Around the 1880s, under the influence of the Western affairs movement and Western culture, the early reformists gradually formed, and they put forward some reform ideas in diplomacy, economy, culture, education, politics and other aspects, and the new trend of thought emerged. After the Sino-Japanese War, the reform faction represented by Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others rose rapidly. Driven by it, there were many societies across the country, newspapers and periodicals prevailed, and new schools continued to emerge, which promoted the upsurge of the reform and reform movement.
Early Reformers
From the 1870s to the 1890s, with the exposure of various problems in the Western affairs movement and the influence of Western culture, the early Reform school gradually formed. Most of them were divided from the Western-style faction, and their representative figures were Wang Tao, Ma Jianzhong, Xue Fucheng, Zheng Guanying, Tang Zhen, Chen Qiu, Chen Chi, He Qi, and Hu Liyuan, and their representative works were "External Compilation of the Records of the Han garden", "Records of Words and Deeds of Shi Kezhai", "Preparation of Foreign Discussions", "Dangerous Words of prosperity", "Dangerous Words", "Discussion on the World Expo", "Yong Shu", and "True Interpretation of the New Deal". In their early years, they often participated in foreign affairs activities, or were the staff of foreign affairs officials, or the compradors of foreign firms, or the business owners, or studied abroad, or handled diplomatic affairs; on the basis of contacting and understanding the modern production methods, science and technology, social politics, and economic systems of the West, they took a critical attitude toward the corrupt and feudal nature of the foreign affairs movement, questioned the foreign affairs undertaking of simply introducing Western science and technology, advocated learning the West more extensively at the institutional and cultural levels outside the level of artifacts, and practicing politics from top to bottom. Reforms in the economic and other fields, the development of capitalist industry and commerce, and the realization of national independence and prosperity. Since the late 1880s, driven by the early Reformers, the Reform of the Law and The Reform has gradually converged into a new social trend of thought, involving diplomacy, economy, education, culture, politics and many other aspects.
From these aspects, we will let everyone understand the ideas and propositions of this immature early reformer.
In terms of diplomacy
The early reformers advocated resisting foreign insults and safeguarding national sovereignty and national independence, pointing out the harm of signing unequal treaties in the past, and demanding the abolition of the one-sided most-favored-nation treatment, consular jurisdiction, tariff agreements and other privileges of the great powers in China. Xue Fucheng believed that in the unequal treaties concluded by the Qing government, "there are those who regard the ordinary and suffer from infinity, and there must be two majors": one is that "one country profits, and all countries are involved"; the other is that "foreigners live in China, and they are not managed by Chinese officials." He further advocated amending treaties with various countries, abolishing one-sided most-favored-nation treatment, and setting up special gates at various ports to hear Chinese and Foreign cases with reference to Chinese and Western laws, so as to regain consular jurisdiction. Zheng Guanying also believes that China cannot completely rely on public international law, and at that time in the world, "public law is still based on false reason, the strong can enforce their laws to bring people to justice, and the weak must inevitably endure humiliation", so China can only seek its due rights and interests from public international law if it is self-reliant.
Chen Chi
On the issue of tariffs, Chen Chi stressed that the tariff code is a nationally independent right and cannot be controlled by other countries, believing that the Customs Duties agreed between the Qing government and foreign countries will only be granted to others and will be very harmful, so he advocates recovering tariff autonomy. Zheng Guanying's views are slightly similar to this, and he demands that the administrative power of the customs be transferred to China, and that Chinese be gradually hired from the General Taxation Department down to the deputies of the tax departments, so as to "not be shady and obstruct the tax rules of the Westerners, and it is not of great benefit to the government, but the ones who are preserved by the Chinese political system are especially great." In terms of foreign policy, Wang Tao, Zheng Guanying, and others all advocated uniting with Britain and Japan on the basis of changing the law and strengthening themselves, so as to resist Russia and France in order to alleviate the increasingly serious border crisis.
