In 1898, the twenty-fourth year of the Great Qing Dynasty.
After the disastrous defeat in the Sino-Japanese War and the indemnity for the cession of land under the Treaty of Maguan, the ruling clique of the Qing Dynasty finally woke up from the great dream of the Spring and Autumn Period. This also means that the guidelines of the Western affairs movement, "middle school for the body, Western learning for the use", have been eliminated by the trend of the times.
On June 11 of that year, the Guangxu Emperor, the titular supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty, promulgated the "Ming Ding Guo is the Edict", which opened the prelude to the self-help movement of changing the law.
However, only four days after the change of law, the author of the "Ming Ding Guo is the Edict" and the emperor of the two dynasties, Weng Tonggong, who was recognized as the "imperial party", was ordered by his student The Guangxu Emperor to dismiss the official and return to his hometown on the grounds that "the power-grabbing frenzy was gradually revealed, and it was difficult to win the cardinal's appointment".
On this day, it happened to be Weng Tonggong's 69th birthday.
▲ Two dynasties emperor Weng Tonggong, source: network.
In the face of the emperor's sudden harsh rebuke, Weng Tonggong, who was a subordinate, lost his voice and cried bitterly. He didn't believe that the good students he had taught would actually cause the Honorable Master to suffer a great blow in his nearly ancient age.
After receiving the holy will, Weng Tonggong did not immediately set off to return to his hometown, but on the grounds of "prostrating his head tomorrow", he blocked the student on the way back to the palace under Guangxu and prostrated his head vigorously to apologize.
However, for the white-haired teacher in front of him, Guangxu didn't even look at it, and he hurriedly brushed past him.
Weng Tonggong could only watch the back of his most proud student leaving.
I also left the stage of history.
The relationship between teachers and students is over, Guangxu and Weng Tonggong are two people, and they will never see each other again in this life.
01
Guangxu actually didn't know how much he hated Master Weng. In his upbringing, Master Weng was also a teacher and a father.
In the second year of Guangxu (1876), the 6-year-old Xiao Guangxu went to Yuqing Palace to study at the yuqing Palace on the orders of Empress Dowager Cixi, and Weng Tonggong became his teacher. For Xiao Guangxu, who had not long left his parents, seeing such a magnificent and kind master inevitably produced an attachment similar to his father.
Therefore, Guangxu, who had just entered the school, sometimes sought a sense of security in Master Weng. According to the "Chongling Biography", Guangxu was very afraid of thunder when he was a child, and whenever the lightning strikes in class, he would hide in Weng Tonggong's arms like a kitten and play with his beard.
But for Weng Tonggong, being Guangxu's teacher at this time was under great pressure. In his diary, Weng Tonggong said that when he received Empress Dowager Cixi's will, his mood was, "Smell the smell of life, but do not feel lost."
It is reasonable to say that "a human subject is noble, no one is as noble as an imperial master", and he can be entrusted with such a heavy responsibility, and the minister next to him has already knelt on his knees and shouted the emperor's grace, but Weng Tonggong's mood is complicated. Because, the academic enlightenment of the former emperor Tongzhi was also taught by him. At that time, the Tongzhi Emperor in his childhood was taught to study in the Hongde Hall, and he was intelligent and studious. When teaching his studies, Weng Tonggong devoted all his efforts to teaching the holy king who was admired by thousands of people. However, he, a student, "did not accomplish a great cause" on the right path, but was famous in history for his early death.
▲ Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun, source: network.
Weng Tonggong did not know whether Guangxu, who was still in his old age, would disobey discipline as he did in the future, and lead the Qing Dynasty into an irreparable abyss.
After pondering for a long time, Weng Tonggong gave Empress Dowager Cixi a Taoist fold, declaring that "it is difficult for you to ask yourself to be competent, and if you repeat your shyness, you will surely have negative holy grace", and asked Empress Dowager Cixi to take back her life and ask Gao Ming.
For this 26-year-old who had passed the examination for the Two Dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi was quite clear that Weng Tonggong was absolutely qualified for the position of emperor. Therefore, as soon as Weng Tonggong's resignation was handed over, Cixi gave instructions: "Rin obeys the previous will, and does not allow any fixed resignation." He also designated all the courses taught by the Guangxu Emperor to be completed by Weng Tonggong alone.
