After Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, the western capitalist countries entered the stage of imperialism, and the demand for foreign aggression became capital export and world division. In order to oppose foreign aggression, the people of China launched a vigorous Boxer movement, and the Qing government attempted to use the Boxer to resist foreign aggression. Britain, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, the United States, Austria, Italy and other countries jointly launched a war of aggression against China in order to suppress the resistance struggle of the China people and force the Qing government to yield. This war suppressed the resistance struggle of the people of China, forced the Qing government to yield completely, and signed the Treaty of Sorrow and Ugliness with eleven western countries, which plunged China into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal abyss. Since then, the Qing government has completely become a tool for imperialism to rule China.
After the "Xin Chou Treaty" entered the stage of imperialism, capital export became the same requirement for foreign aggression of western capitalist countries. In the process of invading China, we met with strong resistance from the people of China. Therefore, the western capitalist countries realized that it was necessary to strengthen their control over the Qing government to ensure their aggressive interests in China. Therefore, after Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing in 1900, eight aggressor countries and Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands 1 1 forced the Qing government to sign the "Xin Chou Treaty". This treaty further strengthened the imperialist rule over China, which indicated that the Qing government had completely become an instrument of imperialist rule over China, and also marked the formation of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in China.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Qing government became a tool for imperialist countries to invade China, the national crisis in China deepened, and the ranks of bourgeois intellectuals further expanded. All these have promoted the widespread dissemination of democratic revolutionary ideas and the extensive establishment of revolutionary groups. In order to unify the revolutionary forces and further clarify the objectives, at the initiative of Sun Yat-sen, the first bourgeois revolutionary party in China, China League, was established in Tokyo on August 20, 1905 on the basis of the Zhong Xing Society and the Huaxing Society, in conjunction with the Guangfu Society. Its establishment marks a new stage of China's democratic revolution. "Since then, the revolutionary tide has surged and its progress has been unexpected."
After the "New Deal" in the late Qing Dynasty 1900, the imperialist countries' aggression against China intensified, anti-oppression and anti-aggression armed uprisings surged all over the country, the bourgeois revolutionary movement developed rapidly, and the Qing government's rule was in jeopardy. In order to maintain its rule, the Qing government began to implement the "New Deal" from 190 1. A series of measures adopted by the "New Deal" are beneficial to the development of Chinese national capitalism to a certain extent. But in the face of the emerging revolutionary form, the "New Deal" can't help the rulers to tide over the crisis.
After the establishment of Huanghuagang Uprising Alliance, a series of armed uprisings were launched one after another, which promoted the development of the national revolutionary situation. The "New Deal" of the Qing government and the bankruptcy of preparing for constitutionalism further exposed its decadent nature. Under the planning of Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing, 19 10 On April 27th, a large-scale anti-Qing uprising led by Huang Xing broke out in Guangzhou. Although the uprising failed, it promoted the development of the national revolution and accelerated the demise of the Qing government.
See before Wuchang Uprising
At the end of the Revolution of 1911 (19) and the beginning of the 20th century, imperialism stepped up its aggression against China, and the national crisis in China became increasingly serious. The bankruptcy of the "New Deal" further exposed the decadent nature of the Qing government. During this period, Chinese national capitalism developed rapidly, and the bourgeoisie strongly demanded to get rid of imperialist aggression and feudal oppression. The people's struggle against imperialism and feudalism is surging. In order to save the national crisis and develop capitalism, the bourgeois revolutionary party set off an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal bourgeois democratic revolution, which was called "Xinhai Revolution" in history. The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the feudal monarchy for more than 2,000 years, adopted a series of revolutionary measures, promoted the development of capitalist economy, established the Nanjing provisional government with bourgeois and national characteristics, and promulgated the provisional constitution with bourgeois and national characteristics, so that the concepts of democracy and harmony were deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Emperor Yuan Shikai of Hongxian stepped up the restoration of monarchy after suppressing the Second Revolution. In order to gain the support of imperialism, he wantonly betrayed national sovereignty and accepted "Article 21". Imperialism also actively supported Yuan Shikai to expand the interests of aggression. 19 16, Yuan Shikai became the emperor of the "Chinese Empire" and changed his name to "Hong Xian". Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor was unpopular and was unanimously opposed by the whole country. The revolutionaries launched a movement to defend the country, but Yuan Shikai's suppression was ineffective and he was forced to announce the abolition of the monarchy on March 22, 2006. On June 6, Yuan Shikai died of depression.
