Wu Yu zhen / finishing
How to decipher the true meaning under the fog of the "miscellaneous" of ideological classics, how to understand the era of "changing situation" in which Tan Sitong is located, and how to understand the collusion and entanglement of Lide (intellectual history), meritorious service (political history) and Liyan (philology) reflected in "Renxue"? Renxue reorganizes the "Renxue" and immerses it in its ideological context, version flow, text differences, and hidden historical events behind the publication process, providing a small but new puzzle for reproducing the scene of late Qing history.
At 7:00 p.m. on June 18, 2021, Fudan University's Young Scholars of Modern Chinese History Reading Class 2021, "Why Read < Renxue > Today?" ——Tan Si and his people and their new research" was held through the Tencent Conference. The event was convened and presided over by Professor Dai Haibin of the Department of History of Fudan University, Zhang Yuliang, deputy editor of Zhonghua Bookstore, and Zhang Weixin, a special invited scholar of the Orange Island Forum of Changsha Library, to introduce his new book "Renxue" (Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2021), Professor Wu Yangxiang of the Department of History of Hunan Normal University, and Professor Wang Xiagang of the School of History of Dalian University. This article is the main speaker's speech, and the end of the reviewer's speech is a condensed draft.
Zhang Yuliang (Deputy Editor of Zhonghua Bookstore, Deputy Director of editorial department of Research on The History of Chinese Publishing)
I am very pleased to gather with all the teachers and friends on this platform to share some of my experiences in studying Tan Sitong and his writings, especially in the process of collating and publishing the "Renxue" school book. Entering the main topic, I would like to report to you on three main aspects.
Renxue Hui SchoolBook, Zhang Weixin, Zhang Yuliang Hui School, Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2021
First of all, what can the introduction of the philological perspective bring to the study of modern intellectual classics? In some research treatises and even textbooks, historiography has the color of instrumental rationality, that is, it is a science of excavating and studying materials for the study of history. Within the philology major, scholars in the field emphasize ontological significance beyond the value of philological tools. In the existing research, there are fewer latter-centered discussions on Tan Si and the text of Renxue, so its value and significance in philology can still be further explored and analyzed.
When it comes to the early published editions of Renxue, there are two largest branches, one is the version that Tang Cai often published in the Shanghai "East Asia Times" and the other is the version published by Liang Qichao in the "Qinghui Bao" in Yokohama, Japan. So, what is the relationship between these two versions, which is the first question in the study of Renxue. More than half a century ago, Mr. Tang Zhijun of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences published a paper in the Academic Monthly magazine that first pointed out that the two editions are of different origins. This conclusion has not yet been overturned or transferred. Since it is not homologous, which one is closer to the original appearance of Tan Sitong? Tang Gong also gave his speculation that Tang Caichang's "East Asia Times" was closer to the original appearance, so he compiled "Renxue" and used this version as the base. According to the number of issues that can be seen with the excavation of the data since then, on the basis of a comprehensive grasp of the text of the "East Asia Times", this inference can be further confirmed through the analysis of "Renxue" and typos. At the same time, through the proofreading, it was found that the defects of the "Qinghui Bao" version, that is, the "repetition, misplanting and publication" of Tang Gong, were not simple repetitions, but there were two books with general duplication of content and different sentence expressions. This also indirectly increases the possibility that the manuscript was paid according to the copied manuscript. In addition, when Liang Qichao published Renxue in the Qinghui Bao, his objective conditions were not ideal, which led to such a serious editing error shortly after the opening.
The second question, the perspective of book history and publication history, can bring to the study of modern history. Mr. Naoki Panma took the lead in explaining the history behind the successive publication of Renxue by The Kiyoshi Pao. He believes that the suspension of the publication of Renxue was instructed by Liang Qichao, because his thinking at that time was inclined to nationalism and alienated from the cosmopolitanism of Renxue. According to other materials, the publication, renewal, and even the preview of the single book of Renxue in the Qinghui Bao are all manifestations of Liang Qichao's efforts to publish Renxue, and the suspension was caused by the constraints of Kang Youwei and his royalist disciples. For the publication of the single edition of Renxue, there is actually a question here -- the Qinghui Bao is the position of public opinion of the royalists, and the content of renxue's attack on the monarchy system is repeatedly restricted when it is published, but why was the first single edition published in the National Newspaper, a publishing institution with radical students in Japan as the main body? How did they get the full copy of Renxue when the series was discontinued? According to limited documentary records, at that time, only Liang Qichao had the complete copy of Renxue in Japan, and only he had the conditions to give Renxue to radical students to publish it in the name of the National Newspaper, which was an active effort after he was frustrated in publishing the Qinghui Bao and the publication of the single book was stranded. This situation is worth revisiting whether Liang Qichao's personal image after the failure of the Self-Reliant Army uprising, especially in the eyes of radical students at that time, was recognized as a hill with the teacher, as recorded in some literature.
