One of the Chinese bourgeois political factions that moved in the 1890s. The main representatives are Kang Youwei, Yan Fu, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong. Stimulated by the severe national crisis after the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1894, he advocated reform and innovation to save the nation and revitalize the country. They advocated a new bourgeois culture and changed the autocratic monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. Actively engaged in the theoretical propaganda and organizational activities of the reform, he successively established the Strong Society, the Current Affairs School, and the South Society in Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan and other places. The Reform Movement and the Reform Movement: The Reform Movement was a patriotic political movement launched by the bourgeois reformists in modern China in an attempt to save the nation from peril and develop a national capitalist economy through top-down reform methods. This movement has pushed China's struggle to resist foreign aggression and seek a national solution since the Opium War to a new stage. Politically, the reformers advocated opening a parliament, advocating civil rights, restricting the rights of feudal monarchs, and implementing a constitutional monarchy. Economically, it advocates the revitalization of industry and the development of a capitalist economy. Ideologically and culturally, it spreads bourgeois democratic political thought, introduces Western natural science and social theory, criticizes China's traditional feudal ethics, and plays an important role in promoting the awakening of the people, especially the ideological emancipation of intellectuals. Enlightenment, these made important political and ideological preparations for the arrival of the bourgeois democratic revolution in a more complete sense. Opposing the reformists were the die-hards, and the two sides debated whether to reform. It started the first intellectual enlightenment movement in modern China. The essence of both is to maintain the feudal rule of the Qing government
. 2. Reformists’ activities:
1) Write petitions. In the 14th year of Guangxu's reign, in 1888 AD, during the Sino-French War, Kang Youwei wrote to Emperor Guangxu for the first time, requesting political reform. In 1895, Kang Youwei wrote to Emperor Guangxu for the second time. In this year, China failed in the Sino-Japanese War and signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan. During the national imperial examination, Kang Youwei contacted 1,300 people from 18 provinces and signed a letter to Emperor Guangxu, demanding that They rejected the "peace treaty", moved the capital, implemented reforms, and formed a mass movement of a certain scale. Kang Youwei wrote seven petitions before and after the incident.
2) Found newspapers and periodicals. Kang Youwei, with the help of Liang Qichao, sponsored the "Global Gazette of All Nations", which was later changed to "China and Foreign Affairs Journal". He founded "Qiang Xue Bao" in Shanghai and later changed it to "Shi Wu Bao". At that time, "Shi Wu Bao" was the most widely circulated, and Hunan's reformists also He founded the Hunan Newspaper.
3) Organize societies. Kang Youwei organized the "Strong Learning Society" in Beijing and later the "Strong Learning Society" in Shanghai. Changsha organized the "Southern Society". The "Southern Society" has the prototype of a parliament.
4) Establish a school. Before the Reform Movement of 1898, the "Current Affairs School" was established in Changsha. The chief teacher of the school was Liang Qichao. This was a school for training cadres for the reformists.
Through the above activities, the reform movement gradually formed a scale and climate.
3． The main contents of the Hundred Days of Reform:
On June 11, 1898 (the 24th year of Guangxu, the year of 1898), Emperor Guangxu adopted the reform ideas of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and other reformers and issued a reform edict. The Queen Mother launched a coup to arrest the reformers, which lasted for 103 days. It was called the "Hundred Days of Reform" in history.
1) Cultural and educational reform. Abolition of stereotyped writing, reform of policies and theories, and allowing intellectuals to express their opinions freely were met with great resistance at the time. Even Emperor Guangxu was resolutely obstructed by conservative ministers in person. To establish a school, according to the Western model, the "Beijing University" was founded, which was the predecessor of "Peking University".
2) Economic reform. Develop commerce, establish commerce bureaus in various provinces, improve commodity circulation, develop science and technology, reward inventions and creations, protect patents, allow private companies to set up factories, etc.
3) Military reform. Train new armies, replace backward cold weapons (knives, guns, spears, arrows, etc.) with hot weapons, build military wheels, and build a navy.
4) Social atmosphere reform. Many ancestral halls and temples in urban and rural areas were converted into schools, superstition was eradicated, and women were not allowed to bind their feet (this item was not passed).
5) Political reform. This aspect faces the greatest resistance because it involves the redistribution of power. Emperor Guangxu proposed the following in a limited number of aspects: 1. Broaden the voice. If any court officials have any opinions, they can pass them on to the "tangguan" (head) of their department (yamen) and submit a letter. Ordinary people can go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to express their opinions; ② streamline the organization, abolishing six yamen (departments), and each province must also make corresponding reductions; ③ appoint new people, the reformists Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi, and Tan Sitong were all appointed by Guangxu. "Zhang Jing went up to the military yamen (secretary) to participate in the New Deal.
The highest political ideal of the reformers is "constitutional monarchy", and the country establishes an upper and lower house (parliament). Before the Hundred Days of Reform, they are afraid that If he couldn't pass, he retreated to the "System Bureau" and then to the "Maoqin Hall" (in the Forbidden City, the place where the emperor and the cabinet bachelors discussed political affairs during the Kangxi and Qianlong eras), and asked the emperor to discuss various reform systems with everyone. . Through the above reforms, it can be said that the Hundred Days Reform was a complete reform movement in modern history.