"Committed To Developing Talents For Guangxi": Kang Youwei’s Lectures And Reform Activities In Guilin And Its Evaluation

Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to the implementation of The Reform Movement of 1898, Kang Youwei had been to Guilin two times to give lectures and engage in related reform activities.This is a major event in the history of Guangxi in modern times.This historical event originally not manifest and then depends on the memories of two sages-Gong Shouchang who experiences the event and Liao Zhongyi who hears the event, leaving the precious record for us.The scholars of academic circles have made many beneficial achievements on this basis and deepened the understanding of the relevant issues. On the basis of the previous research results, this thesis attempts to review and explore the relevant facts, and make the appropriate evaluation as far as possible.At the end of 1894 to early 1895, Kang Youwei came to Guilin to give lectures for the first time.At this time,his main activities include three aspects:making lectures, Party officials, and sightseeing.This is his first time to take his own political, academic thoughts in an organized form to give lectures and spread outside the Guangdong area. There are two factors having played a key role:Long Zehou-the intermediary of Guilin influential family and the granduncle of Kang Youwei-Kang Guoqi’s influence in Guangxi.In 1897,when Kang Youwei came to Guilin for the second time, Chinese society has been brewing reformation atmosphere besides Guangxi. Because of Kang Youwei’s arrival, the reform of Guangxi start rapidly.The total reform measures focused on three aspects:establishing holy society, opening Guangren school, publishing Guangren Newspaper. With the form of propaganda lectures throughout the Kang Youwei activities of the whole reform thought.Kang Youwei in the reform movement of Guilin launch smoothly, there are three reasons:the reform atmosphere after the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895,the promotion of Kang Youwei himself in the political status,Guangxi gentry’s strong support.In the aspect of relevant historical facts, there are still a lot of content is not concerned in previous studies, this thesis tries to make a discovery.Including:the officials and gentries of Guangxi who contact with Kang Youwei at that time;attitude and choice of "conservative";the relationship between advise Tang Jingsong to return home to do the militia and the movement of rescuing the Emperor in gengzi year (1900);Student community stories in Guangxi;the analysis of "The Answer to Guilin Students" 《桂学答问》; analysis of the ideological content of the lecture;how preliminary measures of reform to "gather social force",etc.There are some of the views different from previous discussion.The main line of the dissertation always focus on such a aspect:how Kang Youwei through his efforts to mobilize all kinds of political, social, ideological resources to promote social change.In the aspects of theory, practice and method,Kang Youwei’s choices are subject to the restriction of the times, but he was nothing but a scholar, creating a great history picture.The spirit of the courage to act have deeply infected Guangxi literati scholars.And the ultimate goal of this thesis is to explain that modern Guangxi has an important contribution to the formation of a unified, multi-ethnic modern China in history, and corrected the previous works by Kang Youwei in Guangxi lecture with "ethos" argument to disprove Guangxi "backward" inappropriate views. So as to provide a possible way of thinking for the construction of regional cultural image in Guangxi.