"All countries have changed their laws from shedding blood, and today China has not heard of anyone who has shed blood because of changes in the law, and the reason why this country is not prosperous." Yes, please start with the same heir! This last words of Tan Sitong a hundred years ago are still boiling with blood when read today. On the sixth day of August in the 24th year of Guangxu (September 21, 1898), Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly returned to the Forbidden City from the Summer Palace and launched the "Wushu Coup".
Empress Dowager Cixi first imprisoned the Guangxu Emperor in Yingtai, and then ordered the arrest of the restorationists, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others had already fled, and Tan Sitong, who could have escaped, resolutely chose to stay. Soon, Tan Si and six others were publicly beheaded at Caishikou in Beijing. In order to achieve the effect of making an example, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the executioners to behead the six men with blunt knives.
It's not so much a beheading as it is a "saw" of a head. Tan Sitong's master Hu Zhiting described in "Tan Sitong's Eyefalls of Righteousness", "The knife used that day was called 'Great General', and when the knife flew away, blood gushed out, and the head was still on the neck of the neck." This is not called beheading, it is called sawing head, which adds hundreds of times more pain than beheading. Tan Sitong's calm death is indeed worthy of sympathy from future generations, but it cannot cover up a big stain on his body.
The big stain was Tan Sitong's suggestion that the Guangxu Emperor sell Xinjiang, Tibet and other places to the great powers, so that he could raise enough money for the change of law. In Tan Sitong's view, millions of land in northwest China are barren land, and it is better to sell it. In 1894, Tan Sitong wrote to his teacher Ouyang Zhonghu:
"Try to prepare for the present moment, and the land that has been cut does not need to be discussed. Yidang sold Xinjiang to Russia and Tibet to England to pay off the arrears of 20,000 yuan. With the strength of tens of thousands of miles in the two realms, my strength can not be defended in the end, and it is a burden for me, and the sale is not only worth twenty thousand, but it can still be used for changing the law, and ask Britain and Russia to protect China for ten years. Tan Sitong was too naïve and pinned one of his hopes for the success of the reform on Britain and France.
Tan Sitong wrote to the Guangxu Emperor further arguing that the western region was of little significance and that it was better to sell it, which was similar to the reason why Li Hongzhang opposed Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang, except that Li Hongzhang did not propose to sell the western territory. In addition to Tan Sitong, Kang Youwei also advocated selling Tibet and Xinjiang. Sun Jianai, a major minister of the late Qing Dynasty, once asked Kang Youwei in person, "How to raise funds for changing the law?" ”
Kang Youwei replied directly: "No worries, England covets Tibet and cannot get it, and if the imperial court is willing to abandon this deserted land, it will be good to get a good price for the New Deal, and it is not difficult." It is difficult for people to understand that Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong actually advocated the sale of a large part of the northwestern territory, fortunately, the time for the Wushu reform law was very short, and the idea of the two people to sell land was not adopted by the Guangxu Emperor, otherwise China would lose millions of square kilometers of territory.
Historians say that the reason why Tan Sitong thought of selling Tibet, Xinjiang and other places may have a lot to do with his anti-Manchu ideology. According to the preface to the Tan Si Tong Shu Jian compiled in 1940, "it can be seen that the propositions in his bones are different from those of the royalists. He regarded the use of Guangxu to carry out the New Deal, but he regarded it as a temporary means. ”
References: "Peng Shu Variation Law", "Tan Si Tong Shu Jian"