__Advancement of Western Knowledge 西學東漸
Foreign cultures had been introduced to China through trade and official contacts since ancient times. Exotic ideas and objects had been absorbed and blended in with Chinese traditions. But this continuous and gradual process changed when, in the 16th century, Jesuit brothers, as part of their missionary work, made organized and persistent efforts in introducing Western culture to China.
Founded by Ignazio di Loyola and his companions in 1534, Societas Iesu was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. With education being part of their mission, most members of the order were erudite scholars. As early as the 1550s, they began their mission in China, bringing with them the humanism, science, and culture of the European Renaissance. With their knowledge and skills, many Jesuits became influential in the imperial courts throughout the late Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.
Matteo Ricci 利瑪竇 (1552-1610) arrived in Macau in 1582.[1] He studied Classical Chinese and became familiar with Chinese literature and philosophy, especially Confucianism. He channeled The Four Books and The Five Classics in indoctrination of Christianity. He translated The True Record of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu shilu 天主實錄), written by his confrere Michele Ruggiero 羅明堅, from Latin to Chinese.
In early 1601, Ricci became the first Westerner to enter the Forbidden City. With his knowledge in mathematics, science, and astronomy, he won the trust of the Wanli Emperor 萬曆帝/明神宗. Collaborating with court official Li Zhizao 李之藻, Ricci produced the first world map in Chinese showing the Americas in 1602.[2] He translated Euclid’s Elements, printed in 1607, with the help of Xu Guangqi 徐光啟.[3]
After the Manchu forces took over China in 1644, political instability hindered the work of the Jesuits for several decades. During the reign of the Kangxi 康熙 Emperor from 1661 to 1722, Jesuit priests regained their prominence in the imperial court. Ferdinand Verbiest (aka Nan Huairen 南懷仁 1623-1688), having succeeded in an astronomy contest, was appointed the head of the Imperial Astronomy Institute (欽天監監副) and became a confidant of the emperor. In addition to tutoring the emperor in mathematics, Verbiest and his colleagues Thomas Pereira and Karel Slavíček also introduced Western musical instruments such as the harpsichord and spinet to the court. Together they paved the way for the revival of the Jesuit mission in China.
In 1715, to satisfied Kangxi’s curiosity in the Western painting technique of linear perspective, a lay brother Giuseppe Castiglione 郞世寧 (1688-1766) was dispatched by the order. As an artisan at the imperial court, Castiglione served three emperors—Kangxi, Yongzheng 雍正 (reigned 1722-1736) and Qianlong 乾隆 (reigned 1736-1795)—during the most prosperous period of the Qing Dynasty. While Yongzheng prohibited foreign missionaries and expelled all foreign priests from China, Castiglione was permitted to stay and was given preferential treatments. He contributed to the design and construction of Yuanming Yuan 圓明園, the imperial garden and summer palace.[4]
Most of the cultural works of the Jesuits were within the confines of the imperial courts and, hence, well documented. Several treatises translated by the Jesuits were included in the Siku Quanshu[5]. Artifacts transported or created by these priests have been preserved in libraries and museums. By changing the minds of the rulers, they impacted the developments of the entire nation.
__Imperialistic Aggression
For thousands of years, the ideology of China as the center of the world prevailed. Emperors of China considered themselves to be the ruler of the entire world. Elites took pride in the superiority of Chinese culture. This world view began to crumble in the 19th century.
After the industrial revolution, European colonial powers expanded rapidly. China, with its vast territory and large population, was an ideal market for industrial outputs. The Qing Dynasty, holding on to the Sinocentric view, refused to recognize the sovereignty of other countries and maintained a closed-door policy on trade. While, domestically, the corrupt administration, rebellions and famine weakened the strength of the Qing court.
Throughout the 18th century, Great Britain imported large quantities of tea, silk, and porcelain from China, resulting in large trade imbalances. To reduce the deficits, the British East India Company and individual merchants began smuggling opium into China. As opium addiction caused increasing social and economic deteriorations, the Daoguang Emperor 道光皇帝 decreed a complete ban on opium trade in 1839. Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu 林則徐took extreme measures, confiscating and destroying opium supplies. These actions eventually led to the First Opium War (1839-1842). Defeated, the Qing court was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, conceding to Great Britain’s trading and international demands. New Imperialist powers thus gained a foothold into the Chinese market.[6]
Conflicts between the Qing Dynasty and industrial nations continued to escalate and resulted in a series of wars throughout the second half of the 19th century: The Second Opium War (1856-1860), Sino-French War (1883-1885), The First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), and Battle of Peking (Eight-Nation Alliance, 1900).[7] Each confrontation further exposed the weakness of the Chinese military and fractured the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty.