After the failure of the Revolution of 1911 in the New Culture Movement, imperialism deepened its aggression against China by supporting Beiyang warlords, and China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society continued to deepen. During the First World War, capitalism in China developed further. In order to develop capitalism better, the bourgeoisie strongly demanded the implementation of democratic politics in China. Western enlightenment was further spread in China, and the Revolution of 1911 made the idea of democracy and harmony deeply rooted in people's hearts. However, Yuan Shikai also promoted the concept of respecting Confucius and restoring ancient ways in the cultural field. Influenced by western ideas of freedom, equality and fraternity, progressive intellectuals, such as Chen Duxiu, founded New Youth in Shanghai on 19 15, put forward the slogan of democracy and science, and started the anti-feudal struggle in the ideological and cultural field-the New Culture Movement. It shook the dominant position of feudal thought, liberated people's thoughts unprecedentedly, promoted the development of natural science in China, and played a role in propaganda and mobilization in the outbreak of the May 4th Movement. The socialist ideology spread in the later period was accepted by advanced intellectuals in China as an ideological weapon to save the country and transform society.
Research on Confucian political thought
( 1900— 19 19)
During this period, there were two peaks in the discussion of Confucian political thought. First, the political figures of the Reform Movement of 1898 "discussed politics by classics"; First, for the bourgeois revolutionaries, by criticizing Confucius, the theoretical basis of feudal political thought was removed.
Kang Youwei is the representative of bourgeois reformists and the leader of the Reform Movement of 1898. His three most famous works, A Test of New Learning and Pseudo-Classics, A Test of Confucius' Reform and Datong Book, all contain rich political connotations, and all discuss the political thoughts of Confucianism.
At that time, to carry out political reform, it was necessary to break the superstition of "the law of ancestors cannot be changed", crack down on the feudal political forces of "observing the teachings of ancestors", distinguish the rationality of political reform and emancipate the people's minds. In this situation, Kang Youwei adopted the method of "discussing politics through discussion", that is, using the old form of Confucian Jinwenjing to give play to the new content of bourgeois political reform and reform. From the standpoint of Confucian Classics, he pointed out in Textual Research that Shi Mao, The History of Ancient Literature, Yili and Zuoshi Chunqiu were all forged by Liu Xin at the end of the Western Han Dynasty for the political need of "assisting the mang to usurp the Han Dynasty". It is not the true scripture of Confucius at all, but the "new learning and false scripture" serving the new dynasty of Wang Mang. Therefore, Kang Youwei declared: "Reading" Years of Warmth in 2000 "will gather millions of people to ask questions, unify the strictness of the royal ceremony and music system in the 20th century, and regard the apocrypha as a sacred law" (Preface to the New Learning of Apocrypha). Kang Youwei denied and attacked many things, including Confucianism since the Eastern Han Dynasty and Neo-Confucianism of Cheng and Zhu. He denied the important theoretical basis on which Confucian political thoughts depended-Confucian classics, which prompted people to doubt feudal orthodox political thoughts.
