We have all heard of the "letter on the bus", which is about this past event:

In the spring of 1895, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Kang Youwei and The candidates from each province were in Beijing to participate in the Yiwei Science Examination. While they were waiting for the results to be announced in Beijing, news of Japan's Shimonoseki negotiations suddenly came, saying that Japan would pay 200 million taels of silver and would also cede Taiwan and Liaodong.

As a result, Kang Youwei was filled with righteous indignation. He drafted a petition to Emperor Guangxu, and then organized more than 1,200 people in Beijing to jointly sign a petition to oppose the Treaty of Shimonoseki. , suggested that the war with Japan should continue, which is the so-called "moving the capital and fighting again."

Oil painting about letters on the bus

Kang Youwei’s "Letter from the Emperor" spread throughout the capital. However, When Kang Youwei went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to submit this petition on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the Metropolitan Procuratorate refused to accept it. The reason given to him by the Metropolitan Procuratorate was that Emperor Guangxu had already stamped the Treaty of Shimonoseki. .

This is the famous "letter on the bus" incident.

However, the interesting thing is: this period of history is actually watery. Kang Youwei exaggerated this matter and seriously distorted its true nature.

First of all, the historical narrative of the "Writing on the Bus" incident that we know comes from "My History" written by Kang Youwei himself. His narrative has been used for a long time. Inside, no one exposed it, and many people believed it to be true. However, paper could not contain the fire after all. Many years later, with the efforts of many historians to restore, the truth of Kang Youwei's boast was finally exposed.

Kang Youwei is dishonest

Without further ado, Lao Feng is simple and rude, using the most understandable words to describe this. Let me tell you the truth:

Fact 1: Kang Youwei did draft a petition to the emperor, but only 80 people signed it, not what Kang Youwei boasted in "My History" 1,200 people.

Fact 2: Kang Youwei was not the only person who drafted the petition in Beijing at that time, but there were many people. For example, there was a person from Guangdong named Chen Jinghua who also wrote He also organized a joint signature in Beijing and collected 289 signatures for his petition, which was much more than the 80 signatures collected by Kang Youwei.

Fact 3: At that time, senior officials of the imperial court, represented by Weng Tonghe, Li Hongzao, and Wang Mingluan, also drafted petitions. There were many memorials to the imperial officials, at least 35 of them. Some officials also collected signatures from provincial governors in Beijing. This petition organized by Beijing officials was successfully delivered to Emperor Guangxu's case, and had a much greater influence than Kang Youwei's "petition."

Fact 4: Kang Youwei said in "My History" that on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, he went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to submit a petition. The Metropolitan Procuratorate said that the emperor had already signed a contract and refused to accept it. This statement is inconsistent with the Qing Dynasty archives. The Qing Dynasty archives show that the Metropolitan Procuratorate still accepted and forwarded the Juren petition on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. On that day, the Metropolitan Procuratorate forwarded the petition to Hubei, Jiangsu, Henan, and Zhejiang. There were eight batches of petitions from seven provinces including Shandong, Shuntian, Shandong, and Sichuan, with as many as 324 signatories. However, Kang Youwei's petition was not among them.

Fact Five: The truth of the matter is: Kang Youwei did not submit it at all. Why didn't you submit it? Because he heard internal news that the emperor had agreed to the terms of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" and that the matter was hopeless, so he didn't bother to submit it.

This is the truth of history.

Kang Youwei's "My History", the source of the narrative of "Writing on the Bus"

Okay, having said that, let's simply To summarize:

Summary 1: Kang Youwei did organize a petition, but there were only 80 signatories. Out of vanity, Kang Youwei wrote in his "History of My Life" "In ", 80 people are boasted into 1,200 people.

Summary 2: Kang Youwei was not the only one who drafted the petition in Beijing at that time, but there were many people. Moreover, there were not only petitions from civil officials, but also from the Qing government However, Kang Youwei only mentioned his own petition in "My History" and did not mention the petitions of other people at all. In other words, he deliberately magnified his own actions and suppressed the actions of others that were more influential than he was.

Summary 3: Kang Youwei did not submit the petition signed by 80 people. In other words, essentially, he didn't write a letter.

Reference materials:

Mao Haijian's "Research and Supplement to "Letter on the Bus""

Kang Youwei "My History"

Huang Zhangjian "Research on the History of the Reform Movement of 1898"

Mao Haijian "History of the Reform Movement of 1898" "Shi Kao"

Kang Youwei's "Self-Compiled Chronicle"