Liang Qichao
Liáng Qǐchāo (梁啟超, February 23 1873 - January 19 1929), with a courtesy name of Zhuoru (卓如) and a pseudonym of Rengong (任公), was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements.
BIOGRAPHY
Early Life
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 that firmly stressed education.
Liang's father, Liang Baoying (梁寶瑛, courtesy name Lianjian 蓮澗), was a farmer who was also trained in the classics. His grandfather, Liang Weiqing (梁維清) was the first Xiucai (scholars who passed the imperial examination at the county level in the Ming and Qing dynasty) in Liang's family.
Liang's father introduced him to various literary works at the age of six. By the age of nine, Liang was writing thousand-word essays and became a district-school student soon after.
Liang passed the Xiucai (秀才) degree provincial examination at age 11. In 1884, he undertook the arduous task of studying for the traditional governmental exams. At the age of 16, he passed the Juren (舉人) second level provincial exams (the equivalent of a master’s degree) and was the youngest successful candidate at the time. The examiner, who was impressed with Liang's performance, arranged a marriage between Liang and the examiner's younger cousin, 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, inspired by the book Information About the Globe, he became interested in western ideologies. After returning home, Liang went on to study with Kang Youwei, a famous Chinese scholar and reformist, who was teaching at Wanmu Caotang (萬木草堂) in Guangzhou. Kang taught Liang about foreign affairs that fueled his interest in reforming China.
In 1895, Liang went to the capital again with Kang for the national examination. After failing to pass the examination for advocating 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 a secretary.
Family
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 individuals through Liang's strict and effective education. Three of them are scientific personnel at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Reform movements
Since Liang was unhappy with the prevalent way of life in China, he organised reforms with Kang Youwei (康有為, 1858-1927), wrote their ideas on paper and sent them to Emperor Guangxu (光緒帝, 1889-1908) of the Qing Dynasty. This movement is known as the Wuxu Reform or the Hundred Days' Reform. Their proposal declared that China was in need of more than "self-strengthening", and pushed to creating many institutional and ideological changes such as getting rid of corruption and remodeling the state examination system.
This proposal soon ignited a frenzy of disagreement and Liang soon became one of the targets wanted by Empress Cixi (慈禧太后,1835-1908), the leader of the political conservative party, and who later took over the government as regent. Cixi strongly opposed reforms at that time and along with her supporters, condemned the "Hundred Days' Reform" as much too radical.
In 1898, Liang fled to Japan as a result of the Conservative Coup. There he 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.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO JOURNALISM
As a journalist
Lin Yutang (林語堂) 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 as a "a brilliant scholar, journalist, and political figure."
Several Chinese intellectuals had also considered journalism's social role and appreciated the linkage between politics and journalism well before the May Fourth Movement. However Liang Qichao was the most influential "turn-of-the-century scholar-journalist". He pointed out newspapers and magazines can serve as an effective medium through which to communicate political ideas.
Liang's exile to Japan allowed him to freely speak his mind and exercise his intellectual talents. It is from him which stems modern Chinese journalism. He showed scholarly authority editing two premier newspapers, Zhongwai Gongbao (中外公報) and Shiwu Bao (時務報), and published his moral and political ideals in Qing Yi Bao (清議報) and New Citizen (新民叢報). In addition, he used his literary prowess to further spread his views on republicanism both in China and across the world. He became the powerful modern form of the political and cultural journalist by writing new forms of periodical journals. And journalism paved way for him to express his patriotism.
Commitment to journalistic principles
Loyalty to the Citizens: Liang asserted that the newspaper "is the mirror of society," "the sustenance of the present," and "the lamp for the future"! Furthermore, he categorized the newspaper into four types: the newspaper of an individual, of a party, of a nation, and of the world."Ultimately, his goal was to produce a "newspaper of the world", because he proclaimed, "a newspaper of the world serves the interests of all humanity."
Freedom of Expression: Liang 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" were "indeed the mother of all civilization."
Moral commitment: 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 Yi Bao, named after a student movement of the Han Dynasty.
New Citizen Journal (Xinmin Congbao)
Liang produced a widely read biweekly journal called New Citizen (Xinmin Congbao 新民叢報), first published in Yokohama, Japan on February 8th, 1902.
The journal included many different areas of topic such as politics, religion, law, economics, business, geography and current and international affairs. In the journal, he coined many Chinese equivalents for never-before-heard theories or expressions but also used it to help communicate to faraway readers, the public opinion in China. Through news analyses and erudite essays, Liang hoped that the New Citizen would be able to start a "new stage in Chinese newspaper history."