__Reform and Revolution
After the First Opium War, fearing the threat from Western powers, voices of reform grew among the elites and court officials. Lin Zexu, having negotiated with foreign officials, understood the superiority of Western military. He advocated acquiring scientific knowledge and technology from the West. Based on Lin’s Geography of Four Continents 四洲志, his friend Wei Yuan 魏源 completed the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms 海國圖志 (1843). In addition to maps, Wei discussed Western maritime technology and weapons production. In the preface, Wei declared the purpose of the work to be “mastering the skills of barbarians in order to restrain them” 師夷長技以制夷.[8]
This idea became the principle of the Self-strengthening Movement (Yangwu yundong 洋務運動), a reform movement instigated by court officials after the Second Opium War.[9] From 1861 to 1895, efforts were made in various areas: 1) Fortification of military power by importing Western weaponry and technology; 2) rectification of trade relations with Western nations; 3) translations of Western books—mostly in science, and technology; 4) establishment of schools in foreign languages, military, and technology. Nonetheless, ideologically, the reformers asserted the essence of Confucianism with the slogan: “[Using] Chinese learning as [constitutional] foundation; Western learning for functional application.” 中學為體 西學為用. Disorganization, lack of funding, and opposition from conservatives invariably undermined the implication of the reform policies. Ultimately, the First Sino-Japanese War led to the end of the Self-strengthening Movement.
In the eyes of Chinese rulers, Japan was, for centuries, a subordinate neighbor. Beginning in 1868, under Emperor Meiji 明治天皇, Japan went through constitutional, social, and military reform, following Western models.[10] Within a few decades, it became a rising power in the East, contending with Western nations. On the one hand, the First Sino-Japanese war substantiated the effectiveness of the Meiji Restoration, on the other hand, it exposed the weakness of Chinese sovereignty.
Determined to reinvigorate the nation, in June of 1898, Guangxu Emperor 光緒帝 ordered a series of reforms. Strategized by Kang Youwei 康有為 and Liang Qichao 梁啟超, these policies included fundamental changes in political structure, economy, education, and infrastructure. Unfortunately, this attempt to modernize China only lasted for one hundred and three days and ended with the emperor under house arrest. The leading figures of the “Hundred Days’ Reform” fled to Japan.[11]
During the final decade of the 19th century, uprisings of the Boxer militia and foreign aggression continued to enfeeble the Qing Dynasty. Thinkers and reformers such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen began to instigate revolutionary movements and organize underground groups. After multiple failed attempts, the revolutionary force captured the city of Wuchang on October 10, 1911.[12] This marked the end of the Qing Dynasty.
__Literary Reforms
The challenge of establishing a democratic system after thousands of years of monarchical rules was monumental. For nearly two decades, China fell into the hands of warlords. The work of cultural reform was no less daunting. As Low Kwang-Lai wrote in “Nationalism and the Vernacular in China,” The North American Review (1926):[13]
The transformation of the Chinese Monarchy into the Chinese Republic is an event politically significant, the change from the classical Chinese language into the vernacular, the language as it is spoken today by the people, is nothing short of an intellectual and spiritual revolution, which arouses the creative energy of the Chinese people and awakens the dormant national consciousness of the four hundred millions.
In 1915, Chen Duxiu 陳獨秀 founded a monthly periodical La Jeunesse (新青年, New Youth) in Shanghai, promoting science, education, social and political reforms.[14] In its eleven years history, La Jeunesse provided a platform for progressive thinkers such as Hu Shih 胡適, Lu Xun 魯迅, Liu Bannong 劉半農 and Mao Zedong and became the leading publication for the “New Culture Movement.”[15]
In January 1917, an essay entitled “A Preliminary Discussion of Literature Reform” 文學改良芻議 by Hu Shih appeared in New Youth. Hu, at the time a graduate student at Columbia University, suggested that literature reform must start with eight principles: (1) Write with substance. (2) Do not imitate the ancients. (3) Emphasize grammar. (4) Reject melancholy. (5) Eliminate old clichés. (6) Do not use allusions. (7) Do not use couplets and parallelisms. (8) Do not avoid popular expressions or popular forms of characters.[16]
Colloquial language had been used in many great literary works since the Yuan Dynasty.[17] In 1890s, Liang Qichao utilized a new writing style 新文體, combining Classical Chinese, popular expressions, and, occasionally, foreign words, in his newspaper articles.[18] Hu pushed the boundary further. He advocated for integrating speaking and written language 文言合一. Using linguistic evolution in European counties as examples, equating Latin to Classical Chinese, Hu explained linguist and historical developments were inseparable. He was certain that, based on the contemporary history, “plain-language” literature would be the bona fide Chinese literature, and would be instrumental in its future development.[19]
Chen Duxiu followed up in the February issue with “On the Theory of Literary Revolution,” proclaiming the need to overturn the traditions and begin with a new literature for the people. While Hu focused on the literary developments, Chen was linking literary reform to social revolution.
