The great patriot Tan Sitong

In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the officials were corrupt, foreign enemies invaded, and the Qing Dynasty was in turmoil. Tan Si was worried about the country and the people, and advocated making China stronger through reform. Tan Sitong was born into a family of eunuchs, and from an early age, the family conditions were superior, and he also received a good education. After coming into contact with Western culture, he deeply resented the decadent authoritarian system of the Qing Dynasty, especially the imperial examination system at that time. He believes that if the country is to develop in the long run, it must take the road of democratization. In 1898, he participated in the Penghu Reform Law, and after the failure of the change, he bravely rebelled at the Caishikou Execution Ground outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing on September 28, 1898. At the same time, the restorationists who were also killed were Lin Xu, Yang Shenxiu, Liu Guangdi, Yang Rui, and Kang Guangren. The six were also called "the six gentlemen of Pengshu". At that time, Tan Sitong had already received the news that he could escape, but he handed over his letters and manuscripts to Liang Qichao, asking him to take refuge in Japan in the east, and generously said: "There are no practitioners, there is no way to plan for the future, there are no dead, and there is no way to summon the latecomers." The Japanese embassy once sent someone to contact him, saying that he could provide him with "protection", but he resolutely refused, and said to the people who came: "All countries that change the law are made from bloodshed, and today China has not heard of anyone who bleeds because of the change of law, and the reason why this country is not prosperous." If so, please start with the same heir.

Before Tan Sitong was about to be executed, his wife Li Yan once cried and complained: "We don't have children yet!" Tan Sitong replied: "In the current country, to have one more child is to have one more slave." "The people under the rule of an authoritarian regime are like corpses and walking flesh, and even if they have opinions, they dare not tell the truth. The old Bai surnames are all fish on the chopping board, ready to be slaughtered. Only by overthrowing dictatorship and dictatorship can the Chinese nation have hope and the people of the world be happy. Today, Tan Sitong's dying words are still of positive significance and worth pondering. Whining and mourning, Tan Gongke is listed with Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet in the pre-Qin period of China, and will always live in the hearts of every descendant of Yan huang.