sometimes referred to the Boxers as "Wonders", "Troublers" and "Boxers", but sometimes referred to them as "Boxers", "Children of the Imperial Court", or even "Righteous People".Nie Shicheng, the admiral of Zhili, not only suppressed boxers, but also rejected foreign soldiers, and finally died in the outskirts of Tianjin.It seems that the more outsiders forced the Qing court to suppress the bandits, the more determined the Empress Dowager was to resist external pressure.The details here fully expose the inherent crisis of Chinese imperial power.At this time, the world situation was so complicated that government agencies were required to be extremely vigilant to respond. The Beijing court still dealt with problems completely from the perspective of personal relationships, so that laymen could tell the weather at a glance.In this way, the historical usefulness of the Empress Dowager Cixi lies in the fact that she helped expose organizational flaws and accelerated the elimination of China's 2,000-year-old imperial system. On June 21, 1900, she issued her declaration of war.The target of the war is not a country, nor some countries listed in the regulations, but "distant people" and "others", in fact, all foreign countries that come into contact with China.At this time, the Boxers attacked the embassy and set fire to the church in Beijing, and it has been 10 days since the incident occurred. On June 11, Akira Sugiyama, secretary of the Japanese embassy, ​​was killed. On June 16, the coalition forces of various countries demanded that the Dagu Fort on the outskirts of Tianjin be handed over before 2:00 am the next day.So far, the Zongli Yamen issued a note on June 19 to the ministers of various countries to leave Beijing within 24 hours. On the 20th, German Minister Baron Klemens von Ketteler still wanted to negotiate and was killed on his way to the Prime Minister's Office. Before the declaration of war, the anti-foreign group of the imperial court handed over a document to Cixi, which was said to be a note from various countries ordering her to return to power.Up to this time, she still convened an imperial meeting, and more than a hundred courtiers knelt in front of the hall. The queen mother asked everyone for their opinions, but two of them opposed the hostilities, and she finally ordered them to be executed. Embassies of various countries were besieged for 56 days.There were 3 truces. In late July, the Chinese government sent several carts of flour, watermelons, fruits and vegetables to the embassy (former Columbia University professor Dr. L. Carrington Goodrich was 6 years old at the time, and he was besieged in Beitang church with his parents. He personally told the author of this book that he did not know about the gift Food matters. Mr. Fu’s young age is the rest of his life, but he has no ill feeling towards the Chinese people, and he has extreme respect for Chinese culture).Rong Lu forbade his subordinates to attack with giant cannons to reduce the number of possible casualties.About 250 outsiders were killed during the siege, and there were many Christians in the country, but there is no exact number.The coalition forces came from the eight countries of Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Russia, Italy, and Austria. When they entered Beijing, there were only 18,000 people, and the number increased to 105,000 later.Except for the Japanese and American troops, other Chinese will retaliate wantonly when they see the Chinese, and rape, looting and indiscriminate killing of civilians are also unbearable.During the whole period of foreign enemies, the governors and governors of the south negotiated with the overseas Chinese leaders to keep calm with each other, disregarding the imperial edicts after June 20, and in fact held a neutral attitude.It is called "Boxer Rebellion" or "Boxer Rebellion". In theory, it means that the imperial court was coerced by the mob, and the actions taken were not the original intention. Empress Dowager Xiangzeng and Emperor Guangxu fled hastily on August 15, the day after the coalition forces entered Beijing. They arrived in Xi'an and returned to Beijing at the beginning of 1902.During this period, Li Hongzhang was able to negotiate peace with the coalition