Kang Youwei asserted that later Confucianism was not the true face of Confucianism. So, what is Confucius' face like? He believes that the purpose of Chunqiu is to reform the system, while the spirit of Yijing is to change. These two spirits are highly summarized as "keeping pace with the times", which is the true spirit of Confucius' theory. Kang Youwei reshaped the image of Confucius in an all-round way through the book "Examination of Confucius System Reform". He believes that the Six Classics is actually a work of Confucius to express his political ideal for "reform" under the guise of the deeds and remarks of the ancients, and it is full of "whispers" of "reform". In Kang Youwei's works, Confucius is no longer a conservative saint who "does not keep his word, but does what he does", but has become a "reform leader" who is determined to change. Kang Youwei also believes that Confucius "believed in Yao and Shun" in the Six Classics in order to "pursue democracy and peace" and make Confucius become a democratic politician again. He also said that "applying for human rights before the majesty of the emperor, alienating the nobility, equality" and parliamentary democracy are the true meaning of Confucius' way. On some occasions, he simply declared that the true spirit of Confucius' Tao and governance was directly reflected in the western bourgeois political system. He said: "Confucius system is used in foreign countries" ("Ten thousand mu of thatched cottage talks about the king system"). He also said: "Taixi was founded from the beginning to the end, emphasizing the school and the way to protect, support and teach the people." The house is open to the public, the monarch is not very respectful, and the people are not very cheap. The use of utensils by people in the previous dynasties was all in line with my experience "("The First Lecture of the National Assembly of Jingshibao "). Kang Youwei said that Confucius' political thoughts were all endowed by him, and he was "ruling the classics with his own views".
Kang Youwei's theory of politics by classics is subjective and arbitrary, but his discussion of Confucian political thought is of great significance to ideological emancipation. As Liang Qichao said: "What is the merit of the South China Sea? It also liberates people's thoughts from the shackles of the past two thousand years, makes them dare to doubt, and guides people to enter the freedom of thought "(On the General Trend of China's Academic Thought Change, the third section of Modern Academics, contained in Dining Room Collection and Anthology).
In a word, Kang Youwei adopted the method of "six classics note me" when discussing Confucian political thought, which was extremely arbitrary. He failed to find the foundation of realizing China's modernization in Confucian political thought. In this way, his exposition cannot be scientific, and there is no academic vitality. Therefore, Kang Youwei's exposition of Confucian political thought is mainly not academic, but political propaganda.
Generally speaking, the discussion of Confucian political thoughts by reformers during the Reform Movement of 1898 can be divided into two stages. In the previous paragraph, represented by Kang Youwei, he wanted to explore Confucian political thoughts in the way of putting new wine in old bottles and establish a modern neo-Confucianism. The latter is represented by Liang Qichao and Yan Fu. They were obviously different from Kang Youwei's deification of Confucius, but began to actively clean up and openly criticize Confucius and Confucian political thoughts.
Liang Qichao's attitude towards Confucius and Confucian political thoughts has changed obviously. At the beginning, I followed Kang Youwei's respect for Confucius and imitated Kang Youwei's "excuse for restructuring". He once thought that in primitive Confucianism, "although there is no house name, there is a house" ("An Examination of Ancient Houses in Reform" is contained in one of the Collection of Dining Rooms). Liang Qichao took Mencius' "people-oriented" thought as an intermediary, and demonstrated that the Confucian policies of benevolence, king and forbearance were close to the political system of Thailand, a western country. After Liang Qichao crossed the sea to Japan, he was widely exposed to western learning, his ideological level was further improved, his attitude towards Confucian political thought changed, and he publicly criticized Confucius' political activities and political thoughts. He wrote: "With Confucius, the great sage, we only gained political power and less slaughter. ..... is not an abuse of power, but a thief of freedom of thought and speech "(on the general trend of China's academic thought reform, the heyday, the fourth section, one of the anthology of drinking ice room)? In Liang Qichao's works, Confucius became a thief who restricted people's freedom of thought. He also believes that the biggest drawback of Confucian political thought lies in maintaining feudal political hierarchy and absolute monarchy. He said, "Confucianism is strict and equal. It attaches importance to order and puts those who take measures and apply them under the sovereignty. ..... is most suitable for the emperor to control the people, so the bully steals it and uses it to rule the world. " He also said: "The biggest shortcoming of Confucianism is to speak for the monarch, not for the people" (On the general trend of China's academic thought reform and the era of Confucian unification in the fourth section of the Collected Works of the Drinking Room).
Liang Qichao's exposition of Confucian political thought is the most academic among the reformers, which pushed the reformers' exposition of Confucian political thought to a new stage. His History of Pre-Qin Political Thought was published in 1923. Although this book has exceeded the time limit set by us, we still discuss it here because of its great influence in academic circles.
