Where Does the “Lion” Come From? On the Origin of Liang Qichao’s “Sleeping Lion” Symbol^*

* This essay is an abridged version of my paper “Cong ‘mianshi’ dao ‘shuishi’—Liang Qichao shuishi shuo yuanyuan xinlun” [From “Minshi” to “Shuishi”: On the Origin of Liang Qichao’s “Sleeping Lion” Discourse], Si yu yan, 54.1 (2016): 231–65. I have benefited enormously from previous scholarship (see footnote 2 for the list) on this issue, especially from Professor Ishikawa Yoshihiro’s work. Even though my research has pointed to a different direction in examining this issue, I am very grateful for their efforts and insights. Without them as the foundation, this study would have been impossible.

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that it was Liang Qichao, not Napoleon Bonaparte, who first said that “China was a sleeping lion.” However, the question of why Liang came to choose the image of a lion to symbolize China remains to be a puzzle. This study argues that a Japanese article on China, by Osawa Ryū and translated into Chinese in 1898, was the key factor in inspiring Liang’s use of the “Sleeping Lion” metaphor. The sleeping lion metaphor was actually initiated in Meiji Japan and later adopted by Liang Qichao.

Keywords:

• Liang Qichao
• Zeng Jize (Marquis Zeng)
• Sleeping Lion
• Osawa Ryū

Notes

* This essay is an abridged version of my paper “Cong ‘mianshi’ dao ‘shuishi’—Liang Qichao shuishi shuo yuanyuan xinlun” [From “Minshi” to “Shuishi”: On the Origin of Liang Qichao’s “Sleeping Lion” Discourse], Si yu yan, 54.1 (2016): 231–65. I have benefited enormously from previous scholarship (see footnote 2 for the list) on this issue, especially from Professor Ishikawa Yoshihiro’s work. Even though my research has pointed to a different direction in examining this issue, I am very grateful for their efforts and insights. Without them as the foundation, this study would have been impossible.

1 For a detailed report and analysis of Xi’s visit to France in the context of international relationships, see Isaac Stone Fish, “Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Giant: The 120-year-old cliché that explains the Chinese-American relationship,” accessed November 30, 2016, http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/19/china_shakes_the_world_cliche.

2 See these conclusions in the following works: John Fitzgerald, “‘Lands of the East Awake!’: Christian Motifs in Early Chinese Nationalism,” in Gong yu si: Jindai Zhongguo geti yu qunti zhi zhongjian [Gong and Si: reconstructing individual and collective bodies in modern China], ed. Huang ko-wu and Chang Cha-chia (Taipei: Academia Sinica, 2000), 361–410; Jui-sung Yang, Bingfu, huanghuo yu shuishi: “xifang” shiye de Zhongguo xingxiang yu jindai Zhongguo guozu lunshu xiangxiang [Sick Man, Yellow Peril and Sleeping Lion : Chinese Images from “Western Perspective & the Discourses of Modern Chinese National Identity] (Taipei: National Chengchi University Press, 2016), 109–37; Rudolf G. Wagner, “China ‘Asleep’ and ‘Awakening’. A Study in Conceptualizing Asymmetry and Coping with It,” Transcultural Studies, 1 (March, 2011): 4–139; Ishikawa Yoshihiro, “The ‘Sleeping Lion’ and Liang Ch’i-ch’ao: An Image of ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ in China,” Acta Asiatica, 102 (February, 2012): 69–88; Shan Zhengping, Wanqing minzu zhuyi yu wenxue zhuanxing [Late Qing Nationalism and the Transformation of Literature] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2006), 113–45.

3 Yoshihiro, “The ‘Sleeping Lion’ and Liang Ch’i-ch’ao: An Image of ‘Frankenstein’s Monster,” 86.

4 Liang Qichao, “Baoguohui yanshuo” [Speeches in “Defending the Nation Association”], in Zhixin bao [Updating News], 9 June1898 (Shanghai: Xinhua, 1996), vol. 55, 718–9.

5 Liang Qichao, “Dongwu tan” [On Animals], in Qingyi bao, 30 April 1899, See the quotation in Liang Qichao, Liang Qichao quanji [The Complete Works of Liang Qichao], ed. Zhang Pinxing (Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 1999), vol. 1, 361.

6 Both statements derive from the following article: Liang Qichao, “Guafen weiyan” [The Admonition of Dismemberment], in Liang Qichao quanji [The Complete Works of Liang Qichao], vol. 1, 289, 301.