forces calmly.The so-called "Xin Chou Treaty" (Boxer Protocol) was signed in September 1901, and it took only two months for Li Hongzhang to die.The coalition forces demanded that 11 courtiers of the Boxer Regiment be sentenced to death, 4 of whom had committed suicide so far, and 3 of them were "given to death" by the court, and 2 of them were reduced to border provinces and exiled into the army. Only 2 of them were actually beheaded. Other funds of the treaty are suspended for 5 years from the imperial examinations in the 45 cities where the boxers were active.China sent special envoys to Germany and Japan to apologize.All passages from the coast to Beijing were left undefended, and even the Dagu Fort was demolished.Foreign countries have the right to station troops in Beijing embassies (later, during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japanese troops appeared in the suburbs of Beijing, and this privilege was cited).China is not allowed to import arms for two years.China pays 450 million taels of indemnity to other countries, which is roughly the national fiscal revenue for five years.In addition to the interest payable, the amount can only be repaid in 40 years (later, the United States initiated the establishment of schools in China with compensation, and several countries followed suit).After the signing of the treaty, Imperial Russia occupied part of Manchuria without withdrawing its troops, which was the fuse of the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905. That is, on the day when she was still taking refuge in Xi'an, the Empress Dowager Cixi began to issue an edict to change her policy.After returning to Beijing, she effectively re-announced Guangxu's reforms, reforms she had hated four years earlier.In some respects she has expanded its scope.For example, the reform of the official system means the establishment of 11 ministries of the cabinet, and the abolition and merger of the old-style ministries (such as the Ministry of War and Taipu Temple before the Ministry of Army, and the Taichang, Honglu, and Guanglu Temples before the Ministry of Rites).The national imperial examinations, including the palace examination and the township examination, were suspended in 1905.It also dispatched a delegation led by the prince to go overseas to observe the administrative situation of various countries, prepare for the establishment of a constitution, and regularly convene provincial and national councils and councils. At this time, the Empress Dowager had no way of understanding that even at the end of the 20th century, it was difficult for China to exercise civil rights, organize an elected government, and be responsible to voters, let alone 80 to 90 years ago.The basic difficulty has been repeatedly pointed out in this book: Traditional China is like a fish in water, which cannot be transformed into a bird in the air immediately.Its lack of adaptability outweighs Manchu's character.The Manchu Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of the imperial system, and in this case, it can also be regarded as the sufferer in history.China's huge civil service organizations that are not classified by skills can be effective under the arbitration of imperial power, but only if the country remains introverted and non-competitive.In that case, all public affairs may generate general will, and the power of the Son of Heaven can also be exercised in the solemnity of holding various rituals.The farmers below are huge and do not have drastic differences due to the flood and drought areas in the north and south. They can be tame and behave in each administrative region and keep their duties. They can be regarded as good people.This is not legal or non-system, but culture and discipline.By the summer of 1900 A.D., the upper end became a kind of autocratic demon king, ignorant and lacking in self-confidence, and the lower end became an uncontrollable mob.Obviously, such an organizational structure cannot survive the difficulties of the new century just by liberty and reforms on paper. On November 14, 1908 AD, Emperor Guangxu died.In less than 24 hours, Empress Dowager Cixi also died.This bizarre encounter seems to be plotting.Although he has been in poor health for a long time, she is healthy and active.In fact, she presided over the establishment of Xuantong (real name Puyi, reigned from 1908 to 1911) as the heir on the 13th, and the latter was only 3 years old (but there are also legends that she is in poor health).In fact, the inside story is irrelevant.Xuantong was destined to be the last monarch of China.Three years later, the Republic of China came into existence. Not only did the Manchu Qing Dynasty come to power for 267 years, but the imperial system created by Qin Shihuang in Xi'an lasted 2132 years, which has become a historical event. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a great revolutionary, seems to have hoped to realize his ideal of reform without overthrowing the Qing Dynasty, otherwise he would not have written Li Hongzhang's letter and looked forward to seeing him.After China was defeated by Japan in 1895, he deliberately opposed the Qing Dynasty.Since he is Cantonese and fluent in English, it is easy to get close to overseas Chinese.However, judging from his memoirs, it was still difficult for him to find support at first. Before October 10, 1911, Sun had launched 10 campaigns to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and every failure would inevitably result in the sacrifice of human life.Some of the martyrs are still his close friends.His revolutionary party is basically the social elite, but it cannot get close to the masses.At the beginning they also took "classical" revolutionary actions, distributing inflammatory leaflets, assassinating and occupying government offices to launch attacks.Gradually, they realized that they could also use the existing secret associations and sneak into the newly established navy and army of the Qing Dynasty as the basis for future actions. Mr. Sun also wrote: The reaction of all parties after the Eight-Power Allied Forces gave his revolutionary action new strength, the number of people joining the party increased, and overseas fundraising was more effective than before.However, the last of the 10 attacks was launched in Guangzhou in April 1911, but it still failed, and 72 martyrs were killed.Unexpectedly, within six months, it was successful.This time, the underground organization of revolutionary party members accidentally caused a bomb to explode in Hankou.After investigation by the police, a group of party members' lists were revealed, which involved junior officers and soldiers in the new army.That being the case, they were forced to act ahead of time, without a well-arranged leader or planned strategy.Li Yuanhong, the leader of the Manchu Qing Army (Brigade Commander), was forced to be promoted as the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army.At this critical juncture, the governor of the Qing Dynasty fled without a fight, giving the revolutionaries a much-desired respite.Soon other provinces declared "independence" one after another, that is, they broke away from the autocratic dynasty, and prepared to negotiate with the revolutionaries in Wuhan.The new empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty (the empress dowager of Longyu, that is, the wife of Guangxu) had to preside over the abdication for the adopted son. The 20 years after the founding of the Republic of China was a sad beginning.Sun Yat-sen ceded the presidency to Yuan Shikai, who was the one who betrayed Emperor Guangxu in 1898, just because he was still in control of the new army of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and theoretically had the possibility of defeating the revolutionaries.With such a compromise, peace becomes a fact.The European War broke out in 1914, and the great powers were unable to look eastward. Japan proposed "21" to Yuan the following year. If all these conditions were fulfilled, China would become Japan's protectorate in theory and in fact.Fortunately, Yuan Shikai died in 1916, and his emperor was only in power for 81 days. Because of the opposition from all sides, the imperial system was revoked before his death.In this confusing situation, the braided general Zhang Xun was restored. In 1917, he moved Xuantong out and proclaimed himself emperor again.This time it was even shorter, with the monarchy only lasting 21 days.From then until Chiang Kai-shek