Some time ago, a historical revolutionary drama called "The Age of Awakening" was popular on major online platforms. The audience admired the firm determination of the three fathers and sons of the Chen family to join the revolution.
This drama has been nominated for the Shanghai Magnolia Award for Best Drama Film and many other nominations, Chen Yannian, Chen Qiaonian these two roles, let countless audiences remember it vividly.
Coinciding with July 1 this year, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, countless people spontaneously came to Yanqiao Road in Feixi County, Hefei, Anhui Province, to send flowers and blessings to the two martyrs.
However, friends who are familiar with history all feel that why in the play "The Age of Awakening", there is no liang qichao's role, only Chen Duxiu simply mentioned one or two sentences of "Liang Rengong".
After the failure of the "Pengshu Reform Law", Liang Qichao first put forward the ideological theory of "if the youth is strong, then China is strong". So, did the screenwriters of "The Age of Awakening" intentionally hide this history, or did Liang Qichao "unworthy" appear in this TV series?
Liang Qichao was born in the first month of the twelfth year of Tongzhi (February 1873 AD), a native of Xinhui, Guangdong. Liang Qichao's grandfather, Liang Weiqing, and his father, Liang Baoying, were both big people with heads and faces in Xinhui, Guangdong.
In the 10th year of Guangxu (1884 AD), Liang Qichao, who was only 12 years old, won the Zhongxiu talent. In the eleventh year of Guangxu (1885 AD), Liang Qichao entered the Xuehai Hall in Guangzhou to study.
Until the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891 AD), Liang Qichao, Chen Qianqiu and others worshiped Kang Youwei as their teachers, focusing on Confucius, Buddhism, and Western theory as the main direction of study.
In the spring of the twenty-first year of Guangxu (1895 AD), Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei rushed to Beijing to participate in the examination. At the time when the Qing court signed the "Maguan Treaty" with the Japanese, Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei and others invited more than 1,000 people to jointly write a letter to the Qing court and launched the famous "letter on the bus", thus opening the prelude to the "restoration and change of law".
The fundamental reason for the "restoration and reform of the law" lies in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, breaking the feudal shackles, and allowing the Chinese people to learn the advanced western institutional theories, so as to achieve the ultimate goal of combining China and the West and making the country rich and the people strong.
Unfortunately, the change lasted less than 100 days, and it ended in failure under the intervention of Cixi and other conservatives. Liang Qichao escaped from Beijing, crossed the east to Japan, and began a fourteen-year exile.
In the third year of Xuanun (1911 AD), Yuan Shikai, the provisional president of the Republic of China, formed a new cabinet and appointed Liang Qichao as a new legal official. Later, he also attacked Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne and Zhang Xun's restoration, and joined Duan Qirui's government.
He advocated the New Culture Movement and supported the May Fourth Movement. In January 1929, Liang Qichao died at Peking Union Medical College Hospital at the age of 56.
Later generations compiled various collections of his works into volumes, and in September 1936, a book entitled "The Collection of Drinking Ice Rooms" was published. The "Ice Drinking Room Collection" totals more than 10 million words and 148 volumes, which is an important material for the study of modern Chinese politics, thought and culture.
In 1922, Liang Qichao was invited to teach at National Southeast University and Hosei University. The Suzhou academic community heard that Liang Qichao had come to the south and strongly asked him to go to Suzhou to give a speech.
Later, in this speech in Suzhou, Liang Qichao publicly declared: "The ultimate goal of education is not simply to instill knowledge, but to teach students to be human." In the end, we must let students have their own personality and outlook on life, and be a person who is not confused, afraid, or worried, and stands up to the sky. ”
This speech goes straight to the essence of education and is still highly regarded by people in the education community to this day. After talking about Liang Qichao's biography, let's focus on analysis, why is there no role in "The Age of Awakening"?
There may be many students who will say that perhaps Liang Qichao did not intersect with Chen Duxiu or Mao Zedong and others, so Liang Qichao did not appear in "The Age of Awakening".
As everyone knows, Mr. Xu Guangshou once wrote a book called "Chen Duxiu's Exploration of the Way Out of Modern China", which comprehensively sorted out Chen Duxiu's early thoughts.
Chen Duxiu was born in Huaining, Anhui Province, and in 1897 he rushed to Nanjing to participate in the township examination and won the Middle Xiucai. Chen Duxiu and Liang Qichao were both former Qing Xiucai, and they saw through the corruption and darkness of the political system at that time, so they had the idea of reforming with "new learning".
In the early days, Chen Duxiu believed in the "bourgeois reform ideas" of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. Chen Duxiu in the middle period became a fan of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. In 1919, Chen Duxiu came into contact with Marxism, and he began to create the Chinese Communist Party.
These were three major choices in Chen Duxiu's life, and he experienced disappointment and suspicion of the Western powers and completed the transformation from bourgeois democracy to Marxism.
In addition, Liang Qichao's "Xinmin Theory" and the editor-in-chief's "Xinmin Cong Bao" also greatly influenced Mao Zedong and Hu Shi and others.
In 1911, mao Zedong in his youth even thought this way: "Sun Yat-sen will be the president of the new government, Kang Youwei will be the premier, and Liang Qichao will be the foreign minister." ”
At that time, Mao Zedong Thought was not mature enough, but it can also be seen from this idea that Mao Zedong admired Liang Qichao very much from the heart.