Liang Qichao's History of Political Thought in the Pre-Qin Period divides the political thought in the pre-Qin period into Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and Legalism. He pointed out that Confucius, the ancestor of Confucianism, was "ruling by courtesy", advocated "educating people", ideal was "benevolent government", means was "self-cultivation" to improve personal personality, and "ruling by man" was "ruling the world". Mencius further advocated the theory of moral supremacy, implemented benevolent policies to protect the people and opposed utilitarianism; Xunzi, on the other hand, paid attention to social life and people's livelihood.
Liang Qichao put forward some very important ideas in the history of pre-Qin political thought. For example, he pointed out that the so-called "contention of a hundred schools of thought" by pre-Qin thinkers did not return to politics. And "China's academic research focuses on the principles and laws of human secular life. Thinkers at all times and all over the world have concentrated on all kinds of problems in this respect and made use of today's language, that is, the problems contained in life philosophy and political philosophy. The works of any Sect of Gai, whenever, are attributed to this. " He also summed up the characteristics, shortcomings and advantages of China's academic and pre-Qin philosophers. For example, Liang Qichao profoundly analyzed the Confucian thought of rule of etiquette and pointed out that "home politics" actually led to the close combination of Confucian politics and ethics.
However, there are also many fallacies in the discussion of political thought in the History of Political Thought in Pre-Qin Dynasty. For example, China has socialism since ancient times; China advocated that "everyone is equal before the law except the head of state" two thousand years ago. This is still along the road of Kang Youwei's criticism of "attaching the ancients with modern new theories", and its conclusion is bound to be wrong.
During the Reform Movement of 1898, Yan Fu was the first to criticize Confucian political thinkers. He is not deeply influenced by China's traditional culture, but he has a deep cultivation in western political thought. In this respect, Yan Fu is superior to other reformist thinkers. In China's modern ideological and political history, Yan Fu pointed the finger at "Six Classics and Five Scholars" for the first time (these five scholars are Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhang Zai and Zhu). He wrote: "Today, please speak openly for the public-can you speak frankly?" Four-thousand-year-old cultural relics belong to the Central Plains of Wan Li. As for the extreme, its education is non-academic. Not only Ying Zheng and Reese are the culprits, but also the six classics and five sons are responsible for their words. Won, Li, Ling born a villain, six classics and five sons bound the world with a gentleman "("On Salvation "). During the Reform Movement of 1898, Yan Funeng pointed his finger at the Six Classics and Five Children, and his thoughts were radical. At the same time, Yan Fu launched a fierce criticism of the feudal monarchy, pointing the finger at Han Yu, a master of Confucianism, and wrote a paper "Pi Han" with sharp writing.
Chen Yinque has a saying: "The quitter is also a person who carries forward the past and brings forth the new in the cultural and academic history of the Tang Dynasty." Han Yu not only entered the Confucian Temple, but also had a great influence on Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Based on the latter, Chen Yinque made the above comments. In Confucianism, Han Yu is a representative figure who openly defends feudal absolutism. He advocated that "people can't make millet and hemp, can't make utensils, and let money and things be in charge, so they will be punished." The reformists criticized the Confucian political thought in a roundabout way, basically under the banner of respecting Confucius. Yan Fu used the "contract theory" of the western bourgeoisie as a weapon to explain the relationship between the monarch, the subjects and the people and the emergence of the monarchy from the bourgeois point of view. He sharply refuted Han Yu's fallacy that "in ancient times, there were many harms to human beings, and then he taught each other the ways of life and upbringing. He believed that the monarch was elected by the ancient people for the same interests." Because "the monarch can't rule alone, so he is a minister and makes him do what he orders." Thus came a monarch and a country. Yan Fu draws a conclusion from this: First, monarchs, ministers, punishments and soldiers are all born out of the needs of the people, not born. "The relationship between a monarch and a minister is established out of necessity." Second, it is the "God who is sensitive to the world". This concept was first put forward by Yan Fu in the history of China's political thought. He believes that "the people are more expensive than the monarch" is "the universal significance of ancient and modern China and foreign countries." Third, the task of the monarch and his ministers is to "hoe strong straws" and "prevent harm" for the people. "If you can't hoe strong straw for the people, it's no use not to let them suffer. I can't do it, the prevention order has passed. " Although Yan Fu's exposition is an idealistic historical view, he completely reversed the relationship between monarch, subjects and people in Confucian political thought, and dealt a heavy blow to monarchy, which is of great enlightenment significance. Therefore, the article "Bi Han" was warmly praised by the reformists, while the feudal conservative forces regarded it as a scourge. Zhang Zhidong specially ordered people to write "Bi Han Refutation" to fight back.
