If you really want to save the country, you have to first establish constitutional government, and if you truly want to establish constitutional government, you must first convene a parliament (guohui).1
âµ
Kang Youwei and his fellow reformers failed in their ultimate quest to recreate China as a constitutional monarchy. Nonetheless, their decade of political activism culminated in near universal acceptance that China needed to replace its autocracy with a Western-influenced form of constitutional government. In doing so, they profoundly altered the Chinese political landscape. Their vision won an ever broader following in China, propagated by Kangâs reformers through their organizations, newspapers, petitions and mass actions. Yet, in North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia, where those visions had been nurtured and given voice, Kangâs organization became submerged in a morass of disillusion and dissension borne of plunging too deeply into risky business ventures.
The tumultuous years of 1906 to 1911 saw the political influence of Kang and his Chinese Empire Reform Association reach a pinnacle inside China, while reeling under Commercial Corporation collapses, the death of the Guangxu Emperor, and the rise of their revolutionary challengers. Kang watched from the sidelines as association members abroad defected to Sun Yatsenâs Tongmenghui and as the reformers inside China lost confidence in the Qing governmentâs ability to meet their demands for change. By the autumn of 1911, the political tide had turned, led not by revolutionaries but by frustrated reformers no longer willing to wait to exercise their sovereignty. The Qing dynasty lost its mandate to govern, and the Republic of China was founded.
During these transition years, Kang Youwei alternated periods of intense travel in Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia with lengthy sojourns in Mexico, the United States, Sweden, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. The prelude to this great transition was 1906, a year of bold moves and high anxiety for Kang and the Baohuanghui (Society to Protect the Emperor).
1 An Earthshaking Prelude: 1906
Kang ended his first trip to Mexico on April 19, 1906, culminating a whirlwind of real estate speculation, incorporation and fundraising for the Hua-Mo Bank in Torreón, interspersed with travel to Mexico City and the Zapotec ruins in Mitla. He had arrived just five months earlier in December 1905. On April 28, Kang returned by ship to New York City and spent nearly four months in the United States.
1.1 San Francisco Earthquake
The April 18, 1906, earthquake and fire in San Francisco was the most devastating disaster to strike a Chinese community in North America. The nationâs largest Chinatown was in ruins. Its residents fled to Oakland and other Bay Area cities, as well as to Southern California. San Francisco by 1906 had hosted the largest Baohuanghui chapter and the oldest Baohuanghui newspaper in North America, Wenxing Bao (Mon Hing Bo, The Chinese World). Thus, it was fitting that Baohuanghui chapters across the world raised funds for the earthquake victims.
⦠we are worried that our compatriots will not be able to tell black from white and that quite a few believe that the fundraising for the anti-American boycott and the construction of the Canton-Hankou [Yue-Han] railroad, as well as the earthquake] relief campaign, were the work of Liang Cheng.6
[Xu Qin] of Shang Bao and [Ou Jujia] of Nanyang Zonghui Bao had lived in San Francisco for a long time and have a very good relationship with the overseas Chinese. Therefore, the response was overwhelming ⦠Because [Di Chuqing] of Shi Bao had received a lot of donations from the United States for the [anti-American] boycott [in 1905], this time he stood up to ask the Chinese people to return the favor of the Chinese Americans. Because he explained the meaning of helping one another, whether we are inside or outside [China], he raised a lot of money.
Kang was overplaying the Baohuanghui card, since in fact only five days after the disaster, the Empress Dowager had ordered 100,000 liang to be given to United States Minister W. W. Rockhill in Beijing and another 40,000 liang sent to Minister Liang Cheng in Washington.7 Although these sums were far less than the amount Kang claimed the Baohuanghui had raised, they were gratifying to the San Francisco Chinese nonetheless.
1.2 Baohuanghui becomes the Xianzhenghui
Kangâs sojourn in North America from his arrival in Montreal on November 12, 1904, until his departure on August 16, 1906, from New York ended with a triumphal speech on the deck of the Hamburg-American S.S. Amerika to five hundred Chinese on the pier. He suggested that China should emulate both the American government and the beauty and freedom of American women.9 For the next seven months until his return to New York on March 17, 1907, Kang traveled in Italy, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Monte Carlo, Spain, Morocco (where he was granted an audience by the sultan), Portugal, back to France, and then to London, before returning to New York.10 Kangâs love affair with Sweden turned serious when he bought a summer home from Captain John Wahlund on Korsholmen Island across from Saltsjöbaden in fall 1906.11 In the winter, the wealthy families who summered there
While in Sweden, Kang received the news that on September 1, 1906, the Qing court issued an edict announcing the transition to a constitutional monarchy, which would eventually allow popular participation through an elected parliament. The Proclamation for Preparing for a Constitutional Government (Yubei Lixian zhi Zhao) was a long-awaited step in the New Policies, or Xinzheng, and was widely welcomed by political reformers in China and abroad.14 It came in response to the recommendations of two missions of imperial commissioners who traveled to Japan, the United States and Europe from December 1905 to
Upon his return to China, heady with enthusiasm for constitutional reform, Duanfang, who was close to the Empress Dowager, took the grave risk of reaching out to Liang Qichao, still a wanted man by Qing authorities. Duanfang asked Liang to draft recommendations for him to present to Cixi. Liang had close contacts with reform-minded officials in China, but Duanfang was the best conduit yet to influence the Qing program. Liangâs proposals ran 200,000 characters and led to a two-year collaboration between the two men. On August 21, 1906, Duanfang, animated by a âpassion for constitutional change,â had an audience with Cixi.16 Nine days later the New Policies constitutional edict was issued.
Encouraged by this advancement for his own program, Kang decided to renovate the Baohuanghui with a major change of name and focus. Kang had evidently considered a name change at least three years before as part of his plan of political evolution, when Ronglu, head of Chinaâs Grand Council, died on April 11, 1903, and Kang felt that a great obstacle to his movement had been removed.17 Now, with the official preparations underway for transition to constitutional government, Kang had a much grander goal. He would aim
On October 21, 1906, Kang announced from Sweden that the Baohuanghui (Society to Protect the Emperor) would formally change its name on the first day of the lunar new year (February 13, 1907) to Guomin Xianzhenghui (Citizensâ Constitutional Association) or Xianzhenghui for short.18 Kang asked all chapters to celebrate the inauguration of a new organizational era with an assembly featuring speeches, toasts to the emperor, and songs. Addressed to several hundred thousand members in more than 170 chapters, this lengthy notice by Kang was published in Baohuanghui newspapers.19 No longer was it necessary to protect the emperor, Kang explained, because he was healthy and his life was not in danger. Moreover, he claimed, Guangxu was gradually gaining power. Henceforth, members need not worry about him.20
Kangâs proposal of a new name, Guomin Xianzhenghui, elevated constitutionalism and citizenship and implicitly demoted the emperor and the imperial system. While the neologism guomin (citizen) was replaced by diguo (imperial) in the final permutation of the organizationâs name, Kangâs initial choice of guomin is noteworthy. It was the first time a Chinese political organization had included the term in its name.21 Kang even noted, âIf we do not use this term, other groups will surely take it someday.â22 And as he was wont to do, Kang occasionally substituted party (dang) for association (hui) in the same document, declaring âOur citizensâ party (Guomindang) will share the
What Kang and his cohorts meant by âcitizenâ in 1906 was quite simple. They were referring to a politically active person concerned with national affairs, who felt as responsible to their country as to their family. âOur party has long taken the responsibility for guarding the interests of citizens,â and now that the court was preparing to introduce constitutional government, said Kang, citizens must not shirk their responsibilities to take part in this preparation.25 Political participation was the key to this concept, whether as a member of a group like the Xianzhenghui or attending a rally in Shanghai to support the 1905 anti-American boycott.
That Liang did indeed refer to a citizenry and not merely the nation, the folk, or common people is clear from the context of his remarks on popular sovereignty and participation ⦠Liangâs concept of the citizenry was based not only on the pragmatic realization that if the people were going to be mobilized they needed to feel that the state belonged to them (popular sovereignty), but also on his sense that a national community by its very nature had to involve the people as both rulers and ruled.26
New York City chapter: âFollowing those who have preceded us [the already established chapters], we wish to wake up those who are still ignorant and help save the deteriorating national situation and carry out our responsibilities as Chinese citizens.â27
Philadelphia chapter: âOur people must not blame Heaven or fault others. They should only regret that they donât know how to love their country, and they should blame themselves because they donât know how to collaborate with others. But, regret is of no use. What we should do is to practice patriotic collaboration (aiguo hequn) in order to fulfill our duties as citizens.â28
Galveston, Texas, chapter: âIf people are born in a country and are its citizens, then if the country flourishes it is due to them and if it perishes, that is also their fault.â29
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, chapter: âThe people are the masters of a country. Affairs of the nation are the affairs of its people. If the people of a nation do not love their country enough to take urgent action, then the country is no longer a country ⦠Even though we are not wise, we are willing to follow the lead [of the Baohuanghui] and to spread the word to those Chinese citizens who desire to enjoy a wealthy and strong China.â30
Liang Qichao saw Kangâs announcement in 1906 as significant far beyond symbolism: âAfter the change of name, our association can spread throughout China, and the foundation of the party will be firmly established and everlasting.â33 However, Liang subsequently suggested to Kang that it was better to use diguo (imperial) rather than guomin in the organizational name, to associate it with the Baohuanghuiâs focus on protecting the emperor and to disassociate it from the political party that he and several other reformers had begun to plan inside China.34 This party would be complementary to Kangâs overseas associationâand funded by itâbut with a different leadership to appear independent of Kang because of his inflammatory reputation. Thus, Liang wanted the names to be distinct, so that the connection between the two parties would be disguised: âThe two parties are different only nominally. Actually, they are the same. In the future, they will be merged. The reason for the split is that we donât want people in China to know about our party affairs abroad.â Liang hoped to adopt the name Xianzhenghui for the party inside China and suggested Kang
We celebrate the promising results of the old association and bring together the country and the citizens with a new constitution. We gather around [the emperor] like sunflowers always facing the sun. We are loyal to our emperor as always. We are on stage as the canopy of the heavens opens up. And we are the first political party (zhengdang). We as leaders will plan and worry ahead of the people and enjoy
the fruits before the people.36
Kangâs promise that Xianzhenghui members would enjoy rewards before others upends the famous maxim of Song dynasty statesman and intellectual Fan Zhongyan: âWe as leaders will plan and worry ahead of the people and enjoy the fruits after the people.â37 Kang even asked in his October 1906 letter, âAm I the next prime minister?â Based on his observations of other constitutional nations, whether a monarchy or a democracy, Kang said that members of the ruling party would not only gain patronage positions in government but profit from development of railroads, mines, factories and banks. Those not part of the ruling party were inevitably left out. He pointed to the United States Post
Clockwise from left: Boise chapter signboard: Diguo Xianzhenghui [Imperial Constitutional Association] with Kangâs painted name and two carved seals, 康æçºå° [Kang Youweiâs seal] and æ´ç [GengshengâLife Renewed, Kangâs favored pen name in exile].
Now that the Baohuanghui name was history, Kang decreed that the old flag and seal also were outdated. In his view, the red, white, and blue Baohuanghui flag had no association with setting up a constitution, and Kang challenged members to come up with an appropriate design, which might even be adapted as the national flag when China became a constitutional monarchy. The Qing dragon flag, Kang wrote, symbolized the emperor but not the nation and, while Chinese might find the dragon impressive, âforeigners not only do not respect us but even mock us because they see the dragon as a giant beast and the yellow in the flagâs color as indicating weakness.â38
The Baohuanghuiâs much-vaunted past was directed to be preserved on engraved tablets hung in every chapterâs clubhouse, and all chapters were to send their old records and lists of meritorious members to the Hong Kong headquarters for compilation into a history.39 However, the Xianzhenghui would continue to commemorate the founding of the Baohuanghui on July 20, 1899, and other historical markers, including a tribute to the Six Martyrs beheaded after the failure of the One Hundred Days of Reform in 1898. In keeping with the Xianzhenghui aspiration to vault into partyhood, Kang proposed that funds be raised for a new building for its future headquarters in Guangzhou, where the land for the Guangdong Gongxue (Guangdong Public School) was located.40 The ample donations for this new headquarters were published in 1908, with gifts recorded from ninety-four chapters and hundreds of individual donors.41 Donations were also sought to build a navy, which Kang believed
1.3 Confucian Infusion
Confucius wrote in the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu) that the ruler and his people are subject to the law.
To assign proper rights and obligations (mingfen) to both [the emperor and his subjects] is the essential meaning of constitutionalism.
KANG YOUWEI, Zhonghua Diguo Xianzhenghui Ge Sizhang (A Four-quatrain Anthem for the Chinese Empire Constitutional Association), 190642
At the request of American association members, Kang wrote an anthem for the Xianzhenghui. It sang of Kangâs hopes that Chinese citizens would share power with the emperor in their own governance. Lacking the highly nationalistic character of earlier songs Kang wrote for the Baohuanghui and harkening back to his arguments for constitutional reform in the 1890s, he redeployed carefully excerpted Confucian texts to justify constitutionalism for China, with only a passing allusion to more fitting models in the phrase, âthe peace and prosperity of nations depend on the adoption of a constitution.â Kung-châüan Hsiao noted that Kang considered the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Gongyang Zhuan (New Text Commentary) on the Annals as the purest expressions of the âprinciplesâ of Confucius as they might be applied to China today, selectively quoting those passages that met his purposes and infusing his interpretations with Western political concepts.43 Thus, Kang invoked Confucius and the mythical emperors Yao and Shun in the anthem as promulgators of the idea that the monarch should share power with the people, with the people holding the preponderance of power. This bold assertion was nothing new for
Heaven bestows on the people their innate talent and rights (quan),
To enable them to support and defend themselves so that their nation survives.
The way of joining in groups (hequn) honors the deliberations of the people (zhongyi),
And when private interests yield to public good, constitutional government thrives.
The peace and prosperity of countries depend on the adoption of a constitution.
To split apart the four hundred million people is to render them foolish; to unite them is to make them wise.
When the constitution is adopted, the ruler and his people will celebrate together.
Kangâs anthem equates constitutionalism with the allocation of rights (ming) and obligations (fen), or mingfen from the Spring and Autumn Annals: âTo assign proper rights and obligations (mingfen) to both [the emperor and his subjects] is the essential meaning of constitutionalism.â Mingfen also implies rule of law and checks and balances through limitations on the respective powers of monarch and citizen. Kang explained in a 1907 constitutional petition, discussed in detail below, that in a constitutional monarchy, âThe ruler will not seize the peopleâs rights and responsibilities, and the people will not lose their own rights and responsibilities or that of their families.â45
China [Zhongguo, the Middle Kingdom] is the oldest of civilizations, and thus we regard âCentral/Mean/Middleâ (zhong) as our byword. Confucius found Centrality in the Way.48
To articulate the Way of Humanity, a circle is contained by its circumference, and all lines to the Center are of equal length.
The movement of the world upholds Heaven and Earth, while in the Center is a fixed point.
The Yijing says Heaven is dark (xuan), the Earth is yellow (huang). The Zhou Li (Book of Rites) says the combination of black and white refers to pattern (wen; literature and the cultural tradition, doctrine or creed), and the combination of red and white refers to order (zhang; insignia, badge, rules, constitution).49 This carries the weight of Heaven and Earth and brings together Civilization. Thus it is appropriate that we draw upon all of these [for the flag design].
