The Reform Movement of 1898 in China, like the serfdom reform in Russia in 186 1 and the Meiji Restoration in Japan in 1868, all belong to the category of bourgeois democratic revolution. Due to the success of top-down reform in Japan and Russia, capitalism has developed rapidly; However, the same type of Reform Movement of 1898 died under the joint strangulation of feudal die-hards and imperialism. This bourgeois democratic revolutionary movement, which tries to transform China into a capitalist society, has had a progressive and positive impact on China society in terms of its historical role, politically, economically and ideologically, although it also has many weaknesses due to the limitations of the times and classes. In the modern history of China, it initiated a new period in which the national bourgeoisie became the protagonist in the political arena, and its achievements should not be underestimated.

However, for a long time, most comrades in the history circle regarded the Reform Movement of 1898 as a bourgeois political reform movement and a means to stop and resist the people's revolution. Although it has played a progressive role in history, it is essentially reactionary. I beg to differ in this respect. Here are some superficial views to discuss with comrades.

one

China's fiasco in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 declared the complete bankruptcy of the Westernization Movement's "New Policy of Self-improvement". With the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, the imperialist countries set off a frenzy to carve up China, and China is facing a deepening national crisis. The people of China issued a strong voice to save the country and survive. But who will take the route of "map storage"? The Westernization School, which only envies western ships and guns, has proved that it can't save China from danger. The task of history can only fall on the bourgeois reformists. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the development of China's national industry reached its first climax. During the four years from 1895 to 1899, the number of commercial factories and mines exceeded the total in the past twenty years, and the total capital exceeded that of commercial enterprises run by the government or supervised by the government, and gained a major position. (and Hu's Historical Draft of the Revolution of 1911, Volume I, page 32. However, the development of national capitalist industry is still oppressed by decadent feudal superstructure and imperialist aggression. With the continuous growth of the national bourgeoisie in China, breaking the double bondage has become an inevitable trend of historical development.

The grim situation forces the representatives of the emerging bourgeoisie to realize that they must find a new way out to seek the independence and prosperity of the motherland. "To save the country, only reform. To reform, we can only learn from foreign countries. " (Mao Zedong: On the People's Democratic Dictatorship, Selected Works of Mao Zedong, p. 1359) So they issued "imitation of Taixi" and practiced "co-variation" (Kang Youwei: "Taking Imperial edicts as a whole", contained in "China Modern History Information Series: the Reform Movement of 1898", vol. II, p. 659. Voice of China Guoguang Publishing House (1953 edition). They changed from "unchanging to dying, becoming all-powerful" (Kang Youwei: Overall Planning by Imperial Decree, published in China Modern History Data Series: The Reform Movement of 1898, Volume II, p. 197. Shenzhou Guoguang Publishing House (version 1953) demands a fundamental transformation to turn feudal China into an independent capitalist country. 1895, Kang Youwei and others wrote a letter on the bus. Although it failed to stop the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, which humiliated the country, it aroused a larger patriotic upsurge among the people of China, and the patriotic thought of bourgeois reform and reform was widely spread. The reformists ran around shouting and making speeches, which won wide sympathy and support from the society. In this atmosphere, Kang Youwei and other reformist leaders have put forward various plans to implement comprehensive changes. By petitioning, founding newspapers and organizing societies, they strongly advocated that "the land can be accessible, the country can be steamed, the situation can be suppressed and the situation is inevitable." Change also changes, unchanged also changes "("Liang Qichao: On the Harm of the Invariant Law ",Volume III of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 18), trying to make the upper class of the feudal ruling class such as Emperor Guangxu understand the general trend and support the reform and reform.

