As a representative of the Reform Movement of 1898, Tan Sitong's influence is self-evident. When Tan Sitong was young, he never wanted to retreat from the high-spirited state. Later, political reform failed. So in the end, his political reform failed, and he had no choice to escape. On the contrary, he is a man willing to carry out bloody political reform.
Tan sitong said:? Political reforms in other countries are bloody, and so are political reforms in China. Please start with Tan Sitong. ?
So generous and calm, obey the law with death.
In the eyes of our descendants, Tan Sitong is indomitable and fearless, and this fearless spirit can fully deserve the title of a gentleman. Therefore, although Tan Sitong failed, he is still a hero in most of our hearts.
However, it is such an indomitable spirit hero, and some people say that he is a disaster for the country and the people. What is the reason? Let's learn more about it today.
Tan Sitong claimed to be a reform, but it was actually a revolution.
Is that why Tan Sitong is here? Reform? He died of failure, so people turned the people who participated in this reform into reformists, and Tan Sitong was labeled as reformists. But in fact, we don't know much about Tan Sitong, and Tan Sitong is more like a revolutionary. Just because of the situation, he can only take a step back and join Kang Youwei in Liang Qichao's reform activities.
But there is a big difference between reformists and revolutionaries.
For example, in terms of objectives, the reformists want to make the country reform smoothly through peaceful improvement, carry out reforms from top to bottom, and establish a constitutional monarchy. However, revolutionaries should use revolutionary means to establish bourgeois democracy and state.
What Tan Sitong actually wants to do is to completely break the situation of the old aristocratic rule in Qin Dynasty and carry out an out-and-out political reform movement, just like Shang Yang in Qin State.
The reason why he can't be deeply understood as a revolutionary is that he has never had the real power to organize such a revolution, so he can only temporarily rely on reformists to carry out the reform movement.
Besides, Tan Sitong's attitude towards the Qing government was quite different from that of the reformists. Reformists want stability, but Tan Sitong, who leans towards revolutionaries, is more radical. Even when the political reform was unfavorable, he once wanted to launch a coup to kill Empress Dowager Cixi.
It can be seen that Tan Sitong's thought is biased towards revolutionary theory.
However, as a revolutionary, Tan Sitong was called a disaster for the country and the people because his thoughts were radical and criticized. For example, Tan Sitong looked down on the traditional stereotyped writing in Qing Dynasty, so he refused to take part in the imperial examination. But he got his official position by buying an official, so Tan Sitong's behavior made those literati look down upon it at that time.
For example, during the Reform Movement of 1898, Tan Sitong did not know how to proceed step by step, but advocated the abolition of the imperial examination system directly across the board. This move made those students who studied hard all day suddenly have no way to be promoted, which led to the situation that scholars opposed the reform from the beginning to hate it.
In addition, in the reform movement, the first measure was to oust all conservative court officials. I have to say that such a measure is really ridiculous. So many officials were dismissed by the court at once, and political turmoil in the ruling and opposition parties was inevitable.
Officials and scholars are often the leaders of a country, standing at the highest level. Their opposition will inevitably lead people all over the world to disagree with their actions. Therefore, although the subjective will of the Reform Movement was good, it was too radical, which led to the resistance of too many classes.
And Tan Sitong also got a bad reputation.
Disaster for the country and the people, Tan Sitong's thought of selling land
Perhaps, some measures in Tan Sitong's previous political reform can't really identify him as a person who brought disaster to the country and people. After all, his initial intention was good, but when Tan Sitong was arrested, a searched letter made people's evaluation of Tan Sitong decrease continuously.
The letter reads:? Today's China is very weak, owing too much money, and subject to world powers. Tan Sitong proposed to sell China, Xinjiang, Mongolia and other marginal provinces to Russia in order to get enough economy and pay off debts. The other part can be used to maintain the needs of political reform. Similarly, the Qing court can also use the extra money to ask Russia and other countries for asylum for ten years, which is enough to make the Qing court's political reform and reform movement flourish. ?
Seeing the contents of such letters, people can't help but lower their evaluation of Tan Sitong again. The development of the Reform Movement was precisely due to the failure of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, and the Qing government ceded land for compensation, which caused great protests among the people.
However, when Tan Sitong came, he thought about land sales compensation.
The original Xinjiang was painstakingly recovered by the left self-raised military funds, and the process was not difficult. Although the Qing Dynasty once paid compensation for the loss of land, it was also because of the helpless choice of defeat.
In this way, these behaviors of the Qing Dynasty also caused many protests among the people. However, Tan Sitong came here and put forward the idea of selling land for money. In our opinion, Tan Sitong is undoubtedly a traitor.
Tan Sitong wanted to relieve the pressure and pay off the government's debts to all countries in the world at one time, so he came up with the idea of selling land, even saying that he could sell it now and buy it back later. I have to say that Tan Sitong is still naive in this respect.
Tan Sitong thought that after paying off the debt, there would be no pressure from all over the world and he could concentrate on dealing with the domestic reform movement. I have to say, it's a little taken for granted. How can countries around the world allow the Qing government to carry out stable political reforms?
It was Tan Sitong's idea to sell land, so he is now called the existence of disaster for the country and the people by some of us.
Tiger skin seeks tiger and invites foreign forces to participate in state affairs.
In addition to the above, Tan Sitong even discussed with Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and asked Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen to participate in the political affairs of the Qing Dynasty, leaving China's internal affairs and diplomacy to the Japanese to take care of.
And this is one of the reasons why he criticized it.
I have to say that Tan Sitong's idea is even more whimsical. It is inconceivable to invite political officials from other countries to contribute to their own country. I would like to ask, is such a foreign government official beneficial to China or to our own country?
The result must be self-evident.
If this is really done, it will actually hand over the power of the whole Qing Dynasty to foreign forces and be trampled upon by others. Such mindless behavior, it is really hard for us to imagine that this was conceived by the righteous Tan Sitong. It's hard to say in the past, but now Tan Sitong's proposal must be despised and spurned.
Tan sitong's intentions are good. When the country was in danger, he was angry and dedicated, trying to change the weak situation of the country. He even shouted out when he was executed? If you want to kill a thief, you have no choice but to die a fair death. Is it fast? The slogan is gripping, gripping and worthy of the title of indomitable spirit. But because of his series of improper actions, many people hate him from love, which is really sad.