Gestionando las prioridades de los paquetes

Before long, the radical students proceeded from the stage of popularizing Western thought to the stage of

preaching anti-Manchu ideas. Indeed, this was the aim of the Kuo-min pao (The Chinese National) published in the spring of 1901. Among its founders were three Hankow conspirators,

Ch ' in Li-shan, Chi I-hui and Shen Hsiang-ylin, who kept the memory of T'ang Ts'ai-ch'ang alive. It carried news items, essays and an English section written by Wang Ch'ung-hui. It sought to create the image of the Manchu ruler as an ugly despot who massacred the Chinese and oppressed them by high­ handed policies. However, due to shortage of funds, the

journal was short-lived and ceased publication after the

fourth issue. In December 1902 , C'h'in Li-shan and the others moved to Shanghai, where they published another monthly,

Ta-lu (The Continent).^ 1

Liu Ch'eng-yü, "Hsin tsung-li chiu-te lu" , Kuo-shih-kuan kuan-k 'a n , I, 1 (December 1947), 46. Liu was expelled from Japan, and later went to the United States to work for Sun Y at-s en .

2

KMI S , I, 95-96, 99; also KKCKMS, I, 55. 3

1 2 8

In 1903 the number of student journals grew rapidly. In January, Hupeh students published the Hu-pei hsUeh-sheng

chi eh (Hupeh Students’ Circle). In February, students from Chihli published a similar journal, Chih-shuo (Chihli Speaks), while Chekiang students founded their own Ch e-chiang ch * ao

(Tides from Chekiang). In April, Chiang-su (Kiangsu), established by Kiangsu students as an ardently republican periodical, also appeared. From this student literature, one can see the nature of the Chinese revolution, the problems China faced, and the solutions students offered. Since a great deal has been written on these student writings, it will suffice here to summarize the main points.^- China’s problems were construed as stemming from the Chinese being "enslaved" by the Manchus. These problems were the threat to her very existence posed by imperialist powers, the

backwardness of her society, and the colossal indifference of Chinese people to their own fate. Chinese civilization was historic and great, but it had been demoralized by lethargy, a profound ignorance of the outside world and a totally self- centred attitude towards other countries. The Chinese people were devoid of any sense of patriotism and public spirit. Nevertheless, they were a superior race in intelligence and

character, and were the best among the yellow peoples. This racial consciousness expressed itself in the dismissal of the potentials of the brown and the black peoples, as well as in a mixed feeling of fear and antagonism towards the white. The traditional forces of xenophobia and ethnocentrism

interacted with the idea of racial competition extracted from Darwinist writings. Hence these students believed that the Chinese people could be a match for the white race if China's human and natural resources were fully utilized to produce a national spirit. Chinese culture was inadequate because it

lacked the attributes of modern civilization, values such as 1

The following summary is based on Robert A. Scalapino, "Prelude to Marxism: The Chinese Student Movement in Japan, 1900- 1910", in Albert Feuerwerker et a 1 . , eds., Approaches to Modern Chinese History (Berkeley, 1967), pp. 190-215.

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freedom, popular rights, government under law and a belief in progress. China could compete with modern societies of the West if these values were integrated into her society and if the doctrines of republicanism and constitutionalism were put into practice.

The vital concern of the students was the promotion of Chinese nationalism. As pointed out in the beginning of this thesis, this involved the task of regaining control of China from foreign domination. To the radical students, the first essential step towards the creation of a modern China was to replace the Manchu regime with a government capable of

undertaking massive changes in all facets of Chinese society. In other words, they were concerned with a social as well as a political revolution, although they were later forced to recoil from the social and cultural implications of

revolution because of the immensity of the task. In order to promote a national spirit and to modernize Chinese society,

they envisaged a new educational programme, which would serve to shake off the chains of the "isolationist, self- satisfied" mentality of the Chinese people and bring China into the family of respected nations. Many who were inspired by Russian nihilists later called for the use of violence and terror and suggested an extremely militant approach to

revolution.

What were the opinions of Hupeh students in Japan?

Their views were expressed in their Hu-pei hstieh-sheng chieh, which had an editorial board of twenty-one scholarship

students, who were receiving teachers' training in the Kobun Institute. The aim of this periodical was to promote a

national spirit by advancing both Western and Eastern thoughts through the medium of the press. Its opening articles

carried a warning that China had become the focus of foreign encroachments and was in grave danger of partition. It

called for immediate action to recoup China's interests and ward off foreign threats with a ring of urgency which

manifested a feeling of desperation mixed with a hope of national regeneration. It emphasized the responsibility of