The idea of reviving and renewing Confucianism as a formal religion regained its appeal for Kang in 1907 in New York, where he was asked by his former student Chen Huanzhang to head a newly formed Confucian Academy (Kongjiaohui).50 Kang was torn between responding to Chenâs initiative and focusing on his political mission. A jinshi when he arrived in the United States in 1905, Chen became a student of Friedrich Hirth, a Columbia University professor of Chinese. Chen published a monograph in 1911 in which he presented Confucianism as a progressive and potentially utopian creed with pertinent lessons for all cultures, very much in line with Kangâs teachings. Chen credited his former teacher as his most important mentor, thanking Kang for sharing the unpublished manuscript of his utopian magnum opus, Datong Shu.51
The whole country expects me to take a leading role; our comrades are working hard; and the emperor has entrusted me as well. I know I have great responsibilities. How can I can lead an upright life (jieshen)
and abandon what I have been pursuing? Since I cannot bear to leave behind our cause, I will definitely take great pains to build it up ⦠Our party (wudang) cannot forgo its development into a political party (zhengdang).53
2 Inaugurating the Xianzhenghui: 1907
Kang left his island retreat in Sweden in early January 1907 and traveled in Europe until mid-March, all the while monitoring Xianzhenghui progress as it took shape. He sailed from Liverpool to New York on board the S.S. Amerika, accompanied by Linn Chew Sang, his secretary, arriving on March 17.54 The same evening, he was feted by local reformists in honor of his fiftieth birthday (forty-nine in Western years) at the Port Arthur Restaurant, which shared the building at 7â9 Mott Street with the reform association headquarters.55 Chapters worldwide sent telegrams of congratulation, and Kang was presented with as many as 172 gold medals âas a token of the high esteem in which he is held by his brothers.â56 The banquet also marked the formal opening of another enterprise of the Commercial Corporation, namely the New York branch of Huayi Yinhang (Wah Yick Bank), located at 12 Mott Street.57
2.1 Plenary Session
After celebrating his birthday, Kang convened the first plenary meeting of the Xianzhenghui in New York City on March 23, 1907. Delegates for thirty-one cities, states, and countries attended the multiday meeting, representing China,
In his three-hour opening address to the plenary on March 23, Kang seemed to assume that the Qing would soon allow the Xianzhenghui to progress from an association to a party. He previewed the future implementation of constitutional government in China; outlined the pros and cons of various countriesâ constitutions, the duties and rights of a citizen, and the structure of political parties. He stressed the need to prepare his comrades for this transition through study and practice. The secretary read each of the proposed articles for the new charter three times, followed by discussion and voting up or down, the same procedure as at the 1905 plenary meeting.
The 1907 charter broke new ground for a Chinese political organization, in part because it seemed to straddle the line between an organizational document and a national constitution, probably as Kang intended. Among the
This organizationâs name is Diguo Xianzhenghui (Imperial Constitutional Association), but for foreign countries it will be known as Zhonghua Diguo Xianzhenghui (China Imperial Constitutional Association), or for short Diguo Xianzhenghui. Zhina [æ¯é£] is a phonetic transformation [yinzhuan] from Zhonghua, a name of classic elegance and clarity. Zhonghua should always be used in the future for our countryâs name.60
Group photo: âDiguo Xianzhenghui Dahui Yiyuan yu Niuyueâ [Imperial Constitutional Society Legislators at New York Plenary Meeting], March 1907.
Article 4: ⦠The people are the basis of the nation (guo yi min wei ben). Constitutionalism entails popular rights (minquan) and public discussion (gongyi). Our citizensâ rights have not expanded, and we must try hard to expand them to form a parliament and participate in governing the country.
Article 5: ⦠Our country is not strong because of government misrule, and thus citizens must rise up and supervise it. Citizens must hold the power of the countryâs government, because China is a country belonging to the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens. Sitting by and watching this corruption is not solely the fault of those who hold power, but we citizens are responsible too â¦
Because constitutional government was based on concepts different from Chinaâs current government, these two citizen responsibilitiesâparticipating politically and supervising governmentâcould be exercised only after
Article 7: The obligations of this association are that of a political party for the citizens (guomin zhengdang). What do we mean when we say our party is for the citizens (guomin)? The constitutions of Europe and Japan all use the word gongmin or citizen to refer to their people. Gongmin pay taxes to support national affairs, so they can elect those who legislate for the government and discuss politics. Those who donât pay taxes cannot be called citizens (gongmin) and have nothing to do with state affairs ⦠The members of our political party have long taken national affairs as
their responsibility. If they donât pay party dues, then how can the party carry out activities and expand its strength? Thus those who donât take responsibility for national affairs and strengthening China canât enjoy the rights later if they donât do their duty now.65
Article 15: The right to elect officers and be elected to office. âAny member may be elected to be president (zongli), board member (dongshi), functionary (zhiyuan), outreach activist (zhili), or councilor (yiyuan), and they may elect candidates for these positions.â
Article 16: The right to be received as a guest when traveling to other chapters. âWherever our organization has a chapterâin Asia, Australia, the Americas, Africa, or Europeâand no matter whether the member has business with the chapter or not, the chapter must receive him. The chapter should take questions about business and industry matters from the guest and offer help; if the visitor is ill or in trouble, the chapter must help him.â
Article 17: The right to reception when visiting China. âHong Kong will employ several receptionists to receive visitors. When a steamship arrives, the receptionist will board the ship and meet the member ⦠His luggage will be handled by the receptionist and he will be taken on a skiff ashore to retire for the night at an inn ⦠[and on his way to Guangdong] he will be escorted to his boat on a skiff and helped with his luggage.â
Article 22: The right to speak at association meetings. âWhen the association gathers and discusses issues, all members are allowed to speak, according to the charter, and everyone will listen to what they have to say.â
Article 23: The right of appeal (tousu). âWhether in oneâs chapter or another chapter, if an innocent person is framed unjustly or is defamed,
he is allowed to appeal to this chapter. After he reports his situation, a decision will be made as to how to help him.â Article 24: The right to protection. âIf a member meets with adversity, the chapter will find a way to protect (baohu) him.â
Article 25: The right to attend and speak at big banquets, lectures, and assemblies. âWhenever there is a big banquet and meeting, all members are permitted to be signed up [as a speaker] for their chapter and to mount the platform to make a speech.â
Article 26: The right to be honored by the association. âMembers of this association who have made meritorious accomplishments or performed philanthropic acts will be praised in the newspaper or receive a gold, silver or bronze medal. Those whose merits are great will be rewarded with a written banner, and their deeds will be being entered into the historical records. We will hang their portraits or cast bronze statues to ensure that they will not be forgotten.â
Article 27: The right to take part in association businesses. âThis organizationâs Commercial Corporation [Shanghui] permits only its members to buy shares. Those who arenât members cannot be shareholders.â
There were good reasons for including so many membership rights in the charter. Funding the Xianzhenghui was a high priority for Kang, and articles describing the nature and processes of receiving financial support from members made up a significant portion of the charter. A monthly contribution of 25 cents was now required, and the fee to join the association doubled from $5 to $10.67 To ensure that funds could support the broader organization, chapters were to remit membership fees every quarter to association headquarters in Hong Kong for chapters in Australia and Asia, or in New York for chapters in the Americas and Europe.68 An elaborate paper trail with four-part perforated coupons to prove payment (pingtie) was managed by the Hong Kong headquarters, with chapters stamping the coupons with special seals to signify receipt of monthly donations. Members were to update their old Baohuanghui membership cards (huipiao) promptly and have their monthly contributions up-to-date if they were to receive privileges such as reception when away from their home chapter. Only members who were âpoor, unemployed, or seriously illâ could be exempted from the monthly fee, if guaranteed by two persons.
Article 33 asked: âA constitutional government (xianzheng) takes legislation (lifa) as the key. If we do not comply with the legislation, what would be the basis of governance?â69 From this general principle, Chapter 6, âLawsâ (falü), described a kind of court system or âlegal divisionâ (falübu) to enforce Xianzhenghui regulations. Formerly, members had often ignored Baohuanghui rules, causing rampant embezzlement of funds, late payments, even traitorous behavior undermining the organization. âSince we have constitutional government, we need to strictly follow the laws. We should scrupulously and respectfully honor the charter (xianzhang), and only then will our party achieve constitutional government.â A two-level system of justice required a legal bureau in each chapter as well as ad hoc higher bodies appointed by and reporting to Kang that served groups of chapters. âThe traitors, attackers, agitators, and those who do not pay their dues will be delivered to the legal bureau. After the legal bureau makes its decision, the presidentâs advice will be sought, and the legal bureau will then decide the punishment.â
Like the 1905 Baohuanghui charter, Kang (unnamed but universally known to be the zongzhang or president) reigned supreme, unelected and the final arbiter of all administrative and legal matters and general policy decisions. In fact, the 1907 charter explicitly stated that wherever the zongzhang happened to be, that place would serve as the actual Xianzhenghui headquarters (zonghui). Hong Kong was designated as the head office (zongju), where funds were remitted or paid out and membership certificates, donation receipts and badges managed. Similarly, the power of the national Xianzhenghui organizations, such as that of the Canadian Xianzhenghui in Vancouver or the American Xianzhenghui based in San Francisco was downgraded from the status of zonghui to lianhui, or federations of chapters, functioning as a conduit for
The plenary session adjourned on April 2, and at the farewell banquet, the delegates, dressed in their finery, toasted the emperor, China, President Kang, and the Diguo Xianzhengdang until all were âdead drunk.â71 Tiring of big city life, Kang and his secretary, Linn Chew Sang, retired to the Hotel Gramatan in Bronxville, New York (southern Westchester County), a few days after the banquet.72
On account of absence of my secretary Mr. Linn, I consumed much of her time and am fear that her frequent absence may have affect her studies considerable. However I sincerely hope that you will excuse her being absenced for this reason.74
Tongbi also accompanied her father to a grand banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel hosted by the National Arbitration and Peace Conference on April 17. The Conference president was steel magnate and peace leader Andrew Carnegie. Kang probably did not attend the conference at Carnegie Hall, a serious three-day affair with talks on world government, international arbitration, disarmament, and international peace, but its goals resonated with his Datong utopia. At the banquet, Kang and Tongbi sat at a table with other Chinese, including Columbia student Chen Huanzhang, Linn Chew Sang, and Dr. P. C. Chen, described as âthe mandarinâs private physician.â75 Although many nations were represented at the banquet, âthe guests paid little attention to
Business matters, not world peace, preoccupied Kang in the spring and summer of 1907, both in Mexico and the United States. His increased understanding of Western economic systems was tested in the burgeoning Commercial Corporation and his propensity for financial risk-taking given a dangerous outlet. The evidences of this have been fully discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. Here, those adventures are chronicled only as they further the story of Kangâs travels and political activities during this time.
I am familiar with the arguments against unlimited Chinese immigration but even our labor leaders must recognize from a business standpoint in the interest of both commerce and labor the desirability of treating distinguished Chinamen with appropriate consideration. For example, on the return of His Excellency [Kang] to this country, under concession granted by the Mexicans he was in a position to place orders for manufactured products from which âcommerceâ would probably have received a benefit of $100,000 and âlaborâ would certainly have received a benefit of much more than $100,000.82
The manufactured products Flint might have been referring to could have been for the streetcar line in Torreón, which may have been purchased in the United States the next year by Walter Lim and Wong Foon Chuck.83
In May 1907, before an extended trip to investigate the Commercial Corporation businesses in Mexico, Kang visited Chicago. He told Tom Leung that the Chicago trip was delayed because of illness. To recuperate away from the big city bustle, Kang stayed at the resort-like Chicago Beach Hotel, with its own bathing beach and dock on Lake Michigan, in the cityâs South Side.84 Kangâs primary purpose for being in Chicago most likely was to investigate the management of the recently opened magnificent but money-draining King Joy
Chicago was home to some of Kangâs wealthiest supporters like Chin F. Foin and Moy Dong Chew as well as Kang confidant Liang Qixun. Kang valued this opportunity to meet with Chicago members, whose wavering morale and enthusiasm so often vexed him. This was his fourth visit in two years, and, rather than welcoming his return, members expressed indifference or outright resistance. Liang was so alarmed by reports from those close to the Chicago leadership that he wrote his brother Liang Qichao on May 26, describing the growing anger and resentment against Kang in the chapter.87
Kang was brusque and arbitrary toward the members, and, according to Liang Qixun, âwhenever a sudden thought hits him, he issues new orders regardless of othersâ sufferings.â It was Kangâs pressure on Chicago members for contributions that irked them the most. For example, Kang had asked to see the chapter account books, possibly suspecting Chicago was holding back membership fees that should have been forwarded to Hong Kong. Rather than speaking to the leaders directly, he gave back the account book before leaving Chicago, slipping among its pages an imperious note: âThis chapter has spent $1,200 of the public funds. I urge them to repay the full amount [to the headquarters] immediately.â The members were in an uproar when they saw this note, as they had understood that 20 percent of the income could be kept for local uses. The resentment had been building for years, said Liang. Before Kangâs first visit to Chicago in 1905, the local chapter leaders (zhili) donated nearly $100 monthly to support chapter expenses, but after each of Kangâs visits, the contributions decreased, to the current $40 a month. Liangâs informant, Huang Duo, shocked Liang with the news that when the chapter leaders were asked to give money to buy a gold medal in celebration of Kangâs birthday that spring, they had refused: âWe only wish President Liang [Qichao] good health, so that our properties and wealth will be secure. Kang is not helping us. Why
Kang left Chicago on May 25, according to Liang Qixun, and may have returned to New York before traveling to Mexico. He arrived in Torreón sometime during the first half of June, when he planned to meet President DÃaz and survey local Xianzhenghui investments. He delayed his trip to Mexico City to see DÃaz until he completed registration of the Hua-Mo Bank as a âone million dollar company.â And, he urged Liang Qixun to persuade Chicago members, such as Moy Dong Chew, to convert their shares in the Yue-Han Railroad into bank shares.88 Kang had more confidence in the ambitious plans of his Mexican cohorts, Wong Foon Chuck and Walter Lim, having ordered the trusted Canadian leader Li Fuji to go to Mexico for an extended period of oversight over their businesses. Kangâs meeting with DÃaz on June 29 was notable for its mutual admiration, with DÃaz welcoming Chinese immigration and investment and Kang praising DÃazâs presidency as a âunique combination of democratic republic and dictatorship ⦠that guarantees the government will last long a long time.â89 Buoyed by his convivial discussion with DÃaz, Kang left Mexico on July 4 and arrived by way of Havana in New York on July 12.90
Smarting again after being prohibited from crossing the Mexican border into Texas solely because he was Chinese, Kang gave a lengthy interview to the New York Times. âWith deep feeling and earnestness [Kang] expressed his views of the harsh and irritating manner in which the Chinese Exclusion act is enforced in this country.â He spoke of the âunspeakable insults, outrages, and humiliationsâ the exempt classes of Chinese suffer, âtreated as criminals are
2.2 A New Marriage in the New World
Amid this year of intense political, investment, and diplomatic initiatives, Kang was preparing to consummate a passionate two-year love affair conducted by correspondence with the precocious teenager he met in Fresno in March 1905 when she was but fifteen.93 Lily Haw became Kangâs third wife in November 1907 in New York.94 Soon, she was not only his soulmate and traveling companion but interpreter and secretary, supplanting his daughter Tongbi. American-born Lily had studied at the Fresno Chinese Confucian School and learned to play the qin, or Chinese zither, sing and dance in the classical style, and read and write Chinese. With nine years of American public education and facility in four languages, Spanish, English, Chinese and German, Kang considered
A board member of the Fresno Baohuanghui chapter, Haw Gumâs political leanings influenced his daughter, and Lily âadmired [Kang] upon seeing his pictureâ hung on the wall of their home.98 On March 12, 1905, Haw Gum and Lily attended Kangâs lecture in Fresno. It was a rousing speech that called for men to cut off their queues and he had further excited the crowd by introducing his utopian idea that men and women should be equal. Already infatuated, Lily approached Kang afterward and offered to play her qin for him.99 More stories, possibly apocryphal, describe instant attraction between them and one hundred love letters were exchanged during the next two years.100
Instead, a private ceremony was held at the Hotel Astor early in the tenth lunar month (November 6âDecember 4, 1907), and only those closest to Kang attended, including his cousin Kang Youpei.104 Several months later, Lilyâs mother, now exuding pride as Kangâs mother-in-law, was the source for a Fresno Republican feature article, âFrom Vegetable Garden to Pomp of Court Life is Romance of Pretty Chinese Girl of Fresno,â with a photograph of a solemn Lily
After their wedding, Kang and Lily departed for Europe. After touring Paris and traveling by way of Reims and Metz in France they arrived in Germany on November 18.107 Honeymoon or not, Kang was also investigating a purchase of European equipment for the Mexican streetcar line, as detailed in his travel records.108 On November 23, they reached Switzerland for visits to Zürich, Luzern, Langnau, and Bern, with a romantic trip to Mount Rigi,
At Kangâs North Sea Lodge, Lily met Kangâs second wife Liang Suijue, who with daughter Kang Tongfu had lived in the Swedish house since Kang bought it in fall 1906. Liang was now ready to bear their daughter Kang Tonghuan, conceived before Kang left for the United States in March 1907. Lily did not adjust easily to her role as third wife. During this first episode of family life, Kang and Lily left in a carriage for a performance when Liang rode up to them demanding that she be allowed to accompany them. Lily angrily refused to appear with Kang in public with both wives at his side, and they all returned home.112 Nevertheless, Lily was Kangâs favorite, and with the Swedish home as their base, when the lake ice began to melt in March 1908, Kang decided ânot to be bound by a placeâfollowing my fate should be the way.â113 They left the island for two months to tour Egypt, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and from Saxony,
Portion of Lily Hawâs travel document with departure stamp from San Francisco, November 17, 1908 on Hongkong Maru.
