Social Changes And Scholar's Response

At the turn of the last century,public opinion liked to compare China to a small boat in the middle of the river,in a situation where there is no shore at both ends.This kind of “no shore at both ends” can also be used to describe a special group in modern China,which is called scholars in modern times.They received traditional Confucian education since childhood,got fame by passing the imperial examination,at the same time they growed up under the background of Western learning spreading to the East and more or less influenced by new knowledge.They had personally experienced“changes unseen in thousands of years”,differented from the old scholars who only received traditional education,and the new intellectuals who bred in the new education,played the role of linking up and down in the metabolic process.Their experiences can be regarded as the epitome of the transformation of modern Chinese society.Xu Zhaowei is one of the representatives.His life stage overlaped with several important historical stages in modern China.He experienced the Reform Movement of 1898 in his youth,experienced the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty and the Revolution of1911 in his adulthood,experienced the New Culture Movement and the Anti-Japanese War in his old age.During the Reform Movement of 1898,Xu Zhaowei's thoughts were transformed.He came from a family which was not originally prominent.But after he passed the imperial examination and got the honor of Jinshi,he expanded his living space and social network in the local area.He moved from Heshi Town to Changshu County,participated in urban affairs and increased his family influence.In the ideological trend of the Reform Movement of 1898,he started to come into contact with new books,and his reading structure and thinking changed.Upholding the ideal of statecraft and the traditional sense of responsibility of literati education,Xu Zhaowei developped education,agriculture and other affairs in the local area.The New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty was the first period of transition that Xu Zhaowei faced.The New Deal on the one hand provided a good opportunity for local scholars to perform meritorious deeds.On the other hand abolished imperial examinations and reformed the education system,and made the institutional basis for scholars to maintain their cultural power disappear.Xu Zhaowei,who had the ideal of“perform meritorious deeds”,had achieved some small achievements in the local affairs of Changshu,but he didn't satisfied with stay in local place.He went to the capital to expand his social network,in order to seek a shortcut to get an ideal official position.However,limited by the political environment of the official reform in the late Qing Dynasty,as well as lacked of competitiveness himself,he failed.So he went to Japan to study law and politics.Regrettably,even after returning from Japan,his goal was still difficult to achieve.In the raging wave of local autonomy,he chose to temporarily return to his hometown of Changshu to participate in local affairs.The Revolution of 1911 was the second period of transition that Xu Zhaowei faced.Due to the disappointment of the Qing government and the capital accumulated through the practice of local autonomy,Xu Zhaowei successfully transformed rapidly.After the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911,he was elected as Deputy Chief of Civil Affairs of Changshu County to stabilize local order.After the establishment of the Republic of China,he was successfully elected as a member of Congress.From the editing of the Hanlin Academy to the “Representative”of the Republic of China,he participated in the National Assembly several times with good expectations for the Republic of China.But in the chaotic parliamentary practice in the early Republic of China,his perception of party politics and the Republic of China gradually became disappointing.Since then,his focus began to shift from national politics to country politics.After the May 4th New Culture Movement,as people began to realize that implements and systems were not enough to save China and advocated the awakening of culture,a new generation of intellectuals began to step onto the stage of history with the propositions of democracy and science,total Westernization,and promotion of vernacular Chinese.Traditional Confucian ethics and culture were both mercilessly attacked.Meanwhile Xu Zhaowei's generation was nearly 60 years old,and gradually became the old “new party” in the eyes of intellectuals.Deteriorating physical conditions and disagreeable mentality further promoted Xu Zhaowei's focus shifted from the state to the country,from politics to literature.Through cultural activities such as collecting local literature,compiling books and local chronicles,scholars had gone from “perform meritorious deeds” to “achieve glory/immortality from writing”.They tried their best to maintain the traditional culture as well as their cultural power,and showed the common identity and nostalgic mentality by writing poems to each other.In addition,the imbalance of regional development can also be reflected in scholars in modern times.As a microscopic individual,Xu Zhaowei's “Life History” shows an open mindset,a rational and pragmatic style of doing things,and a combination of rigidity and softness.It reflects the openness and tolerance of Jiangnan culture and the cultural characteristics of “a combination of hardness and softness”.As a member of the modern scholar-official group,Xu Zhaowei reflected some common characteristics of the transitional generation of scholar-officials who inherited the tradition and adapted to the changing situation.They faced with the changing times and worried about the world,practicing the traditional “three immortal” ideals of scholars.In order to cope with a world no one had ever experienced,they pursued new knowledge and adjusted themselves,at the same time sticked to traditional culture and Confucian ethics.In the process of conforming to the times they were also changed by times.With the radicalization of reform in modern times,the traditional Confucian culture was gradually abandoned.The shaken “Tao” of scholars caused anomie,disorder and crisis,resulting in the feeling of “no shore at both ends” in their hearts.Xu Zhaowei's “History of the Soul” embodies the conflict,confusion,and anxiety of modern scholars in the context of political and social changes,the interweaving of the country and the individual,the fusion of “New Trend” and “Nostalgia”,and the coexistence of longing and confusion.