Presents a historical cross-section of Beijing's culture

【Interview with new book】

Xia Xiaohong: Professor of the Department of Chinese of Peking University, and currently a chair professor at Henan University. He mainly focuses on modern Chinese literary trends, women's lives and social culture. He is the author of "Reading Liang Qichao" and "Women in the Late Qing Dynasty and Modern China".

Open up the wisdom of the people, change customs, and transform Beijing's modern city

Guangming Yue Reading: The collection of essays you edited, "The Cultural Space of Late Qing Beijing", contains ten articles on the new stages, newspaper halls, new schools, parks and other public spaces in the modern sense of late Qing Beijing.

Xia Xiaohong: The urban cultural characteristics of Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty were formed by the intersection of historical influences and the stimulation of reality. Beijing is known as the ancient capital of 800 years, especially the three hundred years of rule of the Qing Dynasty, which constitutes the basic pattern of Beijing City and also shapes the cultural character of Beijingers. Reflected in the urban pattern, that is, the Manchu and Han dynasties in the inner city (north city) and the outer city (south city). However, the long-term, concentrated presence of the Manchus in Beijing and the class differentiation within the Manchus also led to more integration between the Manchus and Han Dynasties, and relatively speaking, ethnic relations were relatively gentle. Beijing, also known as the district of shoushan, as the political center of the dynasty, attracted and gathered a large number of officials and scholars. He stayed in the outer city of the scholar, so he had more intersection with the city civilians. Beijing is the place where the imperial court is located, and the people of Beijing are more enthusiastic about public affairs. Especially after 1840, the failure of successive Sino-foreign wars and the occurrence of self-improvement and restoration movements revealed the decline of dynastic rule and the superiority of Western civilization, so Beijing began the process of transformation into a modern city despite its slowness and caution. Now that we can trace its starting point, we need to return to Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty. In short, the coexistence of Manchu and Han, the negotiation of scholars, and the compromise between the old and the new can generally summarize the urban cultural characteristics of Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty.

Guangming Yue Reading: In the article "Tian Jiyun and the Beijing "Women's Kuang Society"", you made a detailed historical record of the famous Tian Jiyun's 1906 rehearsal of "The Biography of Lady Huixing", before and after the rehearsal of this new play, people from the opera circles, the press, and the academic circles all appeared, and various propositions such as opera improvement, the establishment of women's schools, and vernacular newspapers and periodicals all returned to the historical scene.

Xia Xiaohong: Tian Jiyun is a famous actor in modern times, and few people know his name now, but in the late Qing Dynasty and early Minchu, he was the leader of the Pear Garden Line. The new play "The Biography of Lady Huixing", rehearsed by him, shows the true story of Huixing, a Manchu woman in the Hangzhou garrison flag camp, who committed suicide because of a shortage of funds for running a female school. Although Huixing founded the Women's School with the consideration of Manchu self-help and self-renewal (I have a special chapter in the book "Women in the Late Qing Dynasty and Modern China"), however, women's social education did start from the late Qing Dynasty, which was of great significance to the opening of people's wisdom and the improvement of customs, and women's studies were given an important mission. Only by changing the old habit of staying at home and not leaving the door can women enter the academy to receive a new education. These ideas and concepts, which originally belonged to the elite, need to be enlightened in order to be generally accepted by the public.

Of course, the schools, newspapers, and speeches that Liang Qichao called "the three sharp tools for spreading civilization" played a huge role in the enlightenment of late Qingxue. It is only in this case that I hope to highlight the characteristics of the late Qing Dynasty Beijing Enlightenment, namely the importance of opera. Tian Jiyun, who has a sense of restoration, is the most suitable enlightenment role. He not only has the identity of the inner court to enter the palace to perform, but also is familiar with and accepted by the scholars and the citizens, and can just become an intermediary to communicate with the government and the opposition and open up the upper and lower levels of society. The common love of opera between the Qing Dynasty and the people has also made the "opera reform" dedicated to the opening of the people's wisdom and easy customs, which can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with the help of the performance of new plays on current affairs, and is widely accepted. At the very least, the rapid growth of women's schools in Beijing and the promulgation of the statutes of the Qing Dynasty Academy in 1907 and the recognition of the legalization of women's education can be seen in the influence of the Biography of Lady Huixing. Therefore, I think this case is of typical significance for presenting the process of social reform and enlightenment unfolding in beijing in the late Qing Dynasty.

Guangming Yue Reading: There are several chapters in this book that use materials from the Beijing Dialect Daily, which was founded in 1904, and Liang Shuming once commented that the newspaper "played a great role in promoting Beijing society and even the vast northern society in that year." At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing entered the prosperous period of newspaper operation, what was the positioning of the Beijing Dialect Daily at that time?