To a considerable extent, the publication link is intentionally or unintentionally obscured, which makes it difficult for us to get a real glimpse of the historical scene, or cause some misjudgment. For example, returning to a topic just now, which of Liang Qichao's "Qinghui Bao" and Tang Caichang's "Yadong Times" is closer to the original "Renxue"? One article believes that there are few missing characters in the Liang Ben, but there are many missing characters added in the Tang Ben to avoid violating the taboo. The author Tan Sitong himself attacked the Qing court in the book and spared no effort to take the initiative to avoid the Qing Dynasty, so the Tang Ben, who avoided the lack of characters, must not be Tan Sitong's original. This logic seems fine, but it ignores an important situation - these two versions were published by the press after Tan Sitong's death, and whether they avoided it or not had nothing to do with Tan Sitong himself, but was caused by the publishing process rather than the writing link. The Qinghui Bao was far away in Yokohama, and there were fewer scruples about avoidance than the Shanghai-based Yadong Times, which could not be used as a basis for judging which version was more in line with Tan Sitong's original intentions and then deducing which one was closer to the original manuscript.
Tan
Kookmin Newspaper's Renxue
In addition, in the investigation of the single book of "Renxue", it was found that its inscription was the same as that of many progressive books and periodicals at that time. On the one hand, in Yokohama, Tokyo, Japan, and Shanghai, China, at least one person in the manyly transmuted and differently named publishing institutions was good at this kind of inscription; on the other hand, this series of publications and publications strung together by the single line of "Renxue" is also a good clue to its first readers. In the past research on "Renxue", it was more from its content to analyze its ideological height and value, but there was no more in-depth discussion on when and through what way the realization of value was acted on. Therefore, from the perspective of book history, we can still explore the specific ways in which the earliest readers of Renxue relied on this important ideological resource.
Third, feelings about the field of intellectual history research. Teacher Fan Jun of Central China Normal University pointed out in an article published in "Research on the History of Chinese Publishing" that attention should be paid to the study of the history of publishing ideas. Mr. Luo Zongqiang, an expert in the study of ancient literature, proposed that the study of the history of literary thought should pay attention to the group of literary masters who have no literary monographs that have survived, but have rich literary ideas in their creation. The above views also inspire the study of modern history publishing the history of ideas.
When analyzing the "revolutionary" ideas before Kang Liang's penghu, Mr. Mao Haijian pointed out in light of the political difficulties and social disasters of the Qing Dynasty that many intellectuals' thoughts at that time were in a "compound state" and that "several different, contradictory, and even opposing political concepts would exist in the minds of the same person at the same time", and said that "this was also the main reason for the fluctuating ideology of the scholar class in that era." In addition to this, there is also a field problem that can introduce an explanation of the "inconsistencies" of modern figures. For example, an article discussing the change of thought before and after Tan Sitong's entry into Beijing, using the words "holy grace and high thickness" in Tan Sitong's letter to his wife Li Yan, combined with Wu Shu's summoning to Beijing, tried to prove that Tan Si at this time had a regression in his ideological radicalism when he wrote "Renxue". In fact, this is just a letter to the family, and its most radical idea is more likely to be unnecessary and inconvenient to mention to the family, rather than no longer radical, and the high grace is also a common word in the conventional context, which is a slightly different argument for the change of thought.
By extension, the aforementioned literary thought, publishing ideology and political thought, for example, literary creation is relatively less affected by the field, so the conversion rate of literary creation into literary thought research objects is relatively high. Publishing practice is more affected by the field, and is subject to technical, economic, institutional, and cultural constraints. The final publishing practice is only a part of the publishing idea, and the two restrict and influence each other. Specific to political practice, the impact on the field is even greater. Therefore, for the study of the thought of modern figures, especially the study of ideas with a high degree of relevance to political history, it seems that more attention should be paid to the field and the level of distinction. For example, the part of the "Renxue" that criticizes the monarchy; the works are already restricted by the field when they are published, for example, the "Renxue" published by the "Qinghui Bao" was resisted by the royalist Kang Youwei and others, and the more fierce eighth and tenth articles were published. If the ideas that are greatly different from the field constraints are presented with an equal amount, it will inevitably affect the judgment. This is the difficulty of studying the history of ideas, and it is its charm.
