At the beginning of the 20th century, in the decade before the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, a number of books advocating anti-imperialism, anti-Qing and advocating democratic revolution were quietly circulated among the people, inspiring many young people with lofty ideals to join the revolutionary movement. Among these books, the most famous are "Alarm Clock", "Turning Back", and "Lion Roar".
The authors of these three books are all from Hunan named Chen Tianhua.
One
Chen Tianhua, zi xingtai, a native of Fengyangping, Lishu, Ronghua Township, Xinhua County, Hunan Province, was born in 1875. His mother died of illness very early and was raised by his father's hard work. My father was a local private school teacher who supported his family by teaching people in a library, and his life was very difficult. In order to solve the problem of livelihood, the teenager Chen Tianhua started a small business in the countryside, carrying a basket and selling everywhere.
Chen Tianhua
In addition to doing small business, Chen Tianhua read diligently, borrowing all the books he could find around him to read, whether it was the Four Books and Five Classics, or folk novels, all of which were read with relish.
According to Chen Tianhua's family conditions, he could not afford to enter the academy to study. Fortunately, there was a clan member named Chen Yucheng who saw that Chen Tianhua was talented and intelligent, loyal and honest, and was a reading material, so he reached out to help. In 1896, with the financial support of Chen Yucheng, the 21-year-old Chen Tianhua entered the Zijiang Academy in Xinhua City.
During that time, the Restoration Movement was in full swing, and new schools were held all over the country. In 1898, Zou Daijun, a geographer from Xinhua who stayed in Japan, together with local social elites, donated 1,000 quintals of rice to establish Xinhua Shixuetang (the predecessor of Xinhua County No. 1 Middle School), which is one of the earliest modern schools in Hunan Province and even in the country, known as "there is a Beijing Normal University Hall in the north and a Xinhua Shixuetang in the south".
Xinhua County No. 1 Middle School
Chen Tianhua entered the Xinhua Practical Academy in that year, and began to accept the influence of the concept of restoration and advocated the change of law.
Two
In 1900, Chen Tianhua was admitted to the famous Yuelu Academy with excellent results and came to the provincial capital of Changsha to study. Yuelu Academy is one of the four famous academies in Chinese history, which was built as early as the Northern Song Dynasty, and has a history of nearly 1,000 years in 1900, tao shu, He Changling, Wei Yuan, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi, Zeng Guoquan, Liu Kunyi, Liu Rong, Guo Songtao and a large number of other prominent figures have studied in Yuelu Academy. Chen Tianhua came to Yuelu Academy, eager to study, diligently studying homework, and his academic performance ranked among the best in the school.
Yuelu Academy
At that time, an official who was a county commander in a certain place in Hunan admired Chen Tianhua's talent and character, and planned to marry his daughter to him. As the saying goes: "The county order that breaks the house, the prefect who destroys the door." "A county decree is the supreme administrator of a county and has the power to kill and kill in the jurisdiction. Being able to marry the daughter of the county order is, in the eyes of many readers, the perfect opportunity to climb the tall branches. But Chen Tianhua didn't think so.
Chen Tianhua entered the school very late, and his mind was focused on his studies, and he did not consider marrying a wife at all. He read many historical books and greatly admired the western Han dynasty general Huo's practice of "the Xiongnu are not destroyed and have no home", and he must personally imitate it. He told the county commander, "The country is uneasy, and I will not marry." This means that the country has not settled down, and it will not marry a wife.
In a word. Later, Chen Tianhua did not marry until the time of the poster country.
Three
At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a rare upsurge of studying in Japan in China, and countless benevolent people traveled east to Japan, hoping to find a way to save the country and save the people in Japan. Chen Tianhua is no exception. In the spring of 1903, Chen Tianhua was admitted to the official quota to study in Japan, and came to Japan to study, studying in the Normal Department of the Hongwen College in Tokyo, Japan.
Hongwen College is the first school in Japan to accept Chinese students sent by the public, and Huang Xing, Yang Du, Hu Hanmin, Yang Changji, Zhang Lan, Xu Shousheng, Lu Xun, Chen Shizeng, Chen Yinke, Li Siguang and others have all studied at this school. After Chen Tianhua entered the Hongwen Academy, under the influence of a strong patriotic and national salvation sentiment, he embarked on the road of revolution.
In 1903, Chen Tianhua, full of revolutionary passion, wrote two popular books, "Turning Back" and "Alarm Clock". In 1905, Chen Tianhua published the political novel "Lion Roar" in the "People's Daily".
"Turning Back", "Alarm Bell"
In "Turning Back", Chen Tianhua exposed that the Western forced partition of China was imminent, and the Qing court had been reduced to a "foreigner's court", calling on the people of all walks of life throughout the country to unite and oppose imperialism and feudalism with one heart and one mind. In "The Alarm Bell", Chen Tianhua advocated the use of revolutionary means to overthrow the corrupt Qing court and rise up to hit the Alarm Hong Bell. "The Lion's Roar" criticizes various atrocities since the Entry of the Qing Dynasty and advocates revolution.
After the advent of "Turning Back", "Alarm Clock" and "Lion Roar", they spread throughout the north and south of the river, inspiring many aspiring young people to join the revolutionary movement.
Four
Because many Chinese students were engaged in revolutionary activities in Japan, they attracted the attention of the Qing court. In 1905, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, sent a message to the imperial court, requesting that "the regulations of the students who study abroad be restrained and the graduates encouraged to be passed at the right time." With the consent of the Qing court, Zhang Zhidong contacted the Japanese minister in China, Yasuya Uchida, and asked Japan to introduce a corresponding system to manage Chinese students on his behalf.
Zhang Zhidong
In November of that year, Japan issued the "Rules for the Suppression of Chinese Students" that discriminated against and restricted Chinese students. This system has aroused protests and opposition from Chinese students studying abroad. After Chen Tianhua saw the "Rules for the Prohibition of International Students in the Qing Dynasty", he was extremely sad and indignant. On December 7, Chen Tianhua wrote a "Book of Death" with a stroke of his pen and more than 10,000 words. On December 8, Chen Tianhua went to Omori Bay near Tokyo, walked step by step into the depths, and committed suicide at the age of 30.
Chen Tianhua hoped that in this resolute way, the patriotic and revolutionary enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of sleeping compatriots would be awakened.