After that, unless Guangxu was sick and asked for leave, Weng Tonggong generally came out early and returned late, and the four seasons were as usual, rain or shine.
Weng Tonggong's education of Guangxu did not stop at the Four Books and Five Classics. In addition to books, he paid special attention to the education of Tude. On the first day of Guangxu's enlightenment, Weng Tonggong solemnly informed the truth that "water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn a boat".
In view of the problems that Guangxu may encounter along the way, Weng Tonggong prepared a plan early. At that time, according to the tradition of the Qing Dynasty, the children of the Eight Banners had to undergo the baptism of riding and shooting in the process of growing up. In this regard, Weng Tonggong specially gave feedback to the empress dowager of the two palaces, asking the empress dowager of the two palaces to look at the basic education of the emperor and slow down the requirements for the Guangxu Emperor's riding and shooting, and everything was mainly based on governing the country and studying and defending the holy bow.
▲ Manchu children riding on horseback, source: network.
Most of the time, Weng Tonggong became the warm reliance of the little emperor. The history books record that on a certain day in the third year of Guangxu (1877), Empress Dowager Cixi issued a decree requiring the Guangxu Emperor to complete the day's academic homework before returning to the palace, otherwise he would upload food in class and continue to study after eating. When the eunuch had finished passing on the holy will, he left indifferently. At this time, Guangxu's expression was quite nervous, his palms were sweating, and his disgust with school had risen sharply. Seeing the situation, Weng Tonggong quickly comforted the little emperor: "Tang poetry and storytelling are both retractable, and it is not necessary to eat in the study." ”
In Weng Tonggong's concept, punishment for reading and sitting is not a good recipe for education, but should be used to stimulate the emperor's self-confidence in a positive way of encouragement and praise. In order to ensure that the emperor's education was not divorced from reality, he also often introduced the major national events that occurred at that time into the classroom to train Guangxu's ability to handle political affairs.
All kinds of considerate care gave the lonely little emperor the greatest sense of security. The little emperor's respect for Master Weng also increased day by day. According to the Chongling Transmission, "Changshu (Weng Tonggong) was in the study for twenty-five years, and was the closest (the Guangxu Emperor)".
02
Who would have thought that the strong teacher-student friendship between the Guangxu Emperor and Weng Tonggong was the tragic root of Master Weng's second half of life.
Just when the relationship between the Guangxu Emperor and Master Weng was deepening, the land of Huaxia encountered unprecedented disasters. In the second half of the 19th century, the Qing government, under the continuous suppression of the strong ships and cannons of European and American countries, repeatedly lost battles and signed a series of unequal treaties that humiliated the country. During the Guangxu period, the national strength of the Qing Dynasty was even weaker. The great powers of various countries are eyeing the tiger, and the team of foreign invaders who divide China's territory is constantly expanding. In addition to the two established European powers of Britain and France, from the Opium War to the Guangxu years, the list of reparations for the Great Qing War included the United States, Russia, Germany, Italy, Portugal and other countries. Even Japan, which originally had the same closed-door mentality as the Qing court in the east of Asia, established a "mainland policy" through the Meiji Restoration and prepared to share a piece of the pie in China.
At that time, Agubai, an aggressor from Central Asia, with the support of Tsarist Russia, brazenly launched a war of aggression against Xinjiang and occupied the southern region of Xinjiang, including Urumqi. Taking advantage of the fire and looting, on the pretext of "stabilizing border order," Tsarist Russia sent troops from the Siberian region to the south, openly invaded the Ili region of Xinjiang, and threatened: "The Qing Dynasty is unable to administer Ili, and it can be temporarily managed by Tsarist Russia, and when the Qing court is able, it is not too late for China to return." ”
Fortunately, among the Officials of the Qing Dynasty, there were also pillars of state like Zuo Zongtang.
▲ Portrait of Zuo Zongtang, Source: Network.
In the first year of Guangxu (1875), the Qing court undertook Zuo Zongtang Chincha to supervise the affairs of Xinjiang and was responsible for recovering the lost land. Under the strategy of "suppressing and appeasing", after the Qing army led by Zuo Zongtang entered Xinjiang, it quickly repelled Agubai and his gang, and successfully recovered Urumqi and southern Xinjiang.