1898 1 month, when the voice of recommending Kang Youwei was growing, Guangxu ordered Kang Youwei to make suggestions for political reform, and submitted the records of Meiji Reform in Japan and Peter Reform in Russia. On the 29th, Kang Youwei announced "Overall Planning and Overall Folding" (namely "Six Books of Emperor Shangqing") by imperial edict, which was the platform for reformists to demand political reform. From the numerous letters and propaganda materials of the reformists, we can summarize their specific thoughts of reform and reform as follows:

Politically, he put forward the system of "learning from Yao and Shun, drawing on the strength of the East, establishing a constitution, establishing a large national assembly, sharing government with the people, and separating the three powers". (Kang Youwei: "Please Confirm the Constitutional Convention for the Founding of the People's Republic of China", Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 237) This is to abolish the feudal autocracy that seriously hindered the social development of China and establish a western-style constitutional monarchy.

In view of the fact that "ministers are all old-school figures and the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC is busy at the same time, it is inevitable to ask them to discuss politics and be kind to others" (Kang Youwei: Thank God and Coordinate the Overall Situation, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 2 16), the reformers put forward new ideas for political institutions. To study "how to make the constitution, how to make the articles of association, whether ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (For all the above, see Kang Youwei's "Respecting Heaven's Grace, Overall Planning and Overall Discounting", Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 2 16), which is actually equivalent to the constitutional convention of capitalist countries and contains the nature of the highest legislature of the country. At the same time, there are 12 sub-bureaus of law, education, schools, agriculture, industry, commerce, railways, postal services, mines, clubs, army and navy to "implement the new law". Functionally, these twelve branches are roughly equivalent to the central ministries and commissions of bourgeois countries. In addition, according to the situation of local bureaucrats at the provincial, provincial and county levels, "the old system is daunting, and it is inevitable to focus on the New Deal", it is proposed that "all provinces should set up civil affairs bureaus, wisely choose generalists to supervise their affairs ... and the system should be on an equal footing with the governor" and "all counties should set up civil affairs sub-bureaus to supervise and send personnel to work with local gentlemen. (Kang Youwei: The Reform Movement of 1898, Volume II, page 202) They also suggested that we should imitate the legal system of western capitalist countries, formulate civil laws and regulations, allow scholars to freely read books, freely believe in religion, freely run newspapers, organize the translation of foreign new books, reward new books, and set up administrative bureaus in charge of various assembly and association activities in the twelve bureaus for legal protection. (Kang Youwei: Overall Planning by Imperial Decree, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 20 1)

Facing the increasingly rampant imperialist military aggression, reformists advocate loyal opposition. We will never cede territory for the sake of peace. (Kang Youwei: The Reform Movement of 1898, Volume II, page 137) They put forward many specific suggestions, such as moving the capital to the mainland, reducing green camp, disbanding flag soldiers, running a school for military equipment, and compiling a new Lu Haijun. (Kang Youwei: Take the imperial edict as a whole, and the Reform Movement of 1898.

Economically, "building a country by business" and "benefiting business" (Kang Youwei: Shangqing Emperor, Volume II, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 145) (Kang Youwei: Please abolish Lijin tablets, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 236) reformists put forward: reduce commodity export tax. (Kang Youwei: Please abolish the Lijin film, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 265) Abolish the Lijin system of "the source of poor farm labourers" and "damaging the capital of wealthy businessmen"; (Kang Youwei: "Please Abolish Lijin Tablets", Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 266) "Aid other countries to increase import taxes on foreign goods" and implement a protective tariff policy. (Tan Sitong: Bao Bei Jacky, Complete Works of Tan Sitong, p. 1 18, Sanlian Bookstore, version 1954) At the same time, it is required to cancel the strict ban on private factories and implement "doing for the people and protecting them" (Kang Youwei: "The Reform Movement of 1898"

"Establish business schools, business newspapers and chambers of commerce, imitate Japanese Liquan workshops and agricultural schools, and emphasize the spirit of artisans." (Kang Youwei: Shang Yang Lun Zhe, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 249) Reward scientific and technological inventions, vigorously promote machine production, actively develop modern transportation, industry and mining, and strive to turn backward agricultural countries into advanced industrial countries. (Kang Youwei: The Reform Movement of 1898, Volume II, Page 227, Please Discount the Innovation Award)

"All provinces, prefectures and counties set up agricultural schools and allocate official land at public expense, which puts pressure on gentry and farmers to publish agricultural newspapers, broaden their knowledge, hold peasant associations and compare things", (Kang Youwei: Please set up agricultural schools, Volume II, 250 of the Reform Movement of 1898) translated foreign agricultural works and popularized agricultural knowledge. With the help of the state (that is, the so-called "agricultural manpower is extremely scarce, and the state helps it" (the Reform Movement of 1898, Volume II, page 144)), he advocated adopting the advanced agricultural science in the West at that time and equipping agriculture with machines and advanced tools.

