Liang Qichao: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:01, 9 October 2004

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[[Image:Liang-Qichao.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Liang Qichao (Tung Wah News, 17 April 1901)]]

'''Liáng Qǐchāo''' (梁啟超, [[February 23]] [[1873]]-[[1929]]), with a courtesy name of ''Zhuoru'' (卓如) and a [[pseudonym]] of ''Rengong'' (任公), was a Chinese [[scholar]], [[journalist]], [[philosopher]] and [[reformist]] in the [[Qing Dynasty]] (1644-1911) who inspired chineseChinese scholars for a generation with his writigswritings and reform . He styled himself as ''Yinbingshi Zhuren'' (飲冰室主人), which literally means the ''Host of Yinbing Room''.

Liang shaped the ideas of [[democracy]] in [[China]], significantly using his writings as a medium to advocate his views. Having been in favor of Western ideas of freedom and the rights of the people, he put together Western scientific methods with traditional Chinese historical studies. Liang's works were strongly influenced by the Japanese political scholar Kato Hiroyuku (1836 -1916). He was inspired by Kato's methods of using social [[Darwinism]] to promote the [[statist]] ideology in the Japanese society. Liang drew much of his work and subsequently influenced Korean nationalists in the 1900s.

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[[Image:Guangdongmap.gif|thumb|right|Map of Guangdong Province - Liang Qichao's place of birth. Source: ibiblio.org]]

Liang Qichao was born in Xinhui (新會), [[Guangdong Province]] on February 23, 1873. He lived in a small village as part of a lower class gentry family, who firmly stressed education. Liang's father, Liang Pao-ying, introduced him to various literary works at the young age of six. By the age of nine, Liang was writing thousand-word essays and became a district-school student soon after, he passed the Xiucai ''[[Xiucai]]'' (秀才)]] degree provincial examination at 11. In 1884. Liang undertook the arduous task of studying for the traditional governmental exams, and passed his Juren ''[[Juren]]'' (舉人)]] provincial exam (2nd level exams), which was equivalent to a Master’s degree at 16 and was the youngest successful candidate at the time. The examiner, who was impressed with Liang's performance, arranged a marriage between Qi-chao and his younger sister Ms Li Huixian (李惠仙).

[[Image:F061.gif|frame|right|Liang Qichao in his youth]]

In 1890, Liang failed his Jinshi ''[[Jinshi]]'' (進士)]] degree national examinations in Peking and never earned a higher degree. However, from the book 'Information About the Globe' he learned that there was western learning too. So after returning home, Liang went on to study with [[Kang Youwei]], who was teaching at ''Wan-mu-ts'ao t'ang'' in Canton. Kang taught Liang about foreign affairs and fueled his interest in reforming China.

In 1895, he went to the capital again with Kang for the national examination, where they initiated among the scholars of Guangdong and Hunan Provinces a memorial to the imperial court against signing the humiliating Shimonoseki Treaty with Japan. After his failure to pass the examination for avocating reform in his paper, he stayed in Beijing to help Kang in publishing the "Domestic and Foreign Information" and organizing the Society for National Strengthening in which he served as secretary.

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In 1895, he organised reforms with another Chinese scholar, [[Kang Youwei]] (康有為, 1858-1927), by writing their ideas on paper and sending to the [[Emperor Guangxu]] (光緒帝,1889-1908) of the Qing Dynasty. This significant movement is called the "[[Wuxu Reform]]" (戊戌變法). With the agreement of Emperor Guangxu, they carried out a political reform in 1898, which later became known as the "[[Hundred Days' Reform]]" (百日維新).

After the failure of the reform, he was one of the criminals wanted by Empress ''[[Cixi]]'' (慈禧太后,1835-1908), who was the leader of the political conservative party and opposed reforms at that time. Liang Qi-chaoQichao therefore escaped to [[Japan]] and continued to advocate democratic notions and reforms actively by using his writings to raise support for the reformers’ cause among overseas Chinese and foreign governments.

In 1898, he was exiled to Japan as a result of the Conservative Coup.

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=== Historiographical thought ===

[[Image:Liang's_former_residence.jpg|thumb|Liang's former residence in XinHuiXinhui, Guangdong province. Source: [http://www.my0750.com/wuyi/wuyi_photoa.htm 1] ]]

Liang Qichao’s [[historiographical thought]] represents the beginning of modern Chinese historiography and reveals some important directions of Chinese historiography in the twentieth century. Liang’s historiographical thought can be divided into two stages. First, Liang’s 1902 “New Historiography,” published in his New Citizen Journal, emphasized scientific, Enlightenment, and evolutionary vision of history. The second stage emerged in the 1920s, especially with the publication of Liang’s Methods for the Study of Chinese History.

By the end of the nineteenth century, China had failed to respond to Japan's challenge in the [[Sino-Japanese War]] (1894-95). Serious suspicions were thrown on tradition and a critical attitude toward the past was encouraged. This changing outlook on tradition was shown in the [[historiographical revolution (shijie geming)]] launched by Liang Qichao in the early twentieth century. Frustrated by his failure at political reform, Liang embarked upon cultural reform. In 1902, while in exile in Japan, Liang wrote his Xin shixue (New history), launching attacks on traditional historiography. For Liang, the major flaw in the traditional historical practice-- — he called it that of "old historians" (jiu shijia)-- — was its failure to foster the national awareness necessary for a strong, modern nation. He argued that history must show human progress and its causes. Liang's call for new history not only pointed to a new orientation for historical writing in China, it also indicated the rise of modern historical consciousness among Chinese intellectuals.

Besides, in the early 20th century, Liang Qichao played a significant role in the introduction into Korea of Western social and political theories, such as [[Social Darwinism]] and international law. The famous phrase from Liang Qichao’s well-known manifesto, Xinminshuo (New People), - “Freedom means freedom for the group, not freedom for the individual. (…) Men must not be slaves to other men, but they must be slaves to their group. For, if they are not slaves to their own group, they will assuredly become slaves to some other” - can be seen as the best succinct definition of the East Asian Social Darwinism’s general attitude towards the problem of the relationship between an individual and his collective.

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=== Poet and Novelist ===

He advocated the reform in both the fields of poem and novel. "Collected WorkWorks of Yinbingshi" （《飲冰室合集》） is his representative work in literature. His works were collected and compiled into 148 volumes.

===Translator===

''First, let scholars of the country master Western languages from childhood; second, have books written by Westerners translated into Chinese—books that are of practical use to us. Failure to do either will get us nowhere. To realize the first goal, however, we will have to wait for a decade before we are able to see any tangible result. Yet, if we doasdo as suggested in the second proposal, then, once a book is published, every aspiring scholar in China will benefit from it.''

-— Liang Qichao, 1897

Liang was head of the Translation Bureau and advocated the training of students to translate Western works into Chinese. He believed that this task was "the most essential of all essential undertakings to accomplish" because Westerners were successful - politically, technologically and economically.