As a very famous thinker in modern Chinese history, Tan Sitong's life is legendary, but the end is regrettable, in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government became increasingly corrupt and the country's strength became weaker and weaker. In the eyes of the Western powers, the Qing government was the soft persimmon that could be played with anytime and anywhere. Without a word, he sent troops to threaten the Qing government, and the extremely cowardly Qing government was forced to swallow its anger. After signing many humiliating treaties with the great powers, it was necessary to pay reparations to the great powers as agreed, and not only that, a large amount of territory flowed into the hands of the great powers. The huge amount of reparations doubled the pressure on the Qing government, and in the end it was the ordinary people who suffered. The Qing government wantonly exploited ordinary people and put their lives in dire straits.
At this time, a group of thoughtful people who hoped to change this situation appeared, some of them studied abroad, and some of them came into contact with advanced Ideas in the West. Successfully persuaded the Guangxu monarch to prepare for a mighty reform movement that would completely change the face of the Qing Dynasty from top to bottom. Presumably, everyone understands that although the Guangxu Emperor was a monarch, it was Cixi who actually held power. As a typical figure of the conservative faction, if this reform is really carried out, it will naturally infringe on the interests of its conservative faction. Cixi decided not to let the Guangxu Emperor continue to carry out reforms in this way, and even put the Guangxu monarch under house arrest for a time, making it impossible for the reform to proceed normally. On the other hand, Cixi ordered the massacre of revolutionaries, and Kang Youwei and others fled directly overseas, and as one of them, Tan Sitong chose to be heroic and righteous, hoping to awaken the people in this way.
Tan Sitong was born in the Beijing area, and when he was a teenager, he suffered a serious illness, and in the eyes of outsiders, this Tan Sitong must not have lived long, but he miraculously survived. When he was a teenager, he was inspired by Wang Fuzhi's thoughts and deeply imprinted patriotic ideas in his mind. He liked to read all kinds of books, and was very opposed to the Eight Strands of Literature, which was very popular at that time. Tan Sitong also has a special chivalrous quality, and he and a righteous hero in the Beijing area are known as the Great Sword King Five, and they become extremely good friends. After the Qing government and the Japanese army failed to fight in the Weihai area, they again signed a humiliating treaty. Tan Sitong, who was in his prime, was very resentful of the country's situation, so he publicized new learning in the folk, hoping that the country would change the status quo through reform.
In the same year, Kang Youwei called on the candidates who came to Beijing to take the imperial examination to protest to the government, refused the government to sign a treaty with the Japanese, and demanded that the government be able to carry out changes, move toward the road to prosperity and strength, and change the situation of arbitrary slaughter. Soon after, Tan Sitong, who returned to the Hunan region, with the support of the inspector, opened a new school to promote the idea of restoration. The Guangxu Emperor was encouraged by the rising mood of the restorationists and made up his mind to change the law. Within a few months of the change, Cixi ordered the abolition of the Guangxu Emperor. The revolutionaries suffered as a result. After Tan Sitong was captured, he should have had the opportunity to escape together. But in order to show his firm determination to the revolution and to inspire the masses, he sacrificed himself to arouse the awakening of the masses.
After capturing Tan Si and other revolutionaries, Cixi did not immediately order their execution, but instead carried out a series of tortures against them, in order to warn the people that this would be the fate of disobeying her wishes. The revolutionaries sent to the execution ground were about to be executed, but ordered executions with unsealed knives. The process of executing Tan Sitong was extremely cruel, and the executioner used great force to cut down every knife, but he could not immediately cut off his neck. After a total of dozens of knives, Tan Sitong endured great pain and passed away.
From Tan Sitong's body, we can feel his tenacious spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice for the revolution, and perhaps ordinary people at that time could not understand what he could get by doing so. There is no doubt that Tan Sitong's spirit has played a role in promoting the process of modernization in our country. Although the restoration and reform method was only carried out for a few months in the end, it had a certain impact on the society of our country at that time, so that more people's minds were baptized. It was precisely after the Restoration Movement that the bourgeoisie developed to a certain extent, and the backward and decadent feudal system was also affected to a certain extent. In the final analysis, the Restoration Movement still lacked a certain foundation, and it could not succeed by relying on the sacrifices of a few people alone, and the result of failure was inevitable.