In order to bring agriculture into the track of commodity economy, encourage the cultivation of cash crops such as cotton, sugarcane and grapes, develop silk tea industry and animal husbandry for foreign trade, so that agriculture can provide more raw materials and funds for the development of national industries and gradually embark on the road of capitalist agriculture. (Kang Youwei: Business Folding, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, pp. 248-247)

In terms of culture and education, the reformists put forward the ideas of "abandoning stereotyped writing to promote learning" and "adopting a day-to-day academic system far from morality": rural primary schools, county middle schools, provincial universities and central universities; Set up various specialized schools in astronomy, geography, mining, medicine, law, optics, chemistry, electricity, machinery, ordnance driving and so on to learn western scientific and cultural knowledge; (Kang Youwei: Please start a school at a discount, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 218-219) advocates universal education, and "anyone over the age of seven enters school"; (Kang Youwei: Please open a school discount, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 218-219) Send overseas students to study abroad, (Kang Youwei: Please translate the Japanese book The Reform Movement of 1898, page 224) to cultivate students' real understanding.

These schemes show that the emerging bourgeoisie in China tried to follow the example of Meiji Restoration and implement top-down comprehensive reform through the authority of the Emperor. The society they envision is undoubtedly a capitalist society dominated by the capitalist mode of production.

two

With the great momentum of saving the nation and strengthening the political reform, under the auspices of the reformists, the "100-day reform" under the banner of the emperor finally began. From1June, 898 1 1 day when Emperor Guangxu issued the imperial edict "Guo Zheng" and decided to reform, to1September, 2, 8981day, the reformists issued a series of imperial edicts on reform through the emperor. It can be seen from these letters that the political reform movement is a political movement carried out by the bourgeois reformists to realize the above-mentioned "national salvation plan" to save the national crisis. In order to save space, here are just a few points:

The General Administration of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce will be established in Beijing, and similar institutions will be established in all provinces to reward industry and commerce and promote various industries. Anyone who can use western methods to reclaim land, set up factories and publish books will be encouraged and even rewarded. He also advocated the establishment of farmers' associations and chambers of commerce to develop agriculture and protect commerce.

The General Administration of Railways and Mines in Beijing and other Guangdong-Han lines and Shanghai-Nanjing lines should also be established quickly.

Post offices have been set up everywhere, and the original post offices have been cancelled.

Those new works, laws and inventions that really contribute to the development of production should be rewarded, popularized or granted patents.

Chop green camp, refine the army. The army will switch to foreign guns and foreign gun exercises. Ordered the governor of Hunan to organize the manufacture of the second ammunition factory.

The local governor was ordered to allocate funds to Fuzhou Shipyard to build a warship and a new navy. Ordered to increase the number of students in the naval academy, purchase training boats, and train naval talents.

Encourage the establishment of newspapers and give them freedom of publication. Shanghai Times became an official newspaper and set up a newspaper in Beijing.

Kang Youwei was ordered to translate the news laws and regulations of western countries and make it a newspaper in China.

Encourage writing to talk about things, and allow ministers, workers and scholars to express their opinions for choice.

Set up schools widely and advocate western learning. Ordered the opening of Shi Jing University Hall as an example for all provinces. The official bookstore and translation bookstore were merged into the university auditorium. Academies and temples all over the country should be transformed into schools that learn both middle school and western learning. School books are edited and distributed by the official bookstore. Anyone who donates to build a school should be rewarded. Shi Jing has established primary school halls and ordnance university halls, and various specialized medical halls, such as Shanghai tea school, sericulture school, translation school and overseas Chinese schools in overseas Chinese countries, and also studied Chinese and Western languages.

