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 chinese scholars for a generation with his writigs 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.
Liang Qichao died of illness in Beijing at the age of 57. A Buddhist ceremony was performed for him, and his writings were compiled into 148 volumes.
BIOGRAPHY
Family
Liang Qichao was born in Xin Hui county in Guangdong province. Liang had two wives in his life: Ms. Li Huixian (李惠仙) and Ms. Wang Guiquan (王桂荃). They brought nine children to Liang; all of them became successful people through Liang's strict and effective education. Liang died from illness on January 19,1929.
Education
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 (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 (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).
In 1890, Liang failed his 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.
Reform movements
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-chao 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.
LITERARY CAREER
As a traditional Confucian scholar and at the same time a reformer, Liang Qichao contributed to the reform in late Qing by writing various articles interpreting non-Chinese ideas of history and government, intending to stimulate Chinese citizens' minds to build a new China. In his writings, he argued that China should protect the teaching of Confucianism, and learn from the successes of Western political life rather than just Western technology. His works were collected and compiled into 148 volumes.
Historiographical thought
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.
Journalist
see Contributions to Journalism below.
Poet and Novelist
He advocated the reform in both the fields of poem and novel. "Collected Work 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 doas 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.
Publications
- The Construction of New China
- The Learning of Mohism
- The Philosophy of Laozi
- The History of Buddhism in China
- Chinese Academic History of the Recent 300 Years
- History of Chinese Culture
- Introduction to the Learning of the Qing Dynasty
CONTRIBUTIONS TO JOURNALISM
As a Journalist
Liang's exile to Japan may very well have been a blessing in disguise because it allowed Liang to freely speak his mind and exercise is intellectual talents. It is from him which stems the modern Chinese journalism. He showed scholarly authority editing two premier newspapers, Zhongwai jiwen and Shiwu bao, and published his moral and political ideals in Qing-I pao and Xinmin Congbao. In addition, he used his literary prowess to further spread his views on republicanism both in China and across the World. He turned the great tradition of the politically committed literary man into the powerful modern form of political and cultural journalist by writing new forms of periodical journals. Journalism paved way for him to express his patriotism.
Liang produced a widely read biweekly serial called Xinmin Congbao (新民叢報), (also known as the New Citizen) a biweekly journal, which was first published in Yokohama, Japan on 8th, February 1902. The journal enjoyed immense success, and circulation gradually rose to more than 9000, while distribution points grew to nearly 100 in China, Japan, and elsewhere. Liang Qi-chao was the Chief Editor, who spread his notions about democracy. The journal was published without hindrance for five years, but eventually ceased in 1907 after 96 issues. Its readership was estimated to be 200,000.
Committment to Journalistic Principles
Loyalty to the Citizens: Lin Yutang once called Liang "the greatest personality in the history of Chinese journalism", while Joseph Levenson, author of Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and the Mind of Modern China, described Liang to be "a brilliant scholar, journalist, and political figure." Liang asserted that the newspaper "is the mirror of society," "the sustenance of the present," and "the lamp for the future"!
Freedom of Expression: Furthermore, he declared, "How great is the force of the newspaper! And how grave is the duty of the newspaper!" Liang also believed that the "freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press" are "indeed the mother of all civilization."
Moral committment: Liang, as a historian and a journalist, passionately believed that both careers must have the same purpose and "moral commitment", as he proclaims, "By examining the past and revealing the future, he will show the path of progress to the people of the nation." Thus, he founded his first newspaper, called the Qing-I Bao, named after a student movement of the Han Dynasty, reminding us that a sense of historical roles informed early journalism.
Influential Effects
As one of the pioneers of Chinese journalism at that time, Liang believed in the "power" of newspaper, especially its influence over government policies. Liang was determined that newspapers did not only act as a historical record, but also a means that would help "shape the course of history." In Liang's words, the newspaper is a “revolution of ink, not a revolution of blood.” He wrote, "So a newspaper regards the government the way a father or elder brother regards a son or younger brother — teaching him when he does not understand, and reprimanding him when he gets something wrong." Undoubtedly, his attempt to unify and dominate an exploding and highly competitive press market in China at that time has set the tone for the first generation of newspaper historians of the New Culture Movement.
Liang was well aware that the newspaper could serve as an "educational program", and said, "The newspaper gathers virtually all the thoughts and expressions of the nation and systematically introduces them to the citizenry, it being irrelevant whether they are important or not, concise or not, radical or not. The press, therefore, can contain, reject, produce, as well as destroy, everything." However, Liang thought that the press in China was considerably weak, not only due to lack of financial resources and conventional social prejudices, but also because "the social atmosphere was not free enough to encourage more readers, and beacuse lack of roads and highways made it hard to distribute newspapers." Liang perceived journalism's social role and supported the idea of a strong relationship between politics and journalism before the May 4 Movement. He believed that newspapers and magazines should serve as an essential and effective tool in comminicating political ideas.
Liang QiChao wrote a well known essay from his most radical period titled "The Young China." This was published in his newspaper Qing-I Pao on February 2, 1900. The essay is written in comparison with an old man of ill health, establishing the concept of the nation-state. He argues that the young revolutionaries are the holders of the future of China. This essay was influential on the Chinese political culture during the May 4 Movement in the 1920s.
Educator
In the late 1920s, Liang retired from politics and taught at the Tung-nan University in Shanghai and the Tsinghua Research Institute in Peking as a tutor. He founded Chiang-hsüeh she (Chinese Lecture Association) and brought many intellectual figures to China, including Driesch and Tagore. Academically he was a renowned scholar of his time. He introduced the western learning and ideology, and made extensive studies of ancient Chinese culture.
During this last decade of his life, he also wrote many books documenting Chinese cultural history, Chinese literary history and historiography. He also had a strong interest in Buddhism and wrote numerous historical and political articles on its influence in China. While adding to his own collection of articles, Liang influenced many of his students to produce their own literary works. Wang Li, a founder of Chinese linguistics as a modern discipline and accomplished poet, was a student of Liang Qichao.