Back at Hideaway Island, Kang noted that Lily at first celebrated gaily with the rest of the family upon the arrival of Tongwei and her husband in May.115 However, with Tongbi soon to join them from New York for her summer vacation and an imminent reunion of Kang and his adult daughters, Lily left Kangâs side to return to the United States, perhaps in anger or in jealousy at losing her place at the center of his attention.116 In Fresno with her parents, Lily arranged for several affidavits attesting to her birth in the United States, which she would keep with her so that she could return in the future in accordance with Chinese Exclusion laws.117 When Tongbi returned to the United States to resume her college studies, she was accompanied by Tongwei, who went west to visit
Lily stayed in Hong Kong with Kangâs first wife, Zhang Yunzhu, and gave birth to son Kang Tongning on January 25, 1909. In August Zhang escorted Lily and her baby to Penang to rejoin Kang.119 During Kangâs long exile, Zhang, the mother of Tongbi and Tongwei, lived in Hong Kong and was responsible for the care of her mother-in-law and other family members. After returning to Penang in September 1908, Kang would finally welcome his first surviving sonâKang Tongjian (Kang Shouman, Simon Kang)âwho was born there in December to second wife Liang Suijue. Kangâs expanding family eventually included three more wives, each of whom married Kang as teenagers. With Lily Hawâs approval, in 1914, Kang married his Japanese maid Ichioka Tsuruko (Hezi); in 1915, after Lilyâs death, Kang took his fifth wife, Liao Dingzheng; and in 1919, Kang wed a sixth wife, Zhang Guang, the sister of two of Kangâs servants from a West Lake (Xi Hu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province) fishing family. Kangâs last three wives went unmentioned in Kang Tongbiâs sequel to her fatherâs autobiography, presumably because she disapproved of these marriages.120 Sixteen children, including three adopted daughters (one by Kangâs sixth wife after his death), were Kangâs descendants, although only ten lived to adulthood.121
Kangâs correspondence shows that he continued to be deeply involved both in attempting to salvage
3 A Year of Sweeping Change: 1908
Although 1908 ended tragically with the sudden death of the Guangxu Emperor, the year was one of aggressive political activism by the reformers, who took advantage of the Qingâs new openness to constitutional government and its apparent encouragement of initiatives by citizen reformers. Coming to the fore as Kang receded, Liang Qichao led the Xianzhenghui deeper into domestic Chinese politics. With the goal of becoming an official political party in China that would reincorporate the Xianzhenghui, Liang attempted to sink organizational roots on Chinese soil by working closely with reformist officials and elite supporters to spread constitutional reform ideas throughout China. In the background, Kang mobilized his overseas followers behind a constitutional petition that pushed the boundaries of the politically acceptable, bringing a hostile response from the Qing that ended Liangâs organization and, at the same time, radicalized reformersâ demands and broadened their appeal to like-minded Chinese within and outside the government.
3.1 Organizing Inside China
Liang Qichao had been preparing his affiliated political organization, Zhengwenshe (Political Information Society), since late 1906. He gathered support from reform-minded officials and sought funding to expand quickly, once the Zhengwenshe was launched inside China. Liang envisioned a cadre of experienced reform activists who could operate in concert with the Qing during the preparatory period for a constitutional government. Liang had long cultivated ties with Duanfang and other Qing court members, and hoped that Kangâs toxic reputation with the Empress Dowager would not threaten the new organization. Liang was not as polarizing a figure as his mentor, but he was still a wanted man in China. Thus, he had to work from behind the scenes in Japan, while respectable reformers close to him would be Zhengwensheâs public face. Although Liang had hoped that the organizers could fund the partyâs initiation with 150,000 yuan, including 50,000 yuan in expected secret contributions from Yuan Shikai, Duanfang, and Zhao Erxun, he clearly depended on Kangâs
The lengthy organizational development of Zhengwenshe meant that Yang Du, who was originally part of Liangâs inner circle of organizers in Japan, split off to form his own political association, even incorporating Xianzhenghui into its name. He called it Xianzheng Gonghui (Association for Constitutional Government) and began activities in China in December 1907.123 Liang did not inaugurate Zhengwenshe in Tokyo until October 1907.124 Concurrently with Zhengwenshe, Zheng Lun (Political Commentary), a new monthly journal, was published in Shanghai for the purpose of educating Qing officials on implementing constitutional government. An associated educational societyâLiudong Gongxuehui (Public Scholarly Association for Chinese Students)âwas formed in Tokyo to provide scholarships and cultivate future political cadres for Zhengwenshe. Liang designated seventy-year-old Ma Xiangbo in Shanghai as titular Secretary General of Zhengwenshe, based on his personal respect for Maâs knowledge of constitutionalism and Western thought and his ties with sympathetic officials. Liang sent his close Wanmucaotang classmate Tang Juedun to act as Maâs secretary and do much of Zhengwensheâs lobbying with Prince Pulun and Prince Su (Shanqi), among other important allies in Beijing.125 The four-point Zhengwenshe program was an action plan directed to the Qing court. The plan included:
- âSetting up a legislative system and establishing a responsible government.
- âCollating and stipulating laws and consolidating independent judicial power.
- âFirmly establishing local government and setting the jurisdictions of the central government and localities.
- âUpholding Chinaâs equal powers in foreign relations.126
Zhengwensheâs first public meeting in Tokyo, on October 17, 1907, attracted as many as 1,500 people, including 200 new members, as well as Chinese
In December 1907, Liang Qichao received Prince Pulun in Japan. Pulun was drafting the regulations for Political Consultative Council (Zizhengyuan), the Qing provisional proto-legislative body. Their meeting was an attempt to influence how the court implemented its constitutional preparations. Liang specified four key powers that a legislature should hold: legislation, approving a budget, signing treaties, and impeachment.129 He soon found that even if the open-minded Pulun were persuaded, Cixiâs court would never go so far. Indeed, on December 24, a Qing decree warned that the implementation of constitutional government was being impeded by âpeople who have made these constitutional reforms a pretext for meddling in the internal and foreign concerns of the governmentâ and had incited many others to join âthe general chorus of interference.â130
We have a good reputation and should try to keep it. This way, we will unite Chinese people and overseas Chinese alike; a political party is easy to form. We do not have powerful rivals now. We will have a parliament,
and there will be a thirst for people of talent. Thus if we accept this [role], we will become a powerful party.131
In February 1908, Zhengwenshe moved into China, its leaders emboldened by the deceptively liberalized political atmosphere and Liangâs alliances with various Manchu imperial family members and officials, including Duanfang and Prince Su.132 The organization quickly expanded to five hundred members, with Ma Xiangbo, Xu Fosu, and Mai Menghua in the lead at the Shanghai headquarters and a bureaucratic structure involving more than seventy local leaders.133 Provincial chapters were organized, and newspapers and schools established, with the focal point Hankou, the longtime treaty port with a heavy presence of Guangzhou merchants. In winter 1907, Liang Qichao had founded both a newspaper, Jianghan Gongbao (also known as Dajiang Ribao), and a law and politics college, Jianghan Gongxue, in Hankou.134 On March 3, 1908, Ma publicly announced Zhengwensheâs intention to engage with a broad range of people and organizations inside China. Zhengwenshe held its first regular meeting on June 18. Maâs inaugural speech disparaged the Chinese people for their submission to autocratic government and blamed himself and âother progressive peopleâ for putting up with evil too long and urged them to seek their redemption in Zhengwenshe.135
Kang was in charge of funding Zhengwenshe, initially directing the Huayi Bank in New York to send Liang $7,000.136 Although the organizationâs expenditures were 1,000 yuan a month in January 1908, Liang Qichao asked Kang for 2,000 a month, or 24,000 yuan a year. Liang wrote: âIf we could get the funds from Hong Kong, it would be great, as it is more convenient. Could you please deal with this as soon as possible?â137 Ideally, he concluded, âif we could raise 100,000 [yuan] in North, Central, and South America for Zhengwenshe, this would be the best. If we cannot, then just as you have said before, we can try to raise the amount needed month by month.â Kang responded that he had asked
Zhengwensheâs immediate problem was opposition from Yuan Shikai. Liang Qichao hoped to form an alliance with highly placed Manchus and officials in the imperial court who would oust Yuan, but Kang worried that Liang had not recruited people with the needed social status and ability to link up with the five men in the âenlightened groupâ (kaiming pai) who might carry out their plan.139 Furthermore, Kang admitted this would require âa huge amount of money.â Indeed, Kang was correct that Liangâs trusted assistant in Beijing, Tang Juedun, could not rally official backing for the overthrow of Yuan, and even worse, Yuan got wind that Zhengwenshe was plotting against him.140 In the meantime, however, Zhengwenshe, blocked from becoming a formal political party, was fomenting popular confrontation with the Qingâan anti-Japanese boycott and a fund to modernize Chinaâs navyâwhile publicizing the constitutionalist message, cloaked in patriotic rhetoric.
Chinaâs first mass movement was the 1905 anti-American boycott to protest U.S. Exclusion policy. In 1908, a new target of âboycott nationalismâ rose to the fore with the first Chinese boycott against Japan. Just as in 1905, the 1908 boycott was provoked by painful humiliation inflicted on China by a foreign country. More openly than had the Baohuanghui in 1905, the Xianzhenghui played a major organizational and propaganda role, and, as in 1905, overseas chapters were heavily involved. In 1905, the Shanghai newspaper Shi Bao took the lead supporting the boycott inside China, but now nationalistic fervor was sparked by Zhengwensheâs exploitation of antiforeignism and the pervading sense of Chinaâs weakness. Both Zhengwenshe and Xianzhenghui unambiguously advanced what had always been the reformersâ core political agenda, constitutionalism. This time, the boycott organizational efforts were amplified by two
The boycott was sparked on February 5, 1908, when Qing naval officers boarded the Tatsu Maru, a Japanese ship docked in Macau. The officers seized the shipâs contrabandâsmuggled weapons purchased by Sun Yatsen in Japan for his revolutionaries in Guangdong. They replaced the shipâs Japanese flag with the dragon banner and detained the ship at the Huangpu anchorage in Guangzhou. Inflamed by the Qing detention of the Tatsu Maru and its cargo, the Japanese government refused to admit wrongdoing and demanded the Qing government apologize and reimburse Japan for the seized rifles and ammunition.141 Widespread public outrage in Guangdong at Japanese intimidation and fear that the Qing court would capitulate moved local merchants into action. They allied with reformers to cable the Foreign Ministry in Beijing insisting that China affirm its sovereignty.
As the reformers feared, the Qing yielded completely to Japanâs unwavering demands on March 15, and the reformers turned their wrath on Chinaâs government. Xu Qin, Luo Xiaogao, Wu Xianzi, and Ye En, among other staunch Xianzhenghui and Zhengwenshe leaders in China and Hong Kong, joined the Guangdong Merchants Self-Government Association (Yueshang Zizhihui), led by self-made civic activist Chen Huipu, to organize an anti-Japanese boycott.142 Xianzhenghui publications rallied support as they did in the 1905 boycott. Notably, Chen Yikan, the pioneering editorialist for Xin Zhongguo Bao in Honolulu who was credited by Liang Qichao for inspiring the 1905 anti-American boycott, had returned to China to edit Guoshi Bao in Guangzhou. It became the official mouthpiece of the Guangdong Merchants Self-Government Association. From Shanghai, Zhengwenshe leaders Xu Fosu and Fan Bingjun rallied their local compatriots from Guangdong and Guangxi to support the boycott, and Zheng Lun published boycott speeches, telegrams, and articles.143
The impact of the 1908 boycott on Japanâs trade was far greater than the 1905 anti-American boycott had been on Chinese business with the United States. Declines were seen almost immediately, affecting Japanese business in shipping, insurance, tobacco, clothing, and even wooden matches.147 Edward Rhoads notes that wooden matches had always been imported from Japan, and in response, âby October [1908] at least eight large match factories had been startedâ in Guangzhou and Foshan and that it was âprobably no coincidence that at roughly the same time the Japanese match industry in KÅbe experienced a serious slump.â Reform-minded Chinese merchants in KÅbe and Osaka had found a way they could participate in the boycott that was both âpatrioticâ and profitable and would not directly antagonize their Japanese hostsâthey established factories in China to manufacture products that they had once exported from Japan and capitalized on the new ânative productsâ craze sweeping their countrymen.148 In some cases at least, the same merchants behind this broad
The boycott persisted longest in Hong Kong. A riot in November targeted Chinese stores still selling Japanese goods, provoking Japanese government protests to the Chinese authorities that Kangâs followers were behind the boycott. They pointed to Xu Qin in Guangzhou and Wu Xianzi in Hong Kong, editor of the well-read Xianzhenghui newspaper, Shang Bao, which sold as many as 7,000 copies daily and carried on running battles with revolutionary newspapers.151 Wuâs actions provoked the Japanese consul general to pressure the Hong Kong governor general to expel him. In retaliation, Wu convinced Hong Kong merchants to boycott British products and withdraw their deposits from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, kicking this action off by withdrawing HK$30,000 from Xianzhenghuiâs Huayi Bank account.152 The defiant Wu hired a lawyer to appeal his expulsion in court, and the Hong Kong government backed down and withdrew the order. In his history of the Democratic Constitutional Party, Wu unabashedly described this as Hong Kongâs most important legal case of the past one hundred years, which demonstrated the strength of the Xianzhenghui in asserting Chinaâs national sovereignty.153 The boycott did not end in Hong Kong until January 1909. The reformers had won the public opinion battle not only over Japan and the British government, but the nationalistic appeal of the movement left the revolutionary faction out of step by opposing the boycott, because it cut off their source of smuggled arms and also benefited the reformers.154
A new twist in the 1908 boycott was fundraising to modernize Chinaâs national defense. The humiliation of the Tatsu Maru affair heightened a widespread sense of impending crisis among overseas Chinese, who observed Chinaâs national power at an all-time low and feared their own vulnerability as emigrants without recourse to protection from the Qing. They believed that to survive, China had to be able to defend itself militarily. In 1906, Kang had proposed a fund to revitalize the Chinese navy, thus germinating this idea among his followers.157 Beginning in the United States, Xianzhenghui leaders solicited donations for a naval fund to strengthen China and prevent future aggression by countries such as Japan. A certificate documents the contribution of $150 to the Guomin Haijunhui (Citizensâ Naval Society) by Xianzhenghui member Feng Jingquan of Helena, Montana, issued on April 30, 1908.158 It is illustrated with a photograph of a naval ship and crossed flags, one with an anchor, the other the Chinese dragon. Following the example of Chinese in America, Sydneyâs Xianzhenghui newspaper, Tung Wah Times reported that after âscrimping on food and clothing,â Australian Chinese donated at least 20,000 taels to the naval fund, with all the donorsâ names published in the
3.2 Kangâs Constitutional Petition Turns the Tide of Reform160
The last significant political campaign undertaken by the Xianzhenghui overseas and Zhengwenshe inside China was the petition movement calling for the Qing court to convene a parliament and draft a constitution. This movement involved reformers of all stripes, including officials in the Qing government. Most were provincial elites, and almost all had read Xianzhenghui-sponsored newspapers published in Japan or Shanghai and had come to champion nationalism, economic rights, constitutionalism, and representative government, as espoused by the reformers, many of whom joined the first provincial assemblies in 1909. Zhengwenshe and Xianzhenghui were at the vanguard of the petition movement to jolt the Qing court into accelerating its plodding but methodical plan for a lengthy constitutional transition. From 1907 to 1911, Kang and Liang played the role of provocateurs and were treated as such by the Qing.