successfully established the National Government in Nanjing during the Northern Expedition in 1928, China entered the stage of warlord separatism. During these more than ten years, China had two central governments: one in Beijing, where the Beiyang warlords took over;However, the areas that both parties can control are extremely limited.Civil wars were often fought along railway lines; warlords were distinguished by their factions.Tibet and Outer Mongolia were out of Chinese control.The separation of the latter is henceforth permanent.Foreign gunboats are constantly sailing in China's inland waters.International trade is manipulated by foreign concessions in major cities, focusing on the short-term profits of various businessmen and ignoring China's long-term development.Exports are mainly agricultural, and imports are mainly aimed at the hobbies and purchasing power of the emerging petty bourgeoisie.This group of people is too small.Their interest was too Western to change the fate of China with its large population and large landmass. The above various plots and scenes are like a kaleidoscope, and only after half a century did they show their historical consistency.The overarching problem in China remains the mismatch between the old and the new: the modern system requires all elements to be managed numerically.The old-fashioned organization does not regard the center as the representative of the sum of its parts, but instead assumes itself to be a kind of moral force, which pulls the parts out and regards their power as equal to each other and cancels each other out.So all stand in a delicately balanced situation to maintain superficial tranquility.This incompatibility between the old and the new was seen when the Republic of China was founded.So the monarchy must be abolished.According to past experience, although the character sitting on the dragon chair has a moral appeal, he is either a veteran who has the habit of betraying others, or a child who has been fooled all his life.Moreover, the extremes of imperial power and the incompromising nature of social organizations depended heavily on each other.If it were not for these reasons, the revolution in 1911 would not have been so lucky, and the subsequent two attempts to rebuild the monarchy would not have failed so badly. But resisting the "negative" factors does not immediately become a "positive" force in itself.We have determined that China's problems are suitable for the interpretation of the word constitutional in English.However, Constitution can certainly be translated as "Constitution", and it can also be interpreted as a character whose physical structure affects its disposition, character and scope of action.The Chinese have always ruled the country with literati, and they have paid too much attention to the constitution as a paper document, signed and stamped, and solemnly collected.And ignoring the constitution is similar to our natural talent.Little do they know that the parliament adopts a one-chamber or two-chamber system, and the executive power is controlled by the president or the cabinet. The constitution written on that day has little to do with the large group of rural organizations below, because the literacy rate of the villagers is generally considered to be only 5%, and the farmers can only collectively command, and Important statistics are lacking.The traditional regulatory approach that emphasizes the superiority of men over women, the elderly over the young, and the educated over the illiterate is not only inconsistent with the principle of referendum and equal economic opportunity for everyone, but also very different.Moreover, the thousands of chastity archways, the stele of the gods that extol the great achievements of great figures, as well as the gods in the ancestral halls and the idols in the village ancestral halls represent the big and small traditions of China. In the past, they were all auxiliary tools for administration. None can be repurposed to advance civil rights, or transformed into a bridge to a pluralistic society.What's more, when the imperial examination was suspended in 1905, the communication line between the high-level government offices and the low-level organizations, that is, rural