How did Liang Qichao's thoughts change greatly after his trip to Europe?

Changes of Qi Chao's Thoughts on Yue History in His Later Years

Zhang Yue

Liang Qichao's historical thought changed obviously in his later period. This is not only related to his own retirement from politics to specialize in academics, but also related to the direct influence of the social and political situation and academic thoughts in the West at that time. At the same time, this is also an inevitable reflection of China's academic circles at the beginning of accepting new western theories. Liang Qichao's historical thoughts are changeable, but the characteristics of patriotism and active absorption of new western theories remain unchanged.

Liang Qichao's historical shadow plays an important role in historical development.

Keywords Liang Qichao/History/Historical Thought/Liang Qichao/History/Historical Thought

Text From the publication of "Historical Narrative of China" in 190 1, Liang Qichao gradually turned his energy to historiography until 1929, when he died, and made great achievements in historiography. Liang Qichao's historiography created a new atmosphere of China's historiography. He is not only a pioneer and implementer of "new historiography" trend of thought, but also one of the most important figures in promoting the transformation from traditional historiography to modern historiography. Known as "a great historian who pays equal attention to theory and practice" and "a modern historian with both talent and knowledge" [1]. If we take the European travel notes from the end of 19 18 to the end of 1920 as the boundary, the development process of Liang Qichao's historical thought can be divided into two stages: the early stage and the late stage. Liang Qichao's historical thought has undergone significant changes in the early and late stages. This paper intends to make a preliminary discussion on the reasons for this change.

I. Changes of Liang Qichao's Historical Thought 19 At the end of this year, with the publication of The Theory of Evolution introduced by Yan Fu, the theory of evolution was introduced to China, and Liang Qichao became one of the most active receivers and disseminators of the theory of evolution. He is convinced that "all phenomena that can be seen by human intelligence cannot be penetrated by evolution" [2] (one of the collected works, P 106). Changes and evolution of political and legal system; The development and evolution of religious morality; Customs and habits are constantly changing and developing. Thousands of years of history, evolutionary history; Wan Li's era, the era of evolution is also "[2] (the sixth episode, P 1 15).

The view of evolutionary history formed the theoretical basis of Liang Qichao's early historiography thought, and it was also one of the internal reasons why he paid special attention to historiography and proposed the establishment of "new historiography" from then on. 190 1 year, Liang Qichao published China Historical Narrative; The following year, New History was published. With this as a symbol, a new historical trend of thought began to appear in China's historiography circle. Under the guidance of the theory of evolution, Liang Qichao's definition of historiography is: "Historians describe the phenomenon of evolution"; "Historians describe the phenomenon of human evolution"; "Historians are people who describe the phenomenon of human evolution and seek its axioms" [2] (P7- 10, the ninth episode). For the first time in the history of Chinese historiography, historical research is regarded as a process of seeking human evolution and development and obtaining its axioms. He particularly emphasized: "Historians use the past evolution to guide the future evolution." "History! Shi Hu! The responsibility is great and the achievement is difficult. No wonder there were no real historians in China before. There are no real historians, which is one of the reasons why our country has evolved slowly. I am willing to open this road with my compatriots. " [2] (the ninth series, P 1 1) Look at objective history from the perspective of evolution, explain the recorded history, and then realize the important role of the development of historiography in historical development, and closely combine historiography with reality.

Therefore, Liang Qichao regarded the role and function of historiography as extremely important. At the beginning of New History, it was clearly pointed out: "Historians, the most extensive and important scholars, are also the mirrors of the people and the source of patriotism. Today, European nationalism is so developed and the country is so civilized, and historiography contributes half of it. However, if there is ignorance in the country, there will be disunity in national security and non-evolution in group security. " [2] (one of the collected works, P 1) The role of historiography is so, then, "Today, I want to advocate nationalism, so that my 40 million compatriots can stand up firmly in this world of survival of the fittest." Then the history of our country is really a subject that should be engaged in regardless of age, youth, sex, wisdom and virtue, and it is urgent to treat it as hunger and thirst. He lashed out at the old historiography and called for "if there is no revolution in historiography, then our country will have no hope, and everything will be long, but it is great." [2] (Collected Works 6, P7) Depending on the importance of historiography, it can be seen that Liang Qichao's early historiography carried out patriotic thoughts and was closely related to politics. From the social background at that time, it can be found that Liang Qichao and others mainly intended to serve politics, and Liang's main energy was to engage in political activities. The theoretical basis of Liang Qichao's historical thoughts such as "new historiography" and "historical revolution" is evolution theory. It is the historical thought guided by the view of evolutionary history that he put forward a series of brand-new opinions in many aspects and established a preliminary theoretical framework for new historiography.