7 Tseng, Chi-Tse Marquis (Zeng Jize), “China, the Sleep the Awakening,” Asiatic Quarterly Review, 3 (January 1887): 1–10.

8 See more detailed discussions on the reactions toward Zeng’s article in my book, Bingfu, huanghuo yu shuishi, 117–20.

9 Technically it should be Frankenstein’s monster, not Frankenstein the scientist that Liang was referring to. However, in this regard, Liang was just following Yan Fu’s 嚴復 (mis)understanding of this term. In Yan Fu’s annotation to the article “Ru houhuan he” (see below), Yan had already taken Frankenstein to be the name of the monster created by the scientist. See Guowen bao [National News], 22 March 1898, 2.

10 Yoshihiro, “The ‘Sleeping Lion’ and Liang Ch’i-ch’ao: An Image of ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’,” 72–75.

11 Anonymous, “Ru houhuan he” [How to Deal with Incoming Troubles?], trans. Wang Xuelian, Guowen bao [National News], 22 March 1898, 1–2.

12 Zhengping, Wanqing minzu zhuyi yu wenxue zhuanxing, 113–45.

13 Osawa Ryu, “Riren Dazelong lun Zhongguo qingshi” [The Japanese Osawa Ryu on China’s Condition], Zhixin bao, 1 May 1898 (Shanghai: Xinhua, 1996), vol. 51, 661. The original Japanese version is Osawa Ryu, “Shina-ron,” in Chugai jiron, 2 (1898), 8.

14 For information regarding Liang’s close relationship with Zhixin bao, see Yu jie, Panghuang yingxionglu: zhuanxing shidai zhishi fenzi de xinlingshi [The Reluctant Way of Heroes: The History of Intellectuals’ Minds during the Transitional Era] (Taipei: Lianjing, 2009), 341–96.

15 Yoshihiro, “The ‘Sleeping Lion’ and Liang Ch’i-ch’ao: An Image of ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ in China,” 79.

16 Kishida Ginko “Ginko-okina shotoku no zoku [A Letter from Mr. Kishida Gnko (contd.)],” Choya shinbun, 23 May 1880, 3–4.

17 See full explanation of this Buddhist metaphor in, accessed June 20, 2017, http://kotowaza-allguide.com/si/shishishintyuunomushi.html.

18 Minowa Tetsutaro, “Nisshin-senso no hiyu” [The Analogy of the First Sino-Japanese War], in Kodomo shinenzetsu [New Speeches for Children], ed. Kijido Shujin (Tokyo: Chikazono shoten, 1895), 46–47.

19 Fukuzawa Yūkichi, Heiron [On Military] (Tokyo: Iida Heisaku, 1882), 29–31.

20 Jui-sung Yang, “Cong ‘min wu tongbao’ dao ‘wo siwanwan tongbao zhi guomin’: chuantong dao jinxiandai ‘tongbao’ fuhao yihan de bianhua” [From “People Are My Siblings” to “My Four Hundred Million Siblings as Compatriots”: The Changing Symbolic Meanings of “Tongbao” from the Past to the Present], The Journal of History, NCCU, 45 (May, 2016): 109–64.

21 Shiba Shirō (Tōkai Sanshi), Kajin no kigu [Chance Encounters with Beauties] (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2006), vol. 10, 505.

22 See descriptions of this episode in Ding Wenjiang, ed. Liang rengong xiansheng nianpu zhang bian chugao [First Manuscript of Chronological Biography of Mr. Liang Qichao], Part 1 (Taipei: Shijie, 1959), 80–81.

23 For a detailed analysis of “Sick Man” analogy, see Yang, Bingu, huanghuo yu shuishi, 17–67.

24 Ozaki Yukiō, Shina-shobunan [On the Management of China] (Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1895), 16, 44.

25 Takekoshi Yosaburō, Shina-ron [On China] (Tokyo: Minyusha, 1894), 40.

26 Anonymous, “Obi to shinkoku” [Europe/America & Qing China], Tokyo nichinichi shinbun [Tokyo Daily News], 12 February 1906, 2.

27 See the analysis of these changing meanings and inventors of the sleeping lion symbol in Yang, Bingu, huanghuo yu shuishi, 125–35.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jui-sung Yang

Jui-sung Yang is professor and chair of the Department of History at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan. He has published a number of articles concerning intellectual and cultural history of late imperial and modern China. In addition, he has published one book in Chinese (Sick Man, Yellow Peril and Sleeping Lion), and another one in English about the early Qing Confucian, Yan Yuan (Brill, 2016).