Back to today's topic, why I read Renxue today, here are three reasons. First of all, this small book for introduction and collation corrects the text errors of previous editions, shows the differences between the early important versions, and provides readers with a more authoritative, accurate and complete version, so that everyone can get closer to the original appearance of "Renxue". Secondly, the value orientation in "Renxue" is worth remembering today's people. Third, there are still many problems and details in Renxue that have not been clearly studied. For example, the radicalness of "Renxue" once made Tan Sitong's Hunan New Deal comrade-in-arms Pi Xirui smirk, which involved Tan Sitong's handling of the stratification of the circle of friends and the early spread of "Renxue". For another example, the inscriptions of the single edition of Renxue are the same as the large number of progressive books and periodicals that have appeared since then, so who are these inscriptions from? This question also involves which group of readers were the first to borrow after the publication of Renxue, and what kind of social impact it caused. In addition, Liang Qichao recorded that there are three volumes of "Renxue", but only two volumes have been seen so far, and he also said that this book is alias "Book written by Taiwanese", what the hell is going on... And so on, these details are sometimes a key piece of the puzzle in the grand historical picture. This is also one of the necessities of re-reading renxue today.
Tan Si Tongji Collation Group: Tan Si Tongji, Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2018.
Zhang Weixin (Editor of machinery industry information research institute, author of "Tan Si's Long Genealogy of the Same Year")
I. Whether "Renxue" is "mixed" in the end
Tan Sitong's thought is mainly embodied in the Renxue, which comprehensively reflects Tan's philosophical, political, scientific and economic thought. Some scholars have more or less mentioned the so-called "miscellaneous" phenomenon when studying renxue. In some expressions, Tan Sitong's thinking is active but "has a sharp contradiction of two sides", in his incompletely formed ideological system, only ontologically there are two basic units representing the material "aether" and the spiritual "mental force" two different attributes; from beginning to end, mixed with Buddhist terms represented by Huayan and wisdom and Western natural science concepts such as sound, light, and electricity. Therefore, the reader has no way of judging whether the core of Tan Sitong's thinking is to emphasize the "daily renewal" of things at all times or to seek an eternal and unchanging entity, idealism or materialism, reformist or revolutionary.
1. The structure of the chapter of Renxue is designed.
The first part of "Renxue" focuses on the study of gezhi, Western aether, Buddhism, etc., and the next part focuses on ren, while criticizing the autocratic system, and the chapter is taken care of before and after. For example, the eighth part first exposes the shortcomings of the monarch as a subject, the twenty-ninth article begins to focus on criticizing the monarchy, opening the next part, the next part is taught and learned by politics, and then returns to the theme of the previous part, benevolence and learning go back and forth, reflecting and taking care of each other. Some scholars believe that Tan Sitong's "Renxue" is "broken", and Liang Qichao's "New Folk Theory" is "standing", but this is not entirely the case. It can be said that to a certain extent, without the "standing" of "Renxue", there will be no further interpretation of "Xinmin Theory".
2. The complexity of the ideological resources of renxue is conscious.
Modern philosophy has the characteristics of change and complexity in terms of theoretical sources, content composition, conceptual categories, and system construction, which is particularly evident and prominent in Tan Sitong. From the objective point of view, the urgent attempt to save the life and the short life of the 33-year-old caused him to have no time to systematically explain his thoughts. It can be said that Tan Sitong himself does not hide this and has enough self-awareness.
Liang Qichao's Introduction to Qing Dynasty Scholarship
It can be said that Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong, like Tan Sitong, are thinkers who pursue "daily renewal". Liang Qichao's "Introduction to Qing Dynasty Scholarship" said that the desire of their generation is to import the world theory as much as possible as possible as possible, so "the importer is indeed the original face of the idea, and it must have its organization and end, so that it can be used for the chinese people to study it effectively." In the history of modern thought, Western philosophers have pursued "democracy", and Chinese philosophers have pursued "salvation" first, followed by "enlightenment". A comprehensive examination of Tan Sitong's thoughts shows that his loudly cry for salvation and survival has never changed, and all his philosophies revolve around this purpose. Tan Sitong immersed himself in the so-called "old learning" thirty years ago and put forward the "Theory of Yuan Qi", and the purpose of saving the country and saving the country was also implemented. The renxue from "Yuanqi Theory" to "Saving The Robbery with the Heart" is a change in the specific method of saving the country, not a reversal of Tan Sitong's value and purpose.