neighbors, was cut off.Under such circumstances, representative politics is just a disguise, and although the newly formed political parties have different purpose calls, none of them can actually represent the constituencies.At the same time, the strength of the emerging civic class in the city is too low.If he really has the ability to decide the politics of the country, he will move in that direction.In other words, China's modernization may be much easier. If the development of Chinese culture has always been parallel to Western traditions, then civil liberty can be initiated by the municipal franchise and later spread to the whole people, or like Japan, The power of their private capital surpassed that of the daimyo feudal lords in the late Tokugawa shogunate. We have read countless accounts of bribery, the forced dissolution of Parliament, or openly illegal actions.But in this era of confusion, the real tragedy is that a president or prime minister who was born in the military is in power, not to mention good or bad, and none of them can become a real strongman.The main reason for their inefficiency is financial.When the Republic of China was established, what was received was an empty treasury.Most of the traditional revenue is land tax, but this is used to maintain the old-style yamen, the number is too small and the distribution is too wide to be counted.Other income was used as collateral for borrowing and compensation for military expenses.There is no one to subscribe for the internal issuance of public bonds, so the only way is to borrow externally.Who wants to lend money to China?Nothing more than a banking group backed by a foreign government.In this way, China's leaders always appear to be tools of foreign masters domineering over their own people.The best example of this is the so-called Nishihara Loans during World War I.This matter was named after the date of the contact. The apparent purpose was to enrich China’s strength so that it could join the Allied Powers and go to Europe to participate in the war. In fact, it benefited the people who received the money. Warlord regimes became common during this period.The old system has been dismantled, and the new one has not yet been created. Only private military forces can maintain short-term unity when there is a shortage.However, this method relies entirely on the personal relationship between senior military officers, so it is difficult to take effect on occasions beyond the provincial boundaries.So "realpolitik" (realpolitik) goes a step further, plots and coups become commonplace, and everything is fluid. Warlords are generally heroes with tragic personalities, and they don't all do bad things intentionally.A British observer pointed out that many Chinese warlords may become prominent generals in the British Army.They combined their personal ambitions with the purpose of saving the country and the people they imagined, so it was extremely difficult to explain it to their subordinates and the Chinese people.Zhang Zuolin was first cultivated by the Japanese, and later became a passionate patriot.Feng Yuyang was called "General Christ" at first, and later moved closer to the Soviet Union.Yan Xishan organized a "heart-cleaning group" and embellished it with various religious styles.Tang Shengzhi converted almost completely to Buddhism, and he compensated his killing with the concept of transcendence.Warlords are not all brutal, and Wu Peifu is a poet.However, Zhang Zongchang, who has a naughty personality, is said to have never known the number of soldiers he led, the amount of money in his hand, and the number of concubines in each house. Having said that, the damage caused by the warlords to China was not insignificant.Their bad influence on the Chinese economy is immeasurable.The work of creating a new society was urgent, and the actions of warlords, with few exceptions, were mostly destructive.They also demoralized the country.The warlord regime deprived the newly born Republic of China of all dignity, and this situation also caused haggardness and disappointment for more than ten years.If the warlords have made any contribution in history, it is that after 80 years of foreign aggression, they increased the internal pressure and forced the