The 20th year of Qing Daoguang (1840) is the beginning of China's modern history, and the reason why people stipulate this is because of the "Opium War" that had a profound impact on future generations. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, because of the government's closed attitude toward the outside world, it was difficult for foreign powers to gain an advantage in trade with China. After the British smashed open the closed door of the Qing Dynasty with a strong ship and cannon, the Qing Dynasty gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and became the object of division among the great powers.
In order to save the danger, many benevolent people ran around, including Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao.
Under the persuasion of Kang and Liang, who promoted Western ideas, the Guangxu Emperor agreed to implement the change, which is the famous "Pengshu Change". Unfortunately, the change of law lasted only 100 days before it was declared a failure due to the obstruction of Empress Dowager Cixi, and after the incident, the two initiators of Kang and Liang fled, but six of their followers were tragically killed by the Qing court, which is the famous "Six Gentlemen of Wushu". As a warning, Empress Dowager Cixi beheaded them in the downtown area, and at this time a sad scene appeared- the crowd watching their murder cheered and took the tragic death of the hero as a pastime.
Some people may wonder why the people have such an attitude, for which Mr. Lu Xun has broken through the reason with only one sentence.
In the twenty-first year of the Qing Dynasty (1895), the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Maguan, which humiliated the country with the chinese side. When the news reached the capital, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao organized more than 1,300 people who participated in the imperial examination that year to jointly write a letter to the Guangxu Emperor, calling on the Guangxu Emperor to reject peace talks, implement the law change, introduce Western studies, and train new recruits. However, this time, the letter could not be presented to the emperor due to the obstruction of the conservative faction.
The failure of the petition did not extinguish the enthusiasm of Kang and Liang for changing the law, and they actively publicized and founded the newspaper society, expanded the scale of the restoration faction, and created public opinion that the law was changed and strong. Finally, in the winter two years after the bus was written, with the occurrence of the German occupation of Jiaozhou Bay, the people's enthusiasm for changing the law reached its peak, and Kang Youwei took the opportunity to write a letter, this time, he was summoned by the Guangxu Emperor. In June of the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898), under the auspices of Kang Youwei and others, the change of law officially began.
Because the Qing Dynasty was already in danger at that time, the reformists issued all the new laws that were considered to need to be proposed, and in the more than one hundred days of the reform, the Guangxu Emperor issued more than a hundred edicts, which showed the eagerness in his heart. However, the vigorous reformist movement attracted the opposition of the conservative faction, and these old ministers wrote to Cixi, and the decisive Cixi directly imprisoned the emperor and ordered the arrest of the restorationists.
On September 28, six main members of the Restoration Faction, Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi, Lin Xu, Yang Shenxiu, and Kang Guangren, were escorted to Caishikou and beheaded. Originally, Tan Sitong had the opportunity to flee or even go abroad, but he said that "all countries that change the law are made from bloodshed, and today China has not heard of anyone who bleeds because of the change of law, and the reason why this country is not prosperous." If so, please start with the same heir. In other words, he firmly believes that his death can awaken the hearts of the people to support the reform of the law.
Unfortunately, on the day of the execution, most of the onlookers only wanted to enjoy it, and regarded the righteousness of Tan Si and others as a performance.
From today's point of view, this is undoubtedly a very absurd and sad phenomenon, but in that era when the wisdom of the people was not yet opened, most people actually did not know that the people in front of them were trying to exchange their lives for the awakening of more people. Compared with a small number of progressive people who have been educated and exposed to Western learning, more people in society are overwhelmed by the pressure of life, and they only care about the shortness of their parents, rice, oil and salt, and as for the reform of the law, it is a distant and unfamiliar thing for them.
Regarding the situation at that time, Mr. Lu Xun commented succinctly and concisely in one sentence: "The prescient people have always been excluded, oppressed, exiled, and killed by the insidious villains, and the faint masses, and the Chinese is particularly fierce. "The so-called sinister villains are the self-styled ministers of the imperial court, and they are also the empress dowager Cixi and her accomplices who only care about their own interests; and the fainting masses are the righteous and indifferent people who witness Tan Sitong.
Under the attack of these two groups, many progressive young people of the same tan style in that era were obliterated, and they struggled for half a life, but in the end they often just shook the tree. There is a saying that when a light shines into darkness, then that light is sinful. For China of that era, Tan Si and the like were the light, and most people were actually in the shadows, unwilling to look, nor dare to look at the dazzling light.
On the other hand, Kang Youwei and others have gathered public opinion to propagate the idea of restoration everywhere, but they are dismissive of the people at the bottom, and the object they are fighting for is people who are themselves educated. Imagine that in that society with a very high illiteracy rate, how many ordinary people would buy a copy of the "Shi Ji Bao" and "Guo Wen Bao" with new ideas?
Therefore, the most fundamental reason why the people were able to rejoice in the tragic murder of the six gentlemen of Wushu was ignorance.
Because of their ignorance, they only know that a few people on the execution ground have rebelled against the "Lafayette" who is high above; because of their ignorance, they take the punishment of prisoners by the government as a matter of course, and even go to watch it with the idea of passing the time.
Out of ignorance, they do not understand that the few heads that have fallen to the ground are full of thoughts and aspirations to liberate them; it is also out of ignorance that they are in prison, but they laugh at those who want to rescue themselves from prison and dedicate their lives to the ideal fighters.