Liang Qichao called Tan Si the same "comet of the late Qing Dynasty's ideological circles", his life was short, but he always stood at the head of the tide of history, and was the first to exhale the strongest sound of modern enlightenment, "breaking through the net". Tan Sitong is a thinker who has pursued "daily renewal" all his life, and behind the purpose of Daily New is his consistent and unchangeable purpose.
3. Modern scholars often rely on Western concepts of natural science, social science and religion when expressing their philosophical ideas, which is not an exception, as embodied in Tan Sitong's theory of "rushing to the decision".
Tan Sitong, in his self-narration in Renxue, on the one hand, shouted loudly to break through the snares of Lilu, folklore, Qunxue, monarchs, and Lunchang, and on the other hand, he also broke through the snares of the "Heavenly Dao" and "Dharma", and said that "those who break through the snares are those who have not yet tried to break the snares." Such a statement is quite puzzling, and many scholars call it inconsistent, logically disordered, and their own learning is not exquisite. In fact, this is not the case, Tan Sitong first formulated the method of breaking the normal order of feudal society, only used before breaking everything, and after the feudal snare is completely broken, this law itself should also be broken, so it will not become the next shackle that binds human nature. In the middle of May of the year of Wu Shu, Tan Sitong turned from the Hunan Restoration Movement to Beijing to participate in the change of law, and said that "the people's rights are to save the country's ears." If the superior has the power to change the law, wouldn't it be more victorious? It can be seen that in the depths of his thinking, there are no obvious boundaries or principles for royalism, restoration, and revolution. In Tan Si's heart, saving the people from water and fire, ideological enlightenment, and saving the fate of the country are the ultimate goals, and it is not very important what means to use. This allowed his ideas to break through the "snare" and "boundaries" of the reformers. This is not "capriciousness", but an exploration of the ultimate goal of trying to practice and try to reduce the cost of change.
Speaking of returning to renxue, if you want to understand Tan Sitong's ideological context more thoroughly and clearly, you can start by grasping the core concepts and main sources of ideas of the text. First of all, Tan put forward several key concepts: ether, mental force, benevolence, life and death, tong, equality, these high-frequency words are the most fundamental concepts for building the basic framework of "Renxue". What we have to do, in addition to explaining the source, context, and deep meaning of each word, the more important task is to clarify their connection and logic in the fifty articles of Renxue. Tan Sitong used these core concepts to construct a new social, political, and spiritual order. Based on their understanding of these core concepts, researchers in Renxue combine the history of Chinese and Western philosophies to speculate on the possibilities of each construction.
After clarifying the main line, it is necessary to identify the main source of the ideas of Renxue. The ancient dialectical philosophical classic "Zhou Yi", which expounds the changes in the world of heaven and earth; the Mo family, who has the ideas of "both love" and "RenXia"; Zhang Zai, who writes the cosmology of "the unity of heaven and man" in "Zhengmeng"; and Wang Fuzhi, who expounds Zhang Zai's thought and puts forward the "Theory of Taoist Instruments" with "Zhengmeng Notes", all belong to one of his ideological resources. In addition, Fu Lanya's translation of Ute Henry's "Method of Curing the Heart and Avoiding Disease" has also become the direct reason for the final formation and introduction of the word "mental strength" in the "Renxue". If Tan Si is associated with the source stream of thought, he will not confuse these sources with the logical conclusions he wants to prove.
Nowadays, it is believed that the Renxue uses both religious and scientific concepts in its writing, so it is more difficult to interpret. Returning to the context of the late Qing Dynasty, it can be seen that at that time, the study of modern and modern texts and Mahayana Buddhism were not in parallel with other Western ideological resources, and there was no shortage of phenomena cited at the same time in the ideological texts written by scholars. Through painstaking effort and wisdom, these "tools" are effectively used to illustrate his ideas of renewal, equality, and change. Therefore, if people today want to understand Tan Si and his thoughts, they should first understand these three ends.
The Study of the Present Text. The most core idea of "benevolence" in the Renxue is derived from the practice of modern texts and classics by scholars of the late Qing Dynasty. However, unlike this, Tan Sitong believes that the ultimate goal of reviving Confucianism is to establish a Western value system. As a result, Tan Sitong openly challenged the Confucian value system and put forward the sharpest modern criticism of the "Famous Teachings and Gangchang".
Mahayana Buddhism. Tan Sitong made an epistemological exposition around the "transformation of knowledge into wisdom", and corresponded the eight meanings of the "University" of "grid object, zhizhi, sincerity, righteousness, self-cultivation, Qi family, governance, and peace of the world" with the eight consciousnesses of the Weizhi Sect "eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, intention, yigen, and Alaya", and came to the same conclusion as Confucianism and Buddhism. In addition, the three religions are measured by the Ram III theory, then Confucianism is the monarchy of the chaotic world, Yakology is the heavenly system of the ascension world, and Buddhism is the yuan system of the Taiping world. Deliberately use multiple intellectual resources to discuss.