In 1918, Mao Zedong formed a communist group in Changsha and named it the "Xinmin Society". Mao Zedong's article "Research on Sports", published in New Youth Weekly, Vol. 3, No. 2, elaborated on his views on Liang Qichao's "Xinmin Theory".
In 2016, the Museum of Chinese University collected more than 50 pages, and Liang Qichao wrote to Hu Shi. Through these correspondence, posterity can learn that Liang Qichao and Hu Shi had extremely frequent exchanges, and the two used letters to discuss poetry and academic research.
Then think about it, Liang Qichao and Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, and Mao Zedong all had a certain intersection in ideology. It is even said that the "Theory of Young China" put forward by Liang Qichao influenced Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong, and others, and there was a special relationship between them.
As for why there is no Liang Qichao scene in "The Age of Awakening"? The answer is actually quite simple.
First of all, "The Age of Awakening" is a TV series, and the TV series is a film and television work. Although it is a historical revolution tribute drama, in order to make the plot coherent, the play is also mixed with many fictional plots under the premise of respecting history, including non-existent historical archetypes.
For example, in the history of Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian, the relationship with their father Chen Duxiu is very stiff. In order to set off the full image of Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian brothers, the screenwriter slightly weakened the contradictions and conflicts between father and son.
In addition, Liu Mei, who had a relationship with Chen Yannian, is also a fictional character that does not exist.
I just want to tell you that movies, TV series, and dramas cannot be equated with orthodox history. Since it is a TV series, it will definitely mix the personal feelings of the screenwriter, thus inventing some fictional plots and characters.
In the same way, "The Age of Awakening" is a tribute drama, and it is necessary to launch a TV series with great positive energy for the masses at the critical moment of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
Although Liang Qichao is the most famous thinker in modern and modern China, the series of theories he put forward have also been regarded as classics by revolutionary pioneers such as Chen Duxiu and Mao Zedong.
However, Chen Duxiu and Mao Zedong tended to "destroy the old world and create a new world." Liang Qichao, on the other hand, was more inclined to establish a constitutional monarchy, making minor repairs on the original basis of feudal rule, so that the people could live and work in peace and contentment, and children had books to read.
In 1924, the Indian poet Tagore visited China. Both Tagore and Liang Qichao advocated the "peace movement" and were very opposed to the so-called "overthrow theory".
At the same time, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun and others opposed Tagore. Chen Duxiu said bluntly: "Tagore's peace movement, like a slave to the imperialists, is simply to be a lobbyist for the imperialists. ”
Lu Xun even pointed out Tagore's visit to China: "It is like a large bottle of perfume, smoked with the literary and mysterious atmosphere of several gentlemen." ”
But Liang Qichao praised Tagore's views.
At least after the founding of the "New Youth" weekly magazine, the "Shumin Theory" proposed by Chen Duxiu and others was in opposition to Liang Qichao's "Xinmin Theory".
The ancients were cloudy, the Tao was different, and they did not conspire with each other. The first polemical article after the founding of "New Youth" pointed to Liang Qichao. Coincidentally, New Youth, Vol. IX, No. 6 (i.e., the last polemic article), still points to Liang Qichao.
Compared with Kang Youwei, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi, including the unruly Lu Xun, had a much milder attitude toward Liang Qichao.
From these polemical articles of the New Youth, it is not difficult for us to see that Liang Qichao, who is entangled with advocating Confucianism and opposing republicanism, is at two extremes with the new culture.
If we say that the period from 1895 to 1915 was a period of enlightenment for modern and contemporary Chinese thought. From 1916 to 1933, it entered its heyday.
Represented by the editors of New Youth, they first agreed with Liang Qichao, and then opposed liang Qichao's "Xinmin Theory". This is enough to prove that Chen Duxiu and Liang Qichao's theories are inherently incompatible.
Looking back, The Age of Awakening is a tribute drama that needs to be adapted to audiences of different ages.
If the screenwriter focuses on the ideological conflict between Liang Qichao and Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong and others, it is not a qualified tribute drama, but rather a documentary with serious didactic significance.
In fact, another historical drama that everyone is very familiar with, "Towards the Republic", has a large-scale description of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. Because "Towards the Republic" focuses on the story of the enlightenment period of modern and contemporary Chinese thought, it is necessary to mention Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei, including the details of the conflict between new and old ideas.
But in "The Age of Awakening", there is no need to put out these old sesame rotten grain things and dishes, just add some effects of the collision of new and old cultures to the plot, and the impact on the youth at that time.
In this way, it is not that Liang Qichao had any festivals with Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong, Hu Shi and others, nor is it because Liang Qichao's "status" is not enough.
It is only because of the audience of the drama "The Age of Awakening", including other key factors such as the theme, that the screenwriter deliberately concealed the ideological conflict between Liang Qichao and Chen Duxiu.
Film and television works, especially long-form blockbusters such as "The Age of Awakening", which are based on individual characters, must be clearly distinguished.
If the screenwriter adds too many branch plots, or expounds Liang Qichao's "New People's Theory" to the audience at length, it will seem a bit noisy.
Those who have studied the discipline of philosophy should know that the ideological theories about Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei and others in the textbook are very lengthy.
Since this is the case, the behind-the-scenes staff of "The Age of Awakening" does not need to elaborate on the collision of new and old ideas to the audience, but only to pick out the key points to set off the atmosphere and strengthen the character shaping. In this way, it can also explain to the audience in detail the difficulties at the beginning of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and the hard stories behind it.
Liang Qichao is like an NPC in the game, or a big guy behind the scenes. You can't do it without him, but you can't interfere too much in the main plot.