Xia Xiaohong: Although I emphasized the special status of opera in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty, it should be admitted that in terms of coverage and durability, the press is also a more effective tool for enlightenment. Beijing's newspaper industry did not gradually flourish until after 1900, and an important symbol was the rise of private newspapers. In addition to the "Beijing News" that continues from the traditional Di Bao, which specially publishes imperial court messages and dynamics, private newspapers and periodicals have formed a public opinion space that reflects public opinion. Peng Yizhong is one of the most representative newspaper reporters. His astonishing move was that he ran three kinds of newspapers and periodicals by one person: the "Enlightenment Pictorial", founded in June 1902, was the earliest pictorial magazine in the north, with the purpose of opening up Tong Zhi; the "Beijing Dialect Daily" published in August 1904 was written in the vernacular, with the purpose of opening up the wisdom of the people, that is, Peng Yizhong called "opening up the wisdom of the majority of the people in society"; in December of that year, the "Zhonghua Bao" was launched specifically for the purpose of opening up the official wisdom. The Beijing Dialect Daily has obviously the widest audience, and the newspaper has the greatest influence. This influence is not entirely due to the use of the vernacular language of the newspaper, because the "Beijing Dialect Newspaper" that appeared before it was short-lived. The actual situation is just as analyzed in the article "The Bannerman Color of the Beijing Dialect Daily" (1904-1906)" in this book, because Peng Yizhong responded with a tough attitude to the news of the British envoy in China's publication of the News of the Abuse of Chinese Workers by the British Authorities in Beijing and the interference of the serial novel "Pig Boy" in the "Beijing Dialect Daily", which greatly relieved the people of Beijing who had experienced the humiliation of the Eight-Power Alliance's entry into Beijing, expressed their public opinion, and boosted the people's morale, so that the newspaper's reputation soared and its circulation soared. Coupled with the preaching of enthusiastic people in the reading newspapers and newspaper offices scattered throughout Beijing at that time, it attracted a large number of people who could not afford to buy newspapers or could not read, and also quickly expanded the scope of the vernacular newspaper. Therefore, the various improvements and intellectual undertakings promoted by the Beijing Dialect Daily may win the strong support of all walks of life in the Beijing Division.

Guangming Yue Reading: There is a chapter in the book that introduces one of the "Four Strange Cases of the Late Qing Dynasty", the "Chun'a Case", the reason why the case has not been forgotten is because there have been newspapers, novels, dramas and other forms of recording and interpretation of it, you once mentioned in the book "Women in the Late Qing Dynasty and Modern China", "The dramatic social changes in the late Qing Dynasty, the speed of news reporting, make it easy for writers to have a strong sense of reality, compared to previous eras, works are closer to life." And major events are often the hot spots of literary creation due to the rendering, laying and attention of existing newspapers and periodicals" What impact did the interaction with newspapers and periodicals have on the literature of that time?

Xia Xiaohong: Reading modern literature, that is, the works of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, there will be a strong feeling, that is, a rapid response to current events. This is particularly evident when compared to ancient literature. There is no doubt that the greatly enhanced currentism of modern literature is inseparable from the rise of modern newspapers and periodicals. Due to the timeliness of news, the reporter's exploration of hidden feelings, and the continuous attention and tracking of newspapers and periodicals to create hot spots in current affairs will often drive public opinion, making it a social event that the public is widely concerned about and participates in. The aforementioned martyrdom of Huixing is an example. Of course, the "Chun A's case" is more typical. This was originally a murder in the family of an ordinary flag man. In the era when there were no newspapers, the "murder of relatives" could become the subject of a momentary street talk, but it would soon be forgotten. In Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty, due to the intervention and guidance of the Beijing Dialect Daily, it stimulated the sympathy of the public for the weak woman Chun Ashi who was accused of being a murderer, and then attacked the judicial organs for abusing non-punishment and corrupting the law, expressing a strong demand for judicial justice. In this way, an ordinary case became the focus of public opinion because it was linked to the preparatory constitution of the Qing court in 1906. The subsequent interpretation of the case by novels, operas, operas and other works certainly has the commercial considerations of "rubbing hot spots"; but while continuing the social criticism and reform appeals, the writer has added the clue of the tragedy of love, so that the Chun Ashi case can transcend the political atmosphere of the moment and pass on for a long time, which indeed depends on the imagination and appeal of literature.

The past and present of the ancient capital, the inclusive urban character

Guangming Yue Reading: You mentioned in the book that in the late Qing Dynasty, Beijing underwent the transformation from the "Beijing division of scholars" to the "Beijing of the people", is this the key difference between Beijing and port cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin? You have also done a series of studies on "Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty", what are the similarities and differences between the two cities in the development of modern civilization?

