Liang Qichao

Abstract

In the transitional period spanning the latter part of the Qing dynasty to the early republican era, Liang Qichao (Liang Ch’i-ch’ao) 梁启超 (b. 1873–d. 1929), perhaps a failed politician, was well known as a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher, and reformist. There is no doubt that Liang Qichao was one of the most influential historical figures in 20th-century China, and his voluminous writings were read by almost every educated person in China at the turn of the century. The first complete collection of Liang’s works, published in 1936 by Zhonghua shuju, and the completion of a Chronology of Liang’s life in the same year, marked a dynamic achievement in the field of Liang Qichao studies. From this point up to 1949, few serious research works on Liang Qichao emerged except for Wu Qichang’s吴其昌Liang Qichao zhuan梁启超传 (1944), the first intellectual biography of Liang Qichao. However, it remained unfinished as the author died one month after he completed the first volume. From 1949 to the late 1970s the study of Liang Qichao in mainland China was characterized by ideologically fuelled criticism of Liang’s “anti-revolutionary” stance, while in Taiwan more scholarly works emerged to explore various aspects of Liang’s ideas and activities. Works produced by the scholars in Taiwan, along with three English intellectual biographies of Liang Qichao published during the 1950s to the 1970s, marked a new phase of intellectual query into Liang’s life and work in both Chinese and English literature. It was not until the 1980s that the study of Liang Qichao in mainland China flourished and scholars gradually changed their revolutionary tones and adopted a more objective scholarly approach. Thousands of publications in various forms have been published since then and the quality of research is inconsistent. Research themes are largely formed and developed in accordance with the stages of Liang’s life, mainly investigating his ideas and activities around the 1898 Reform; the role of Japan in Liang’s intellectual development; Liang as a politician in the early republican years; and his scholarly work and changes in his ideas after 1918. The existing publications touch upon almost every aspect of his life, his political ideas and activities, and his views on education, historiography, literature, journalism, language and translation, philosophy, Buddhism and national learning, laws and economics. The study of Liang Qichao has become a significant part of scholarship on modern Chinese history.