Western thought. "Renxue" was created in this period of change, tan Sitong introduced some scientific vocabulary to explain the conceptual system he had constructed, which was more conducive to arousing the attention and resonance of intellectuals, and then making his thoughts better understood and accepted by him. Through "taking advantage of the situation" and "quoting from the side", Tan Sitong constructed the ultimate goal and action plan for his salvation and survival.
The Complete Works of Tan Si Tong, Life Reading Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, 1954.
II. Tan Sitong's Failed "Trip to Japan" (see the forthcoming "Tan Si's Genealogy of the Same Year")
On the thirteenth day of the first month of the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu, Zhang Zhidong called Chen Baozhen and asked him to send a person from Xiang Province to Japan with the hubei people. The trip to Japan was confidential, without official documents, and the purpose of the mission was to visit Japanese schools and plan to send international students to Japan to study. On the twenty-first day of the first month, Tan Si wrote a letter to Liu Shiheng, saying that he was late and that his father Tan Jixun would not let him go to Japan again, so he could not make the trip. At the end of the first month, Tan Sitong arrived in Hankou, where he met with three Japanese diplomats, Mitsutomo Kamio, Shigetaro Kajikawa, and Utsunomiya Taro, talking about Sino-Japanese relations and strengthening Sino-Japanese ties. On March 14, Zhang Zhidong called Chen Baozhen, urging him to send personnel to Japan, and said that Tan Sitong was inseparable from the matter and could not go to Japan, and suggested that Huang Zhonghao be sent to Japan. On March 15, Chen Baozhen called Zhang Zhidong, saying that Huang Zhonghao was inseparable, and Yao Xiguang said that he could not send another person to Japan. During this period, Tan Sitong had been waiting for the order to go to Japan, and after learning the news, he said in a letter to his wife Li Yan: "The eastward journey must be Yao Xiguang (Shi Quan) electricity, and it is probably possible not to go to it." However, according to the diary of the Ministry of War held by the National Defense Research Institute of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, "Defense Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Ministry of Defense of the Ministry of Defense" It can be seen that Tan Sitong and Yao Xiguang are already on the Japanese reception list. The reasons for this need to be further explored.
The Complete Works of Tan Si Tong, revised edition, compiled by Fang Xing and Cai Shangsi, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1981.
The reviewers made statements
Wu Yangxiang (Distinguished Professor, School of History and Culture, Hunan Normal University):
This is a very meaningful academic activity, thanks to Professor Haibin's planning, we can have a very good exchange with the two young scholars who studied Tan Sitong and many listeners who are concerned about Tan Sitong and Xiangxue. I personally did not make a special study of Tan Sitong, but when I was reading a doctoral degree, I turned over the "Complete Works of Tan Sitong" and read "Renxue", and at that time I felt that the content was very complicated and not easy to understand. Tan Sitong and his Renxue are very influential in history. Liang Qichao called him a "comet of the late Qing Dynasty", although his life was short, he crossed the night sky of history with a dazzling light. "Renxue" can be called one of the two strange books in modern history, the other is Kang Youwei's "Datong Shu". After the two books were drafted, they were only circulated in secret among teachers and friends, and there were many similarities in content, so it was very meaningful to study the two together.
Yu Liang and Wei Xin spent a lot of thought and did a lot of work. I read the copy of Renxue with the text in the 2018 new edition of Tan Si Tongji, and found that there are many inheritances and some transcendences in this work. To put it simply, this time the "Renxue" hui school, there are three aspects of the achievements worth noting:
First, correct errors. This time, the school made a more comprehensive correction of the text errors in different versions of "Renxue" that were common in the past. Wei Xin and Yu Liang have already done some work in the 2018 new compilation of "Tan Si TongJi", and this time the correction is more thorough. That's the biggest achievement. Limited to time, I will not say specific examples.
Second, fill in the gaps. That is to say, the falsification, detachment, derivation, and reversal of the original text have been collated and revised. This time, the "East Asia Times" as the base book is difficult for ordinary readers to see. Now, through the work of the two scholars, the "East China Times" has been presented in its original form, which has provided great convenience for the academic community to carry out relevant research. When they last compiled the "Tan Si TongJi", they had not yet obtained the full version of the "East Asia Times" edition, and this time hui school made up for the shortcomings of the last time.