In “On the Historic-evolutionary Concept of Literature” (May 1917) and “On Constructive Revolution in Chinese Literature” (April 1918), Hu explicated further the reason to “modernize” the language.[20] Starting in May of 1918, all articles in New Youth were written in “plain-language.”
In January 1920, the newly formed Ministry of Education issued a directive requiring all primary school textbooks to be written in the vernacular. In March, the policy expanded to middle school books. By 1921 the vernacular was officially recognized as the “national language.”
“Little Rain Drop” 小雨點, a short story by Chen Hengzhe 陳衡哲—one of the first female scholars to study overseas, was published in New Youth in 1917. Prior to “Rain Drop,” Chen’s work “One Day” appeared in Chinese Student Quarterly, making her the first writer to create in the plain language 白話文.[21] “A Madman’s Diary” 狂人日記, a more widely known work by Lu Xun, was published in the following year. Also published as fictions were Liu Bannong’s translation of four prose poems by Turgenev (World of Chinese Fiction 中華小說界, 1915).
Soon, Liu and his colleagues began to write their own prose poems—sanwen shi 散文詩. Individual poems by various writers were printed in New Youth. Hu Shih published his collection A Book of Experiments 嘗試集in 1920. Lu Xun’s collection Wild Grass 野草 of 1927 was often regarded as the pinnacle of early modern Chinese poetry.
__Nationalism[22] and Communism
Northeastern China, because of its proximity to Russia, Korea, and Japan, had been the subject of international disputes during the imperialistic expansion. In 1898, after the murder of two German priests, the Qing Dynasty signed a treaty granting a lease of Jiaozhou Bay 膠州灣, an ice-free port in Qingdao 青島, Shandong 山東, to the German Reich for 99 years. Under the treaty, known as the “Kiaotschou Bay concession,” Jiaozhou became a base for the German Navy. The treaty also gave German coal mining and railroad construction rights, making it a commercial hub for the Reich in East Asia.[23]
Soon after the First World War broke out, the Imperial Japanese Navy, with the British alliance, besieged and defeated the Germans in Qingdao (Tsingtao). The Anglo-Japanese Allies took control of the colony on November 16 of 1914.[24] As the war ended, the Republic of China government—a member of the victorious allies, was hoping to regain the sovereignty of the area. However, due to secrete agreements that Japan had made with Britain, France, and Italy in 1917, as well as the Sino-Japanese Joint Defense Agreement (May 1918), the Western countries decided to transfer the German-leased territory to Japan.[25]
On May 4, 1919, patriotic students from thirteen universities gathered and protested in Beijing. With the slogan “struggle for the sovereignty externally, get rid of the national traitors at home,” they demanded the cancellation of “Twenty-One Demands”—another secret agreement with the Japanese government, and the return of Shandong to China. Their calls for organized strikes and boycott of Japanese goods led to demonstrations across the country. By June, several high-ranking government officials resigned, and the Chinese delegation refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
The May Fourth Movement was more than an anti-imperialism and anti-corruption movement. It was a wake-up call for the entire nation for a true reformation. It hoped not only to reclaim China’s sovereignty globally, but also to redefine the national spirit.
The students advocated for the abandonment of traditions, especially Confucianism. They called for total Westernization, an idea supported by Hu Shih and Chen Xujing 陳序經. They called for individualism. They called for freedom of thought and expression. They called for social equality.
Chen Duxiu, a promoter of human rights, was also a believer in socialism. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, New Youth gradually became a platform for Marxism. In September of 1919, the magazine officially became a propaganda publication of the Communist Party. Hu Shih’s unavailing attempts to separate the magazine from politics led to his departure in 1921.[26]
The split within these reformers reflected the political and cultural divisions of China which still exist today. A century later, the struggle to find a perfect balance between tradition and Western culture remains an arduous task.
[1] It became a tradition for Jesuits in China to adopt a Chinese name.
[2] umedia.lib.umn.edu_Ricci’s_Map
[3] Xu converted to Catholicism in 1603. He was recognized as one of the “Three Pillars of Chinese Catholicism.”
[4] Old_Summer_Palace_Wiki
The palace and garden were looted and burned by British and French forces during the Second Opium War.
[5] There are 27 translated works by Westerners in Siku Quanshu. Their subjects range from mathematics, astronomy, engineering, and machinery.
