(Photo: Visual China)
The Biography of Zhang Jian is a biography of Mr. Zhang Xiao (1853-1926), originally titled "Biography of Mr. Zhang Jizhi of Nantong", written by Zhang Xiaoruo, the son of the biographer. Zhang Xiaoruo used his father's self-written "Annals" as a skeleton to record Zhang Xiao's brilliant life in detail in the emerging vernacular writing. As the author puts it, "I have done this biography on the basis of which I have either seen and heard it with my own eyes, or it has been written by my father, or by relatives and friends. I will be sincere and sincere, and I will write it in its original form, without a single false whitewash or a single thing that cannot be relied upon to be extravagant. As soon as this biography of more than 200,000 words came out, it attracted a lot of social attention at that time, and there was a small "Zhang Xiao fever".
"The Biography of Zhang Xiaoruo" by Zhang Xiaoruo, Yuelu Book Club, January 2021 edition
How to evaluate Zhang Xiao has not been an easy task for a long time. Zhang Xiaoruo himself admitted: "I conceived the design to be a biography of my father, and it has been nearly two years." Sometimes I have to write, but the thought of writing about my father's life is not an easy task, it is not written properly, but it loses my original intention of doing a biography. In fact, the study of Zhang Xiao has not only been controversial, but his historical legacy is underestimated. The rediscovery of Zhang Xiao's epochal significance is not only at the level of academic research, but more importantly, a rediscovery of Zhang Jian's spirit. As Luo Yimin, the ruler of Nantong in the early 21st century, said, Zhang Xiao gave birth to the spirit of modern Nantong, "The spirit of the city is like the soul of people, like the core values we say, it can represent the overall state." Whether a city develops well or not depends on the spiritual temperament and spiritual motivation of the city. When Zhang Xiao built the 'first city in modern China', he also created the spirit of nantong in modern times. The modern urban spirit of Nantong was conceived by Zhang Xiao and played a key role in the breakthrough development of Nantong City. ”
In the process of China's early modernization, Zhang Xiao was a pioneering and innovative person who kept pace with the times. As a scholar in the transformation of the old and new eras, Zhang Xiao has a forward vision, emancipates his mind, closely follows the trend of history, stands at the forefront of the times, strives to open up in all aspects, and creates immortal historical achievements. So his contemporaries said he had "independently opened up countless new roads and pioneered for 30 years." Not only industry and education, but also the politics and economy of modernization as a whole, he is pioneering and innovating. Mr. Zhang Kaiyuan commented: "Zhang Xiao did not go to the new school, nor did he officially study abroad, and his abandonment of the old and the new is a rather slow and gradual process. Before the Sino-Japanese War, before he was 40 years old, he was basically a scholar with a strong patriotic heart, and he belonged to the old camp. After the Sino-Japanese War, that is, after he was 40 years old, the strong stimulation of foreign aggression and the infiltration of Western culture prompted the traditional learning that has been applied through the ages to add new contents such as "industry to save the country" and "education to save the country". He crossed the threshold of the entrepreneurial group through the ranks of gentry, that is, he wandered away from the old camp and tended to belong to the new camp. Because it already has a prominent reputation as the 'great leader of the world', and is close to the core of the struggle between the old and new parties through Weng Tonggong, it is really 'rising at the center of the line between the old and the new'. Zhang Xiaoruo also vividly portrayed his father's reform image, "He always clenched his two fists, held an idea, identified a direction, looked straight ahead, and always wanted to open up this road and create a new world." ”
Zhang Jian is not only a great practitioner of China's early modernization, but also an outstanding designer. In the field of industry, he founded China's first private capital group "Dasheng Capital Group", the first agricultural joint-stock enterprise "Tonghai Ken Animal Husbandry Company", the first meteorological station "Junshan Meteorological Observatory", the first modern fishery company "Jiangsu and Zhejiang Fishery Company". In the field of education, he founded China's first normal school "Tongzhou Minli Normal School", the first undergraduate private women's normal school "Tongzhou Women's Normal School", the first independent textile college "Nantong Textile College", the first water conservancy college "Hehai Engineering College". In the field of culture and charity, he founded the first public museum "Nantong Museum", the first opera school "Linggong Society", the first blind school "Wolf Mountain Blind School". Modern Nantong was praised by modern architect Wu Liangyong as "the first city in modern China".