However, after Zuo Zongtang's victory, Tsarist Russia did not leave.
The Qing court could only send envoys chonghou to negotiate and coordinate. As a result, under the coercion and inducement of Tsarist Russia, Chonghou Yang obeyed yin and yin, and only took back the sovereignty of the Ili region as required, and ceded the territory of Xinjiang that had been recovered by Zuo Zongtang and other patriotic generals who had worked hard to recover, and signed the Sino-Russian "Ili Treaty".
Afterwards, the Qing court was furious. There was a heated discussion between the government and the public over whether to continue to recover Ili in Xinjiang.
Although Weng Tonggong, who was also a Shangshu of the Ministry of Works at that time, was heartbroken, he also judged the hour and sized up the situation, and proposed to Empress Dowager Cixi a settlement strategy of "the peace situation cannot be broken and the war preparedness cannot be delayed", claiming that when necessary, it is possible to "slow down the Ili and preserve the overall situation"; he resolutely refused to implement the treaty signed by Chonghou, and suggested that the imperial court appoint Zeng Jize, the son of Zeng Guofan, as a minister stationed in Russia, to go to St. Petersburg, Russia, to resume peace talks.
In Weng Tonggong's thinking, the suspension of the recovery of Ili was not to abandon the recovery, but to put forward pragmatic suggestions based on the backward armament status of the Qing court. If the "strong demand" of Ili leads to the re-emergence of tsarist Russia, even if Zuo Zongtang's Western Route Army responds to the battle, it will undoubtedly be a fatal blow to the corrupt Qing court.
In the end, the imperial court adopted Weng Tonggong's advice and sent Zeng Jize to russia to take charge of negotiations. Despite the twists and turns of the process, under the efforts of Zeng Jize, the Qing government still retained most of Xinjiang's territory and trade rights, so that the great powers of various countries did not dare to underestimate.
03
Zeng Jize's success is undoubtedly due to the credit of Weng Tonggong. After the "Ili Treaty" was re-enacted, in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), on the orders of Empress Dowager Cixi, Weng Tonggong went to the South Study to read the recitals in addition to the imperial master and his various duties.
Subsequently, after more than two years of tempering, Weng Tonggong officially joined the military plane as an imperial master, walked on the military aircraft minister, and began his political career of turning the power to the opposition in the second half of his life.
At that time, the Qing government was corrupt and backward, but Weng Tonggong, who was in a high position, was still a clean and honest civilian official who adhered to Confucian etiquette.
He was born in Jiangnan in a family of scholars, his father Weng Xincun, the eldest brother Weng Tongshu, etc. were all scholars of the Imperial Examination, and they held high positions in the imperial court, so from an early age, he was fascinated by the Confucian tradition of loyalty to the king and patriotism, and high moral integrity. His father Weng Xin taught him that "learning to be diligent can make up for clumsiness, keeping the qing and first abstaining from luxury", and Weng Tonggong, who became an official, has always maintained the official style of "integrity and cleanliness, and diligence in official duties".
As the emperor of the two dynasties, Weng Tonggong was favored by Rilong in the imperial court. Zeng Guoquan, Ding Richang and others have given him gold and silver in order to give him more good words in front of the empress dowager and the emperor. However, Weng Tonggong scoffed at such official behavior and criticized the extravagance prevailing throughout the imperial court, which was quite a bit of the meaning of the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty, and was called the representative of the "Southern Qingliu".
▲ Weng Tonggong, source: stills.
After Yan Jingming, a financial expert, incriminated Cixi for rebuilding the Qingyi Garden, Weng Tonggong, who was honest and upright, was appreciated by Cixi and took charge of the household department as a military minister.
The Ministry of Households has always been the place where large sums of money from the state go in and out, and it is the gate with the most oil and water. After Weng Tonggong took office, in a letter to his nephew Weng Zengrong, he said that the head of the hubu sanku was a chore.