Abolish stereotyped writing, reform the imperial examination system, change the strategy theory, set up special economic courses and hold them regularly. Will try to change history, politics, current affairs, etc. , focusing on practical learning.

Send Wang Houbeile to travel abroad, and order provincial governors to send students to study in Japan, learn mining and so on.

These concrete measures of political reform and reform are actually the first brave attempt of the emerging bourgeoisie to control the political power and implement a new social system, and they want to "rule the world with pioneering potential" (Volume II of Kang Youwei: Shangqing Emperor, Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 140). Combining the reform ideas of the reformists with the measures that have been promulgated, the reform movement is the product of the times to save the nation and survive, with the nature of opposing imperialism and safeguarding national independence and sovereignty; The Reform Movement took the advanced capitalist thought in the west as a theoretical weapon, opposed the traditional feudal autocratic concept, and had the nature of opposing feudalism and demanding bourgeois democracy and freedom. The climax of the Reform Movement-"Hundred Days Reform" is essentially a class struggle between the emerging bourgeoisie and feudal diehard forces, and it is by no means a "minor improvement that does not touch feudal rule at all".

The key point is that a fundamental difference between the Reform Movement of 1898 and other previous anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles is that it was based on the emerging bourgeoisie. Although this foundation is still weak and unstable, it is the representative of the new production relations after all, and its ultimate goal is undoubtedly to replace the feudal production mode with the capitalist production mode.

According to the principle of historical materialism: "When a society's material productivity develops to a certain stage, it conflicts with the existing production relations or property relations (this is just the legal term of production relations) in which they once lived. So these relations have changed from the development form of productive forces to the shackles of productive forces. At this time, the era of social revolution came. " (Marx: Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 2, pages 83-84) Obviously, "social revolution" refers to a social and political movement that fundamentally changes the social form to meet the needs of the development of new productive forces. Its specific tasks and forms have different manifestations due to different historical conditions, but in the end, they are all aimed at breaking the shackles of old production relations on new productive forces, establishing new production relations and corresponding superstructure, thus opening the way for the development of new productive forces. In short, a higher social form in history has replaced the original lower social form and belongs to the social revolution. In this way, bourgeois reformers who are engaged in a cause that will eventually lead to a fundamental qualitative change in social form undoubtedly belong to the category of social revolution.

Why can't we say that the Reform Movement of 1898 was a reformist movement? Because, "generally speaking, reformism means that people are limited to advocating a change that does not have to destroy the main foundations of the old ruling class, that is, a change that is compatible with preserving these foundations." (Lenin: Several Debates, Selected Works of Lenin, Volume II, p. 479) The Reform Movement of 1898 was just the opposite. What it advocates is the implementation of "total change" in production mode and political system (Kang Youwei: "Respecting Heaven's Grace and Co-ordinating Total Fold", Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 2 16) and resolutely opposes "branching and repairing" (Kang Youwei: "Respecting Heaven's Grace and Co-ordinating Total Fold", "The Reform Movement of 1898"

three

Some comrades believe that the reformists did not propose to overthrow the rule of the Qing Dynasty, so their purpose is still to maintain the feudal monarchy and "propose self-improvement strategies for feudal rule to ensure eternal peace." (Kang Youwei: "The Reform Movement of 1898", Volume II, Volume II, Page 140) I think this statement is one-sided.