The original September 1, 1906 edict announcing the courtâs intention to transition to constitutional government did not specify a timetable for the initiation of reforms, only a vague statement that âafter several yearsâ of preparing regulations and educating the people about constitutional government, âwe shall then notify the empire. The time limit depends on the rate of progress made.â161 A year later, when little had been heard from the courtâdue largely to the resistance of conservatives who effectively stalled the processâthe once-optimistic reformers grew restless and believed the slow progress of the Qing betrayed its resistance to giving up political power. The Qingâs
Nationalistic promotion of the anti-Japanese boycott of 1908 by Zhengwenshe and Xianzhenghui allowed the two organizations to segue the boycottâs public mobilization into the Qing constitutional preparation process.163 In one instance, Zhengwensheâs Xu Qin and Xianzhenghuiâs Chen Yikan spoke at a March 1908 meeting of the Guangdong Merchants Self-Government Society. Xu and Chen linked financial support for the Chinese navy with popular election of a legislature, arguing that only if people had a stake in government would they willingly pay for national defense.164 Those attending decided to organize a nationwide petition calling on the Qing to speedily organize a parliament and only then would they help fund the navy.
Kang was in the United States between July and November, 1907, and in response to the July edict soliciting outside recommendations, he drafted a detailed and programmatic petition that made both cultural and political demands reaching far beyond opening a parliament. The petition claimed it was generated by a democratic process: âWe are from 200 different cities, representing several hundred thousand people, and after a great deal of discussion and heated argument, we came to this agreement, and this petition is the result.â165 There is no record of a meeting after the July edict, while Kang was in the United States, but it is possible that comments on drafts were solicited from chapters from which Kang penned the final text. In December 1907, the New York headquarters at the direction of Kang announced the petition to all members and orchestrated the serial publication of the full twelve-point
In December 1907, Zhengwenshe joined with other constitutional organizations in China to fan out to the provinces and collect signatures on a simple petition to hasten the convening of parliament.167 From Yokohama, Liang delegated his disciple Zhang Junmai (Carsun Chang), a Waseda University law and politics student and writer for Xinmin Congbao, to lead Zhengwensheâs signature drive in China.168 In March 1908, Zhang reported to Liang that he had gathered about 3,000 signatures in Anhui, Shandong, Hunan and Jiangsu, and hoped that at least 10,000 more could be collected in Guangdong and Guangxi.169 At the end of June, with the unanimous endorsement of Zhengwenshe members, a telegram was sent to the Commission for Drawing up Regulations for Constitutional Government (Xianzheng Biancha Guan), the body with responsibility for the establishment of provincial assemblies (Ziyiju) as well as a national proto-legislature, the Political Consultative Council. The bluntly worded telegram stressed the need to calm the volatile political propensities of the public by convening a parliament (kai guohui) as soon as possible: âThe country is in crisis, and Chinaâs survival is at stake. Thus the earliest deadline for opening a parliament is in order ⦠Weâve heard that some recommend [waiting] ten or twenty years, which disheartens the patriots and strengthens the rebels. We donât have time, so set three years as the deadline.â170 This telegram accused the Qing court of all talk and no action and was quickly followed by an imperial edict expelling Zhengwenshe member Chen Jingren from his ministerial post for ârash and recklessâ suggestions. Chen had sent a similar telegram in his own name, also demanding a three-year deadline for
It was just at this time that Kang weighed in with the Xianzhenghui twelve-point petition, far more challenging and wide-ranging than any petition submitted to date. It would accelerate the radicalization of constitutionalist demands and rouse the Qing government to punitive action, even before it could be formally presented to the court. By early 1908, all the Xianzhenghui newspapers had published Kangâs December 1907 announcement of the petition, with the most distant Xianzhenghui members in Sydney, Australia finally alerted on February 29.173 It took several months before all members were able to read the full petition, as the newspapers published it in eight parts, and some papers were weeklies.174 On July 28, 1908, Zhongguo Weixin Bao (New York City) published the full constitutional petition as a fifty-eight-page booklet.175 A few days later, the full version appeared in the Zhengwenshe paper in Hankou, China, Jianghan Gongbao.176
Expansively titled âPetition jointly presented by the overseas members of the Zhonghua Diguo Xianzhenghui [Chinese Imperial Constitutional Association] from 200 cities,â Kang wrote from the vantage point of âmerchants who were born in China but have traveled abroadâ and wanted to see their rapidly declining country grow strong by governmental reform.177 They feared China would suffer the fate of âenslavedâ countries like Poland and India that had lost their sovereignty to foreign powers, and as Chinese living abroad suffering from âdaily insults,â they empathized with the powerlessness of the Polish and Indian peoples. Having lost the chance to reform in 1898, China was confronted
The petition provoked the courtâs wrath because of the breadth of its demands, the organization and âmost wantedâ political leaders behind it, and the large number of people it claimed to represent. Beyond a challenge to the Qingâs slow implementation of constitutional government and the call for the immediate convening of a parliament to draft a constitution, the Qing court was enraged by the demand that the barriers between Manchu and Han be broken and that this unity be symbolized by a new name for China, which did not acknowledge the ruling dynasty. And, unlike other petitions issued during this time, Kangâs was a coherent political manifesto, laying out transformative visions for China that stood in stark contrast to the existing system. Indeed, in 1913 Kang saw fit to republish most sections of the petition in his Buren Zazhi (Cannot Bear Magazine) because the new Republican leaders âonly care about changing the calendar and the dress code, without paying attention to the important national problems.â178
Kang introduced his petition with a scornful critique of the ignorance and inexperience of the Qing court, which wanted to delay political participation by the people in a parliament until they were properly educated and give responsibility to court officials to establish a constitutional system. This was
Therefore, we merchants present this petition to ask Your Majesty to promulgate a wise edict and set a date for establishing a parliament. ⦠If you really want to save the country, you have to first establish constitutional government, and if you truly want to establish constitutional government, you must first convene a parliament. In order to decide whether a constitution is good or not, itâs better to trust over one thousand brave and able men in the parliament rather than send abroad a handful of high officials who do not even know any foreign language to study [constitutional government]â¦
Otherwise, Kang asserted, âTo entrust China, an enormous country facing a very dangerous situation, to a few uninformed men is like entrusting a huge ship sailing against winds and high waves to a blind captain and is exceedingly strange indeed.â Kang claimed that âmost of the officials now serving in the government have never traveled abroad or even in all the provinces.â Nor did these officials have practical knowledge of agriculture, industry, commerce, and mining (fields that Kang had investigated while abroad). In a nod to the growing cohort of returned students from Japan and other countries, many of them politicized by their experience abroad and eager to use their education to help China modernize, Kang added, âWe can learn from both Chinese and foreign experiences ⦠In that case we need not worry about having enough competent people.â Also, Kang argued, âChinaâs schools have developed and new knowledge has been pursued in earnest, and there must now be countless persons well versed in affairs of the world. To say that we cannot find a few hundred individuals qualified to be members of parliament is unduly to belittle China and her people.â
One benefit of establishing an elected parliament was to give people a say in funding the government to carry out needed reforms, such as building a strong navy and defending Chinaâs borderlands, as well as implementing the Qingâs New Policies. âIf the parliament is convened, then the people will have the right to elections and will take responsibility for taxation.â
The second point in Kangâs petition implored the Empress Dowager to âimmediately return the government [to the Guangxu Emperor] so that she can enjoy her great age [seventy-five].â How did it show love for the elderly (ci)
Most provocative was calling on the Qing government to update the name for China to Zhonghua and eliminate the legal distinction between Manchu and Han. âTantamount, in the eyes of the Manchus, to obliterating the dynastyâ and âa device to liquidate their status as the ruling class,â Kung-châüan Hsiao described Kangâs language in the fourth point in the petition as âunnecessarily offensive.â Its demands were âutterly unacceptable to the Empress Dowager and to the bulk of the Manchu ruling class.â179
We humbly request the court to bring up for discussion the elimination of the name and native birthplace registration for Manchus and Han and the decision that our permanent country name will be Zhonghua. From the countryâs diplomatic credentials to official documents, all will follow this example [using this name]. Since the Manchus, Han, Mongolians, Hui and Tibetans all are governed by the same country, they should all be compatriots of Zhonghua and not differentiated. The Manchu people should be given Han family names too so that they can be assimilated, and suspicions and jealousy will vanish forever. This way all groups will be unified to strengthen China. Nothing is better than this in terms of unification and strength.180
Kangâs suggestion that Zhonghua henceforth be used as the name for China raised the hackles of the Qing court. Indeed, Zhonghua would be appropriated by both the Republic of China (Zhonghua Minguo) and its successor, the Peopleâs Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo). While Kang noted the classical derivation of Zhonghua, he saw its adoption in the twentieth century as a modernizing move that would put China in line with other nations, which kept their names no matter who was ruler. A nationâs name is like a family name passed on from generation to generation, explained Kang, while the dynasty name could be compared to a given name. âThis is just like a person who has only a given name and no family name. In the whole world, only uncivilized people lack family names. How can a civilized country such as China be like this?â
Nine more demands aimed at modernizing and centralizing the government, ridding it of traditional burdens that encouraged rot and corruption,
- âRetire the courtâs large corps of eunuchs, known for their political intrigue. âAmong all the countries of Europe and America, except in Turkey, there is no castration as punishment nor are there eunuchs as officials ⦠Other countries describe it as barbarous. How can the court bear such humiliation when we call ourselves a country with 5,000 years of civilization?â
- âMove the capital from windy, dirty Beijing to the prosperous lower Yangzi River region in the center of China. Beijingâs location had lost its strategic advantage because the nomads of the north no longer posed a danger. Jiangnan had better climate and scenery, convenient transportation and thriving commerce, and an outward-facing orientation toward the Pacific Ocean. âToday, Chinaâs people and productivity are mostly positioned in the Yangzi River basin, and there is global competition for this thoroughfare. Everything that flows into the Pacific Ocean is flourishing.â
- âModernize the administration of the country from top to bottom by getting rid of the provincially based dufu (governors and governors general) system and empowering the central government with control over the nationâs foreign relations, military, and finances, while expanding the powers of local governments to be responsive both to the central government and to the people. âAs for the United States, even though as a federation each state governs its civil affairs, the military and finances are controlled by the government in Washington. But in our country, which claims to be unified, each dufu establishes his own borders and acts as if he were governing his own nation (guo).â
- âAppoint administrators in Beijing to oversee the four border regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet (Liao, Meng, Hui, and Zang), protect the regions from foreign incursion by a strong armed presence and train local people as soldiers, expand local self-government, build railways to move armies for border defense, and open up schools to teach Chinese customs. âThe Liao, Meng, Hui, and Zang have hundreds of thousands of li containing goldmines [natural resources], yet for dozens of years they have remained without protection by soldiers. And without a plan to provide a better education, this is like giving up the land and the people as hopeless.â
- âEstablish a strong navy by building shipyards and training skilled workers to build warships. The cost of building and maintaining a navy can only be paid for if parliament is convened and finds ways (bonds and taxation) to spread the cost among the people. When citizens have the right to elect their representatives, they will take responsibility for taxation. âEnvoys from other countries enter our Foreign Ministry and make unreasonable
demands. When theyâre rejected, they will strike the table and snap at us, saying they will send troops and warships, whereupon our high officials are frightened, bow their heads, and obey, ever willing to cede territory and give up our rights. Itâs all because they have a navy, and we have none.â - âMuster citizens as soldiers through universal conscription. Defense of the border regions as well as all of Chinaâs interior can be assured. Responsibility for defense of China needs to be shared by all Chinese between the ages of twenty and forty. âOnce the emperor issues his order, all the people will become soldiers, and after a few years of training, weâll have tens of millions of soldiers. We will also have railroads as transportation to dispatch our troops quickly. No one in the world will be stronger than us.â
- âPrepare for war by establishing iron munitions factories to produce guns and cannon in all provinces and horse pasturage in Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Manchuria to breed horses for the cavalry. âIf a country is rich in military equipment, then it is a world power. If its military equipment is insufficient, then it is weak.â
- âTo balance the incomes of people in poor and rich areas and collect more taxes for expenses like national defense and carrying out reforms, suspend the national land and labor taxes (diding qianliang) in favor of revenue collection by local self-government bureaus, with the portion going to the state based on whether the people and land are rich or poor (rather than on quotas for the land and labor taxes that were set two hundred years ago).
- âReplace foreign affairs officials (waijiaoguan), who are now relatives of the imperial family, with elected officials accountable to the people, who would be less likely to back down to foreign pressure because of fear. âIn the foreign relations of the United States, all the power to write and ratify treaties belongs to the Senate. The foreign affairs of our country as well as undertakings that involve territory, railways and mines, industry and commerce all belong to our citizens. The government doesnât have any right to mortgage it to others.â
Once the petition was published in China by the Zhengwenshe newspaper in Hankou, Jianghan Ribao, in late July 1908, Kangâs strong demands seemed to be radicalizing moderate constitutional petitioners, who were moved to more aggressively call for the opening of a parliament.183 Even as the Qing was issuing regulations for electing provincial assemblies to be convened in one year, the reformers were raising the bar to the national level.184 The Qing had to act.
One of the officials [Chen Kuilong] said, our court intends to adopt the constitutional system and is planning to set up a parliament so that Chinese people can participate in national politics. However, we cannot tolerate such an absurd petition because this would lead to chaos. A certain grand secretary [Zhang Zhidong] said that Xianzhenghui was far away overseas and therefore hard to disband. The coastal provinces had Zhengwenshe chapters, and they were connected to Liang Qichao. Why donât we start with Zhengwenshe? Most grand secretaries agreed. In a few days they made a plan to arrest the members of each Zhengwenshe chapter.187
On August 27, 1908, two weeks after Zhengwenshe was banned, the Qing government promulgated an outline of principles for the first Chinese constitution (Qinding Xianfa Dagang) and a nine-year implementation plan (Yiyuan Weikai Yiqian Zhunian Choubei Shiyi).191 âThe Da-Qing Emperor will rule supreme over the Da-Qing Empire for one thousand generations in succession and be honored forever,â the âPrinciples of the Constitutionâ began. An imperially granted constitution, it was to go into effect in 1917, after extensive preparation at the national, provincial and local levels. Kang had long seen the emperor as a necessary figurehead, while the real power resided with the people, whose role was to supervise the government. However the August 1908 âPrinciplesâ retained the emperor not as a figurehead but as an absolute ruler, with no restrictions on his authority other than the fact his powers were enumerated in the constitution. Unlike the legislating role for parliament envisioned by Kang in his petition, the constitution and civil, commercial, and criminal laws were to be drafted by the government with parliament having no power to revise or amend the constitution. Nor was the parliament a truly legislative body, as the
The most consequential element of the Nine-Year Plan was a schedule of elections for representative bodies at different levels. Preparation had begun for 1909 elections of provincial assemblies. In 1910, a national Political Consultative Council would be convened, with one hundred members elected by the provincial assemblies and one hundred members appointed by the emperor. In 1913, all cities, towns and villages (cheng, zhen, xiang) would elect assemblies and councils, and in 1914, regional assemblies would convene in subprefectures, prefectures, and counties (ting, zhou, xian).