He said: "Officials like me, who only seek integrity for officials, work in the household department can be said to be the hardest. As you know, there are three libraries under the household department, such as the silver treasury, the pigment warehouse, and the satin warehouse, of which the silver treasury receives and sends two silver, and the quantity is huge, not only to prevent the treasury from filling the pockets, but also to ensure that when the state uses troops, the national treasury cannot be empty, and the accounts of each entry and exit of the treasury must be clear. The silver of the household department enters and exits three times a month, as well as the materials that come and go from time to time every month in the pigment library and the satin library, all of which need to be supervised and checked by me on the spot before they can be registered. You think, uncle, can I not work hard? ”
At the beginning of Weng Tonggong's tenure, at the end of the Sino-French War, money was needed for the aftermath of the war, and money was also needed to benefit the people's livelihood, and how to manage and tighten the country's money bag was a wisdom. But he said: "Si Nong shen jin gu, the first to sympathize with the people's hunger." It can be seen that during the ups and downs of the eunuch sea, Weng Tonggong has always adhered to Confucius's political ethics of "putting the people first".
Under the influence of this kind of thinking, Weng Tonggong, who paid attention to the cultivation of virtue and the people of peace, became an outlier among the officials of the late Qing Dynasty.
04
With the repeated defeats of the Qing government, a group of famous courtiers who knew the general trend of the world, such as Prince Gong Yixun and Li Hongzhang, demanded that the imperial court introduce advanced Western technology in military, political, economic, diplomatic, and educational aspects, and set off a movement of foreign affairs.
A number of government-run institutions with advanced Western technology, such as the Jingshi Tongwenguan, the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau, the Steamship Merchants Bureau, and the Hanyang Iron Works, were born, injecting a trace of fresh blood into the sluggish Daqing. Among them, most of them are new military enterprises, and their research and development and testing are all in preparation for improving the combat effectiveness of the Qing army.
Fighting a war burns money, and the same is true for preparing for war. Therefore, these military enterprises inevitably have to deal with the household department in charge of Weng Tonggong. Thus, the Beiyang Admiralty wanted to buy a new type of ship, but Weng Tonggong did not agree; Li Hongzhang, minister of foreign affairs, proposed to buy a large flower bomb from Germany, and Weng Tonggong tried his best to obstruct the contradictions and conflicts that everyone knew.
It is rumored that these contradictions between Weng Tonggong and Li Hongzhang are that the two have made their personal grudges public. Rumors believe that this is related to Li Hongzhang's involvement in the "Weng Family Massacre" in the early years.
▲ Li Hongzhang, directly subordinate to the Governor, source: network.
In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), Weng Tongshu's brother Weng Tongshu acted as the governor of Anhui, and his tenure coincided with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. In order to recruit Miao Peilin, a fierce general who had divided northern Anhui, Weng Tongshu beheaded Sun Jiatai, Meng Shizhong, Xu Lizhuang, and other people who had enemies with Miao Peilin, such as Sun Jiatai, Meng Shizhong, and Xu Lizhuang, in exchange for Miao Peilin's defection to the imperial court, and then replenished his troops to jointly fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom troops.
However, Miao Peilin was not impressed by What Weng Tongshu had done, but instead turned to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and raised an army to attack Shouzhou (寿州, in modern Shou County, Anhui), causing Weng Tongshu to abandon the city and flee, and fled back to the capital after several twists and turns.
This move caused great dissatisfaction with Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army who was then in charge of supervising the military affairs of Jiangnan, and he mentioned in his letter to Yan Shusen, the governor of Henan, that "Miao Rebellion (Miao Peilin) is rebellious and cannot be blamed." Weng Zhongcheng (Weng Tongshu) repeatedly spared his loyalty in order to relieve the pain of pain." It shows that in this matter, Zeng Guofan is extremely unaccustomed to weng Tongshu's approach.
Therefore, Zeng Guofan wrote a letter to impeach Weng Tongshu, and sent letters to Li Huan, Yuan Jiasan, Li Hanzhang, Li Xuyi, Ye Zhaolan, Mao Hongbin, Yu Ke, Huang Zantang, and others, repeatedly stating the drawbacks of Weng Tongshu's move and asking them to support their views.
Amid unanimous doubts from the government and the opposition, Weng Tongshu was deposed and sent to prison to be beheaded. Subsequently, the commutation of the crime was exiled to Ili. The elderly Weng Tonggong's father, Weng Tonggong, soon died of fear.