On the economic side
The early reformers believed that the economic plundering of China by foreign capitalism was the main cause of China's poverty and weakness, so they demanded a change in the traditional policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, reducing official monopolies and controls, and vigorously developing national industry and commerce to achieve national independence and national prosperity. Wang Tao stressed that "business is rich is the wealth of the country" and advocated that "business should be the foundation of the country," expand trade and commerce, mine mines, set up insurance undertakings, and protect overseas Chinese. Referring to the way of prosperity and strength in Western countries, Xue Fucheng believes that "non-work is not enough to open up the source of business, then work is the basis for its business and business for its use", and then advocated giving priority to the development of capitalist industry and commerce dominated by national industry. Zheng Guanying also elaborated a similar view after examining the economic situation of Britain, Japan and other countries. He believed that "if you want to control the Westerners to strengthen themselves, it is better to revitalize commerce", demanding that all other industries other than railways, steamships, mining, planting, textiles, and manufacturing be opened by the people, and proposed the establishment of commercial ministries and chambers of commerce organizations to launch a "commercial war" with foreign capitalism to resist the political and economic aggression of the great powers and protect China's profits.
Wang tao
In terms of educational culture
Wang Tao and Zheng Guanying have a lot to discuss. Wang Tao held that the reform of the examination system and school education are two important links in changing the law and strengthening oneself, and advocates gradually reforming the system of taking the imperial examination and obtaining scholars, abolishing the eight shares, and dividing the content of the examination into eight or ten subjects, mainly involving the traditional study of the practical application of the world, the Western natural sciences, the language and writing, and the current affairs and politics, and so on; thus, the reform of the imperial examination will be incorporated into the training and selection system of specialized talents, and the modernization of professional education will be carried out. In the combination of the imperial examination system and the reform of school education, Zheng Guan should be more specific. He believes that China should adapt to the system of general literature and martial arts examinations, and set up another subject in addition to the literature and martial arts subjects, specializing in Western studies. In order to cultivate modern talents, it advocates the establishment of Western Academies in various provinces, recruiting apprentices between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and teaching astronomy, geography, agricultural administration, gezhi, arithmetic, medicine, language and writing, and political laws for a period of three years. At the same time, it is also proposed to imitate the Western teaching model, expand or reform the traditional official schools and academies, and set up Wenwu Primary Schools in prefectures and counties, middle schools in provinces and provinces, and universities in Beijing. Its Chinese include six subjects of literature, political affairs, style, craftsmanship, language and writing, and miscellaneous studies (commerce, agriculture, and medicine), and the two sections of the army and navy, each of which is divided into three major, middle, and primary schools. In addition, he also suggested adding girls' schools, banning foot binding, sending students to study abroad, and translating Western books.
Zheng Guanying
In terms of political innovation
Early reformers introduced or promoted Western parliaments and democracies, advocated top-down political reforms, and promoted a constitutional monarchy. While pointing out the maladies of bribery and forming parties for personal gain in the Western democratic system, Ma Jianzhong held that Western countries practice the separation of powers and "power does not infringe upon each other." Therefore, "the political program is very broad and impressive," and "everyone has the right to self-reliance, that is, everyone has the intention of self-love." Although he did not put forward the political proposition of opening a parliament in a positive way, he fully affirmed its "downward feelings" effect, revealing his admiration for Western civil rights. Wang Tao introduced the three political systems of monarchy, democracy, and monarchy and co-sovereignty in Western countries, and advocated the implementation of a constitutional monarchy of monarchy and co-ownership. Zheng Guan also gave a high evaluation to the Western parliamentary political system, advocating the opening of a parliament to "understand the feelings", "win the hearts and minds of the people", "zhang guoshi", and "practice public law", and believed that "the monarchy and the co-owner of the power are equal" and hoped to realize the political system of constitutional monarchy. He Qi and Hu Liyuan advocated a constitutional monarchy from a scholarly point of view, and on the basis of analyzing the contradictions and relations between the monarch and the people, the subject and the object, criticized the absolute monarchy system, and advocated the promotion of elections and the establishment of a parliament.
Ma Jianzhong
Before the Sino-Japanese War, the early reformists put forward a series of reform proposals in view of specific economic, cultural, and political problems through writing books and sayings, which pointed out a new way out for China's social development and became the ideological pioneers of the reform and reform movement during the Penghu period. However, their ideas for restoration are still not mature enough. Their introduction to Western philosophical, political, economic, and other theories is relatively chaotic, superficial, lacks systematicness, and has not yet formed a complete theoretical system; they have no clear boundaries with the Westerners, and although they are dissatisfied with the absolute monarchical system, they rarely criticize them positively; they advocate political reforms, but they are limited to creating public opinion and lack the necessary political practice. As a result, the early reformists could only stay in general social criticism and public opinion propaganda, and could not develop into a huge political movement. These problems have changed to a certain extent in the later Kangliang restorationists.