Chinese youth to find a way to save the country by themselves. With the "May 4th Incident", they found a clue. The "May 4th Movement" gave them a kind of ideological support for their actions. May 4, 1919 was Sunday.At 1:30 p.m. on the same day, 3,000 students representing 13 universities and colleges in Beijing gathered in front of Tiananmen Square to demonstrate against the transfer of Germany's privileges in Shandong to Japan by the Versailles Peace Conference.This privilege extends beyond the "sphere of influence" and is the most intolerable part of the unequal treaties.Because of the declaration of war against Germany in 1917 and the sending of laborers to serve in the battlefield, China has already stood on the side of the victorious country, and because of the declaration of war, China has already dismantled its treaty relationship with Germany.But in Versailles, not only was China unable to share any consequences of victory, but it wanted to transfer its own territorial integrity as a privilege to satisfy another victorious country. This is an unprecedented example, and it is even more outrageous.However, when the various secret treaties were made public during the meeting, China's position has been shaken.The various powers that persuaded Japan to join the war in the past have each pledged in advance to make such a transfer.To further damage China's status, the Japanese delegation published on the spot the documents exchanged between Tokyo and Beijing, confirming that the government presided over by the Chinese warlords had made the same approval. On May 4, demonstrators distributed leaflets stating that the Chinese will never recognize the transfer of national sovereignty to others by traitors.They marched to Dongjiaomin Lane and delivered the notice to the embassies of various countries.In the afternoon of the same day, they decided to confront the three bureaucrats at the ministerial level because they were responsible for the above-mentioned documents.One of them was beaten by students, and the house of another was set on fire.The police came forward to suppress the incident, and 32 students were arrested. Soon the news spread throughout China.The press expressed sympathy for the students, and the temporary demonstrations and strikes spread like wildfire.The Beijing government had no choice but to admit its mistake, the detained students were released, the accused officials were dismissed, and the cabinet was also dismissed.The Chinese delegation to the Versailles peace conference refused to sign the peace treaty.The Shandong issue was finally resolved at the Washington Conference in 1921-1922.U.S. President Harding and Secretary of State Hughes convened this meeting, and the Japanese delegation canceled the secret wartime agreement. In 1922, when the Nine-Power Pact was signed, China took back Shandong's sovereignty. Today, student demonstrations are commonplace. They are frequently seen on TV screens, and confrontation has become a common term. It is difficult for us to recall the extraordinary character of the May Fourth Incident in 1919 when modern communication was still in its infancy.Readers can imagine China as a submarine sandwich.Although the post of emperor had been abolished in 1912 and the imperial examinations had ceased in 1905, social transformation had not yet begun.As of 1919, the labor force in the new factories was estimated to be between 1 million and 2.5 million.Although the difference between the two estimates is large, all in all, compared with China's huge population, the number is still only a drop in the bucket.The country's undiversified economy may offer only limited jobs, especially in the absence of different sectors of modern society.Professional work is still concentrated in the treaty ports, usually in the hands of municipal governments run by outsiders.Intellectuals find themselves not "misfits" in society, and few feel comfortable identifying themselves with any existing socio-economic group.Because there is no way out, intellectuals often have a tendency to return to previous social habits.Even among the college students under the new academic system, many still hold the style of Japanese literati and bureaucrats.As an educated elite, they see themselves as the heirs of the bureaucracy of yore, who should be entitled to the same security and privileges.In this way, the May 4th incident was more than a demonstration and protest, and it required the participation of everyone.If this group of young people felt that the lettuce leaves and mayonnaise in the submarine sandwich lacked the structural rigor to be resilient, they had nothing to blame and no one else to blame but to address it themselves. question.