Needless to say, the emerging bourgeoisie in China at that time had great weakness and compromise, and the representatives of the reformists did claim that their reform was for the sake of "Yong 'an" in the Qing Dynasty. But is the "Qing Dynasty" in their mind synonymous with feudal monarchy? Kang Youwei said to Emperor Guangxu: "He who is in harmony with heaven is happy, and he who is happy with his change is in harmony with heaven, but he is not happy with his surname." Those who go against the sky die, and death remains the same, and those who go against the sky do not die. A surname itself remains unchanged, and it will change from generation to generation, but a surname will die. A surname can change from time to time, but a surname can last forever. "("Kang Youwei: Textual Research on the Political Changes of Big Peter in Russia ",Volume III of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 1 page) This is to let the Qing royal family understand the general trend and change with the weather. Only by "changing" can we gain the "Yong 'an" of the royal family. Kang Youwei clearly put forward the bourgeois political proposition of separation of powers in his book "Folding the Founding Congress of the Qing Dynasty", and explained that the emperor was "sacred" but "irresponsible"; (Kang Youwei: "Please Decide the Fold of the Founding of the People's Republic of China", Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 236) Both the emperor and the people are bound by the Constitution. In this regard, the feudal die-hards exclaimed: "The people have the right, but the world has no right." "Building a government and abolishing the monarch is illegal." (Bin Fengyang, et al.: The Letter of Premier Wang Yiwu of the Reform Movement of 1898, Volume II, p. 638) "The theory of civil rights is harmful and unprofitable", "If you advocate the theory of civil rights, Pierer, a fool, will be chaotic, but Ji Gang will not, and chaos will arise everywhere". (Zhang Zhidong: Persuading Harmony and Righteousness, Complete Works of Zhang Wenxiang, Volume 202) Their panic and anxiety are not unreasonable. In the feudal society of China, the emperor has always been the embodiment of absolute and supreme authority, and the absolute rule of the monarch has formed a huge and inseparable whole with other aspects of the whole society. The idea of reforming the parliament, advocating civil rights and constitutional monarchy, if realized, will lead to the total collapse of the superstructure of the whole feudal society. How can this be said to safeguard the feudal monarchy?

In world history, the political system established by bourgeois revolution has two forms: democratic republic and constitutional monarchy. They are also the superstructure of capitalism, which is essentially different from the feudal political system. Different countries have different specific historical conditions and different class forces, which determines that different countries take different forms. The national bourgeoisie in China during the Reform Movement of 1898 was still very weak objectively, and subjectively thought that the democratic republic "had not arrived yet, and its customs had not been achieved" (Yan Fu: Building North Korea, Volume III of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 80). Therefore, in the western regime model, it is reasonable to choose the form of "constitutional monarchy" as the goal of realistic struggle. Why do you have to force it to put forward the slogan of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and establishing a democratic republic?

Some comrades still believe that the reformists have not fundamentally changed the old state machine, but only asked the upper political representatives of the bourgeoisie to participate in the political power, so it is only a partial improvement. This statement is also debatable.

When the reformists carried out the New Deal, they did retain the old yamen and made proper arrangements for the old bureaucrats. This was a last resort at that time. Because the reformists realized that "the current official system must be changed" and "once it is changed, it should be completely changed". However, I feel that the die-hards are "full of interests, and it is difficult to go all the way", so they can only "respect the new and not the old". Therefore, he advocated that "selecting talents can be a new policy, leaving redundant officials to accommodate the old people." (Kang Youwei: Self-edited Chronicle, Volume IV of the Reform Movement of 1898, p. 157) In fact, this is a strategy adopted by the reformists to alleviate the possible resistance to the implementation of the New Deal. Retaining the old yamen is only to settle and appease the old bureaucrats; The policy of "respecting positions and paying heavy salaries" is adopted for the old bureaucrats, so that they have nothing to do and are not afraid of losing their positions (Liang Qichao: Volume I of the Coup of 1898, Volume I of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 25/kloc-0), so that they will not obstruct the New Deal. For those who "spread rumors and slander and refused to work for the new government", they advocated that "the punishment of Pan Geng should be suppressed, and the law of slander should be adopted, and the punishment should be clear and unforgivable. In terms of a few words, it is even and United as one." (Kang Youwei: "For Xie Tianen, Coordinating the Overall Situation", Volume II of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 2 17) It can be seen that the reformists are not afraid to meet stubborn old bureaucrats. Capitalism replacing feudalism is only a revolution in which one exploitation system replaces another. It is impossible and unnecessary to smash the old state machine completely. We don't have to ask China's reform to send us to do it.