From the end of 19 18 to the end of 1920, Liang Qichao traveled around Europe, personally felt the western cultural atmosphere, directly understood the development of western academics, and got in touch with different western philosophical schools and various historical viewpoints. After returning to China, he began to doubt his once-convinced view of evolutionary history, and then denied the causal relationship in historical development, which led to changes in his historical thoughts in the first and second half of his life.

1922, Liang Qichao's book China Historical Research Law was published. The book begins with a new definition of historiography: "What is a historian? Describing the continuous activities of human society, checking its total achievements and finding its causal relationship are also a reference for the activities of modern ordinary people. " Specifically: first, the main body of the activity; The second is the continuous activities of human society; Third, the overall achievement of the activity and its causal relationship; The fourth is the reference of modern social activities. Compared with his view that history is defined as "the mirror of the people and the source of patriotism" in the New History, the change is very obvious.

1922, Liang Qichao delivered a speech entitled "Several Important Issues in the Study of Cultural History", which was marked as "Repairing and Revising the Historical Research Law of Old China", which should be the result of his further thinking on related issues. This article is not long, but the questions raised are very targeted: 1. What is the maximum efficiency of applying inductive research methods in history? Second, is there a causal law in history? Third, are historical phenomena evolutionary? In this article, he questioned the axiom and causality in historical evolution. He said: "Mencius said:' The world has been born for a long time. Once it is cured, it will be chaotic. "This sentence can be said to represent the old historian's concept of * * *. I have never liked this sentence (I remember several articles in the New People's Congbao severely refuted him 20 years ago) because it is incompatible with the theory of evolution I believe in. But recently, I dare not insist. Let's have a look calmly. Is the history of China for thousands of years circulating in chaos? Not only China, but also the whole world. [2] (Collected Works, Volume 40, P5) Liang Qichao, who really lost his mind, also made many changes to the original proposal of "new historiography". For example, in the New History, history is defined as "the most extensive and important person in learning, the mirror of the people and the source of patriotism", while in the first chapter "Significance and scope of history" of the China Historical Research Law, history is defined as "the person who records the continuous activities of human society, corrects its total achievements and obtains its causal relationship, so as to serve as a reference for the activities of modern ordinary people. Soon, on several important issues in the study of cultural history, he denied the causal relationship in historical development, overemphasized the difference between history and natural science, and thought that natural science was seeking "* * * phase" and history was seeking "no * * * phase", which were just the opposite. In fact, the nature of history and natural science cannot be completely equated after all. We should treat this problem dialectically and distinguish it conditionally. But Liang Qichao made them absolute, and instead went to the opposite side of truth.

Second, the reasons for the change of Liang Qichao's historical thought. The change of Liang Qichao's historical thought has caused many discussions among later generations, including critics, approvers and comprehenders. I think Liang Qichao's transformation is subjectively related to his withdrawal from politics and his specialization in academics. At the same time, objectively speaking, the change of his historical thoughts, especially his doubts and confusion about the concept of evolutionary history, is not only the inevitable reflection of China academic circles at the beginning of accepting the new western theories, but also the direct influence of the western social and political situation and academic thoughts on Liang Qichao at that time.

Judging from Liang Qichao himself, before he went to Europe, his main energy and activities were in the political field. Most of his thoughts and ideas are political, and his works and speeches are closely related to politics. As he said, "My career in the past 20 years has been political." "My exploration of knowledge is too thin to be regarded as an ideal system of unification, which has opened up a new path for Chinese studies; I am even more superficial. I have been to the country for a long time, but I can't refer to all the information about social undertakings without the actual society. But I like to talk about politics and politics. Although I am not without words, I have a sword and a lamp, and everything belongs to politics. " [2] (collected works 33 P5 1-52) From this perspective, Liang Qichao's propaganda of the concept of evolutionary history and the writing of historical works such as China's historical narrative and new historiography all have strong political purposes, among which his strong criticism of traditional historiography is greater than his political passion. In other words, his historical thought is difficult to be objective because of its political nature. On the one hand, his "new historiography" thought is groundbreaking and critical, and the significance of China's historiography should be fully affirmed; On the other hand, it is not systematic and constructive.

After Liang Qichao retired from politics, the situation was very different from before. His main energy began to focus on academics, followed by politics. "From now on, all political groups should be suspended except for studying or discussing with two or three peers" [2] (collected works 33, P53-54). This is the most important change in Liang Qichao's life history. From then until his death, Liang Qichao spent most of his time writing and giving lectures. From politics to academics, from politicians to scholars, Liang Qichao not only had a different understanding of politics and academics, but also changed his historical thoughts.