1 3 0

students, claiming that students, being an educated elite, had a "heavenly duty" to serve the immediate needs of their

country, and that'anyone who failed to do so was not fulfilling his obligation.^

The role of students in the making of a modern China was the topic of ä leading article in the second issue of the Hu-pei hstleh-sheng chieh. It described the intermediary, but the most important, position of students in Chinese society. The ruling class at the top was portrayed as a conservative,

stubborn and corrupt minority who had no true knowledge of any kind other than writing eight-legged essays. Sapped by lethargy, ignorance and submissiveness to foreigners, it gave no hope for leading the country out of degradation. The

lower class consisted of the common people who were largely illiterate, ignorant, foolish, simple-minded and unpatriotic. Moreover, they were barbarous, contemptuous of international

law and prone to create troubles, thereby threatening the lives of foreigners. Hence they could not be entrusted with the task of strengthening China to compete with other

nations. Students, however, were an elite class between the two. Destined to play a vital role in the transformation of Chinese society, they were the vanguards of social change. They had the responsibility of promoting a national spirit, helping the common people perfect their character, and

2

inducing them to fulfil their citizen obligations. Thus the student-intellectual elite was to be a modernizing agent, providing guidance in the path of progress. The idea of mass participation emphasized in Western democracy did not seem to be entertained. The concept of democracy to be guided by an

1

Chang Chi-hsü, "HsU-lun", Hu-pei hsüeh-sheng chieh, 1 (February 1903), 1-16.

2

Li Shu-ch'eng, "Hsüeh-sheng chih ching- cheng", Hu-pei hsüeh-sheng chieh, 2 (March 1903), 1-12.

131 elite was enunciated because it suited a society basically different from the Western type.^

Unlike many other student journals, the Hu-pei hsüeh- sheng chieh expressed anti-Manchu sentiment implicitly rather than overtly. For example, an editorial on the relationship between China's future and the responsibility of its people pointed out that the Manchu government should be blamed for foreign encroachments because of its ineptitude and

submissiveness to foreigners. "Our people obey our government", it commented, "but our government obeys foreigners. Don't you know that foreigners destroy us indirectly while our government destroys us directly?" It asked the Chinese people to shake off the bondage of a corrupt officialdom and seek emancipation from foreign

2

control. In another instance, Hupeh students indicted the Manchus as barbarians by stressing the ethnic issue and classifying them with earlier nomadic conquerors. They extolled the virtues of Yo Fei, the anti-Jurchen general of the Sung dynasty, and honoured him as "the first Chinese

3 nationalist".

The journal also dealt with a variety of subjects concerning science, education, history, economics and

military affairs. Most interesting of all was a series of articles published by a military student, Lan T'ien-wei, to enunciate the concept of a nation in arms. Lan held that it was an age of "nationalist imperialism" in which European powers increased their national strength by popularizing a

1

This concept smacked of the "period of tutelage" later suggested by Sun Yat-sen. But when it was promoted in 1903, the students do not seem to have been influenced by Sun.

2

Anonymous, "Lun Chung-kuo chih ch'ien-t'u chi kuo-min ying- chin chih tse-jen", Hu-pei hstieh-sheng chieh, 3 (April 1903), 1- 12 .

3

Anonymous, "Chung-kuo min-tsu ti-i-jen Yo Fei chuan", Han- sheng, 4 (May 1903), 63-67. As from the fourth issue, the journal was renamed Han -sheng.

132 kind of "national military education". In the West, the soldier received a special education. He was taught to obey orders, to defend his country and to sacrifice his life

whenever it was called for. He was respected by the society which it was his duty to defend. Impressed by the military spirit in Germany and Japan, Lan glorified militarism and power politics. He argued that with military power a nation could not only defend itself but also extend its economic activity to other countries, establish its religion and beliefs in foreign lands, strengthen its position in

diplomacy and colonize other peoples. To Lan, the military power of a nation was in direct proportion to the degree of

its civilization. So a weak nation suggested that its

government was decadent and that its people were demoralized. This was the case with China. The Chinese soldier was

illiterate, uneducated and treated like a slave or an animal. Nor was the officer a man of culture; he was equally ignorant and equally unpatriotic. Therefore, the Chinese army was utterly incapable of resisting foreign invasion. The root of the problem, Lan maintained, was the lack of "national

military education" in China.1

Military spirit consisted in the soldier's devotion to his country. In order to promote it, Lan suggested, it was necessary to establish the cult of militarism. The people should be taught to be bellicose and to respect militarism as a "national tradition". This would give extra strength to the soldier even though he was fighting a stronger enemy. A warlike spirit could be promoted if every citizen had an obligation to serve in the military services. In China, however, national conscription was not adopted, and this would prevent the growth of militarism. Despite the process of military modernization, the Chinese soldier was a kind of mercenary who saw enlistment as a means of earning a living.

If China wished to enhance its prestige and increase its 1

Lan T'ien-wei, "Chün-chieh", Hu-pei hsüeh-sheng chieh, 1 (February 1903), 57-62.

133

influence in world affairs, Lan concluded, the promotion of