Study On Liang Qichao’s View Of Modern Leaders From An International Perspective

At the end of the 19 th century,Liang Qichao,following Kang Youwei,officially opened the prelude to the Reform Movement of 1898 which was a movement of reform and nation salvation.In the following thirty years,Liang Qichao actively devoted himself to the salvation of the country.His political activities,ideas and statements had a huge impact on modern China.This thesis focuses on Liang Qichao’s leadership critical biographies,by combining his personal experience,his changes in political views and his national salvation actions in different periods,and investigating the different types of modern leaders portrayed by him.It aims to explore the inner connections between Liang Qichao’s portraying of modern leaders and the evolution of his thoughts from an international perspective,sort out the development thread of Liang Qichao’s view of modern leaders,explore the characteristics of ideal leaders in his mind in various periods and discuss the role of modern leaders in national development and the relationship between Liang Qichao and modern China.The introduction defines the concept of modern leaders and determines the study phase of this thesis by referring to Professor Naoki Hazama’s method of dividing Liang Qichao’s life in different development stages and combining the writing time of modern leaders’ critical biographies.It also summarizes basic documents of Liang Qichao’s research and current research status at home and abroad related to this thesis as well as discusses main contents and significance of this thesis.The first chapter focuses on the period of the Reform Movement(1895-1899).It generalizes Liang Qichao’s basic understanding of national leaders during this period,through the Emperor Guangxu portrayed by Liang Qichao in "Shengde Guangxu" and his reflection on the Reform Movement of 1898.This chapter takes Liang Qichao’s understanding of "Benevolence" as a starting point and analyzes the enlightenment spirit and world consciousness contained in Tan Sitong’s "Benevolence".It summarizes Liang Qichao’s first impression of civilian leaders through his comments to Tan Sitong who is "the first person had bled for the reform" in "Tan Sitong Biography".From the perspective of international factors,this period is the beginning of Liang Qichao’s seeking for morden leaders who had the ability to change China’s destiny.In this period,he had stepped out of the traditional thinking of "the tianxia world view",and compared China with other countries in the world.His early view of modern leaders was reflected in his description of Emperor Guangxu’s leadership and his promotion of Tan Sitong’s enlightenment and dedication.The second chapter focuses on Liang Qichao’s early days of exile in Japan(1899—1902).During this period,Liang Qichao came into contact with a large number of Japanese books and learned western modern political theory through Japan,which made his mind changed drastically.His cognition of his teacher,Kang Youwei,and his view of his political rival,Li Hongzhang,are more objective and comprehensive than before.This chapter revolves Liang Qichao’s discussion of Kang Youwei’s status and political views in "The Biography of Kang Youwei" and Liang Qichao’s contradiction with Kang Youwei because of their political differences,and analyzes Kang Youwei’s leadership from Liang Qichao’s perspective.It also describes Liang Qichao’s positive and negative judgement on Li Hongzhang in “The Biography of Li Hongzhang”,elaborates Liang Qichao’ s expectations of the "Xinmin" leader under the influence of Chomin Nakae,and exposes the dialectical development of his view of modern leaders under the guidance of Western political theories.The third chapter focuses on the period of Liang Qichao’s living in Japan(1902—1912).The drastic changes in his mind during this period broadened Liang Qichao’s horizons.He began to pay attention to international leaders,and to have a deep understanding of the relationship between leaders and countries,as well as the relationship between leaders and national groups.His view of modern leaders was formed,which emphasizes the combination of the personal strength of a leader and the strength of a national group.This chapter discusses the origins of Liang Qichao’s worship of bourgeois revolutionary leaders and his purpose in shaping the leader images,such as the Hungarian national liberation leader Kasuz,the three Italian founding leaders,the French Lady Roland,and the British Clinwell.It examines Liang Qichao’s translation and commentary of "The Collectanea of Yoshida Shoin" and his admiration of Yoshida Shoin in many of his articles,clarifis the role of the will of leaders in national salvations,and demonstrates the relationship between individual leaders and the destiny of a country.It also discusses the influence of his view of Chinese and foreign heroes on the development and formation of the view of modern leaders by analyzing his understanding of the historical role of "heroes" and "unsung heroes".The forth chapter focuses on the period of Liang Qichao’s returning to politics(1912-1917).It mainly discusses the evolution of Liang Qichao’s view of modern leaders during the period of the Republic of China due to the limitations of the times and subjective.Considering the situation,he began to introduce the dimension of expedient choice in the question of choosing leader candidates.By contrasting Liang Qichao’s attitude changes towards Yuan Shikai,who Liang firstly supported and then opposed,this chapter analyzes Liang Qichao’s political demands based on constitutionalism and the overall situation of national salvation,and analyzes the internal and external factors that made Liang make such a choice.It reveals the ultimate attributes of his view of modern leaders.This chaper looks back at Liang Qichao’s political interactions with Sun Yat-sen and the differences of their opinions on national salvation.It discusses Liang Qichao’s theoretical limits on the view of modern leaders and the reasons why he ultimately went back to be a scholar.The conclusion part summarizes the content of this thesis.It further clarifies the development process of Liang Qichao’s view of modern leaders,summarizes the influential factors in this process and discusses Liang Qichao’s view of modern leaders in different periods and its influence on the development of modern Chinese society.