这信息开始传布时，这上面的一块面包开始变化，打破2000年来的惯例，因此成为以后50年长期革命之工具。 这种行动成为可能，因有后面之激扰与酝酿。把这背景更向后推，我们更要提及几十年来教士的工作和开通商口岸以来中外的接触，以及自强运动之遣派留学生。又有伟大的翻译工作人员，如严复与林纾，他们使孟德斯鸿、亚当斯密、大小仲马、巴尔扎克、狄更斯和其他多人的作品和中国读者见面。只因为“五四事件”不过是学生运动，中国的作家和历史从业员认为另有“五四运动”，是为知识界准备工作，以激荡其行动。这运动由大学教授组织，在各学府构成，尤以北京大学为最。在历史上它可以看成以1917年为始点。经过五四事件之后，这运动传得更远大。只是行动上更增加动力的时候，五四运动之为一种知识界运动，只持续了约2年。大概到1921年夏天，它可说用尽了它的燃料。 在构成这知识气氛的工作中，贡献最多者为蔡元培。他自1917年以来是北京大学校长。以翰林编修的背景往德法两国留学，蔡元培在中国知识界有其独特地位。他也曾在民国政府里任教育部长。他在北大所聘的文学院长为陈独秀，陈也是前清获得举人地位以后才留学日本及法国。从事革命多年之后，陈在1915年创办《新青年》杂志（封面有标题：La Jeunesse）。虽任北大教职，陈继续着他的编辑工作。《新青年》行销达16000份，在当日可算杰出。蒋介石是这刊物的经常读者；毛泽东自称受这期刊影响，而且曾在《新青年》发表文稿一篇。 在此杂志最为人称道的1919年一月号，陈独秀宣称他的指南针无上“赛先生”及“德先生”，亦即科学与民主。这篇论文在中国的反响远逾于执笔者想象。陈独秀所称科学，着重于社会科学，而非自然科学。他的科学方法坚持有组织而经恒的“不相信”，与培根及笛卡儿的态度相近。中国的传统，认为道德标准持久不变，真理与威权同时由上流传至下，陈的论说因之有革命性格。即是民主这一观念，尚未用以发扬去支待代议政治，陈独秀先利用为打破偶像的工具，攻击的对象为传统习惯和儒家教条。陈使用“民主”这名词几乎与“个人主义”，“自我主义”可以互相交换。读者应注意，迄至当时（甚至今日）个人主义在中国社会里带一种被否定的含义，个人主义即系缺乏公众精神。 在这杂志里有好几个作家尽力抨击时人认为“国粹”之传统道德。当中讽刺最力者为周树人，笔名鲁迅。周树人早岁在日本学医，此时在教育部任佥事（科员）。当陈独秀以论文辩说时，鲁迅以短篇小说及短篇评论发挥他笔下专长。他的一段短篇小说，题为“弟兄”，数年之前发表于其他刊物，最能表现他观察之尖锐及他对传统道德所持之刻薄态度。据评论家研究，事实上此文有若干自传成分。其中提及一个公务人员平日以笃于手足情谊见重于人，有朝发现他弟弟病重。在夜晚等候着医生上门诊治的时候，他心头感到如轴辘似的上下不定。他以为症象是猩红热，也害怕弟弟突然死去，自己无力资送三个孩子再搭着两个侄儿上学。医生诊断发现井非猩红热，不过是疹症，他也松了一口气。不过，夜间的紧张仍不能使他梦寐之间忘却。那晚上他梦见弟弟死去，他让自己的孩子上学而不及于侄儿。一个侄子吵着要去的时候他伸手给一个耳光。他看着侄儿满面流血而从梦中惊醒，仍不免汗流浃背，喘息未定。第二天上班，同事都恭维他骨肉情深。 李大钊也是《新青年》编辑委员，与陈独秀工作时接近。在北大他是图书馆长。李早年留学日本早稻田大学，从日本作家的笔下得与马克思思想接近。在《新青年》里，他发表了苦于关于马克思主义与俄国革命的文章。他的立场表现出当日中国知识分子所遇难关：虽有无数理论上的选择，却缺乏一个实际上的方针以解决面前的问题。李大钊于是集合中外思想予以裁剪选择，构成他自己的一种系统。不过其结果并非一种无光彩的妥协。不像陈独秀，他没有放弃民族主义或国家主义；他也预料到中国的革命会扯上一种强烈的农民运动。他不规避暴力，而认为引用暴力去推翻一个以暴力起家而且用暴力作行政根据的政权并无不合理之处。他提到民主与自由，却又用道德的名义强迫执行使之兑现，有如卢梭。在这些方面，他留给毛泽东的影响至为深重。在北大图书馆，他也雇用毛泽东为临时工作人员。 在这群思想家之间，代表美国的影响者为胡适。他毕业于康乃尔大学，获得哥伦比亚大学的博士学位，此时在北大为哲学教授。胡对五四运动主要的贡献为提倡白话文，以代替传统的文盲。他的性格和思想上的立场与以上的同事相反，他主张实用，而不主张以“主义”作标榜，因此他没有被当时青年热烈拥戴。后者多为革命之浪漫主义者，企望找到一种意识形态的公式得到立即解放。胡的实验主义（也是主义？），一部分来自其美国老师杜威（John Dewey），可以用“一点一滴”的观念概括，因之他不与同时人物的步调相符。在长远的眼光看来，胡适不能算是完全错误。中国的革命注定要采一种途径，甚至为革命家所无从预料。其问题之大超过当时已有之辞汇。如是看来，以前所用之“主义”，全部都被歪曲或伸缩。 与以前几十年比较，中国在1919年已更向前进一步。鸦片战争结束，这国家未做任何调整。即在自强运动期间向外学习，其范围也不外科技，仍限于与军备有关部分。百日维新虽然失败，维新人士至少已提议将全部政府机构一井改组。现在，五四运动知识分子的行动愈为切实。他们主张将中国文化上的因素全盘托出重新审定，必要时不惜清算，达到了中国人所可能主张之极点。我们提及“西方之冲击”（Western impact）时，只有采取宏观的立场才可能看出，以上“全取或全弃”（all-or-nothing）的反应，参观了不到时间成熟以前，技术上执行的困难。 1919年5月4日之后，事实之衍进速度提高。中国共产党于1921年7月诞生。孙中山之政党前后曾用4种不同名目，至是改称中国国民党。1924年，国民党召开第一次全国党员代表大会时，决定改组，自此其机构仿效苏联形式。苏联及共产国际（第三国际）在中国革命的过程中一时扮演了重要角色。孙执行他的联俄政策，已让中共党员个别加入国民党。一时很多青年志士或直接参与北京五四示威，或间接被五四运动感化，都奔向南方，实践着革命的道路。 第一次国共合作维持了3年多。孙中山在1925年逝世，他在中国历史中最显赫的领导人地位，经过一段明暗斗争，为蒋介石所掌握。他的北伐即开始于次年。在消灭军阀的过程中，这军事行动甚为成功，但是自1927年4月开始，蒋发动“清党”，初行于上海，不久之后，举凡国民党所统辖的城市都在拘捕枪毙共产党员，蒋总司令和国民政府以自卫为解释。他们提及共产党人阴谋从内夺取政权。共产国际甚至鼓励中共对蒋作人身伤害。中共和一部分外国人士则指摘蒋介石背信，他有了上海金融界支持，已不需苏联援助。 美国新闻记者艾萨克（Harold Isaacs）称这段分裂为“中国革命之悲剧”。这“悲剧”也可以由五四运动领导人物之出处一眼看出。李大钊为中共发起人之一，被张作霖于1927年拘捕后绞死。陈独秀也是中共发起人，并且被选为第一任秘书长。因为1927年所受的挫折，他首先被党中人士罢免秘书长，次又开除党籍，以后他更被国民党政府拘获而判徒刑，1942年因癌症死于狱中。蔡元培利用他为国民党元老的身份保障人权，防制以学生运动遂行政治目的。直到1940年去世，他一直不受南京政府（后迁重庆）欢迎。鲁迅替上海一家报纸写专栏，也在左翼作家联盟和中国自由运动大同盟里活动，却终身不离开上海公共租界，最后死于1936年，享年55岁。胡适在国民党统治下任北京大学校长，日后他的著作极受马克思主义学者的无情批判。1958年后他在台北任中央研究院院长，1962年死在任上。此外尚有五四时代的学生领袖，如罗家伦和博斯年，都在台湾以教育家的地位著称。但是20世纪中国一大哲学史家冯友兰留在大陆，受当局批判无数次。 从这剖面看来，即见问题之大非国民党或中共能全部掌握。1920年间，这大问题构成相当的压力，逼迫着中国受过教育的精英与传统分离。倘非如此，这批人士也仍会依老例以文人而任职为官僚。可是纵然如是，这种运动也方才伊始。如果要使中国能以数目字管理，所有的改造还要达至下层，影响到所有农民。即是李大钊和毛泽东有了若干从何处动手的笼统观念，此刻也无人能写成计划按步实施，也决无人能在此时梦想整个衍变竟是要将一种“商业系统”加之于下面这巨大而且混同一致的面包上去。1927年，李大钊已被绞死，周恩来刚在上海逃脱，毛泽东决定上井冈山组织武装部队。这时候，当权的人和在野反叛的人同样不能了解他们自己的行动已是以前历史之所无。热烈的马竞思主义者也只能想到从封建社会到资本主义社会，再进而为社会主义，然后完成共产主义。他们将“主义”翻来覆去，也不过希望模仿苏联或可将革命缩短，在以上程序里减省一两步。只是要从组织农民着手，这提议就已使陈独秀不能容忍。他想不开何以世界上最前进的计划可能在人类最冥顽落后的分子手中完成。这时候，即是疯狂的人也不敢预言，仅是要在中国全面行使以货币管制的方式，即先要经过蒋介石五次对红军的围剿，中共的突围长征，西安事变，八年抗战，接着又有四年内战，更还有称为文化大革命的十年乱局；即使是我们也不能想象这一切为必然。假使不把过去三个大帝国演变的程序摆在脑中的话。将一种新的组织之原则加在一个泱泱大国头上，确有愚公移山一样的困难，何况在改造过程之中这国家的人口又从当初的5亿左右增加了一倍。