Third, the examination is different. That is to say, the differences in the text of the various versions of "Renxue" are presented. The differences in text between the different editions of Renxue are actually worth writing about. Several articles in the appendix to the Schoolbook have addressed this issue. The list of similarities and differences between different versions of the text looks boring, but people with a heart can seriously proofread and can discover effective information. Therefore, as the third score of the Hui School, it is also worth affirming.
Of course, in addition to the above praise, I think there are also places to consider. The two collators saw that the "East Asia Times" may have been the original manuscript or the first draft of "Renxue", so as a base, it basically presented the initial appearance of "Renxue", which can reflect the original face of Tan Sitong's thought, which is very worthy of affirmation from the history of academic thought. However, I personally feel that if we look at the collation of historical documents, the best version should be used as the base, and the version of the "East Asia Times" is not the best, and it is regrettable as the base. Because the two collators wanted to present more relevant historical information, they made a proofreading of every change in the "Athan Times" edition in the collation. But I feel that this will be a bit contradictory in the tidying up. On the one hand, I want to present the original appearance of the "East Asia Times" as much as possible, and on the other hand, I want to form the most complete text so far on this basis. For example, in some places it is obvious that the "ATA Times" was wrong and directly changed according to other editions; in some places, the "Qinghui Bao" was obviously better than the "YADONG Times" book, and it was proofread, but it was not changed. How to deal with this contradiction? It's a matter of opinion. I don't think it's easy to deal with achieving the best of both worlds. If I had done it, I would have taken out the East Asia Times intact, and at the same time, through proofreading, reflected its advantages and disadvantages, right and wrong, and similarities and differences with several other early editions.
Related to this, there is another point, because the Zhonghua Bookstore edition of "Renxue" is very authoritative and popular, and now according to the "Athan Times", it is not reasonable to see some sub-chapters of the Zhonghua Bookstore edition, but it has not been changed. That is to say, this time the school is to maintain the original appearance of the Zhonghua Bookstore edition in the sub-chapters. Personally, I prefer to base on the "East Asia Times" book, present its sub-sections as they are, and make a new version, which may be parallel to the Zhonghua Bookstore edition.
Yu Liang just mentioned that Pi Xirui recorded in his diary that he had first seen the comments of the "Renxue" of the "Athan Times". I once talked to Yu liang about this. In the past, I read Pi Xirui's diary to think along with his statement, and suspected that in the publication of "Renxue", it may have been manipulated and changed by Liang Qichao and others. Why is there such a presumption? Because I look at some of Tan Sitong's texts from 1898, there is a great contrast with the ideological outlook shown in "Renxue". Pi Xirui's first reaction to Renxue was also based on the understanding he had formed when he interacted and worked with Tan Si. When I read the "Renxue" compilation edition this time, especially when I saw that the difference in writing and thinking between the "Yadong Times" and the "Qinghui Bao" was relatively small, then when Liang Qichao and Tang Cai often published "Renxue" to the world, they should not have privately discussed it, and at the same time made a trade-off between the original manuscript and pretended to entrust their thoughts at that time to Tan Sitong, right? This is what I got a little new thinking about Pi Xirui's questions after reading the schoolbook.
"Pi Xirui's Diary", Wu Yangxiang Point School, Zhonghua Bookstore 2020
As for Tan Sitong's thought embodied in "Renxue", why is there such a big gap between him and his action of devoting himself to the Restoration and Reform of the Law in 1898? I think it should be understood in the context of the historical upheavals of the late Qing Dynasty. Under the upheaval of history, it is not surprising that some outstanding figures have complex ideas and are not necessarily related to their actions. Does Tan Sitong advocate restoration and reform, or does he advocate revolution, or even the signs of anti-Manchuism in ideology? On this issue, he should be in a state of chaos. I noticed that when Wei Xin introduced the process of writing Renxue, he quoted Liang Qichao's 1897 "General Discussion on Changing the Law", saying that he had absorbed some of the ideas in the manuscript of Renxue. I think that when Liang Qichao wrote the "General Discussion on Changing the Law" in 1897, he probably absorbed more of the contents of the "Renxue" that talked about reform and restoration, but when he edited the "Qinghui Bao" and published the "Renxue", he paid more attention to the ideological propositions in the book that advocated radical revolution and "broke through the net".
In short, after the launch of the "Renxue" school edition, although it is inevitable that there will be small regrets, it is of great significance for the academic circles to re-study the "Renxue", study Tan Sitong's thought, and promote the study of political thought in the late Qing Dynasty.