Now that the Qing government had published its constitutional principles and implementation plan, the constitutionalists were handed a number of officially sanctioned paths to influence the political agenda. These new channels for political participation were supplemented by voluntary associations, giving reformers a far larger sphere of action than ever before. Their demands quickly overpowered the abilities of the government to respond. Soon the legitimacy of the imperial institution would be challenged beyond repair.
The officials responsible for implementing the Qingâs one-year plan for provincial elections now had to swiftly acquaint themselves with constitutional concepts and practices before dissemination to the wider populace, and they reached out to long-time constitutionalists, many of them followers of Kang and Liang.192 Because the election plans called for education of the first electorate, officials had to study the once-prohibited reform publications issued by Liang Qichao and others. The court was also encouraging self-government societies to educate and prepare the electorate. Localities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai where reform politics had flourished led the rest of the country in this process.193 For example, Shanghai-based Shi Bao became the leading champion of constitutionalist activism, and, as it did during the 1905 anti-American boycott, opened the meeting room above the newspaper office for the editors, writers, and their reform-minded colleagues from across the city to debate how to implement electoral politics on the local and national
3.3 The Death of Guangxu
As if the disintegration of the Commercial Corporation and the dissolution of Zhengwenshe were not enough to dishearten Kang Youwei, a third blow hit him. On November 14, 1908, between five and seven in the evening, the Guangxu Emperor died. The Beijing diplomatic corps was informed of the emperorâs passing by a statement dated the 15th from Prince Qing (Yikuang), the chief grand councilor and head of the Foreign Ministry (Waiwubu).196 That afternoon, Empress Dowager Cixi died, less than twenty-four hours after Guangxu. In the short interval between her nephewâs death and her own, Cixi declared Guangxuâs successor to be his nephew Puyi (son of Prince Chun or Zaifeng, Guangxuâs brother).197 She had set the stage for this transition on November 13, before the emperor died, ordering Zaifeng to move his two-year-old son to the palace immediately and appointing Zaifeng prince regent.
Jung-pang Lo wrote that the news âcame as a great shockâ to Kang.198 As shocking as the matter may have been to him, it was not a surprise. Having left Europe in September, Kang was in Penang on November 14 and sent three urgent telegrams to Theodore Roosevelt, acting before Prince Qing officially announced Guangxuâs death on November 15. Simultaneously Kang was telegraphing Xianzhenghui chapters throughout the world. Even taking into consideration the time advantage allowed by being west of the International Date Line, Kang was alerted to the rumors and events in Beijing via his informants. The sequence and timing of the messages to Roosevelt are interesting, particularly in light of later accounts of Guangxuâs death from officials who
Kangâs first telegram to President Roosevelt about Guangxuâs death, sent from Penang, November 14, 1908, 3:18 PM.
Kangâs telegrams were transcribed by the White House and transmitted to the State Department for analysis. The first, sent from Penang with the date and time of November 14, 3:18 PM, when Guangxu was on his deathbed, began, âYuan Shikai assassinate our Emperor to disorder China and Change new ruler.â199 Kang called Roosevelt âthe most popular President in this worldâ and asked him to wire Beijing and unite other nations to oppose Yuanâs move.
A few hours later, at 7:10 PM (Penang), Kang wrote that the âEmpress Dowager is very ill; others say she died.â He reiterated Yuanâs intention to murder Guangxu, but âhearing him still alive I entreat your excellency wire to Peking
Nearly twenty-four hours after his first telegram to Roosevelt, Kang sent the last in this series on November 15, 1:20 PM: âEmpress Dowager died while they keep rumour [sic] [Yuan Shikai] bribes doctors to poison Emperor who I received messages last night is still alive.â201 Kang urged Roosevelt to cable his minister in Beijing (W. W. Rockhill) to âenquire the affair and to see his majesty,â preferably in concert with other ambassadors.
Admittedly, these telegrams show Kangâs confusion as he received conflicting information. Similarly, the telegrams sent to Xianzhenghui chapters show that not until November 16 did Kang confirm that the emperor was indeed dead and accuse Yuan of paying a doctor to poison him; he also urged chapters to telegraph Prince Chun asking that Yuan be executed.202 Kang must have felt helpless and frustrated to be in Penang, virtually powerless at a crucial time. The telegrams represent a hasty but daring effort, first, to save the life of the emperor, and, second, once Kang felt the emperor was dead, to prevent Yuan from gaining ascendancy. Guangxuâs death revived Kangâs longstanding grudge against Yuan since 1898, and, given the set of circumstances, it was not unreasonable that Kang applied whatever international influence he had to bring some justice. That there could have been a calculated political gain for Kang in this act of urging Roosevelt to intervene cannot be denied. The sequel of events in Washington, however, proved to negate any political gain this might have had for Kangâat least in the mind of certain officials in the U.S. government.
The telegrams were referred to the Department of State and, on November 17, the Division of Far Eastern Affairs prepared a memorandum for Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon.203 The conclusion was, after reviewing the
In the meantime, the White House had received a telegram from the Chinese Empire Reform Association in New York City stating that the emperor had been âpoisoned through the treachery of Yuan Shih Kai.â206 This was followed by a fourth wire from Kang, urging Roosevelt to order the U.S. minister in Beijing to give military protection to âPrince Cheenâ (Prince Chun, the father and regent for the new Xuantong Emperor (Puyi), and move him to the ministerâs residence.207 This was necessary, Kang felt, because he had received word that Yuan was attempting to make the new empress dowager (Guangxuâs widow Longyu), the regent. No apparent action was taken on these telegrams.
In a two-page dispatch of November 25, Rockhill reported that since his interview with Yuan Shikai, he had made other âdiscreet inquiries among the Chinese officials and foreigners in a position to be well advised on the subject.â208 The reply from everyone he interviewed, said Rockhill, was that Kang had âno
Rockhill further quoted Yuan Shikai as saying of Sun Yatsen and Kang Youwei, that Sun was âa much more able man, a man of action and consequently dangerous.â209 Once again, Rockhill concluded that the matter should be dropped so as to not âarouse suspicion in the minds of the Chinese.â The people Rockhill had spoken to were, as stated, of one mind, and obviously of an anti-Kang persuasion, or ignorant of current political trends. That his information was also based on less than reliable sources is most evident in another dispatch to Secretary of State Elihu Root. In it Rockhill quoted press reports from the China Critic of Tianjin that Kang was shortly going to Japan to join Sun Yatsen to continue their revolution.210
The final effect from this interchange was the loss of credibility of Kangâs position in the eyes of the U.S. government. The first response of the Department of State to Kangâs telegrams had been one of meaningful interest in Kangâs side of the story. The fact that Root sought Rockhillâs advice on the matter of Kangâs political importance and a possible rapprochement between Kang and Yuan points out the political possibilities Kang might have gained. Rockhillâs persistent and negative replies nullified that effect.
Kang continued his campaign against Yuan, writing Prince Chun to ask for Yuanâs dismissal and had the satisfaction of seeing his desire come true.211 On January 2, 1909, an edict was issued dismissing Yuan so that he could
In the United States, two of Kangâs relatives gave interviews to the press, supporting Yuanâs removal as beneficial for the future of reform: daughter Kang Tongbi, who was visiting Chicago during her winter break from classes at Barnard College, and nephew You Shiyin (Y. S. Wan), studying at Columbia University in New York City and active in the local Xianzhenghui chapter.219 You told the Associated Press, âThe American people have made a mistake in believing that Yuan Shi Kai ⦠was a reformer. Not only was he not a reformer, but he was a destroyer of reforms.â
Sympathy for Yuan was so strong in the United States, however, that Rock-hill was authorized by the Secretary of State to organize joint protests with other foreign envoys in Beijing against Yuanâs ouster, and when Russia and Japan opposed this move, Rockhill and the British envoy attempted unsuccessfully to persuade Prince Qing to reinstate Yuan.220 No doubt Kang heard of this meeting, and at the end of January, he wrote again to Theodore Roosevelt. He told the president that âthe fall of Yuan Shi-kai is a good demonstration with regard to the future prospect of China,â and he included an eleven-page typewritten essay entitled âA Chapter of Chinese History (With reference to the EMPRESS YEHONALA and YUAN SHI KAI).â221
The âChapterâ is a lengthy description of the ills of China under the control of the Empress Dowager, an account of the One Hundred Daysâ reform,
Once again, Kang sought to keep the U.S. government informed as to his version of the events in Beijing, and once again, Washington chose to ignore the letter out of diplomatic discretion. Kangâs hatred of Yuan is quite obvious in both his letter and the âChapter,â and he must have found temporary joy in Yuanâs dismissal. It is ironic, therefore, that in 1913 Yuan Shikai, as president of the Republic of China, reportedly invited Kang to proceed to Beijing âto take part in the great reformationâ then being pushed by Yuan.223 Kangâs version of this invitation, with further explanation by his nephew You Shiyin, was conveyed to their American friend Charles R. Flint in September 1913. âWong Hing [Huang Xing] want me to be their president, and Yuan also asked me to join him. I have refused both.â224 You explained to Flint that Sun Yatsenâs General Huang Xing wanted to overturn the Yuan Shikai government and asked Kang to lead his party; when Yuan heard about Huangâs offer, he sent an envoy to Suma Ward in KÅbe, Japan, to ask Kang to return to China as his advisor. Kang repeatedly turned down the chance to join the new government.225 Not
3.4 How the Emperor Died: An Inconclusive Conclusion
Suspicion of foul play emerged immediately upon Guangxuâs death, and controversy continues to this dayâhow did he die and who is to blame? Kangâs telegrams of November 14 and 15 lend credence to the scenario of sudden death by acute poisoning, being contemporaneous historical records based on intelligence from Beijing, some of it received shortly before Guangxu actually died. It could be that Kang had been sent the imperial edicts issued at that time, whose content and timing appear contrived to create the appearance of a natural death. The November 13 edicts by Cixi appointed Prince Zaifeng prince regent and installed his son Puyi in the palace, and the November 14 edict from Guangxu summoned the best doctors and medicine in hopes of curing his year-long illness.226 A natural death is contradicted by the daily records and diaries of attending officials, whose notes indicate that Guangxu had been well enough to carry on normal activities until his health rapidly worsened in the ten days after Cixiâs condition grew grave.227 The edicts describe Cixi becoming critically ill only on November 14 as she grieved Guangxuâs death, but officials noted Cixiâs decline from her November 3 birthday when she was too ill to receive the emperorâs ritual congratulations, and they record the panic in the court on November 7 when she sent Prince Qing to inspect the Eastern Tombs where her mausoleum had been built.
The consensus of Chinese historians has always been that when Cixi realized she would die before Guangxu, she ordered him killed so that he would not outlive her and vengefully destroy her legacy. Whether Yuan Shikai was involved as Kang believed is not known, but it is unlikely that anyone would have carried out such an audacious act without Cixiâs consent. Certainly at the time, suspicions rested heavily on Yuan, but others believed the culprit was
In November 2008, it appeared that the mystery of the emperorâs death had been solved. A five-year scientific and forensic analysis initiated by a China Central Television (CCTV) documentary production unit, the China Institute of Atomic Energy, and the Beijing police forensic laboratory concluded that Guangxu died of acute arsenic poisoning from a fatal dose of more than 200 mg of white arsenic (arsenic trioxide) found in his hair, clothes, and body.230 Although this study was widely publicized, a few critics have disputed its methodology as unscientific and inconsistent and its conclusions invalid. They suggested that at the outset the analysts assumed Guangxu died of acute arsenic poisoning and misconstrued the rather contradictory historical materials (such as later recollections of Guangxuâs domestic staff, diaries, and daily records of those waiting on the emperor) to prove their point.231 Even the
â¦
Whatever the cause, the death of the Guangxu Emperor robbed Kang Youwei of a great degree of the sanction for his political cause and was a personal blow. Since 1898 the Baohuanghui had championed the mission of the return of the emperor to his rightful position. Its successor, the Diguo Xianzhenghui, while outwardly less determined to reinstate the emperor, still held allegiance to him. The loss of the emperor as the honorary reform leader, however, was not the end of Kangâs political life. Nonetheless, when coupled with the other events of late 1907 and 1908, it put severe constraints on his political reserves. The turning point came when Kang began to be seen as the conservative for clinging to the memory of the deceased emperor. But clinging to a dead memory was hardly the whole point of Kangâs strategy thereafter, as he found great hope for the future as popular enthusiasm for constitutionalism rose inside China between 1909 and 1911.
Kang Youwei, âErbai bu qiaomin qingyuan shuâ äºç¾å åæ°è«é¡æ¸ [Petition from two hundred overseas Chinese cities], Zhongguo Weixin Bao (New York), July 28, 1908, Chinese Empire Reform Association, AR-6, Ethnic Studies Library, University of California at Berkeley, AAS ARC 2000/78, hereafter, AAS ARC 2000/78. Translation by Hongmei Sun.
Luo Pu ç¾ æ® to Tan Zhangxiao, May 23, 1905, no. 186 in Fang Zhiqin and Cai Huiyao æ¹å¿æ¬½, è¡æ å ¯, ed., Kang Liang yu Baohuanghui: Tan Liang zai Meiguo Suocang Ziliao Huibian 康æ¢èä¿çæ: èè¯å¨ç¾åæèè³æå½ç·¨ [Kang, Liang, and the Baohuanghui: A Compilation of Materials Collected by Tom Leung in the United States] (Hong Kong: Yinhe Chubanshe, 2008), 202.
Mai Zhonghua éº¥ä»²è¯ to Tan Zhangxiao, July 6, 1906, no. 148 in Fang and Cai, 194, and Kang Youwei to Tan Zhangxiao, September 4, 1906, no. 119 in Fang and Cai, 75.
Kang Youwei to Tan Zhangxiao, September 15, 1906, no. 118 in Fang and Cai, 76: âYour article criticizing Liang Cheng æ¢èª was rather appropriate. I have sent you another document separately and assume you have read it. It is for your future reference.â
Kang to unknown, [1906], no. 123 in Fang and Cai, 79.
Kang Youwei, âZai Lun Liang Cheng Zhen Shiâ åè«æ¢èª è³äº [Another Comment on Liang Cheng and the Matter of Relief], draft essay appended to no. 123, [1906], no. 122 in Fang and Cai, 92â94.
W. W. Rockhill, American Legation, Beijing, to Elihu Root, Department of State, April 26, 1906, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to China, 1843â1906, vol. 130, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/189088978?objectPage=331, accessed June 1, 2024. Root instructed Rockhill to refuse the 100,000 tael gift because it was official U.S. policy not to accept aid from abroad.
L. Eve Armentrout Ma, Revolutionaries, Monarchists, and Chinatowns: Chinese Politics in the Americas and the 1911 Revolution (Honolulu: University of Hawaiâi Press, 1990), 115. The original document is titled âMeiguo zhengbu Diguo Xianzhenghui jianlou gufen buâ ç¾åæ£é¨å¸åæ²æ¿æ建æ¨è¡ä»½å¸ [List of shareholders for building the United States headquarters of the Imperial Constitutional Association], archives, Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco.
âPleased with American Women,â Salt Lake City Telegram, August 17, 1906, 5: âHe wished that the women of China were as beautiful and could live as unhampered as women here.â
Ship manifest, S.S. Amerika, Southampton, England to New York, departing March 8, 1907 and arriving March 17. Jung-pang Lo, âSequel to the Chronological Autobiography,â Kâang Yu-wei: A Biography and Symposium (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1967), 205. Thank you to Chi Jeng Chang who discovered a portion of Kangâs supplemental travel journal for the Netherlands in 1907, âBu Helan Youjiâ è£è·èæ¸¸è¨ [Supplemental Record of Travels in Holland] on a Chinese auction website, http://cn.51bidlive.com/Item/6596825#pretty, accessed May 20, 2024.