It is worth noting that when Kang Youwei put forward his proposal to set up a system bureau and a civil affairs bureau, "the capital was shocked, outsiders were shocked and slandered." (Kang Youwei: Self-edited Chronicle, Volume IV of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 153) The feudal die-hards, who have always been confused, are very alert to the fact that the reformists "reversed the rule of man" (Fei: The Biography of Cixi, the Reform Movement of 1898). The die-hards even said that "things are not harmonious, and the (institutional bureau) is absolutely impossible. (Kang Youwei: Self-edited Chronicle and the Reform Movement of 1898, Volume IV, page 153) They did not regard it as "only a partial improvement".

Many comrades also raised the issue that the reformists did not touch the feudal land system. This should be analyzed in detail.

First of all, it should be pointed out that whether to raise the land issue is not the criterion for judging whether it is a bourgeois revolution. Judging from the final outcome, the task of the bourgeois revolution is of course to solve the problem of feudal land ownership. But the bourgeois revolution is often not completed at once, as Lenin said, it is a historical process. In this way, among all the tasks it has to complete, there must be tasks that it has to solve first, as well as tasks that it can only solve in the second and third steps, depending on the development degree and main obstacles of local capitalism at that time. For example, during the American bourgeois revolution (War of Independence), the land problem was not raised and solved, because the political oppression and economic exploitation of the North American colonies by Britain at that time were the main obstacles to the development of capitalism there. For another example, Japan still retained feudal land ownership after the Meiji Restoration, and in the thirty or forty years after the local tax reform, feudal land relations still ruled the countryside (1873- 188 1).

Similarly, in China in the late19th century, the main obstacle to the development of capitalism was not the feudal land system. After the Opium War, foreign goods began to be dumped in China market. By the 1990s, the import volume of foreign goods had almost quadrupled compared with the 1960s. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1898, the import of foreign goods increased sharply, ranging from 1895- 1898, with an average of more than 47 million taels of silver per year. (Hu Sheng: "From the Opium War to the May 4th Movement", vol. II, p. 483, People's Publishing House, 198 1 Edition) At the same time, the influx of industrial investment made "Chinese businessmen in peril and foreign businessmen monopolized". ("Zhang Zhidong: Complete Works of the Public", Volume 45) The Qing government has always implemented a policy of stifling the national industry and commerce with a lijin tax and a high export tax. For example, 35% of all kinds of lijin and export taxes are collected for tea exported from all parts of Fujian. (The Times, Volume I, page 1 1) Someone lamented: "This obviously stifled the vitality of Chinese businessmen, but secretly promoted the sales of foreign businessmen." (Zhang Zhidong: Complete Works of Zhang Wenxiang, Volume 45) It can be seen that the main obstacles to the development of Chinese national capitalism at that time were the oppression and exploitation of imperialism and the super-economic destruction of feudalism in China. Therefore, the primary task of the national bourgeoisie at that time was to break the shackles of feudal superstructure, and the bourgeoisie used the power of state power to protect and promote national industry and commerce and develop capitalist production methods. The Reform Movement of 1898 did not propose to abolish the feudal land system, which was of course an incomplete performance, but the nature of its bourgeois revolution could not be denied.

