Liang Qichao

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Reform Movements

Liang Qichao（Courtesy：zhou ru；Pseudonym：ren gong）（1873-1929）was a Chinese scholar，journalist，philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty（1644-1911），who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements.He died of illness in Beijing at the age of 55.

As an advocate of constitutional monarchy，Liang was unhappy with the governance of the Qing Government and wanted to change the status quo in China.He organised reforms with Kang Youweiby putting their ideas on paper and sending themto Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty.This movement is known as the Wuxu Reform or the Hundred Days’Reform.Their proposal asserted that China was in need of more than“self-strengthening”，and called for many institutional and ideological changes such as getting rid of corruption and remodeling the state examination system.

This proposal soon ignited a frenzy of disagreements，and Liang became a wanted man by order of Empress Cixi，the leader of the political conservative party 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 being too radical.

In 1898，the Conservative Coup ended all reforms and exiled Liang to Japan，where he stayed for the next fourteen years of his life.In Japan，he continued to actively advocate democratic notions and reforms by using his writings to raise support for the reformers’cause among overseas Chinese and foreign governments.In 1899，Liang went to Canada，where he met Dr.Sun Yat-Sen among others，then to Honolulu in Hawaii.During the Boxer Rebellion，Liang was back in Canada，where he formed the“Save the Emperor Society”.This organization later became the Constitutionalist Party which advocated constitutional monarchy.While Sun promoted revolution，Liang preached reform.

As a Journalist

Liang Qichao was the“most influential turn-of-the-century scholar-

journalist，”according to Levenson.Liang showed that newspapers and magazines could serve as an effective medium for communicating political ideas.

Liang，as a historian and a journalist，believed that both careers must have thesame purpose and“moral commitment.”Thus，he founded his first newspaper，called the Qing Yi Bao，named after a student movement of the Han Dynasty.

Liang’s exile to Japan allowed him to speak freely and exercise his intellectual autonomy.During his career in journalism，he edited two premier newspapers，Zhongwai Gongbao and Shiwu Bao.He also published his moral and political ideals in Qing Yi Bao and New Citizen.

In addition，he used his literary works to further spread his views on republicanism both in China and across the world.Accordingly，he had become an influential journalist in terms of political and cultural aspects by writing new forms of periodical journals.Furthermore，journalism paved the way for him to express his patriotism.

Literary Career

Liang Qichao was both a traditional Confucian scholar and a reformist.Liang Qichao contributed to the reform in late Qing by writing various articles interpreting non-Chinese ideas of history and government，with the intent of stimulating Chinese citizens’minds to build a new China.In his writings，he argued that China should protect the ancient teachings of Confucianism，but also learn from the successes of Western political life and not just Western technology.Therefore，he was regarded as the pioneer of political friction.

Liang shaped the ideas of democracy in China，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 Hiroyuki（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.

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.

For Liang，the major flaw of“old historians”was their failure to foster the national awareness necessary for a strong and modern nation.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.

During this period of Japan’s challenge in the First Sino-Japanese War（1894-1895），Liang was involved in protests in Beijing pushing for an increased participation in the governnance by the Chinese people.It was the first protest ofits kind in modern Chinese history.This changing outlook on tradition was shown in the historiographical revolution 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 New History，launching attacks on traditional historiography.

Translator

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

Poet and Novelist

Liang advocated reform in both the genres of poem and novel.Collected Works of Yinbingshi are his representative works in literature which were collected and compiled into 148 volumes.

Liang also wrote fiction and scholarly essays on fiction，which included Fleeing to Japan after failure of Hundred Days’Reform（1898）and the essay On the Relationship Between Fiction and the Government of the People（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-hstieh 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 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.Liang influenced many of his students in producing their own literary works.They included Xu Zhimo，renowned modern poet，and Wang Li，an accomplished poet and founder of Chinese linguistics as a modern discipline.