Among all kinds of knowledge, Liang Qichao attaches great importance to historiography, that is, as Lin Zhijun said: "If you know who is a public official, you will know that although you learn a lot, those who are inherently self-disciplined must be in historiography." [3](P3) Liang Qichao, a politician-turned-scholar, made a comprehensive and systematic study of history. He is interested in exploring and writing in China's general history, China's academic history, China's cultural history, China's Buddhist history, Chinese historiography history and other fields, with a view to perfecting his "new historiography" system. It was in this process that Liang Qichao thought deeply about the historical view and methodology, which resulted in the change of the evaluation of traditional historiography from total negation to selective regression, the redefinition of the purpose and nature of historiography, and the suspicion of observing and explaining historical phenomena with evolutionary historical view and causal law.

At the same time, when he personally felt the social status quo in the west and actually came into contact with various ideas and viewpoints popular in the western academic circles at that time, the confusion that followed was the objective reason for Liang Qichao's later ideological transformation. In this regard, we can analyze it from the following two aspects.

First of all, the introduction of the concept of evolutionary history is refreshing and eye-opening, but it doesn't mean that we have truly understood the new western theories comprehensively. Faced with all kinds of western ideas, you may feel at a loss when you have no time to compare, digest and learn from them for quite some time. Liang Qichao is famous for being good at accepting new ideas and having the courage to deny himself. He learned about Neo-Kantian theory and Bergson's "philosophy of life" in Europe, and realized the difference between history and natural science. Considering the characteristics of human's free will and intuition, he came up with the idea of seeking the basic characteristics of evolutionary history such as "axiom" and causality. This reflects the confusion and vacillation caused by the lack of profound grasp, accurate understanding and comprehensive understanding of various western ideas when accepting western theories, which can be regarded as the price paid in the process of exploring the road of combining Chinese and western academics.

Secondly, it should be noted that at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, the main theme of China at that time was to save the country and survive, which was patriotism. Liang Qichao and others think that western civilization is advanced, and as long as we learn from the west, we can enrich Qiang Bing. However, after arriving in Europe, Europe was in a depression after World War I, and the ideological field was filled with pessimism. Liang Qichao witnessed and personally felt all this. It turns out that the advanced goal of learning is not like this, which makes him pessimistic and confused. Liang Qichao's view of evolutionary history can't explain this phenomenon, which also shows the limitations of the view of evolutionary history and shows that it was difficult to adapt to the needs of the times in many aspects at that time. Therefore, he did not hesitate to overthrow the viewpoint of evolutionary history that he had vigorously advocated, and frankly admitted that the viewpoint of evolutionary history could not satisfactorily explain and explain history.

The change of Liang Qichao's thought and viewpoint reflects a basic phenomenon in the process that China historians accepted western historiography and began to devote themselves to the combination of Chinese and western historiography around the May 4th Movement. Liang Qichao's transformation, as far as he is concerned, is of course related to his acceptance of western theories. He has not formed a formed theory, but through this phenomenon, we can still see the positive factors. First of all, it urges people to understand western society and civilization more comprehensively and realize that everything in the west is not perfect, so they can treat it with a critical attitude. Secondly, through the previous understanding, people are encouraged to review and reflect. It is inappropriate to completely deny traditional culture. We should look at tradition more objectively and our cultural heritage with new eyes. Xu Guansan pointed out: "The growth experience of Ren Gong's new historiography happened to be a dialectical process from superstitious western learning to choosing good, from deviating from tradition to selecting the best." [1] This is indeed a very pertinent evaluation. If Liang Qichao acted as a warrior in criticizing the old historiography in the early stage, he was an outstanding builder in establishing new historiography and creating a new situation in modern historiography in the later stage. He made great contributions to China's historiography in the transitional period with his rich historical research achievements. Liang Qichao, as an explorer, actively absorbed and accepted advanced western academic thoughts and dared to deny the spirit of self, which is worthy of recognition.

Thirdly, Liang Qichao's fickleness and impetuousness is an obvious feature of his scholarship. Although he is often polluted by people for this reason, in a sense, it cannot be said that this is one of his strengths. As he once analyzed himself: "I often feel that I have failed in my study, and I am worried about it." I have been looking for it for decades. " ..... Qi Chao's study has not been decided. [2] (Series 34, P66) Liang Qichao changed because he constantly denied himself in academic research, because his status and situation were different, and because he accepted western learning more extensively and deeply, which he himself did not deny. However, we must also see that in some major aspects, he has always adhered to the end and remained unchanged.

