I have known Liang Qichao as early as in junior high school history textbooks, but my knowledge of him was limited to political movements, and I knew very little about other aspects. There was a time when he looked at it like other hot-blooded grass. What really shocked me and made me re-understand Liang Gong began from reading his "Young China".
"If you want to talk about the old and young of the country, please first talk about the old and young of the people. The elderly often think about the past, and the young often think about the future. Thinking about the past is the reason for nostalgia, and thinking about the future is also the reason for progress. "Heart."
"When the red sun rises, its path is bright, the river flows out, and the ocean flows, the dragon rises, and its claws fly... Even if there are eternity, there are eight wastelands, the future is like the sea, and the future is long. . How beautiful, my young China is as old as the sky! How magnificent, my young China is boundless with the country!”
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What passion and spirit! For example, a thousand-foot waterfall falls steeply into an abyss, causing water mist to fill the sky, making it a spectacular sight. Another example is the surging river flowing thousands of miles, continuously. Which descendants of Yan and Huang are not shocked by this kind of writing, and which descendants of China are not inspired by it. The profundity of his thoughts, the uniqueness of his vision and the majesty of his momentum are enough to look at the past and present and shock the ages!
How can such a person be a blind, impulsive and reckless person? From this passage, we can see that Mr. Liang is a fearless revolutionary, an emotional writer, and a sharp thinker.
Liang Qichao’s life was a life of struggle, a life of change, and a life of contradictions. From the time when he studied orthodox Confucian culture under Kang Youwei, to the coup of 1898, and then to his acceptance and influence of Western ideas. His thoughts changed several times, wandering between Eastern and Western thoughts. Although he had hesitations and hesitations, his lifelong ideals remained unchanged and he struggled for his ideals throughout his life. His faith never wavered or wavered in the slightest.
The Reform Movement of 1898 was an important turning point in Liang Qichao's life. Before that, he studied under Kang Youwei and actively promoted the ideas of reform and reform, which played a great role in promoting the final formation of the reform and reform. After the failure of the reform movement, he went into exile abroad, accepted Western ideas, and compared China's situation with the West's political system and Eastern and Western thoughts in order to find a way to save the country.
It was also during the Reform Movement of 1898 that he put forward his main idea-Xinmin Theory. Liang Qichao once made an appropriate metaphor: "A country is formed by accumulating its people. A country has people just like a body has limbs, five internal organs, meridians, and blood. ... If you want your country to be safe and honorable, you must have new people." The Tao cannot be ignored." This means that to the country, citizens are like the limbs, five internal organs, and blood chakras of the body. If the limbs are broken, the five internal organs are damaged, and the meridians are injured, then it itself will not exist. The reason why Mr. Liang said this and the reason why he actively promoted the New People's Thought at any time was related to the domestic situation at that time. Therefore, to understand Liang Qichao’s Xinmin theory, we must first understand the specific situation in China at that time.
China at that time was an era of darkness, decadence and chaos. Kang Youwei once summed up the situation at that time in four words: "weak", "ambiguous", "destruction" and "chaos". The strong and tyrannical are arrogant and arrogant, dominating and oppressing the people; the weak are servile and groveling, groveling, ingratiating, numb and dull. It can be said that it is a situation where even if heaven does not perish, it will perish itself. What was even more dangerous was that the Western powers at that time had the intention of encompassing the whole world and annexing China. They looked at the eagle's eyes and salivated at the tiger's mouth, waiting for the opportunity to move. However, our people are still unwary and insensitive. The country is in a precarious situation, like a dilapidated house.
"The atmosphere of Kyushu relies on wind and thunder, and it is pitiful for thousands of horses to chant together. I urge God to cheer up and send talents of any kind!" Gong Zizhen's poem is a true portrayal of the society at that time. God was finally moved by Gong Zizhen's bloody words, and sent us a spiritual star, shining in the dark sky, guiding people to find the lost direction.
It was under this call that Liang Qichao wrote his "New People's Theory" at the critical moment of national subjugation and genocide, exploring the root causes of national corruption and depravity.
What is new is innovation. The so-called new people's thinking means to innovate people's thinking. With new ideas, it is possible to cultivate new citizens with freedom, individuality, independent personality, rights and obligations. And this requires learning from Western advanced ideas and technologies. Breaking the shackles of tradition by learning Western ideas, making the people wiser and more daring, and healing the souls of the people from the root. This is the fundamental way to save the country and the people.
What is new is innovation. The so-called new people's thinking means to innovate the people's thinking. With new ideas, it is possible to cultivate new citizens with freedom, individuality, independent personality, rights and obligations.
Educating people's wisdom and promoting civil rights is the main content of Liang Qichao's "New People's Theory". It can also be said to be the purpose of Liang Qichao's New People's Thought. Liang Qichao believes that only a person with dignity can live an upright life, but dignity is not something everyone wants, and not everyone can keep their dignity from being violated. If you want to live with dignity, you must have the protection of your rights. If there is no right, everyone can be bullied, how can we talk about dignity? How to talk about being an upright person? Therefore, if we want to enlighten the people's wisdom, we must first establish civil rights. However, power is born from wisdom, and the difference between wisdom and foolishness is the source of strength and weakness. At this point, Liang Qichao pointed out the crux of the problem with his unique vision. We know that Lu Xun devoted his whole life to criticizing the bad nature of the people, aiming to arouse the awakening of the people and awaken the sleeping souls of the people.
Liang Qichao's New People's Thought coincided with Lu Xun's efforts. It can be seen that both giants believed that only fundamental solutions could solve the problem.