Zhang's contribution to China's early modernization was not only for Nantong and local governance, but also for the construction of a modern state throughout China. After the founding of the Republic of China, Zhang Xiao served as the director of agriculture and commerce of the Beiyang government and the president of the National Water Conservancy Bureau. During his tenure of office, Zhang Jian not only devoted himself to safeguarding the republican form of government, but also fully practiced his ideal of saving the country through industry, and adopted measures such as formulating economic laws and regulations, formulating tax rules, and implementing incentives and subsidies for civilian enterprises to vigorously promote the revitalization of industry. Therefore, Mr. Zhang Kaiyuan believes that Zhang Xiao's social influence is difficult for ordinary people to compare, "its radiation effect is by no means limited to 'dumping the southeast' but actually affects the whole country." However, this is a kind of transformation of the broken thread, which can also be said to be the transformation of the new and the old, and there is a lack of conflict and rupture with sufficient strength in the transformation process. There is no thrill of sword and light sword shadow, no majestic martial arts, but it is a down-to-earth change of the foundation of Chinese society, and its impact can be seen even a hundred years later. ”
If one compares it to the founding fathers of the United States, Zhang Can call it China's "Hamilton." Ron Chernow, author of Hamilton (the father of American finance), argues that Hamilton is a thinker and a doer. As the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the principal architect of the new government structure, Hamilton devised a set of mechanisms that would keep a modern nation-state running smoothly, including a budget system, a long-term debt system, a tax system, a central bank, a customs system, and a Coast Guard. With these initiatives, he set an extremely high standard for "administrative competence". If Jefferson wrote the necessary ornate poems of American political discourse, then it can be said that Hamilton formulated the prose of American statecraft. ”
As a designer of early modernization, Zhang Xiao's patriotic ideas and practice of national salvation have had a lasting and far-reaching impact on China over the past century, and one of the historical legacies left behind is the great patriotic spirit. After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao Zedong once said: "When we talk about light industry, we must not forget Zhang Xiao. General Secretary Xi Jinping also pointed out, "Patriotism is the glorious tradition of China's outstanding entrepreneurs in modern times." From Zhang Xiao in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, to Lu Zuofu and Chen Jiageng during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, to Rong Yiren and Wang Guangying after the founding of New China, and so on, they are all models of patriotic entrepreneurs. (Editor's note: Xi Jinping's speech at the Entrepreneurs' Symposium on July 21, 2020) When visiting Zhang Jian's life exhibition at the Nantong Museum, Xi Jinping also pointed out that while establishing an industry, Zhang Jian actively established education and social welfare undertakings, benefited the villagers, helped the masses, and had a far-reaching influence, and was a pioneer and model of China's private entrepreneurs.
Zhang Xiao's historical value not only has the significance of research and reference, but also for a big era, it is a kind of spiritual coordinate for ordinary people. Historian Mr. Jiang Yihua believes that Zhang Xiao has a world vision and a grand ideal, but he has always been down-to-earth, proceeding from reality, starting from one thing after another, focusing on the big picture, starting from a small place, showing the characteristics of the scientific spirit and the humanistic spirit, the individualized spirit and the integral spirit, the spirit of the servants of heaven and the spirit of harmony with nature, and the spirit of cosmopolitanism and localization.
The change of the times is inseparable from the spirit of Zhang Xiao, from modern times to modern times, the spirit of Zhang Xiao is a spirit of change, the spirit of innovation, the spirit of entrepreneurship, the spirit of enlightenment, the spirit of tolerance, and the spirit of openness. Luo Yimin commented: "We must more deeply understand and inherit the essence of Mr. Zhang Xiao's patriotic thinking, and more deeply understand and carry forward the innovative spirit of daring to be the first, the strong will to persevere, the love for the people in the township and the down-to-earth and pragmatic demeanor embodied in Mr. Zhang Xiao. Zhang Xiaoruo also said: "My father's ideological career is very founding spirit, he often looks at things 10 years earlier, he must go further in doing things, his thinking must be of the times, his industry must respond to the trend of the world, and there is no stubborn prejudice." Science and humanism are also the core of Zhang Xiao's spirit. Academician Wu Liangyong believes that Zhang Xiao consciously regards urban culture and ancient glorious social and ethical ideas as important guidelines for urban development, and the background of Chinese culture, Oriental philosophical thought and methodology can be seen everywhere. For example, he named the company "Dasheng", "Fusheng", "Shisheng", "Yisheng", etc., which is intended to be "the day of the great virtue of heaven and earth" in the I Ching, and Zhang Xiao himself explained that "all political and academic expectations are the lowest so that the majority of ordinary people can get a life above the lowest level".
Pei Desheng, editor-in-chief of the Shanghai Miller's Review, which was influential in China at the time, published an article entitled "Zhang Jian: China's Urban Builder" on March 26, 1921, after visiting Nantong on the spot, said: "Through the construction of Nantong, a model city, Zhang Xiao set a milestone for China's future industrialization, isolated from those cities influenced by foreign countries, without the convenience brought by railways, nor did he take the usual route of commercial development. Nantong became an immortal work of administrative ability, vision, and organizational ability of Zhang Xiao and his colleagues and relatives, including his son Zhang Xiaoruo and his brother Zhang Xiao. Therefore, repositioning Zhang Xiao is the designer of China's early modernization, which is undoubtedly a rediscovery of local resources in modern modernization, with rich epochal significance and historical value.
Author: Yan Quan, Professor of the Department of History, Shanghai University
Editor: Sun Xinqi