The Initiation And Evolution Of Thoughts Of Freedom Of Speech In Late Qing Dynasty (1833-1911)

In Late Qing dynasty, after the modern thoughts of freedom of speech is introduced from west to east, it's largely enriched and developed and brought from theory to practice, and finally was included in the Chinese constitution. This period lasts for over 80 years with 6 phases of obvious features:Phase 1, during 1830 to the early 1850s, when the freedom of speech thoughts were first introduced to China, the Chinese people didn't react actively. Therefore, the features of the freedom of speech thoughts in this period were the same as those spread by the missionaries. It emphasized natural freedom, put stress on the social value of freedom of speech and was very religious. Phase 2, during the Westernization Movement, the Chinese intellectuals began to understand and explain the western thoughts of speech of freedom based on the traditional Chinese culture for the first time, so their freedom of speech thoughts were full of people-oriented thoughts in Confucianism. They borrowed the form of practice in the western thoughts of freedom of speech, but rejected its theory. They considered the freedom of speech thoughts as the tool and means of making the country strong and people rich. Phase 3, in 1880s, the early reform ideologists began to consider putting the freedom of speech in the critical position of the reform of the entire political system and strongly demanded for freedom of speech. However, due to lack of coherent modern theory, their thoughts of freedom of speech were incomplete. The knowledge of freedom of speech of some ideologists was at different levels, while the overall knowledge in the ideological circle was still largely improved. Phase 4, during the Reform Movement, the thoughts of freedom of speech of the ideologists (especially Yan Fu) were based on the western theory of freedom of speech, and they began to explain the factors of the thoughts of traditional Chinese freedom of speech again and spread the principles of western thoughts of freedom of speech for the purpose of combination of Chinese and western culture. Meanwhile, freedom of speech developed from theory to practice. Phase 5, during the Constitutional Movement, Liang Qichao, as a theory leader, made systematic and detailed exploration of freedom of speech thoughts. Along with the climax of the newspaper industry in China, thoughts of freedom of speech were widely spread in every social class. Phase 6, the primary feature of the freedom of speech thoughts of the democratic revolutionary ideologists is to seize the rights of freedom of speech by the means of revolution. They advocated the legalized rights of freedom of speech that took people as the main body. Because of urgent and heavy revolutionary work, their thoughts of freedom of speech were lack of specific theory and strict system.During over 80 years in Late Qing dynasty, though the spread of thoughts of freedom of speech in China seemed to be complicated and abundant, it's actually inadequate and fragmentary and lacks comprehensive and deep academic research due to instable political situation, shortage of ideological resources and insufficient knowledge and self-cultivation. In the early years of the Republic of China, though freedom of speech was included in the constitution, the theory establishment of modern thoughts of freedom of speech in China was still not accomplished.