Liang Qichao advocated changing the old concepts and ideas of the Chinese people by learning new Western ideas and new culture. In the first issue of "Xinmin Congbao", Liang Qichao expressed the purpose of the newspaper as follows: "First, this newspaper takes the meaning of "Xinmin Congbao" from "Xinmin Congbao" and believes that in order to restore our country, we must first restore our people. The reason why China is sluggish is due to the lack of public morality among the people. , the wisdom is not developed, and this newspaper specializes in treating this disease with medicine. It must be in line with Chinese and Western ethics as the guideline of moral education, and broad political theory as the basis of intellectual education. "It can be seen that enlightening people's intelligence and promoting civil rights are the foundation, and Educating the people morally is the deepening of the new people and is its core and essence. Liang Qichao loudly declared: Ignorance of public morality is the fundamental reason for China's political failure and the decline of its national destiny. His "Xinmin Shuo" can be said to be a "public morality theory". He believed that an important reason why the people at that time were insensitive and ignored the rise and fall of the country and only focused on their own selfish interests was that the people had a weak sense of public morality and did not understand the meaning and spirit of morality.
Liang Qichao said: Who is a man of public morality? The reason why the crowd is a group and the reason why the country is a country depends on this virtue. That is to say, public morality is a kind of tie that can connect scattered individuals into a strong overall organization. Therefore, seeking the interests of the people is public morality. Even if a person has the best quality and ability, it will be difficult to achieve great things and achieve great achievements without the help of external conditions and external factors. Without the support of the group, it is difficult to develop oneself, let alone prosper the country. Therefore, Liang Qichao went a step further and advocated the concept of "group" and the idea of ??"groupness".
The entire "New People's Theory" actually revolves around the idea of ??"being gregarious" and discusses how to be gregarious. In his "On Learning", Liang Qichao said this: "The Tao is not good at being in a group, and it is not good at being alone. Being alone makes you blocked, being blocked makes you stupid, and being stupid makes you weak; being in a group makes you connect, being connected makes you wise, and wisdom makes you strong." From this we can See how important it is to be gregarious. In today's world, enterprises and units promote the team spirit of "cooperation and collaboration" and value the power of the group. This is actually the "gregarious" idea advocated by Liang Qichao. Before the reform, Liang Qichao went around lobbying and actively wooing various forces. From princes and ministers to local enlightened gentry and local officials, they made positive contributions to the growth of the reformists. All these activities are the concrete and personal implementation of the concept of "group".
There is great power when there are many people, and the flames are high when everyone picks up materials. "The only way to save them is to join the group, to provoke them with shame, and to show off their anger." "Remove their selfishness in order to support a great public, and remove their desire to protect their families in order to protect a great country." (" "Preface to the Protection of the National Assembly") means that at this time of national crisis and national peril, only by uniting can we save the country. Being gregarious is the cohesion of a country and a nation, and it is the key to whether a nation can prosper and develop. If it cannot be gregarious, even if the people are wise, but they all care about their own interests, it will still not be possible to save the country or strengthen the country. Therefore, Liang Qichao said: "The masses are the justice of the world."
"I am the five plague gods who spread freedom, and I am the morning star that points out independence." Liang Qichao used these words to express his struggle for The voice of freedom, in the hope of awakening the numb minds of enslaved people.
"Life is precious, but love is even more valuable. If it is for freedom, both can be thrown away." It is natural to pursue freedom and enjoy freedom. After summarizing the history of the development of freedom in Europe and the United States, Liang Qichao pointed out that disputes over freedom come from four sources: political freedom, religious freedom, national freedom, and freedom of livelihood. Of these four, China cannot have any one of them. Therefore, he advocated the people to fight for freedom and demand this right that everyone can enjoy, saying that if you don't have freedom, you would rather die.
A truly free person is one who can truly control his own destiny. He is a person who is completely independent in thought and spirit. In his opinion, being forced to be a slave is not something to be afraid of. As long as people can wake up and dare to fight, they can still fight for the sky of freedom. The saddest thing is that they are willing to be slaves and regard themselves as slaves. They believe in the superstition that "life and death are determined by fate, and wealth is determined by heaven." They believe that unequal fate is doomed from birth. If this is the case, there will never be a day of recovery. Therefore, if you want to seek true freedom, you must first get rid of the slave in your heart.
China is an agricultural country with a mainly small-scale peasant economy. The people are conservative in nature and pursue living and working in peace and contentment. They do not have the wild and bloody nature of the nomadic people. For thousands of years, due to the subtle influence of the Confucian ethical principles, the so-called "gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and concession" have always been accompanied by "harmony is the most valuable and tolerance is the highest." The thought of "doing more is worse than doing less" has always been They know how to fight for their own legitimate rights and do not have the spirit of "daring to be the first in the world". As a result, they are now trapped in a deep state of ignorance and backwardness, and they are willing to live as slaves.
Although freedom and equality are natural, people must strive for them. To strive for it, you must have the spirit of not being afraid of difficulties and moving forward courageously, the enthusiasm of being unyielding and not regretting even after nine deaths, the courage to be calm and endure humiliation, and the spirit to reach the top and be proud of the world! What’s more, we need to have the spirit of persevering despite difficulties, fighting against repeated defeats, and persevering to the end when the odds are against us.
Liang Qichao’s life was a life of fighting for the people’s freedom. His mind, his magnanimity, his courage, and his talent were deeply admired by the world. His "New People's Thought" has deeply influenced a century, and will also deeply influence the people of future generations.
No success comes easily. That is to say, if you want to achieve a great cause, you must be prepared for failure, you must have the spirit of perseverance for your ideal, and even the spirit of throwing your life and blood for it. Liang Qichao struggled for his ideals all his life.
What the world would not dare to do, his spirit of searching up and down and fearing no danger is worthy of admiration from all ages!