The most obvious is the patriotism that runs through Liang Qichao's historical thought. In his early works, Liang Qichao strongly emphasized that historiography is "the mirror of people-oriented and the source of patriotism" and regarded historiography as an important tool to stimulate patriotic enthusiasm and strengthen the country and enrich the people. In his later works, he still takes it as his duty to expound the excellent heritage of national culture and eulogize the spirit of self-improvement of the Chinese nation. For example, he wrote in "New History": "Do you want to advocate nationalism today, so that my 40 million compatriots can stand up firmly in this world of survival of the fittest? Then the history of our country is really a subject that should be engaged regardless of age, youth, sex, wisdom and virtue, and it is urgent to treat it as hunger and thirst. " [2] (Collection 9, P7) He wrote works such as The Death of Poland and The History of Vietnamese National Death, aiming at alerting the Chinese people and avoiding repeating the same mistakes; He also wrote biographies of Zhao Wuling and Yuan Chonghuan to arouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the people of China. In the later period, Liang Qichao's patriotic enthusiasm for historiography did not diminish at all, but only made a scientific analysis and demonstration from an academic point of view. The Ethnic Studies in the History of China, written in 1920, defines the concepts and relations of "ethnic group", "race" and "nationality" in detail, describes the formation and development process of the Chinese nation with the Han nationality as the main body, and holds that: "First, the Chinese nation is a very complicated and consolidated nation; Second, this complex and consolidated nation was formed at a huge cost; Third, this nation will never decline in the future, and it is possible to expand. " [2] (album 42, P3 1-32) The article also refutes the wrong remarks made by foreign scholars at that time about the Chinese nation's "speaking from the west" and "speaking from the south". Zhang Yinlin believes that Liang Qichao's later period "is a period devoted to the study of history, and there is a tendency to learn for learning. But it is almost impossible to forget the country and the people, which will damage his life. " [4] Liang Qichao's later academic works, whether it is an overall exposition of China's historical research or a systematic construction of historical theory, carry forward the excellent heritage of traditional historiography and establish a new type of China's historiography, are its main purposes. He is in favor of seeking truth in historiography, but he never forgets that the purpose of seeking truth is to apply the world, and always regards patriotism and inspiring national spirit as the most basic connotation of his historiography thought.

It is also the unchangeable feature of Liang Qichao's historiography to actively absorb and learn from the theories and methods of western historiography and combine western theories with China's historiography. As early as the Reform Movement of 1898, he combined western evolutionism with China's traditional theory of Ram III, emphasizing that human history evolved from low to high. Since then, based on the theory of evolution, the idea of "new historiography" has been put forward. Liang Qichao was deeply dissatisfied with the "disadvantages of peddling, piecemeal, general, superficial and wrong" in the import of western learning since the late Qing Dynasty, and criticized "foreign students who are retro, deeply responsible for the country" [2] (special collection 34, P72). During his travels in Europe, he actively studied western historiography theories and methods, with the main purpose of trying to learn from western historiography in order to establish a new historiography system in China. From this perspective, his Historical Research Law of China (1922) and China Historical Research Law Supplement (1926) can also be regarded as attempts to combine Chinese and Western historiography. China's historical research method focuses on "the collation of objective data" and "the innovation of subjective ideas", and declares that "the history circles in Europe and America in recent centuries and decades are oriented in these two directions." [2](73 series, P 1) The Supplement to China's Historical Research Law aims to make up for the shortcomings of the former, "paying attention to theoretical explanation" and "special history research", [2](99 series, P 1) to explore the relationship between history and other disciplines. From form to content, it is refreshing, easy to understand and far-reaching. At that time, many people specialized in studying historical methods based on western historiography. Most of them have experience in studying abroad, and their foreign language level is higher than that of Liang, but their influence is far less than that of Liang. One of the reasons is that Liang's reputation in academic circles is unparalleled. More importantly, as someone said, "Liang's writings are rich and harmonious, superior, and can integrate Chinese and foreign knowledge without hindrance." This kind of transplantation seems ordinary, but it is absolutely difficult; Even if later scholars made innovations in theory, they still fell behind in harmony. In other words, the popularity of China's historical research method has not declined for a long time, that is, it can integrate western historiography and national history knowledge, an achievement that no one can match so far "[5].

Liang Qichao's later changes were not a complete and absolute denial of his former self, but hesitation and confusion caused by unexplained or difficult-to-answer questions in the process of continuous exploration. Even so, its variability and invariance should be analyzed in detail. There are constant factors in the changes of his historical thought in the early and late stages, and many of his changes are still restricted by these constant factors to some extent. This is also one of the important reasons why Liang Qichao's later historical achievements are well known and have a lasting influence. Of course, after all, because of his vacillation in grasping the historical view, to a certain extent, it has affected his systematic and in-depth discussion of historical theories and methods. This also shows the importance of taking a correct and scientific view of history as a guide in historical research.

References [1] Xu Guansan. Ninety years of new historiography: Volume I [M]. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 1986. [2] Liang Qichao. Icehouse collection [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1989. [3] Liang Qichao. 1923-1-10. [4] Su Chi (Zhang Yinlin). Mr. Liang Rengong in the modern academic history of China [N]. Ta Kung Pao, 1929-2- 1 1.

Hebei academic journal 200 1 6.

From: Liang Qichao Local Literature Library