[6] First_Opium_War_Wiki
[7] Second_Opium_War_Wiki,
Sino-French_War_Wiki,
First_Sino-Japanese_War_Wiki,
Battle_of_Peking_(1900)_Wiki
[8] Illustrated_Treatise_on_the_Maritime_Kingdoms_Wiki,
海國圖志: 是書何以作？曰：為以夷攻夷而作，為以夷款夷而作，為師夷長技以制夷而作。 “Why was this book written? Respond: For [the idea of] using [technology] of barbarians to attack them; for using [principles] of barbarians to negotiate with them; for mastering the skills of barbarians in order to restrain them.” 海國圖志_zh.wikisource
[9] In early 1861, with the approval of Xianfeng Emperor, Prince Gong, Yixin 恭親王奕昕, along with court officials Wenxiang 文祥 and Shen Guifen 沈桂芬 to lead the reform movement. Other prominent figures of the movement included Zeng Guofan 曾國藩, Li Hongzhang 李鴻章, and Zuo Zongtang 左宗棠.
[10] Meiji_Restoration_Wiki
[11] Hundred_Days_Reform_Wiki
[12] 1911_Revolution#Wuchang_Uprising_Wiki
[13] Low Kwang-Lai (1896-?), “Nationalism and the Vernacular in China,” The North American Review, 223, no. 831 (1926 June – August), 311-322. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25110232
[14] The original Chinese title was 青年雜誌 (Youth Magazine), renamed 新青年(New Youth) in 1916.
[15] Lu_Xun_Wiki,
Liu_Bannong_Wiki,
New_Culture_Movement_Wiki
[16] One of the recipients of the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship, Hu Shih completed his undergraduate study at Cornell University. He then pursued graduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University (1915-1917). A disciple of John Dewey, Hu became an advocator of pragmatism. Hu_Shih_Wiki
Boxer_Indemnity_Scholarship_Wiki
Hu-Shih-and-Chinese-Language-Reform_chinaheritage.net
Although Hu did not expound on the grammatical issue in this essay, he later traced the evolution of Classical Chinese and compared the grammatical differences between the Classical and the modern usages in “General Discussions on the Grammar of National Language,” New Youth, 9, nos. 3 and 4(July and August 1921). 國語文法概論_zh.m.wikisource
[17] A proponent of vernacular literature, Hu was a leading scholar in the classical novels, especially Dream of the Red Chamber. He also studied Buddhist scripts and yuefu poetry—ancient sources in colloquial style.
[18] Liang_Qichao_Wiki. Liang’s writing style was also called “Xinmin style” (New Citizen style), based on the name of his biweekly New Citizen (Xinmin Congbao 新民叢報.)
[19] 文學改良芻議_zh.wikisource
[20] In the latter, Hu commented that writers should: “1. Speak only when you have something to say. 2. Speak what you want to say and say it in the way you want to say it. 3. Speak what is your own and not that of someone else. 4. Speak in the language of the time in which you live.”
[21] Chen_Hengzhe_Wiki. An English translation of “One Day” is included in A. D. Dooling and K. M. Torgeson, eds, Writing Women in Modern China: An Anthology of Women’s Literature from the Early Twentieth Century, Columbia University Press, 1998, 91-99.
[22] Here the term is referring to patriotic ideology and its development, and not the political ideas of the Nationalist party.
[23] Jiaozhou is also known as Kiaochow or Kiaochau in English. Jiaozhou_Bay_Wiki, Kiautschou_Bay_Leased_Territory_Wiki
[24] Siege_of_Tsingtao_Wiki
[25]Sino-Japanese_Joint_Defence[sic]_Agreement_Wiki, Paris_Peace_Conference_#Territorial_claims_Wiki
[26]Chen, a founding member of the Chinese Communist Part, was ousted in 1929 from CCP due to his opposition to the influence of Communist International (Comintern). Ideologically, he began leaning toward Trotskyism. From 1932 t0 1937, Chen was imprisoned by the Nationalist government. As Mao Zedong and other pro-Comintern members of CCP survived the Nationalist purge. Chen’s voice was silent during his final years until his death in 1942.
Hu Shih served as the ambassador of the Republic of China to the USA between 1938 and 1942 during the WWII. He was the chancellor of Peking University from 1946 to 1948 and was appointed the President of the academic research institute Academia Sinica in Taipei in 1957. He stood by his beliefs in individualism and democracy. He became the publisher of Free China Journal, a bi-weekly founded by Lei Chen 雷震, in 1949. The magazine was shut down in 1960 for criticism of the government. Hu died in 1962 in Taipei.