However, the whole process was quite different from the rumor that Li Hongzhang vigorously attacked Weng Tongshu, and Li Hongzhang did not appear in the ranks of Zeng Guofan's summoners. Whether he knows about it or not, we have no way of knowing. Flipping through the "Letter of Zeng Guofan", it can be seen that in the eleventh year of Xianfeng, Li Hongzhang was very busy with the recruitment and formation of the Huai army, and generally did not have time to take care of the impeachment of officials in the DPRK, and even if there was, it may have been discussed in the case of the imperial court hearing.
Although Weng Tonggong was deeply saddened by the death of his father and brother, the person who impeached Weng Tongshu was Zeng Guofan, and there were many court ministers involved, and if he only hated Li Hongzhang, it would be biased. It can be seen that the personal grudges of Weng and Li that the world has passed on are untenable.
The reason why Weng Tonggong refused to allocate money to Li Hongzhang to buy ships and cannons was probably because the Qing Dynasty state funds were stretched thin, and as a Hubu Shangshu, he had to cut the door.
The main responsibilities of the Ministry of Household Clearance include being in charge of the national land, taxes, household registration, military supplies, fenglu, grain, and fiscal revenue and expenditure. In addition to military supplies and grain, everything else is huge and detailed, and everything that involves the use of money needs to be made by Weng Tonggong, a household department Shangshu. It can be said that money is out of the house no matter how big or small. If it is well managed, it is naturally fine, and if it is not well managed, let alone blame him, even her colleagues in the imperial court are expected to eat him alive and strip him alive.
Under such pressure, Weng Tonggong had to change his method to "cut the door".
On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, Weng Tonggong vigorously took the lead in the battle. When his proud protégé Wang Bogong (王伯恭) told him that he could not go to war against Japan, he threw out a sentence: "I was trying to test his good neem, thinking that the land would be rectified." That is to say, Weng Tonggong wanted to take the opportunity of the war to test the Beiyang Marine Division under Li Hongzhang in order to make new adjustments to the military budget in the financial plan for the coming year.
At the same time, Weng Tonggong also said another thing: "Hefei (Li Hongzhang) has been ruling the army for decades, and has been in peace for many years, and now the Beiyang Navy and Army are in full swing, can they not withstand a war?" This shows that in Weng Tonggong's heart, Li Hongzhang is not necessarily his "enemy", but may still be a capable person who can save the great Qing Dynasty.
However, Li Hongzhang, who had a heavy army in his hands, actually made peace, which made Weng Tonggong wonder.
As a minister who has ruled the army for decades, Li Hongzhang is still relatively realistic. In addition to the good looks of the Beiyang Marine Division, there is no gun and no cannon, to put it bluntly, it is a paper tiger. Broken copper and rotten iron are not worth a few dollars, but the naval elite who commanded this pile of broken copper and rotten iron was the heart of Li Hongzhang. Cutting the heart and cutting the meat, who can be happy?
However, under the influence of confucian ideas of loyalty to the king and patriotism, as well as the confidence of Li Hongzhang's fans, Weng Tonggong still fought against the Guangxu Emperor as a "suggester". As a puppet emperor of a dynasty, the Guangxu Emperor also hoped to rely on a war to establish his power and achieve true pro-government.
With this "tacit understanding" between Weng Tonggong and Guangxu's master and apprentice, Li Hongzhang had to fight even if he didn't fight.
05
The outcome of the war eventually developed in the direction that Li Hongzhang had predicted: under the high morale of the Japanese army, the Beiyang Marine Division was gradually defeated and retreated, with heavy losses, and there was no way out but to seek peace.
As the founder of the Beiyang Marine Division, Li Hongzhang, who had vigorously advocated peace before the war, had to bear great sorrow when the defeat of Jiawu was already decided, and he was notoriously known as a "traitor" on his head, and was thrown out by the Qing government and took on all the responsibility for war crimes.
And Weng Tonggong, who vigorously fought before the war, was also very tormented in his heart.
After the Qing government asked Japan for peace, Weng Tonggong wrote in his diary: "Thinking of oneself as a pivotal figure with filipino materials, the frontier is like this, there is no grace for great creation, there is no way to comfort the hope of the thin sea, there is no remedy for the curtain, there is no remedy for Yu Tonglie, there is suspicion in the same column, the disease is lingering, it is impossible to seek death, the sky is leisurely, and it is extreme!" ”
With the defeat of the Qing army, Guangxu used the war to establish power in order to achieve pro-government and power, which became a fantasy. Causing such an embarrassing ending, Emperor Shi Weng and Gong Dang were at the top.