âPrincipal Happenings of the Week in Scandinavian Countries,â Aberdeen American, December 6, 1911. Most of the details about Kangâs sojourn on Korsholmen come from this article. Jung-pang Lo and many others believed that Kang had bought a Swedish island, and it is thanks to filmmaker Evans Chan, when making his film, âTwo or Three Things about Kang Youwei,â who uncovered which island Kang lived on and the nature of his much more modest real estate purchase. However, Korsholmen is sometimes called Kang Youwei Island. According to November 6, 2022 email to Jane Larson from Connie Kang, who visited the island in 2022, there were three structures on his property: the residence, a small building used as a study, and a tiny structure where Kang meditated.
Kang Tongbi 康åç§, âYi yu Xianjun Xie You Ruidian (Daixu)â æ¶èå åæéçå ¸(代åº) [Preface: Recalling Travel to Sweden with My Late Father], in Kang Youwei, Ruidian Youji 康æçºçå ¸éè¨ [Travels in Sweden], ed. Ma Yueran 馬æ¦ç¶ [Göran Malmquist] (Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2007), 8.
Chanâs main informant for âTwo or Three Thingsâ was Korsholmen resident Ulla Kassman Rudberg, who appears in the film, and had learned about Kang from the family who lived on the property Kang once owned.
Douglas R. Reynolds, China, 1898â1912: The Xinzheng Revolution and Japan (Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1993), 179â80.
Arthur W. Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Châing Period (1644â1912) (Washington: Library of Congress, 1943), 780; âChinese Envoys Here in all their Splendor,â New York Times, February 2, 1906, 4; âEnvoys Ride in the Subway,â New York Times, February 3, 1906, 9.
Chang Pâeng-yuan, âConstitutionalism in the Late Qing: Conception and Practice,â Chinese Studies in History 22, no. 1 (1989): 8; Jun Zhang, âSpider Manchu: Duanfang as Networker and Spindoctor of the Late Qing New Policies, 1901â1911,â Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at San Diego, 2008, ProQuest (UMI Microform 3320191), 182â85; Xiaowei Zheng, The Politics of Rights and the 1911 Revolution in China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018), 115â16, questions the commitment of Duanfang and the other imperial commission members to Liangâs âdeeper principles underlying his advocacy of constitutionalism,â which sought popular sovereignty and transferring political power to parliament.
Lo, âSequel to the Chronological Autobiography,â 269 n25.
âBugao Baiqishi yu Bu Huizhong Dingwei Xinnian yuan Li Ju Da Qingdian Gao Chan Baohuanghui Gaiwei Guomin Xianzhenghui wenâ å¸åç¾ä¸åä½å æç¾ä¸æªæ°å¹´å 裡èå¤§æ ¶å ¸åèä¿çææ¹çºåæ°æ²æ¿ææ [Notice to Members of Over 170 Chapters to Hold Big New Year Celebrations in 1907 to Announce that the Baohuanghui would Change into the Guomin Xianzhenghui], October 21, 1906 in Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji 康æçºæ¿è«é [A Collection of Kang Youweiâs Political Writings], ed. Tang Zhijun 湯å¿é (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1981), 597â606.
For example, the document appeared in Zhongguo Weixin Bao on December 8, 1906.
âBugao Baiqishi yu Bu,â in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji, 599, 602.
Wu Xianzi ä¼æ²å, Zhongguo Minzhu Xianzhengdang Dangshi ä¸åæ°ä¸»æ²æ¿é»¨é»¨å² [Party History of Chinaâs Democratic Constitutional Party] (San Francisco: Shijie Ribao, 1952), 47â48.
âKang Youwei, âTonggao Gebu Congxin Dingding Guomin Xianzhengdang Dangqi hanâ éååå å¾æ°è¨å®åæ°æ²æ¿é»¨é»¨æå½ Letter Informing All Chapters of the Change of the Flag of the National Constitutional Party], November 1906, in Kang Youwei Quanji 康æçºå ¨é [Collected Works of Kang Youwei], ed. Jiang Yihua å§ç¾©è¯ and Zhang Ronghua å¼µæ¦®è¯ (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubanshe, 2007), vol. 8, 233.
âBugao Baiqishi yu Bu,â in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji, 601.
Kang Youwei to all chapters, February 19, 1912, in Kang Youwei Quanji 康æçºå ¨é [Collected Works of Kang Youwei], ed. Jiang Yihua and Zhang Ronghua å§ç¾©è¯, å¼µæ¦®è¯ (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubanshe, 2007), vol. 9, 282. Wu, Dangshi, 47â48. See Conclusion for the short interlude in 1912 after the Xianzhenghui became a political party and before the Tongmenghui and other revolutionary factions united in Nanjing under the name Guomindang åæ°é»¨; it then took the name Xianzhengdang æ²æ¿é»¨.
Bugao baiqishi yu bu huizong,â in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji, 600.
Peter Zarrow, âCitizenship in China and the Westâ in Imagining the People: Chinese Intellectuals and the Concept of Citizenship, 1890â1920, ed. Joshua A. Fogel and Peter G. Zarrow (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997), 17â18. See Chapter 3 for Liang Qichaoâs concept of the ânew citizenâ and how it shaped the Baohuanghui.
New York Baohuanghui to all comrades and brothers, printed letter, November 21, 1902, no. 569 in Fang and Cai, 370.
Philadelphia Baohuanghui to people in our hometown and virtuous brothers, printed letter, no date [probably 1903], no. 571 in Fang and Cai, 372.
Galveston Baohuanghui to all virtuous brothers, printed letter, unknown date [probably 1903], no. 573 in Fang and Cai, 374.
Pittsburgh Baohuanghui to all virtuous brothers, printed letter, unknown date, no. 572 in Fang and Cai, 373.
Zarrow, âCitizenship in China and the West,â 18, 20.
This essay is discussed thoroughly in Philip A. Kuhn, âLocal Self-Government Under the Republic: Problems of Control, Autonomy, and Mobilizationâ in Conflict and Control in Late Imperial China, ed. Frederick Wakeman Jr. and Carolyn Grant (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), 272â76. The original essay was serialized in three issues of Xinmin Congbao æ°æ°å¢å ±, April and May 1902.
Liang Qichao to Tan Zhangxiao, December 11, 1906, no. 145 in Fang and Cai, 128.
Liang Qichao to Kang Youwei, last half of December 1906 or first half of January 1907 [tenth month, 28th day, Guangxu 32], in Ding Wenjiang and Zhao Fengtian ä¸ææ±, è¶è±ç°, ed., Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian æ¢åè¶ å¹´èé·ç·¨ [Uncut Version of Liang Qichao Life Chronicle] (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), 369â76.
Hereafter Xianzhenghui; in English, the Chinese Empire Reform Association terminology, under which many chapters had become legally incorporated, persisted in North America. However, some American newspapers in 1907 referred to Empire Constitutional Party of China or Chinese Empire Constitutional Association. Permutations of the new name in Chinese used by Kang, Liang, and other members at one time or another were: Guomin Xianzhenghui åæ°æ²æ¿æ, Guomin Xianzhengdang åæ°æ²æ¿é»¨, Diguo Xianzhenghui å¸åæ²æ¿æ, Diguo Xianzhengdang å¸åæ²æ¿é»¨, Zhonghua Xianzhenghui ä¸è¯æ²æ¿æ, Zhonghua Diguo Xianzhenghui ä¸è¯å¸åæ²æ¿æ, and Diguo Lixianhui å¸åç«æ²æ. Even within the same document Kang would use different names and frequently referred the organization as party (dang 黨) rather than association (hui æ).
âBugao Baiqishi yu Bu,â in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji, 601.
Fan Zhongyan è仲淹, âYueyang Lou jiâ å²³é½æ¨è¨ [Notes on Yueyang Tower], âå 天ä¸ä¹æèæ, å¾å¤©ä¸ä¹æ¨èæ¨,â https://mountainsongs.mishanghai.org/poem_.php?id=939, accessed August 17, 2024.
âBugao Baiqishi yu Bu,â in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji, 605.
Wu Xianzi was in Hong Kong as editor of Shang Bao and may have taken on the role of official organizational historian at this time. The official Baohuanghui/Xianzhenghui history by Wu, Zhongguo Minzhu Xianzhengdang Dangshi ä¸åæ°ä¸»æ²æ¿é»¨é»¨å² [Party History of Chinaâs Democratic Constitutional Party], was not published until 1951, first as a serial in Shijie Ribao, and then as a 206-page book in 1952, https://lccn.loc.gov/c62001381, accessed August 17, 2024.
Bugao Baiqishi yu Bu,â in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun Ji, 606.
âJuan jian Diguo Xianzheng Zonghuisuo Maidi Zhengxinluâ æ建å¸åæ²æ¿ç¸½ææè²·å°å¾µä¿¡é [Financial Accounting of Donations for Buying Land for Xianzhenghui Headquarters Building], in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui 康æçºèä¿çæ [Kang Youwei and the Baohuanghui], ed. Shanghai Shi Wenwu Baoguan Weiyuanhui ä¸æµ·å¸æç©ä¿ç®¡å§å¡æ (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1982), 529â37. According to Zhongping Chen, Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898â1918 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023), 104â5, the headquarters was never built since Ye En sold the land to repay the Guangdong Public Schoolâs debt to Huayi Bank in Hong Kong.
âZhonghua Diguo Xianzhenghui Ge Sizhangâ ä¸è¯å¸åæ²æ¿ææåç« [A Four-Quatrain Anthem for the Chinese Imperial Constitutional Association] in Tang, Kang Youwei Zhenglun ji, vol. 1, 607. This translation is thanks to Kung-châüan Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World: Kâang Yu-wei, Reformer and Utopian, 1858â1927 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975), 242â43, Yang Zheng, and Peter Zarrow.
Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, 72â96.
According to Peter Zarrow, âMonarchical power (junquan åæ¬) thus virtually disappears in Kangâs reformism.â Peter Zarrow, âDemocracy in Twentieth-Century China: Notes on a Discourse,â Journal of Chinese Philosophy 26, no. 1 (March 1999): 124â25.
âErbai bu qiaomin qingyuanshu,â AR-6, AAS ARC 2000/78.
âTonggao gebu congxin dingding Guomin Xianzhengdang dangqi han,â November 1906, in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 8, 233. Thank you to Yang Zheng, Alvin Cohen, Aida Yuen Wong, and Peter Zarrow for their thoughts about this abstruse document.
See Chapter 3 for Liangâs description of the Baohuanghui flagâs symbolism, which was political in nature, exalting concepts like equality and independence.
Kang is referring to Zhongyong ä¸åº¸ [The Doctrine of the Mean] of Confucius.
This description is from the Zhouli, Kaogongji å¨ç¦®, èå·¥è¨ [Rites of the Zhou, Record of the Artificers].
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, Xu Junmian [Xu Qin], and Mai Rubo [Mai Menghua], November 4, 1907, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 420.
Chen Huan-chang, The Economic Principles of Confucius and His School, Volume 1 (New York: Columbia University, Longmans, Green & Co., Agents, 1911), XXI, 71.
Chen, Economic Principles, XII, 71; Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, 120. See Zhaoyuan Wan, Chapter 4, âA State Religion,â in Science and the Confucian Religion of Kang Youwei (1858â1927): China Before the Conflict Thesis (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021), 148â87.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, et al., November 4, 1907, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 421.
Passenger and Crew Lists, Microcopy T-715, Roll 846; S.S. Amerika listed no. 11 Kangâs place of birth Singapore. See also no. 521, F. W. Berkshire to Commissioner General of Immigration, March 18, 1907, Chinese File 14735-89, Entry 132, Box 162, RG 85, for report of Kangâs arrival.
âDinner to Kang Yu-Wei,â New York Times, March 18, 1907, 4.
âMoy Dong Jou Here,â Washington [DC] Herald, April 3, 1907. The Hartford chapter members âhave had a New York goldsmith manufacture a very handsome medal in honor of Mr. Khangâ for presentation by Hartford members attending the New York banquet: âChinese Reform Meeting Sunday,â Hartford Courant, March 16, 1907, 5.
Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 207. However, Huayi Bank in New York had begun in some form by December 1905; see Kang Youwei to Tan Zhangxiao, December 26, 1905, no. 352 in Fang and Cai, 63â68, which states, âOur New York bank has already begun business. You can tell all other chapters to deposit money in this bank.â Letterhead with the 12 Mott Street address first is seen on May 13, 1907, from Feng Jingquan 馮é¡æ³ to Tan Zhangxiao, no. 138-I in Fang and Cai, 176.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuliâ å¸åæ²æ¿æ大éè°å¡æè°åºä¾ [Procedures for participants in Imperial Constitutional Association plenary meeting], March 23, 1907, in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 487â95. The following description of the meeting and charter comes from this document. Original may be found at AR-5, AAS ARC 2000/78.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Dahui yiyuan yu Niuyueâ å¸åæ²æ¿æ大æè°å¡äºç´ç´ [Imperial Constitutional Association Legislators at New York plenary meeting], spring, second lunar month, 1907. Thank you to Herman Moy, Moy Wah Juneâs grandson who inherited this photo.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â 488. In the charter, Kang greatly condensed his argument, elaborated in the constitutional petition written around the same time (1907), that is, the term Zhina æ¯é£ (the Chinese pronunciation of Shina, the Japanese term for China) is derived from a Sanskrit] word cÄ«na, a transcription of Zhuxia 諸å¤, an abbreviation of Zhuxiazhuhua 諸å¤è«¸è¯ [all of the Xia and all of the Huaâor all the small states under China], from which the name Zhonghua was derived. However, the more common Sanskrit origin of Zhina/Shina is thought to be âQin 秦,â the first dynasty. Lydia H. Liu, The Clash of Empires: The Invention of China in Modern World Making (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), 265 n21, notes that Kangâs analysis of âthe historical transformation of the phonetic patterns of zhuxia and cÄ«na ⦠still remains speculation.â
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 489.
Article 6, âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 489.
Xinmin Congbao æ°æ°å¢å ± (Yokohama), Zheng Lun æ¿è«, and Guofeng Bao åé¢¨å ± (Shanghai) were newspapers Liang Qichao either edited or contributed to regularly during this period. An English-language index of Tung Wah Times (Sydney) shows articles with the keyword âconstitutionâ rising from 23 (1905), 37 (1906), 59 (1907) to 63 (1908): See Chinese Australian Heritage Resources, âTung Wah Newspaper Index,â https://resources.chineseaustralia.org/tung_wah_newspaper_index, accessed October 13, 2022.
For a clear presentation of Liangâs amplification of constitutional concepts for his large readership between 1898 and 1907, see Alison Adcock Kaufman, âOne Nation Among Many: Foreign Models in the Constitutional Thought of Liang Qichao,â Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2008), ProQuest (UMI Microform 3306191).
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 489â90.
Article 9 specifies that the fees of $10 or 25 cents be in the memberâs own currency. âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 490.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui,491. There was only one known European chapter, in Liverpool, England.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 494.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 490.
âDiguo Xianzhenghui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli,â in, Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 487.
Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 205.
Kung-châüan Hsiao, âFamily Background of Kâang Yu-wei,â unpublished paper presented at the Modern Chinese History Colloquium, University of Washington, August 12, 1959, 10, quoted with permission of author.
Kang Youwei, Chicago Beach Hotel, to Miss L. D. Gill, May 21, 1907, Central Records Office, Barnard College, File no. 710. The excerpt here uses the same grammar as in the original.
âFlashing Jewel is Apple of Weiâs Eye,â Philadelphia Inquirer, May 19, 1907, 7; âFrance Decorates Carnegie,â New York Sun, April 18, 1907, 2.
âIn the forefront of his black velvet skull cap he sports a gorgeous turquoise â¦â âNoted Chinese Reformer,â Worthington [MA] Advance, July 28, 1905. This story also mentions âa big pink coral buttonâ on top of the cap.