The ideological and cultural movement during the Reform Movement of 1898 was an epoch-making turning point in the history of China's thoughts, and it was an enlightenment thought. In this movement, the ideological criticism was directed at Confucianism, so there was a climax of discussing and criticizing Confucian political thought. However, this kind of criticism mostly adopts the method of "discussing politics by classics", under the banner of "respecting Confucius", stealing the beam and replacing the column, denying some fundamental things of Confucius and Mencius, and making it deformed and deteriorated. It was not until the early 20th century that the bourgeois revolutionaries stepped onto the historical stage that the modern struggle to criticize Confucius appeared in an open form. Among them, pushing Zhang Taiyan is the most influential. Zhang Taiyan appeared as a "learned revolutionary" among the bourgeois revolutionaries, and his works Dingkong and Scholars were the sharpest words that stripped Confucius of his sacred cloak and profoundly criticized Confucius' thoughts at that time.
Zhang Taiyan divided the academic schools before the mid-Western Han Dynasty into nine schools according to Liu Xin's seven schools, and investigated the origin, development and evolution of each school one by one. He pointed out: "The so-called hundred schools of thought scholars are not limited to Zhou and Qin, but later generations can also be included, but they must be mainly Zhou and Qin." Say it again; Only Zhou and Qin philosophers, who traced back to ancient times, imitated others, found their own way and did not cite anything to attach themselves to. Zhang Taiyan not only completely reversed the sacred image of Confucius established by traditional scholars for two thousand years, but also gave full play to the viewpoint of "respecting Confucius and belittling Confucius" and pulled Confucius out of the sacred palace to be equal to other philosophers. Zhang Taiyan severely criticized Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for his "exclusive respect for Confucianism" and believed that "after Hanwu, Confucius must be respected. Although we should speak loudly, we must take Confucius as our ancestor. A strong quotation is arrogance. The more harmonious it is, the more it loses its authenticity. The more you attach yourself, the more you violate your own explanation. " He pointedly pointed out that later Confucianism would inevitably derive its own theories from Confucius, but in fact, they were all "arrogant and arrogant". Zhang Taiyan's criticism of "leading philosophers to seize the position of Confucius and Mencius" undoubtedly excavated the ancestral grave of China's feudal political thought.
Zhang Taiyan also criticized Confucius morally. He has repeatedly pointed out: "The biggest stain of Confucianism is that people have not got rid of the idea of wealth." "Confucius is the most timid. Although I want to compete with the nobility, I dare not unite with the common people and overthrow the aristocratic regime "(speech at the welcome meeting for overseas students in Tokyo, selected works of Zhang Taiyan, Zhonghua Book Company, 1977 edition, p. 272). He also accused Confucius of the golden mean, saying that "the so-called golden mean is the will of the country, which is better than the will of the rural people." He asserted: "With the virtue of Confucianism, everyone who has no hard work is willing to take risks" (Scholars). Zhang Taiyan's criticism of Confucius' morality is linked with revolutionary activities and political thoughts. He said: "Today, we will carry out revolution and advocate civil rights. If we are mixed with a little wealth, it will be harmful to the whole body like ants and molds, so Confucianism is absolutely not available "(ibid., p. 273). In Zhang Taiyan's view, whether the bourgeoisie is carrying out revolution or exercising civil rights, it must not use Confucian political thoughts.
In short, at the beginning of the 20th century, some revolutionaries criticized Confucius and Confucianism, which marked the deepening of bourgeois liquidation feudalism and the new awakening of China's ideological circle. It was the forerunner of criticizing Confucius on a large scale during the May 4th Movement, and it was of great significance in the history of China's thoughts.
During this period, radical democrats represented by Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and others also severely criticized Confucius and Confucianism, and we will combine them in the next stage.