Wang Xiagang (Professor, School of History, Dalian University):
Because the "Renxue" school book is a very hard work. Yu Liang and Wei Xin spent a lot of time and energy to do such a thing, which was particularly valuable. At the time of the introduction, there was no analysis of the textual structure of the proofreading. Let me say it briefly.
1. Contents of the Renxuehui Schoolbook
With the "East Asia Times" as the base, the Hui school book is the "Qinghui Bao" book, the National Newspaper newspaper book, and the "Qinghui Bao Complete Edition" book, which lists in detail the similarities and differences in text, paragraph differences and trade-offs, reflecting the multiple details in the process of dissemination of "Renxue", and providing a good book for further study of "Renxue" and the study of Tan Sitong's thoughts. This was a very hard work, when the Zhonghua Bookstore was studying "Renxue", there were some inconsistencies and some deficiencies. The matter of the school requires a lot of time and energy. This is a relatively important contribution, in terms of trade-offs, the Hui School ben compares the similarities and differences of words, and the texts of these books are somewhat different, most of which are still the same.
So, why are there paragraphs diverging in different versions? Some scholars have pointed out that the Renxue is 47, and some are written as 50. The Hui Schoolbook deliberately identifies the inconsistencies in the various editions, laying the foundation for further research. Another point is that "Renxue" is more difficult to read, it has philosophical, Buddhist, Western terminology, and there are contents about Zhuangzi's doctrine and relativism. In this case, summarizing the paragraph will facilitate further understanding by the reader. I also wanted to do this work at the time, but I found that when Tan Sitong wrote each paragraph, some paragraphs revolved around a center, and some did not, which was more difficult to solve. I think Wei Xin has solved this problem relatively well, using keywords to summarize the content of the chapter, concise and concise, and not bothering.
There are many documents in the appendix of the schoolbook, such as Liang Qichao's "Preface to the Renxue of Liuyang Tan's Renxue", as well as other diaries and works of "Renxue" commentaries, listing various commentaries, so that readers can understand the repercussions of the book in the history of thought. Three papers by Zhang Yuliang are appended, summarizing the causes and consequences of Renxue. For example, the "East Asia Times" should be published according to the base of the "Renxue" collected by Tang Caichang. There was also the reason why the "Qinghui Bao" published "Renxue" repeatedly, and Yu liang put forward a different view from Mr. Naoki Sakura. In terms of material comparison, textual errors, etc., the knowledge of versionology, philology and calligraphy is used to make some understandings clearer.
Wang Xiagang: Tan Sitong and The Late Qing Dynasty Society, China Social Sciences Press, 2015
II. The History of the Formation of Renxue
In the process of reading, I also thought about some questions. For example, why did Tan Sitong's thinking change? That is to say, he fiercely opposed the monarchy in the Renxue; at the time of the Restoration in Hunan, it was a different state; the Guangxu Emperor let him enter the capital, and he was so righteous. Such a contradictory mentality, I think has a lot to do with his personal encounters. When writing "Renxue", in his own words, it was "the two sorrows of the family and the country". Academically, like the description of his mentality in the "Journey to the North", he felt that there was no way out. In this case, it is easy to understand why some radical claims have arisen. At that time, he wanted to participate in the Restoration Group, such as the Qiang Society, but no one invited him. Against this background, he wrote Renxue. We know that "The Journey to the North" is actually the predecessor of "Renxue", and some of the concepts he talked about are reflected in many chapters of "Renxue". Later, he was equivalent to entering a circle, and he did not feel that there was no way out as before. During the Restoration in Hunan, he interacted with his teachers and friends; when he was in Nanjing, he also had contact with the Restoration group in Shanghai. That is to say, "Renxue" is a work he wrote at a very difficult time, and in such a situation, it is easy to radicalize. It was an idea for me.
Of course, the process of producing "Renxue" was also inspired by teachers and friends. He reported some of his thoughts to the teacher. His letters with Tang Caichang and Wang Kangnian also put forward his own ideas for the writing of Renxue. Some of the issues in "Renxue" were discussed with Liang Qichao, Xia Zengyou, and Song Shu. At that time, there were also some exchanges with Western missionaries. It can be said that the above constitutes a background and life encounter for him to write "Renxue".