P[rivate]. Secretary [for Carnegie] to C. S. Sinn [sic], April 22, 1907 (copy), Carnegie Papers, vol. 141, no. 26701J. No further mention of this interview was found in the Andrew Carnegie Papers, MSS 15107, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
C. S. Linn, Hotel Gramatan, Bronxville. NY, to Andrew Carnegie, April 19, 1907; Carnegie Papers, vol. 141, no. 26683A.
That Kang and Flint had met in New York is verified by Charles Flintâs letter to Oscar Straus, September 9, 1907, in Chinese File 14735-89. Flint mentions that he saw âover some sixty solid gold tablets, on which were engraved expressions of good will and confidence in His Excellencyâs leadership as the Chinese reformer, which were recently sent to him by these different Societies on the occasion of his last birthday.â
Flint to Bacon, May 21, 1907, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19748403?objectPage=284, accessed May 25, 2024; Flint to Oscar S. Straus, Secretary of Commerce and Labor, May 23, 1907, in Chinese File 14735-89: RG 85. Chapter 8 has details on the Flint-Kang relationship and Flintâs influence on Kangâs Mexican pursuits.
Straus to Flint, June 10, 1907, in Chinese File 14735-89.
Flint to Straus, September 9, 1907, in Chinese File 14735-89. Flint also suggested that the Exclusion Act be amended âin the interest of Commerce and Laborâ by being retitled as the âAdmission Actâ and allow âdistinguishedâ Chinese such as Kang to travel in and out of the United States like any other foreigner, without having to suffer humiliation.
Kang Youwei, Chicago Beach Hotel, to Miss L. D. Gill, May 21, 1907, Central Records Office, Barnard College, File no. 710.
See Chapters 8 and 9 for details.
Feng Jingquan to Tan Zhangxiao, September 28, 1907, no. 138B in Fang and Cai, 169. See Chapter 9 for a breakdown of the loans Tom received for King Joy Lo in 1905â6.
Liang Qixun æ¢åå³ to Liang Qichao, May 26, 1907, in Liang Rengong Xiansheng Zhijiao Shou Zha æ¢ä»»å ¬å çç¥äº¤ææ [Liang Qichaoâs Personal Letters in His Handwriting] (Taipei: Wenhai Chubanshe, 1974), 595â602.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qixun, June 18, 1907, in Zhang Ronghua 張榮è¯, ed., Kang Youwei Juan 康æçºå· [Kang Youwei Documents] (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubanshe, 2015), 15. See Chapter 8 for details on Kangâs 1907 trip to Mexico.
âYe Moxige Zongtong Duiwen Jiâ è¬å¢¨è¥¿å¥ç¸½çµ±å°åè¨ [Record of a Visit to the Mexican President], essay, June 29, 1907, in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui, 302â4.
H. R. Sisson, Chinese Inspector, New York, to Commissioner General of Immigration, July 12, 1907, Chinese File 14735-89. Also see Passenger and Crew Lists, Roll 943, S.S. Merida, July 12, 1907, Nos. 25 and 26, final destination was noted as Stockholm, Sweden.
âKang Yu Wei Predicts Increasing Chinese Boycott if His Countrymen Are Not Treated Better Here,â New York Times, July 28, 1907, Magazine Section, 11.
Kang Youwei, excerpt of a poem quoted in Wang Mingde çæå¾·, Bainian Jiazu: Kang Youwei ç¾å¹´å®¶æ: 康æçº [One hundred years of a family: Kang Youwei] (Taipei: Lixu Wenhua Shiye Youxian Gongsi, 2002), 251. Thank you to Connie Kang for translating this and other poems about He Zhanli by her great-grandfather, Kang Youwei.
Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 210; He Zhanli ä½æç was called Lingfen çµè¬ by Kang. For example, see Kang Youwei, âRuishi Youjiâ çå£«æ¸¸è¨ [Record of Journeys to Switzerland] in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 8, 330.
Kangâs poem describing Lilyâs artistic and linguistic talents is in Wang, Bainian Jiazu, 252. An affidavit attesting to Lilyâs status as American-born by her father Haw Gum, Fresno County, California, notarized August 17, 1908, states that Lily attended public schools for nine years in Fresno County until she left home. This and other documents belonging to He Zhanli were donated by Pang Lian, He Zhanliâs daughter-in-law, to the Qingdao Kang Youwei Residential Museum.
Mabelle M. Selland, From China to Fresno: A Love Story (Fresno: Heritage Fresno Press, 2007), 42. Harry Haw, âBrief Outline of Hoh Koon Tak [Harry Haw]âs History,â 1935, photocopy of one-page typed manuscript thanks to Mabelle Selland, who corresponded with Harry Haw, born in 1904, in 1979.
Affidavit of Chester Rowell, MD, Fresno County, California, notarized August 19, 1908, attesting to Lily Hawâs birth to Haw Gum and his wife in their home five miles southwest of Fresno on October 11, 1890.
Affirmation of Haw Gumâs role comes from the photo poster of the âChinese Empire Reform Association of Fresno, Calif., U.S.A., 1905,â in which He Chunfang is pictured with the title of xieli [åç assistant manager], Fresno Historical Society Archives.
Chinese historians repeat many colorful details of this romance, without providing primary sources, such as Lin Keguang æå å , âKang Youwei yu Aiqie He Zhanliâ 康æçºèæ妾ä½æç [Kang Youwei and his concubine He Zhanli], Shijie Ribao [Chinese World], January 5, 1993. Fresno history books and magazines also include elaborate stories about Kang and He, which are a mix of credible information pertaining to Fresno and obvious fiction describing Kang and things Chinese. The authors have selected the most credible details but await primary sources confirming them.
Wang, Bainian Jiazu, 246. It should be noted that Wang, 243, dates Kangâs Fresno visit to 1907, among other major errors.
Selland, From China to Fresno, 43.
âFrom Vegetable Garden to Pomp of Court Life is Romance of Pretty Chinese Girl of Fresno,â Fresno Republican, February 16, 1908, 3.
Kang Youwei to Zhang Bingya å¼µç³é , early 1909, AR-25, AAS ARC 2000/78.
âFrom Vegetable Garden to Pomp of Court Life,â Fresno Republican, February 16, 1908, 3; Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 210; Pang Lian é¾è®, Kang Youwei de Jiashi he Wannian Shenghuo 康æçºç家ä¸åæå¹´çæ´» [Kang Youweiâs Family Background and Later Life] (Shanghai: Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), 5.
âFrom Vegetable Garden to Pomp of Court Life,â Fresno Republican, February 16, 1908, 3.
Wang Mingde, Bainian Jiazu, 251â52.
Kang Youwei, âBu Deguo Youjiâ è£å¾·åæ¸¸è¨ [Supplemental Record of Journeys in Germany] in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 8, 336â65.
Kang Youwei, âRuishi Youjiâ in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 8, 328: âIn the tenth month [November 6âDecember 4, 1907], in order to purchase tram equipment for Mexico, I again traveled to Germany, France and Austria, on the way to Switzerland.â Thanks to Chi Jeng Chang for pointing out this and other details of Kangâs European itinerary that differ from Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â which does not include these supplemental records.
Kang Youwei, âRuishi Youjiâ in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 8, 330.
Kang Youwei, âAo Youjiâ å¥§æ¸¸è¨ [Record of Journeys to Austria] in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 8, 386; Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 210.
âZi Mei fan Rui zai you, shao Shibadun hu fan zhouâ èªç¾è¿çå游,ç¨å£«å·´é æ¹æ³è [Returning to Sweden from America, in a boat on a lake coming from Saltsjöbaden] in Kang Youwei Quanji 康æçºå ¨é [Collected Works of Kang Youwei], ed. Jiang Yihua and Zhang Ronghua å§ç¾©è¯, å¼µæ¦®è¯ (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubanshe, 2007), vol. 12, 277; Chi Jeng Chang and Connie Kang, âKang Youwei Bidaoâ 康æçº âé¿å³¶â [Kang Youweiâs Hideaway Island] (unpublished paper, 2022). Yi Tao æ¼ªæ¶ was Kangâs nickname for Lily Haw, meaning ripples on the waves.
Wang, Bainian Jiazu, 248.
Kang Youwei, âBi Dao Eryue Hu Bing Jian Jieâ é¿å³¶äºææ¹å°æ¼¸è§£ [Lake Ice Starting to Melt in the 2nd month on Hideaway Island], Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 12, 284; translated by Connie Kang.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, et al., November 4, 1907, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 422, mentions Kangâs hope of visiting Egypt. Although Kangâs trip to Egypt was not noted by Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â the trip is verified in early 1908 from his poemsâsee Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 12, 300â4.
Kang Youwei, âTongwei Nü Jiubie Wunianâ åèå¥³ä¹ å¥äºå¹´ [Separated for Five Years from Lady Tongwei] in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 12, 285.
Chi Jeng Chang, email January 18, 2023, speculates Lily Haw left Sweden at the end of May or early June 1908, before Tongbi arrived.
Affidavits attesting to Lilyâs status as American-born by her father Haw Gum, her mother Chun See, Dr. Chester Rowell who delivered Lily, and J. W. Ragsdale, peace officer in Chinese quarter, Fresno County, California, with departure stamp over photo of Lily Haw, âDeparted from San Francisco Per Steamer Hongkong Maru, November 17, 1908.â These materials were donated by Kang Tongningâs wife Pang Lian to the Kang Youwei Residential Museum, Qingdao, China.
Kang Tongwei 康åè to Huang Binghu é»å°å£º, January 29, 1909, no. 103, Tom Leung Collection, Asian Library, University of California, Los Angeles, https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz002313df, accessed January 21, 2023.
Chi Jeng Chang shared this information from Kang Tongbiâs unpublished memoirs. Kang had been traveling with Kang Tongbi and Luo Chang.
Zhang Hongping å¼µç´ è, Kang Youwei yu ta Shenbiande Nüxing 康æçºèä»èº«éçå¥³æ§ [Kang Youwei and the Women by his Side] (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Gongâan Daxue Chubanshe, 2012), 140.
Kangâs third and fourth daughters and first and second sons died in infancy; his eighth daughter Kang Tongtan 康åå by He Zhanli died in a car accident at seventeen, and his ninth daughter Kang Tongling 康å令 by Liao Dingzheng å»å®å¾µ died at age twelve. See Appendix 3, âKang Youweiâs Family.â
Liang Qichao to Kang Youwei, last half of December 1906 or first half of January 1907 [tenth month, 28th day, Guangxu 32], in Ding and Zhao, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 372.
Edward J. M. Rhoads, Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861â1928 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), 127.
Chang Yu-fa å¼µçæ³, Qingjide Lixian Tuanti æ¸ å£çç«æ²åé« [Constitutionalists of the Late Châing Period: An Analysis of Groups in the Constitutional Movement, 1895â1911] (Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 1985), 348â56.
Chen Xuezhang é³å¸ç« , âLiang Qichao yu Tang Juedunâ æ¢åè¶ è湯覺é , [Liang Qichao and Tang Juedun], unpublished paper.
Published in Zheng Lun æ¿è« [Political Commentary], no. 1, October 1907, see Ding and Zhao, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 419â20. Also see Chang, Qingjide lixian tuanti, 349; Joseph R. Levenson, Liang Châi-châao and the Mind of Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 2d rev. ed., 77â78.
Xu Fosu å¾ä½è, âJi Liang Rengong xiansheng yishiâ æ¢ä»»å ¬å çé¸äº [Record of Anecdotes about Mr. Liang Qichao], in Ding and Zhao, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 417â18; Levenson, Liang Châi-châao, 78.
Ruth Hayhoe and Lu Yongling, ed., Ma Xiangbo and the Mind of Modern China, 1840â1939 (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1996), 42.
Hou Yijie 侯å®å. Ershi Shiji chu Zhongguo Zhengzhi Gaige Fengchao: Qingmo Lixian Yundong Shi äºåä¸ç´åä¸åæ¿æ²»æ¹é©é¢¨æ½®: æ¸ æ«ç«æ²éåå² [Agitation for Political Reform in Early Twentieth Century China: History of the Late Qing Constitutionalist Movement] (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubanshe, 2009), 147â48.
John H. Fincher, Chinese Democracy: The Self-Government Movement in Local, Provincial and National Politics, 1905â1914 (New York: St. Martinâs Press, 1981), 98â99.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, et al., November 4, 1907, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 421.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, March 9, 1908, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 444.
Chang, Qingjide Lixian Tuanti, 350â53.
Chang, Qingjide Lixian Tuanti, 354.
Hayhoe and Lu, Ma Xiangbo, 214â18.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, et al., November 4, 1907, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 420.
Liang Qichao to Kang Youwei, January 26, 1908, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 431â34.
Kang Youwei to Liang Qichao, March 9, 1908, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 443â47. Kang also claimed to have met his obligation of 2,000 yuan a month to Liang by previous payments from Hong Kong, New York, and himself that added up to 24,500 yuan.
The five men were Prince Qing, Prince Su, Tieliang, Duanfang, and Prince Zaize.
Chen, âTang Juedun.â
Sin-kiong Wong, âThe Tatsu Maru Incident and the Anti-Japanese Boycott of 1908: A Study of Conflicting Interpretations,â Chinese Culture (Singapore) 34, no. 3 (September 1993): 77â92; Jung-fang Tsai, Hong Kong in Chinese History: Community and Social Unrest in the British Colony, 1842â1913 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), 207â37.
Edward J. M. Rhoads, Chinaâs Republican Revolution: The Case of Kwangtung, 1895â1913 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975), 137, 139â40; Akira Iriye, âPublic Opinion and Foreign Policy: The Case of Late Châing Chinaâ in Approaches to Modern Chinese History, ed. Albert Feuerwerker, Rhoads Murphey, and Mary C. Wright (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 227; Michael Tsin, Nation, Governance, and Modernity in China: Canton, 1900â1927 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 33â36.
Wu, Dangshi, 53.
âSpecial Report,â Donghua Bao, March 28, 1908; âEditorial,â Donghua Bao, April 4, 1908.
This figure comes from a search of the Tung Wah Times (Sydney) index for the keywords âboycottâ and âJapaneseâ in 1908: Chinese Australian Heritage Resources, âTung Wah Newspaper Index,â https://resources.chineseaustralia.org/tung_wah_newspaper_index, accessed February 29, 2024.
Mei-fen Kuo, Making Chinese Australia: Urban Elites, Newspapers and the Formation of Chinese-Australian Identity, 1892â1912 (Victoria, Australia: Monash University Publishing, 2013), 168â69.
Rhoads, Chinaâs Republican Revolution, 138â39; Tsai, Hong Kong in Chinese History, 217â20.
Chen Laixin é³ä¾è¾, â20 Shiji Chuqide Dizhi Meihuo he Dizhi Rihuo Yundong yu Riben Shen-Ban Diqude Huaqiaoâ 20 ä¸ç´åæçæµå¶ç¾è²¨åæµå¶æ¥è²¨éåèæ¥æ¬ç¥éªå°åçè¯å [Early Twentieth Century Boycotts against the U.S. and Japan and Overseas Chinese Merchants in KÅbe and Osaka, Japan], in Wenming KangzhengâJindai Zhongguo yu Haiwai Huaren Lunji æææç: è¿ä»£ä¸åèæµ·å¤è¯äººè«é [Civilized Protests: Essays on Modern China and the Chinese Diaspora], ed. Wong Sin Kiong é»è³¢å¼· (Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2005), 190â221.
Tsai, Hong Kong in Chinese History, 226.
Wu, Dangshi, 53â54; Iriye, âPublic Opinion and Foreign Policy,â 227; Rhoads, Chinaâs Republican Revolution, 107â108, 139; Hu Yinghan, Wu Xianzi Zhuanji [Biography of Wu Xianzi] (Hong Kong, 1953), 8.
Tsai, Hong Kong in Chinese History, 235.