Therefore, weng Tonggong's glorious image in Guangxu's heart was greatly reduced. The feelings between master and disciple are no longer as beautiful as before.
But this did not seem to prevent Weng Tonggong from "leading" the Guangxu Emperor on a new path.
No matter what Weng Tonggong had done before, he was still patriotic under the influence of traditional Confucianism. After the collapse of the old-fashioned thinking that supported him to make the "right" choice, Weng Tonggong, like his contemporaries, believed that it was imperative to restore the reform and change the law.
Changing the law is a big thing, and the knowledge structure and talent selection are the foundation.
In order to change the law and save the country, Weng Tonggong began to add Western learning to the education of the Guangxu Emperor.
The teaching materials used by Guangxu are no longer limited to the Confucian classics "Zhongyong" and "University", as well as Timothy Lee's "New Theory of Current Affairs" and Zeng Jize's "Diary of London and Paris". This knowledge of the coexistence of East and West broadened Guangxu's horizons and laid the foundation for him to preside over the restoration and reform of the law in the future.
Weng Tonggong also often made modest remarks and listened to the reasonable suggestions of the new learning. Huang Zunxian, Tan Si and others became Weng Tonggong's guests.
In addition to asking these people for advice on the new law, Weng Tonggong also tried to find a suitable candidate for Guangxu to change the law.
It was under such circumstances that Kang, Liang, and others with the idea of restoration would enter Guangxu's sight with the assistance of Weng Tonggong, who was "eager to cure the heart".
▲Portrait of the Guangxu Emperor, Source: Internet.
In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898), after Kang Youwei's sixth petition, Guangxu finally received him at the Summer Palace, and gave him the post of military aircraft Zhang Jing, allowing him to perform special events and prepare for the change of law, which is known in history as the "Pengshu Change".
However, weng Tonggong soon found that the idea of a virtual monarch and a republic put forward by Kang Youwei and others completely contradicted his original intention of helping the emperor and reviving the emperor with the help of changing the law and realizing the concentration of imperial power to Guangxu.
Therefore, under the double torture of learning the new law from the old, Weng Tonggong could only choose the two ends of the first rat and shout about changing the law, but in fact, he created obstacles for the group of people who practiced the change of the law everywhere.
All this was seen by Guangxu, who had little experience in governing, but he had the discomfort of being betrayed by the person he trusted the most. Coupled with the previous Battle of Jiawu, Weng Tonggong dug a big pit for Guangxu, and the new account and the old account are calculated together, and I am afraid that I will not be able to do it with you.
Finally, a few days after the beginning of the Pengshu ReformAtion, Guangxu suddenly ordered that Emperor Shi Weng and Gong be deposed, and that he would never be used again.
In the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), on a sweltering summer night, 75-year-old Weng Tonggong died of illness in his hometown in Jiangsu. Before his death, this Great Qing Dynasty emperor and two generations of emperors wrote a desperate poem:
Sixty years of mid-life, sad to the point of building a coffin.
Do not put two lines of tears, light and Ru Cao bullet.
At the last moment of his life, the 19th-century old man only remembered all the injustices he had encountered as an emperor, but he never reviewed what he had done right and what he had done wrong as an emperor.
bibliography:
[Qing] Weng Tonggong: The Diary of Weng Tonggong, Zhongxi Bookstore, 2012
Xie Junmei: The Biography of Weng Tonggong, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2000
Lei Yi, Cracks in History: Modern China and The Dark Humanity, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2007
Xie Junmei, "The Main Reasons for China's Defeat in the Sino-Japanese War," Unity Daily, September 13, 2018
Kong Xiangji and Yujiro Murata, "Why Weng Tonggong Was Deposed: Zhang Yinhuan and Japanese Minister Yano Secret Discussion on Rational Reading," Guangming Daily, October 14, 2003
Shen Qian and Hong Baozhu, "Exploring the Origin of the Relationship between Kang Youwei and Weng Tonggong", Proceedings of the 7th Hanshan Temple Cultural Forum, 2013