Xia Xiaohong: The so-called "Beijing of scholars" refers to the fact that Beijing, as the center of Qing Dynasty rule, gathered the largest number of high-ranking officials and famous literati and scholars. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, they have always been the dominant figures in Beijing society. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, the concept of "state" in Western political science was introduced to China, which not only clarified the difference with the "imperial court", but also made the original dynastic people gradually transform into "people" and began to actively care about and participate in state affairs. In the process of transforming the main body and cultural character of this city, Beijing shows different characteristics from the port city represented by Shanghai. As far as the process of modernization is concerned, Shanghai was the first to open a port, the first to be impacted by Western culture, coupled with the existence and demonstration of concessions, and Shanghai was originally just an ordinary county that could be seen everywhere in China, and the transformation of the city was relatively easy to carry out, so Shanghai became a distribution center for new learning and new policies. Beijing, on the other hand, has a deep cultural accumulation and is politically the capital of the Qing Emperor, and its transformation is much slower. However, once the new trend of thought arrives in Beijing from Shanghai, as I quote Peng Yizhong in the book: "The northern atmosphere is slow, and as soon as it opens, it will be greatly understood, and there is absolutely no action of hiding." More straightforward than the people's sentiments in the south. ”

In fact, more importantly, the urban transformation of Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty was due to the heavy burden of tradition, which was different from Shanghai's new victory and old decline, and presented a situation of coexistence and compromise between the old and the new. Therefore, we can see that "loyal" and "patriotic" are not contradictory, and the "Beijing Dialect Daily", which represents public opinion, will also be advertised as "Nijin and Ergong Imperial Palace". In such a field where the old and the new are combined, although the entry of new schools is lagging behind, it will not attract huge resistance. Taking the private women's school as an example, the main force of the school is the gentry and their female dependents, including the flag people, even before the promulgation of the Qing court's women's school charter, the development of women's education in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty did not encounter official interference. This is obviously different from the living conditions of the women's school founded by the southern gentlemen.

Guangming Yue Reading: Overseas scholars have paid great attention to Shanghai, the "Urban Imagination and Cultural Memory Series" has published 11 books, with the idea of cultural history to study Beijing, Kaifeng, Xi'an, Hong Kong and other cities, there are many scholars involved, can you please introduce the origin and results of related research?

Xia Xiaohong: "The Cultural Space of Beijing in the Late Qing Dynasty" belongs to the "Urban Imagination and Cultural Memory Series" of Peking University Publishing House. The first book in this set is actually "Beijing: Urban Imagination and Cultural Memory", published in the "Academic History Series" in 2005, which was the proceedings of the international conference of the same name sponsored by the Center for Twentieth Century Chinese Culture research in Peking University in the autumn of 2003 and the Department of East Asian Studies of Harvard University. It is precisely because of the fact that the study of Shanghai that you mentioned is quite mature that Chen Pingyuan and Wang Dewei consciously defined The past and present lives of Beijing as the scope of the conference. Chen Pingyuan has mentioned in the preface to this book, "Beijing Memory and Memory of Beijing", that compared with Shanghai, "as the ancient capital of eight hundred years, the modernization process of Beijing is more difficult, from resistance and struggle to follow and breakthrough, its steps are faltering, more representative, and more valuable for research." This is why the series focuses more on Beijing. Starting from this conference, Chen and Wang used the same model and proposition to invite scholars from different fields at home and abroad, and held three academic conferences in Xi'an, Hong Kong and Kaifeng, and also published a collection of papers. As can be seen from the choice of cities, the hosts obviously pay more attention to the old state and new life of the cultural ancient city. In addition, all the books in this series of books, except for two books that deal with Shanghai and Changsha, Hunan, are all about Beijing. The angle of entry can be drama, newspaper, education, literati group or literature, but it is all an interpretation of a historical and cultural space in the city.

Guangming Yue Reading: The various cultural spaces created in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty formed the prototype of modern Beijing culture, what influences can we feel today?

Xia Xiaohong: In terms of tangible cultural forms, the women's schools, newspapers and periodicals (including women's newspapers and vernacular newspapers), newspaper newspapers, newspapers, novels, speeches, fashion plays, public welfare associations, police, parks, etc., which have not been covered, as well as more modern higher education, road traffic, water supply systems, urban management, etc., which have not been covered, and the various cultural spaces that have been opened up in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty have directly affected our daily lives today. Even Peking University, where I have been working for a long time, was founded in 1898, the predecessor of the Beijing Normal University. If we discuss intangible spiritual heritage, what I personally feel most deeply is the tolerance of Beijing society in the late Qing Dynasty. In addition to the coexistence of the old and the new already mentioned, the Manchu-Han contradictions that also point to Beijing are not as fierce as in the south. Taking Hui Xing's martyrdom as an example, Hui Xing's death in the south, in addition to the flag people group, the reaction in the press and society was quite cold; after it reached Beijing, it triggered a huge response and aroused the enthusiasm of people from all walks of life to participate in the study. Tianjin's "Ta Kung Pao" lamented that "the soldiers of the Yangtze River Basin are not as good as the haiku of the Great River Basin" can only be understood in the context of the real Beijing of the late Qing Dynasty, when the Manchu and Han integration was relatively high. In fact, from this example, the situation of the Beijing Shishu negotiations at that time can also be seen. My personal impression is that the inclusive urban character should still be respected and carried forward in modern Beijing.

(Reporter Chen Xue)

(Guangming Daily)