Only a short year later, Liang and his coworkers saw a change in the newspaper industry, where he remarked, "since the inauguration of our journal last year, there have come into being almost ten separate journals with the same style and design."
Liang Qichao was the chief editor, and 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.
Role of the Newspaper
As one of the pioneers of Chinese journalism at that time, Liang believed in the "power" of newspaper, especially its influence over government policies.
Newspaper & Magazine as a tool in communicating Political ideas: Liang perceived journalism's social role and supported the idea of a strong relationship between politics and journalism before the May Fourth Movement. He believed that newspapers and magazines should serve as an essential and effective tool in communicating political ideas and determined that newspapers did not only act as a historical record, but were also a means that would help "shape the course of history."
Press as a weapon in revolution: He also thought that the press was an "effective weapon in the service of a nationalist uprising." 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 has set the tone for the first generation of newspaper historians of the New Culture Movement.
Newspaper as an educational program: Besides, 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."
For example,Liang wrote a well known essay during his most radical period titled "The Young China." and published in his newspaper Qing Yi Bao on February 2, 1900. The essay established the concept of the nation-state and argued that the young revolutionaries were the holders of the future of China. This essay was influential on the Chinese political culture during the May Fourth Movement in the 1920s.
Weak Press: However, Liang thought that the press in China at that time 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 there was a lack of roads and highways that made it hard to distribute newspapers." Liang felt that the prevalent newspapers of the time were "no more than a mass commodity." He criticized that those newspapers "failed to have the slightest influence upon the nation as a society."
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.
Historiographical thought
Influence: 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 shaped the ideas of democracy in China, significantly using his writings as a medium to combine Western scientific methods with traditional Chinese historical studies. Liang's works were strongly influenced by the Japanese political scholar Kato Hiroyuku (1836 -1916), who used methods of social Darwinism to promote the statist ideology in Japanese society. Liang drew from much of his work and subsequently influenced Korean nationalists in the 1900s.
For Liang, the major flaw of "old historians" (舊史家) was their failure to foster the national awareness necessary for a strong and 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, but also indicated the rise of modern historical consciousness among Chinese intellectuals.
Stages: 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 visions of history. The second stage emerged in the 1920s, especially with the publication of Liang’s Methods for the Study of Chinese History.
During this period of Japan's challenge in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), Liang was involved in protests in Beijing pushing for an increased participation in the governnance by the Chinese people. It was the first protest of its kind in modern Chinese history. This changing outlook on tradition was shown in the historiographical revolution (史學革命) 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 New History (新史學), launching attacks on traditional historiography.
Translator
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.
Philosophy works: After having escaped Beijing and after the government crackdown on anti-Qing protesters, Liang studied the works of Western philosophers of the Enlightenment period, namely Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Hume and Bentham, translating them and introducing his own interpretation of their works. His essays were published in a number of journals, drawing interest among Chinese intellects who had been taken aback by the dismemberment of China's formidable empire at the hands of foreign powers.
Western social and political theories: In the early 20th century, Liang Qichao played a significant role in introducing Western social and political theories into Korea, such as Social Darwinism and international law. Liang wrote in his well-known manifesto, New People (新民說):
- 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.”
Poet and novelist
Liang advocated reform in both the genres of poem and novel. Collected Works of Yinbingshi 《飲冰室合集》 are his representative works in literature which were collected and compiled into 148 volumes, the reason for which he styled himself as Yinbingshi Zhuren (飲冰室主人), which literally means Host of Yinbing Room.
Liang also wrote fictions, which included Flees to Japan after failure of Hundred Days of Reform (1898) and On the Relationship Between Fiction and the Government of the People(論小說與群治之關係,1902). These novels emphasized modernization in the West and the call for reform.
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, introducing Western learning and ideology, and making 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 in producing their own literary works. His students have included Xu Zhimo, renowned modern poet, and Wang Li, an accomplished poet and founder of Chinese linguistics as a modern discipline.
Liang Qichao died of illness in Beijing at the age of 57. His writings were compiled into 148 volumes, known as Collected Works of Yinbingshi 《飲冰室合集》.
Publications
- The Construction of New China
- The Learning of Mohism (墨子學案)
- The Philosophy of Laozi
- The History of Buddhism in China
- Chinese Academic History of the Recent 300 Years (中國近三百年學術史)
- History of Chinese Culture
- Introduction to the Learning of the Qing Dynasty