Regarding the source of knowledge of "Renxue", it is often said that it is mixed. Is the mixture perverted, or is it the norm? I think that miscellaneousness is more of a common phenomenon in the age of academic famine. Renxue embodies an attempt to bring together multiple disciplines. How can further research be done in this regard? Many people talk about late Qing Dynasty thought and late Qing Dynasty history, and now they need to "deeply cultivate." How to deepen the cultivation of Renxue? Yu Liang put forward some points of view, but it can be done some thinking. For example, the readers of "Renxue" have Liang Qichao. What aspects of Renxue liang were influenced by? Tan Sitong himself constructed a system in "Renxue", and in the middle of this, where is the contradiction? Where did he come from? An audience member asked whether Tan Sitong had read Yan Fu's "Theory of Heavenly Speech." Judging from the current letters, there is no direct reflection. In the letter, he said that he had read a book on evolution called "The Sect of Things". Tan Sitong said that this book is about "the theory of striving for self-preservation and survival", that is, the competition of material types. How did the "Sect of Things", Buddhist books, and some books by Fu Lanya and Timothy Lee influence the formation of Tan Sitong's thought? I think it's okay to do some in-depth exploration.
Regarding the version of "Renxue", Zhang Yuliang proposed that the 85th issue of "Qinghui Bao" had an advertisement for "The Sale of the Complete Book of Renxue by Mr. Tan Zhuangfei". The advertisement was also published in the 4th issue of the newspaper El Nacional, omitting the last sentence. Two months later, in October, the National Newspaper was launched. Yu Liang believes that this is the first version of the "Renxue" version, and I think it still needs to be considered. It is written here that "Meiji 34 October", that is, printed in October 1901, but Liang Qichao said in the inaugural issue of the Shinmin Cong Newspaper: "The legacy of Liuyang Tan Si, printed by the Yokohama Kiyoku Newspaper, reprinted by the Tokyo Kookmin Newspaper." "And we didn't find the version of Renxue printed by the Qinghui Newspaper. It can only be said that the Kookmin newspaper in Tokyo is the earliest version we have found now. At least from what Liang Qichao said in the Xinmin Cong Bao, it should be said that there is still one of the earliest Qinghui newspapers.
Iii. The Repercussions of Renxue
Hui Xueben mentioned Zhang Taiyan's evaluation of Renxue. I think there are emotional reasons, of course, but more of a doctrinal consideration. The most crucial thing is that there are many "Pai Xun" remarks in "Renxue" and attacks on Xunzi. Zhang Taiyan believed that his Confucianism was "based on Sun Qing" and honored Xunzi. This may have been an important factor in his dissatisfaction and criticism of Renxue. In the Renxue, it is said that Xunxue is "township wishes", "great thieves" are also despotic systems, using township wishes, and "township wishes are flattering thieves" (Part 29). This, of course, is inconsistent with Zhang Taiyan's view.
Tan Sitong put forward a very interesting phenomenon in the history of the development of Confucianism, not only himself, Liao Ping and Kang Youwei also had such an idea, they believe that Confucianism includes Confucianism, and Confucianism contains many schools. Tan Sitong believes that the two most important schools of Confucianism in the early days were Mencius and Zhuangzi. However, neither faction was passed down, but the Xunzi faction was passed down. After Xun Xue passed down, it lost the most fundamental essence of Confucianism, and used the two words Lunchang as the true meaning of Confucianism. I think this is one reason why Zhang Taiyan criticized Renxue.
There is also a reason, that is, Zhang Taiyan's criticism of "no birth and no death, so there is no life and death". In the "Mushroom Theory", although there is no name, it is actually a criticism of Tan Sitong. Zhang Taiyan believes that although looking down on life and death can become very persistent in the revolutionary aspect, and can "invigorate the spirit of death and lose the selfishness of small wisdom", in terms of academics, he does not agree. Of course, liang Qichao has a positive evaluation of "not being born and not dying". This is some of the material I added to Zhang Taiyan's evaluation of Renxue.
Finally, Wei Xin mentioned two materials from Tan Si's Long Genealogy compilation in the same year, and Teacher Dai asked me to make a comment. One is donation, it should be said that when Tan Sitong started, his birth was donated. But donations and pledges go hand in hand. Because there were too many alternate officials in the Qing Dynasty, how to teach them as soon as possible, many officials' children, there are some channels, hoping that someone can come to baoju. In this way, both donation and assurance can be made faster in the official arena. These alternate officials were also evaluated by the imperial court. At that time, Liu Kunyi said in a private message that the children of the eldest members were actually not very easy to settle. The second was when Tan Si went to Japan with him, and he was really anxious to go to Japan. But why didn't he make the trip? In his personal letters, it was said that his father would not let him go. In fact, there are still some twists and turns. Now the material shows that at least the governor of Huguang, Zhang Zhidong, planned to send him, and he ranked first on the Japanese reception list, which is more important. But in the middle of this, why did not make the trip, if you can collect some more materials, you can continue to discuss.
Editor-in-Charge: Shanshan Peng
Proofreader: Liu Wei