Regarding the reformists' top-down peaceful reform route, there is a view that the reformists actually used improvement to resist the revolution. This is hard to agree with. In fact, the revolutionary faction headed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen started its activities as early as the end of 1894. In February of the following year, the Zhong Xing Society was established, proposing the political line of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty by force and establishing a bourgeois democratic republic. But the problem is that the middle and lower classes of the national bourgeoisie were extremely weak at that time. Before the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, the activities of Zhong Xing Association in China were almost impossible. "It's not surprising that everyone who hears about the revolution is full, only people in the association." (Sun Yat-sen: The Origin of the Revolution, China Modern History Data Series: The Revolution of 1911, Volume I, Page 7) There are also "few respondents" overseas. "There are only a few hundred people who have longed for righteousness for several years." (Sun Yat-sen: The Origin of Revolution, China Modern History Series: The Revolution of 1911, Volume I, page 7) It can be seen that there was no realistic basis for implementing this bourgeois-democratic revolutionary line in China at that time. In addition, before the Reform Movement of 1898, even after the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, the relationship between revolutionaries headed by Sun Yat-sen and reformists was relatively harmonious. From 1896 to 1897, Yang and Xie Zuantai of Hui nationality held "bipartisan cooperation talks" with Kang and He respectively. /kloc-in the winter of 0/897, Sun Yat-sen recommended Liang Qichao as the teacher of the Overseas Chinese Business School, and other important members of the China Renaissance Association and the reformists also "keep pace with the times and discuss the gains and losses of current politics." (Feng Ziyou: Anecdotal History of the Revolution, Volume IV of the Reform Movement of 1898, page 24/kloc-0) This also shows that there was no problem in improving the resistance to the revolution at that time.

When the national bourgeoisie immediately took positive actions to save the nation and develop national capitalism under the imminent crisis situation, the reformists chose the road of peaceful improvement, which should be said to be the only feasible strategic route under the conditions at that time. This can be compared with the Meiji Restoration in Japan. At first, Japanese reformers tried to carry out reforms only by relying on the old regime. Later, they finally overthrew the Tokugawa era with the Chen Wu War, which lasted for one year and five months, and then carried out various reforms from top to bottom, and the results were all successful. The reason why Japanese reformists can do this is that the division of domestic feudal camp is the decisive factor. Since the18th century, some Japanese lower-class samurai have learned "westernization" and formed a new group of intellectuals. Reformists have also emerged among the middle and upper class soldiers, forming a relatively strong political innovation force.

In addition, the contradiction between shogunate and strong vassal has never ended in the history of Japanese feudal society, which is also beneficial to reformists. In addition, the main backbones of the Meiji Restoration, such as Yoshida Shōin, Takayama Nobuyuki, Saigō Takamori, Kubo Junichi and Ito Bowen, have rich experience in political and military struggles. However, the division of feudal camps in China is far less than that in Japan before Meiji Restoration. Most governors are die-hards used by the Western Empress Dowager, and the latter firmly holds the military and political power. The leaders of the reformists are mainly literati in opposition, lacking practical experience in political and military struggle. Their connection with social forces is only to open societies and newspapers. The people gathered were nothing more than young scholars and enlightened gentry. Besides issuing imperial edicts, the people they refer to are actually "obsessed with the West and stubborn ministers" (Kang Youwei: Chronicle of the Reform Movement of 1898, Volume IV, page 148). In this case, besides pinning their hopes on top-down reform, what "violent revolution" can they have? Later, Liang Qichao also said that the Japanese royal family had all kinds of powerful vassal soldiers to rely on, "so the royal family had to maintain it, while the people with lofty ideals had some credentials", while the people with lofty ideals in China "had no credentials at all, but they were strangled". (Liang Qichao: "A new party gentleman went to the Japanese government and society to edit China's coup", "The Reform Movement of 1898", vol. II, pp. 604-605) This is indeed a sad statement. When we look at a movement of historical change, we should not only see what it has done less than later people, but also what it can do under the historical conditions at that time. The Reform Movement of 1898, as the first attempt of China national bourgeoisie to seize power in the political arena, tried to create capitalism by peaceful reform, which was the only feasible revolutionary movement at that time. Marx once called the czar's government's intention to reform the serfdom "the beginning of the revolution" (Marx to Engels (1858 10.08) and The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 29, p. 347). Engels said more than once that 18 1 year happened in Russia. (Engels: Foreign Policy of Russian Tsar Government, Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 22) It can also be seen that the "top-down" line cannot be a reason to deny its social revolutionary nature.