100 Books That Influenced China
"The Warning Bell"
"When will I wake up from a thousand-year dream? Who will sound the alarm bell in my sleepy land"
"If we want to reject foreigners, we can only advocate revolution and independence." This is a famous quote put forward by Chen Tianhua in the book "Warning Bell". During the preparation period for the Revolution of 1911, Chen Tianhua wrote a large number of works to promote the revolution, among which "The Warning Bell", "Looking Back" and "The Lion's Roar" are the most famous. Chen Tianhua's anti-imperialist and patriotic thoughts left an indelible impression on people. In a conversation with his American friend Edgar Snow in 1936, Mao Zedong recalled the impact that reading a book about revolution in his youth had on him: "This book talked about Japan's occupation of Korea and Taiwan...
After reading it, I felt depressed about the future of the country and began to realize that everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country." (See "The Journey to the West") This book by Mao Zedong was popular for a while. "Warning Bell".
Chen Tianhua (1875-1905), also known as Xingtai, Sihuang and Guoting, was a native of Xinhua County, Hunan. His father, Chen Shan, was a poor village school teacher. In 1901, when the news came that the "Xin Chou Treaty" was signed, which was humiliating and humiliating the country, Tianhua was deeply saddened and determined to travel east to Japan to find a way to save the country. In March 1903, 29-year-old Chen Tianhua, funded by Xinhua Industrial Middle School, went to Japan as a government-sponsored overseas student. After arriving in Japan, he studied at the Normal Department of Tokyo Hongbun College. In the autumn of 1903, Tianhua saw that the motherland's "sovereignty was lost and its rights and interests were gone", so he wrote "A Warning Bell". At the end of that year, Tianhua returned to Changsha, Hunan, and organized the Huaxing Society revolutionary group with Huang Xing.
In 1904, after the failure of the Changsha Uprising, Tianhua went to Japan again and studied at Hosei University in Tokyo. In 1905, Tianhua participated in the Tongmenghui initiated by Sun Yat-sen and participated in the formulation of the "Military Government Declaration", "Revolutionary Strategy" and other documents.
At that time, the Qing government secretly colluded with the Japanese government in an attempt to suppress revolutionary activities. In November 1905, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology promulgated a "Rule for Banning Qing and Korean Students." This prompted more than 8,000 students studying in Japan to go on strike in protest. However, because the protest struggle failed to achieve unity at that time, Tianhua was worried about the situation and decided to die to warn the people. Late at night on December 7, after he left nearly 3,000 words of "Death Words" and other texts, he threw himself into the sea and died for his country in Omori Bay, Tokyo, early the next morning. He was 31 years old.
When Chen Tianhua wrote "The Warning Bell" with revolutionary passion in the autumn of 1903, in view of the situation at the time, he did not sign his real name and marked the title with the words "Latest News Vernacular Speech" The inscription is "The people of China are crying bitterly". "Warning Bell", the whole book is about 23,000 words, divided into 30 natural paragraphs. It begins with this seven-character poem:
When will I wake up from a thousand-year dream? Who will sound the alarm in my sleepy land?
The bloody storm is hard for me, so I can bear to give it away!
The turmoil is overwhelming, and the ground is full of blood;
The infinite pain of sharing the same boat is offered to the compatriots to listen to.
In an era when classical Chinese was popular, Tianhua boldly used vernacular, and "Warning Bell" appeared in the form of rap literature, which was also a valuable move to change customs. At the beginning of the article, the author exclaimed that the tragic scene of the country's destruction and family destruction was coming: "Ah! Ah!
It's coming! It's coming! What's coming! The foreigners are coming! It's not good! No! Okay! Everyone is fine! From now on, the cattle and sheep in the foreigners' livestock pens will be killed and cooked as they please. Alas! It’s the day of death for all of us!” “It’s hard! It’s hard! It’s hard! All the money and property that our compatriots have accumulated through hard work will be taken away by foreigners; our loving wives, children, and children will be torn apart by foreigners... Guns The rain of fire and gunfire is the death of our compatriots; the dark prison is the refuge of our compatriots. The great country has become a world of dogs and sheep; ...Oh! How sad!" How sobering! So, why is China facing such a national crisis? The author clearly points out that the root cause lies in the corruption of the Qing Dynasty.
The author also uses a large number of historical facts to point out that China, this fat piece of meat, is being surrounded by a pack of jackals, tearing and swallowing it. China has been carved up and divided; the Manchurian government has become a "foreign court" . The fundamental problem that the Qing government had become a "foreign court" was something Chen Tianhua first pointed out publicly.
It was truly "earth-shattering." The emergence of this view immediately had a huge impact among patriots and formed a new consciousness - anti-feudalism must be anti-imperialist.
