Echoes of tradition: Liang Qichao’s reflections on the Italian Risorgimento and the construction of Chinese nationalism

Abstract

This paper examines how Liang Qichao viewed the Italian Risorgimento, with the focus on his reflections on its meanings in the historical contexts of Chinese politics and tradition. It will identify and analyze the many forces and ideas that influenced Liang as he formulated his reflections, especially the timing around the turn of the twentieth century and the discourses of nascent nationalism in Japan where Liang lived in exile. The way Liang created – or recreated – the Italian story demonstrated that the Chinese had finally begun to realize a crucial point about the building of a modern nation. While Britain, the United States, and France were able to build a modern nation by starting from the grass roots and more closely observing Enlightenment ideals, China did not have the luxury or the time to follow the same path. In the age of high imperialism, the weak would simply be weeded out quickly. Without national salvation, there could be no modern nation. National salvation, as exemplified by the Risorgimento, involved maintaining and glorifying the country’s own traditions and core values, which would in turn unify different social segments. Liang and his fellow reformers realized the importance of having simultaneously a national cause, a single political party, and a single leader, instead of having to take separate steps toward awakening. Liang’s awakening paved the way for the unfolding of the great Chinese revolutions of the twentieth century, led first by the Kuomintang and then by the Communists. Following Liang’s track of thinking, they both strived to build – or rebuild – a political centralism.

Keywords:

• Liang Qichao
• Italian Risorgimento
• modern nationalism
• reform
• revolution

Notes

¹ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 1–61.

² See Bentley, Shapes of World History, “Myths, Wagers,” 51–82, and Interactions, 1–13.

³ See Lyttelton, “National Question in Italy,” 64–65.

⁴ Arminjon, La Cina e la Missione Italiana, 89–91.

⁵ Guo Songtao, Guo Songtao riji, 787–790.

⁶ Bertuccioli and Masini, Yidali he Zhongguo, 214–221.

⁷ Mancini, “Appunti per una storia delle relazioni commerciali e finanziarie,” 403–407. I thank Professor Rosa Lombardi, University of Rome, for her assistance in accessing and interpreting this source.

⁸ Fitzgerald, Awakening China, 5–6.

⁹ Xue Fucheng, “Chushi Ying Fa Bi Yi,” 322.

¹⁰ Bertuccioli and Masini, Yidali he Zhongguo, 261–269. Also see Marinelli, “Encounter between Italy and China,” 491–501.

¹¹ See Karl, Staging the World, 4.

¹² Brecuilly, Nationalism and the State. 231.

¹³ See Kuhn, Chinese Among Others, 5–6.

¹⁴ Liang Qichao, “Guojia sixiang.”

¹⁵ Liang Qichao, Xin Luoma chuanqi and Xiaqing ji chuanqi.

¹⁶ Zhang Jun, “Lun Liang Qichao xiju.”

¹⁷ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 2.

¹⁸ Hanneman, “Civilization Alone.”

¹⁹ See Anderson, Imagined Community, 141–154.

²⁰ Bertuccioli and Masini, Yidali he Zhongguo, 278.

²¹ Marriott, Makers of Modern Italy.

²² See Pyle, New Generation.

²³ Sang Bing, “Liang Qichao de dongxue, xixue yu xinxue.”

²⁴ Katou Masao, Shuukyoukaikakusha, 177, 197.

²⁵ Matsuo Youji, “Ryoukeichou to shiden,” 278–289.

²⁶ See Smith, “Introduction,” Nationalism, 1–4.

²⁷ See Najita, “Introduction,” Japan: The Intellectual Foundation, 1–3.

²⁸ Xianggang Zhongguo yuyan wenxue hui, Jinxiandai hanyu xinci ciyuan cidian.

²⁹ Liang Qichao, “Guojia sixiang,” 26.

³⁰ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 1.

³¹ Huang, Liang Ch’i-ch’ao, 32.

³² Sun Huiwen, Liang Qichao de minquan, 252. Also see Huang, Liang Ch’i-ch’ao, Chapter 3.

³³ Ya Lu, “Zhongguo lixian wenti,” 594.

³⁴ Yang Dusheng, “Xin Hunan,” 612–648.

³⁵ Sang Bing, “Liang Qichao de dongxue, xixue yu xinxue.”

³⁶ Matsuo, “Ryoukeichou to shiden,” 278–289.

³⁷ Chen Yiyuan and Luo Jingwen, “Yuenan Pan Peizhu,” 119–141.

³⁸ See Tang, Global Space, 225–227.

³⁹ See Dikötter, “Group Definition.”

⁴⁰ See Ng, Chinese in Vancouver, 13.

⁴¹ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 19–23.

⁴² Ibid., 24.

⁴³ Ibid., 20.

⁴⁴ Zou Rong, “Geming jun,” 665.

⁴⁵ “Yihetuan yougong Zhongguo shuo,” 61.

⁴⁶ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 54.

⁴⁷ Many scholars have taken notes of the connections between Wang Wu and the reform, although a full picture of this individual is still lacking. See Kwong, T’an Ssu-t’ung, 28, 204–206.

⁴⁸ “Yihetuan yougong Zhongguo shuo,” 62.

⁴⁹ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 46.

⁵⁰ Ibid., 46.

⁵¹ Shanghai shi wenwu baoguan weiyuanhui, Wuxu bianfa qianhou, 276.

⁵² For latest comments on this remark of Sun’s, see Yan Deru, “Sun Zhongshan”, 45–47.

⁵³ See Duara, Rescuing History from the Nation, 142–143.

⁵⁴ Liang Qichao, “Zhuge Kongming yu Jiafuer,” 27–28.

⁵⁵ See Kwong, A Mosaic of the Hundred Days, 8–9.

⁵⁶ Liang Qichao, “Yidali jianguo,” 38.

⁵⁷ Ibid., 40.

⁵⁸ Ibid., 54.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yi Li

Yi LI earned his doctoral at the University of Washington, and currently teaches at Tacoma Community College in the USA. He has written and published on the nineteenth-century Chinese state and society, and his research interest includes world history and modern nationalism.