Study On Thoughts Of Transformation Of National Character Of Bourgeois Revolutionist Of Late Qing Dynasty And Early Republican Periods

In the late 19th century, Chinese society faced severe internal and external problems. Externally, China was suffering from the ravages of bullying and devastation of the capitalist countries, such as Britain, the United States,etc. Internally, owning to increasingly corrupt of the Qing government and its collaborating with foreign powers, Chinese sovereignty and territory were facing growing threat of being carved up.Sun Yat-sen, as the representative of the patriots, in order to save China from peril and being, set up "Revive China Society" in Japan in 1894, which was China's first bourgeois revolutionary group. In order to inspire Chinese patriotic fervor and arouse their pursuit of freedom and democracy, Bourgeois revolutional personage performed certain ideological enlightenment in the late Qing and early Republican periods. On the basis of the existing academic research, this paper will make further studies on the revolutionary transformation of the national character of people and their thinking in order to further understand the problem.The paper is divided into five parts.The first part mainly defines the connotation of the "national character", the definition of the bourgeois revolutionary group and the period of study. Meanwhile, it also involves a brief overview of the existing academic research.The second part mainly analyzes the background and ideological sources of transformation of nationally revolutionary character, which was put forward with the increasing national crisis. The nationally revoluntionary character stemed from various sources, among which the Western Biological Evolutionism, Social Organism and the Western Bourgeois Political Theory served as a significant basis. In addition, the Japanese national spirit also made a direct influence on it. The traditional Chinese theory of ideology and culture was also a one important source of such character. Certainly, the nationally revolutionary character is not noly a simple transplant concerning the Oriental and Western enlightenment, but understanding and innovation of the Bourgeois revolutionary personage.The third part mainly analyzes the basic content of the formation of, the nationally revolutionary character,within the internal of this character.The idea of the nationally revoluntionary character is mainly concern criticizing the inferior nature and shaping the ideal citizens. The inferior nature includes strong slave mentality, deficiency of national ideology, indifference and numb to the country as well as the conservatism and deficiency of entrepreneurial spirit. On the other hand, the shaping of ideal citizens primarily involves the following aspects:patriotism, right thought, freedom and spirit of equality, martial and military national spirit and the scientific knowledge and scientific spirit. The Revolutionalists viewed that the feudal autocracy and feudal culture is the main reason for the formation of a national inferiority. On the one hand, such opinion was reasonable to some extent, on the other hand, it was obviously imcomplete. Finally, among the revoluntionalists, there are different interpretations of the nationally revolutionary character.The quintessence, led by Zhang Taiyan, focuses on further transforming the national character with the development of the traditional ideology and culture as an opportunity while the others strongly advocated the adoption of extreme actions like assassination to encourage people to cultivate the patriotic spirit in a short time.The fourth part mainly compares and contrasts the nationally revolutionary character between the revolutionalists and the contemporary reformers. The same opinions can be concluded as the following features:Firstly, both are carried out in the Chinese and Western comparative perspective. The basic content of their national character transformation is very similar to each other. Showing a tendency to elitism style, they all focus on the use of newspapers and magazines etc. to Enlighten people. The differences between the two groups are mainly reflected in the extent of national attention to the national virtue and specific transforming measures. In the late 19th century, although the revolutionary group fiercely criticized the national inferiority, they built up their statements on the base of affirmation of the national virtue. With the development of revolutionary situation, the revolutionary groups started to focus on praising the national character, while the reformers still hold a relatively steady manner, criticizing the shortcomings of people. Therefore, the revolutionary transformation of national character had always focusd on affirming as well as praiseing the national virtue, which was somewhat a political tool, but undoubtedly played a significant role in national confidence and national self-salvation.The fifth part mainly makes a brief comments of nationally revolutionary character. The significance of the nationally revolutionary character manifested in these aspects:firstly, it lay a certain foundation of public opinion for the revolution and call up a portion of the people, especially young people, to be involved in the revolutionary. Secondly,it emphasis the use of traditional resources for transformation of national character, which is conducive to the cultivation of national self-confidence. Thirdly, it sets an example for the cultivation of national character and the transformation of national character after "May Fourth Movement". However, it's obviously imcomplete in the several prospectives:first, the combination of self-salvation and enlightenment affects the transformation of national revolutionary character. Second, too much emphasis on shaping the collective spirit and values leads to the ignorance of instruction of individualism. Third, it neglects the impact of the comprehensive factors such as economic on national character.