What should we do in the face of aggression by foreign powers? With ardent patriotism, the author categorically points out that we must unite as one to kill the enemy: "It's okay if the foreign soldiers don't come. If the foreign soldiers come, everyone should be more courageous. Don't be afraid of him. Those who read, put down their pens, The plowmen laid down their rakes, the businessmen laid down their duties, and the craftsmen laid down their tools. Together they sharpened their knives, took medicine, and drank a cup of blood wine together. They shouted and shouted, and everyone came forward. , Kill the foreign devils, kill the Ermaozi who surrendered to the foreign devils. If the Manchus help the foreigners to kill us, kill all the Manchus first; if those thief officials help the foreigners to kill us, kill all the thief officials first. Kill all your enemies before you stop! "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill my new enemy, kill my traitor." He also quoted some examples from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, of the few defeating the many and the weak defeating the strong to boost the morale of the people across the country. He also urged that in order to get rid of the title of "Sick Man of East Asia", all citizens must pay attention to physical exercise. Because to resist the enemy, one must have a strong body, superb skills and the courage to serve the country.
In order to save China, Tianhua sincerely warned everyone of ten things to know: First, "You must know that the disaster of partition is not only the destruction of the country, but also the fire." Second, "You must know that all countries are divided. After conquering China, the Manchu government will definitely still be left to suppress the Han people.” Third, “It must be noted that as of today, we can no longer talk about preparations to save the country. Only by fighting hard can we save China.” Fourth, “It must be noted that there are too many people at this time. The more people die, the more people can be saved in the future." Fifth, "The most important thing to understand is the word race." Sixth, "Everyone has a share in the country. You must not ignore it at all." Let him do whatever he wants." Seventh, "You must know that if you want to reject outsiders, you must first learn from their strengths."
Eighth, "If you want to strengthen yourself, you must first get rid of your own shortcomings." Ninth, " It must be noted that we must use civilization to exclude foreigners and not use barbarism.” Tenth, “It must be noted that this cause of xenophobia has no time.”
The author also puts forward ten pieces of advice: First, I advise officials to be cautious. Serve the country with all your loyalty. Second, I advise those who serve as soldiers to sacrifice their lives for justice. Third, I would like to advise the nobles of aristocratic families to destroy their families and help them out of trouble. Fourth, I would like to advise scholars who know how to speak and act when necessary.
Fifth, I advise wealthy people to be willing to spend money. Sixth, I advise the poor to spare no effort and not be afraid of losing their lives. Seventh, I advise the old and new parties to put aside their opinions and resist foreign aggression. Eighth, I advise friends in the world to contact each other. Ninth, we advise religious people to focus on patriotism. Tenth, I advise women to also want to save the country.
At the end of the book, Chen Tianhua said impassionedly: "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up quickly! Wake up quickly! Don't sleep like a dead person. Compatriots! Compatriots! Although I know what I love most My dearest compatriots, I have never heard of this truth in the past. Once I hear it, my patriotic heart will definitely develop, and I will definitely be responsible for saving the country. If there is no turning back, we, the Han people, will definitely be able to build a very complete country that spans five continents. I dare to say to my compatriots: Long live the Han people! Long live China!"
Chen Tianhua is the dream of the Chinese people who have not yet awakened. On this occasion, the bell ringers rose up to hit the great bell that warned the world. In his works, he paid attention to absorbing and carrying forward the patriotic ideas of modern progressive thinkers such as Lin Zexu, Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan. Therefore, he dared to fight and was good at fighting in the face of imperialism. What made Chen Tianhua smarter than ordinary bourgeois revolutionaries at that time in dealing with the issue of imperialism was that he had a more concrete and profound understanding of imperialism, so he loudly called for a resolute struggle against imperialism. The China League did not put forward a clear program against imperialism, but Chen Tianhua held high the anti-imperialist banner and charged forward. This was commendable at the time.
In terms of how to solve the problem of China’s future, should we adopt reformist means or revolutionary means? Tianhua advocated using revolutionary means to overthrow the decadent Qing Dynasty, because the Qing Dynasty had become a "foreign court" and a tool for foreign powers to invade China.
It can be seen that Tianhua’s anti-imperialist and anti-Qing thoughts played a great role in awakening the Chinese nation at that time. He is truly a pioneer of China’s bourgeois democratic revolution and an outstanding propagandist. home; at the same time, he is a patriotic and progressive thinker.
Of course, Chen Tianhua’s thoughts and activities, like the advanced figures of his generation, have their own era and class limitations. Such as the racist ideas in "The Warning Bell" and the fact that it has not and cannot comprehensively combine anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism.