| The translation made here of Wang Tao's (1828-1897) Bian fa zhong essay links Confucian values with bi-cultural educational and geographical experiences to aspects of modernity, print capitalism, and cultural identity.;Preceding the translation is a biographical sketch of four periods suggesting influences from Wang Tao's unorthodox path of experiences as contributing to his developing insights for China and modernity. Combining a classical scholar education in China, with significant exposure to Western thought, Wang Tao developed his alternate views towards modernity in his presaging writings on bian fa reforms. At the earliest stages of reform-minded intellectuals and as a window to late-Qing literati identity, the individual Wang Tao was the first person preceding Yan Fu (1854-1921) that had reconciled the "inner vs. outer, constancy vs. change" dialectic from Han (206 BCE -- 220 CE), and thus unique in bringing China's classical Confucian culture into a synthesis with the West. |