Wu, Dangshi, 54.
Tsai, Hong Kong in Chinese History, 220â23, 237.
Rhoads, Chinaâs Republican Revolution, 137.
âQing Kou Rimu Gu Kuai Zhuang Ziyou Zhongâ è«å©æ¥æ®é¼å¿«æèªç±é [Please Beat the Evening Drum and Strike the Bell of Freedom], Bincheng Xin Bao, April 10, 1908, quoted in Wong Sin Kiong, âXin-Ma Huaren Zhi Wenming Dizhiâ20 Shijichude Xuanchuan yu Kangzhengâ æ°é¦¬è¯äººä¹æææµå¶-20 ä¸ç´åç宣å³èæç [Civilized Boycotts by Chinese in Singapore and Malaya: Early Twentieth Century Propaganda and Protests] in Wong, ed., Wenming Kangzheng, 178â79.
âBaohuanghui tichang haijun juanâ ä¿çææå¡æµ·è»æ [Three-part report from overseas Chinese Empire Reform Association to the Beijing authority suggesting donations to revitalize the Chinese navy]â Tung Wah Times, September 15, 22, and 29, 1906.
Certificate of donation by Feng Jingquan to the Guomin Haijunhui, AR-14, AAS ARC 2000/78; described in Gao Weinong é«åæ¿, Ershi Shiji chu Kang Youwei Baohuanghui zai Meiguo Huaqiao Shehui zhong de Huodong äºåä¸ç´å康æçºä¿çæå¨ç¾åè¯å社æä¸çæ´»å [Activities of Kang Youwei and the Baohuanghui among the Chinese in the United States in the First Part of the Twentieth Century] (Beijing: Xueyuan Chubanshe, 2009), 199â200.
Wu Longyun å³é¾é² [Goh Leng Hoon], âAozhou Huaren yu 1908 nian Dizhi Rihuo Yundongâ 澳洲è¯äººè 1908 å¹´æµå¶æ¥è²¨éå [Overseas Chinese in Australia and the Anti-Japanese Boycott of 1908], in Wong, Wenming KangzhengâJindai Zhongguo yu Haiwai Huaren Lunji, 222â43; Kuo, Making Chinese Australia, 167â71.
Much of this section originally appeared in Jane Leung Larson, âCharter 08âs Qing Dynasty Precursor,â with commentary by Feng Chongyi, Asia-Pacific Journal/Japan Focus 9, no. 27 (June 11, 2011), https://apjjf.org/2011/9/27/feng-chongyi/3558/article, accessed May 20, 2024.
Norbert Meienberger, The Emergence of Constitutional Government in China (1905â1908): The Concept Sanctioned by Empress Dowager Tzâu-hsi (Bern: Peter Lang, 1980), 42â44, which cites articles in the North China Herald reporting that conservative Grand Councilor Tieliang demanded that Cixi change the preparation period from three years in the draft edict to âseveralâ (shu æ¸).
Meienberger, Emergence of Constitutional Government in China, 57.
Ma, Revolutionaries, Monarchists, and Chinatowns, 126â27.
Hou, Ershi Shiji chu Zhongguo, 148.
âZhonghua Diguo Xianzhenghui Lianhe Haiwai Erbai bu Qiaomin Gongshang Qingyuan Shuâ ä¸è¯å¸åæ²æ¿æè¯åæµ·å¤äºç¾å åæ°å ¬ä¸è«é¡æ¸ [Petition Jointly Presented by the Overseas Chinese Members of the Chinese Imperial Constitutional Association in 200 Cities Abroad] in booklet titled âErbai bu Qiaomin Qingyuanshu,â AR-6, AAS ARC 2000/78. Translation by Hongmei Sun.
âHuishi jiwen: Bugao Lian Erbai Bu shang Qingyuanshu Qiâ æäºç´è: å¸åè¯äºç¾å ä¸è«é¡æ¸å [Notice of Uniting the 200 Chapters to Start a Petition to the Emperor], Tung Wah Times, February 29, 1908, 6.
Hou, Ershi Shiji chu Zhongguo, 147â48.
Roger B. Jeans Jr., Democracy and Socialism in Republican China: The Politics of Zhang Junmai (Carsun Chang), 1906â1941 (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997), 13â15.
Zhang Jiasen å¼µå森 [Carsun Chang] to Liang Qichao, March 25, 1908 in Ding and Zhao, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 453.
Article quoted from Shen Bao, ç³å ± July 3, 1908 in Ding and Zhao, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 453â54.
Zhang Pengyuan å¼µæå, Liang Qichao yu Qingji Geming æ¢åè¶ èæ¸ å£é©å½ [Liang Qichao and the Late Qing Revolution], Zhongyang Yanjiuyuan Jindaishi Yanjiusuo Zhuankan [Modern History Institute, Academia Sinica, special issue] 11 (1964): 191â92. The edict expelling Chen Jingren was issued July 25, 1908.
Hou, Ershi Shiji chu Zhongguo, 156â57.
âBugao lian erbai bu,â Tung Wah Times, February 29, 1908, 6.
For example, Tung Wah News (Sidney) published the petition weekly August 22âOctober 10, 1908.
âErbai bu qiaomin qingyuanshu,â AR-6, AAS ARC 2000/78.
Chang, Qingjide Lixian Tuanti, 346.
âErbai bu qiaomin qingyuanshu,â AR-6, AAS ARC 2000/78.
âHaiwai Ya Mei Ouâ Fei Ao Wuzhou Erbai bu Zhonghua Xianzhenghui Qiaomin Gongshang Qingyuan shuâ æµ·å¤äºç¾æéæ¾³äºæ´²äºç¾å ä¸è¯å¸åæ²æ¿æåæ°å ¬ä¸è«é¡æ¸ [A Petition Presented by the Overseas Chinese Members of the Chinese Constitutional Association in 200 Overseas Cities in the Five Continents of Asia, America, Europe, Africa, and Australia], Buren Zazhi ä¸å¿éå¿ [Cannot Bear Magazine] (Shanghai) no. 4 (1913): 1.
Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, 244â45.
âManchus were classified differently from Han. They were registered as âbanner people,â whereas non-banner people, who were nearly all Han, were generally registered as âcivilian.â These classifications were hereditary and essentially permanent.â Rhoads, Manchus and Han, 35.
Rhoads, Manchus and Han, 64â65.
Joseph W. Esherick, âReconsidering 1911: Lessons of a Sudden Revolution,â Journal of Modern Chinese History 6, no. 1 (June 2012): 1â14.
Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 212â13.
Fincher, Chinese Democracy, 100; regulations for the formation of provincial assembles were issued by the Commission for Drawing up Regulations for Constitutional Government on July 22, 1908.
Hou, Ershi Shiji chu Zhongguo, 157â59.
Ma, Revolutionaries, Monarchists, and Chinatowns, 126â27; Wu, Dangshi, 53â56.
Shen Bao, August 23, 1908, in Ding and Zhao, Liang Qichao Nianpu Changbian, 472â73. The identification of officials is from Hou, Ershi Shiji chu Zhongguo, 158.
Chang, Qingjide Lixian Tuanti, 348â61.
Fincher, Chinese Democracy, 103.
Fincher, Chinese Democracy, 161.
Meienberger, Emergence of Constitutional Government, 76â89.
Fincher, Chinese Democracy, 115â16.
Fincher, Chinese Democracy, 123.
Joshua Hill, Voting as a Rite: A History of Elections in Modern China (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2019), 74â75. Di Baoxian çèè³¢ (Di Chuqing çæ¥å¿) and Bao Tianxiao å 天ç¬, the main Shi Bao æå ± figures behind the 1905 movement, played the same role in 1908â11.
Hill, Voting as a Rite, 84â86.
Prince Qing to W. W. Rockhill, U.S. Minister, Peking, November 15, 1908, enclosure no. 10 in Rockhill to Elihu Root, November 17, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 14911/40â52, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20353760?objectPage=163, accessed May 25, 2024.
Imperial edicts, November 13, 1908, appointing Puyi to the Imperial Palace School, and November 14, 1908, appointing Puyi as successor to the Tongzhi Emperor and heir to the Guangxu Emperor, Diplomatic Posts, China, vol. 731, Miscellaneous Translations of Edicts, U.S. Legation, Peking, Entry UD-10, RG 84, NA-College Park.
Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 213.
Telegram of Rang [sic] Yuwei, Penang, to Roosevelt, November 14, 1908, 3:18 PM, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/178, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=801, and William Loeb Jr., White House, to Root, November 15, 1908, Numerical Files, 14911 /18â20, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20353760?objectPage=163, both accessed May 25, 2024.
Telegram of KangYupi [sic], Penang, to Roosevelt, November 14, 1908 (âDated 15â), 7:10 PM, State Department Numerical Files, 14911/18â20, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20353760?objectPage=70 accessed May 25, 2024.
Telegram of KangYuwei [sic], Penang, to Roosevelt, November 15, 1908, 1:20 PM, State Department Numerical Files, 14911/18â20, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20353760?objectPage=70, accessed May 25, 2024.
âYao dianâ è¦é» [Important telegrams], Tung Wah Times, November 21, 1908, 2; a series of telegrams in the order received by the newspaper, November 14â16, ends with Kangâs telegram from Penang, November 16, 8:27 PM, in which he also urged members to telegraph Prince Chun demanding Yuan be punished and foreign governments to express their outrage. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246928886/26801956, accessed August 31, 2019.
Memorandum, W. S. S., Division of Far Eastern Affairs to Mr. [Robert] Bacon, Assistant Secretary of State, sent November 17, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/178, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=802, accessed May 25, 2024.
Telegram, Root to American Legation, Peking, sent November 20, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/181a, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=821, accessed May 25, 2024.
Rockhill to Secretary of State, sent November 24, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/183, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=829, accessed May 25, 2024.
Telegram, Chinese Empire Reform Association, New York to Roosevelt, November 18, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 14911/13â14, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20353760?objectPage=54, accessed May 25, 2024.
Telegram, Kangyuwei [sic], Penang, to Roosevelt, November 30, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/90, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=852, accessed May 25, 2024.
No. 1048, W. W. Rockhill to Elihu Root, November 25, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/216, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=948, accessed May 25, 2024. A search of Diplomatic Post Records of the Beijing Legation, RG 84, NA-College Park, for this period uncovered no evidence of Rockhillâs alleged interviews.
Rockhill to Root, November 25, 1908.
No. 1050, Rockhill to Root, November 27, 1908, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/207â209, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=922, accessed May 25, 2024, enclosure 2, âRevolution From Japan,â China Critic, November 26, 1908. The misinterpretation of Kangâs role with Sun had been stated earlier in 1908 in a dispatch that had Kang and Liang as editors of the Min Bao (Peopleâs News), the official organ of the âKe Mong Tongâ (Gemindang or Revolutionary Party), of which Sun Yatsen was the head. Alvin W. Gilbert, Deputy Consul General, Chefoo [Yantai, Shandong], to C. L. L. Williams, Vice Consul General in Charge, Chefoo, May 18, 1908, enclosing, âAnti-Monarchist Invasion,â North China Daily News, May 11, 1908, 7, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/138â139, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=625, accessed May 25, 2024.
Lo, âSequel to Autobiography,â 214. Yuan Shikai had many enemies in court, whose influence over the inexperienced Prince Zaifeng was no doubt greater than Kangâs; see Cui Zhihai, âZaifengâs Dismissal of Yuan Shikai and Sino-U.S.-Japanese Diplomacy,â in China: How the Empire Fell, ed. Joseph W. Esherick and C. X. George Wei (New York: Routledge, 2014), 197â213.
Isaac Taylor Headland, Court Life in China: Court Life in China: The Capital, Its Officials and People (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1909), 319; Imperial Edict of January 2, 1909, translated in telegram of Rockhill to Root, January 2, 1909, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/194. RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19246300?objectPage=872, accessed May 25, 2024. Also, Imperial Edict of January 1, 1909, Diplomatic Posts, China, vol. 732, Miscellaneous Translations of Edicts, U.S. Legation, Peking, Entry UD-10, RG 84. NA-College Park.
For example, see âChinese Regent Dismisses Yuan,â Portland Oregonian, January 3, 1909, 1 and 4; âYuanâs Dismissal Endangers Peace,â Portland Oregonian, January 4, 1909, 1; âDiplomats Fear Trouble in China,â New York Times, January 4, 1909, 4; âDownfall of Yuan Shih Kai,â The Times (London), January 4, 1909, 5.
No. 562, Thomas J. OâBrien, U.S. Ambassador, Tokyo, to Secretary of State, January 6, 1909, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/239â243, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19247334?objectPage=17, accessed May 25, 2024, which enclosed translations from Kokumin Shimbun (Tokyo), January 5, 1909, and Jiji Shimpo (Tokyo), January 5 and 6, 1909; also no. 1085, Rockhill to Root, January 16, 1909, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/258â261, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19247334?objectPage=88, accessed May 25, 2024, which said that the Japanese minister in Beijing was ârelieved and greatly pleased at Yuanâs dismissal.â
âDeclares Chinese Ruler Murdered,â Portland Oregonian, January 9, 1909, 2. Also, âEmperor Killed by Yuanâs Order,â Portland Oregonian, January 13, 1909, 4, which reported from New York that the Chinese Empire Reform Association had been informed that the charges against Yuan had been confirmed and that, on Yuanâs order, the emperor had been poisoned by a Fujianese physician.
âYuan Shi Kaiâs Dismissal,â New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 8, 1909.
J. O. P. Bland, Peking, to Kang Youwei, Penang, January 21, 1909, J. O. P. Bland Papers, Letters Out (copy), Manuscript Collection 81, Rare Book Division, University of Toronto Library.
Kang Youwei, Egypt, to J. O. P. Bland, Peking, March (no date), 1909, Bland Papers, Letters In. Also see Kang Youwei, âThe Palace,â Penang, to N. R. [Robert Norman] Bland, February 16, 1909, Letters In, thanking Blandâs brother for the protection he afforded Kang in Penang, upon his departure for Egypt.
âSays Reformers Put Out Leader,â Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 6, 1909, 10; âYuan Shi Kai, Chinaâs Enemy,â San Diego Union, January 10, 1909. You also wrote a political commentary in English, under the name Yan S. Wan, âPresent Conditions of Peking Government,â Chicago Legal News, February 19, 1909, 226, outlining the different political factions in China after the two deaths and expressing hope that the new regent would revive the âprogressive movement.â
Cui, âZaifengâs Dismissal of Yuan Shikai,â 200â201.
Kang Youwei, âThe Palace,â (Penang), to Roosevelt, January 26, 1909, State Department Numerical Files, 1518/267-270, RG 59, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19247334?objectPage=123, accessed May 25, 2024, second enclosure is a set of translated letters supporting his âChapter.â They were âLeong Teng Funâs Impeachment against Yuan Shi-kai,â no date; âYuan Shi-tâungâs letter to Yuan Shi-kai,â July or August, 1908, and âYuan Shih-kaiâs action (written in July or August, 1908 by Ching Chia-sing).â The letter and enclosures were forwarded to the Department of State on March 3, 1909.
All three men are described with letter excerpts in Charles Johnston, âChinaâs Adroit President,â Harperâs Weekly, March 30, 1912, 12, which impugns Yuanâs character based on the accusations of these men after the deaths of Guangxu and Cixi.
âKang Yu-wei,â National Review (Shanghai), July 12, 1913, 27.
Kang Youwei, undated note, enclosed with a letter from Y. S. Wan [You Shiyin} to Charles Flint, September 25, 1913, Charles Ranlett Flint Papers, 1872â1930, MssCol 1032, Manuscript and Archives Division, New York Public Library. The two pieces of correspondence indicate that Kang, You, and Flint, an international arms dealer among other occupations, were discussing a major delivery of weapons, but Kangâs illnesses and operations in 1913 meant he could not proceed with his plans: âMy nephew told me that you are willing to help me 100 guns, 10,000 riffle [sic], 2 million shot. I thank you ever so much, at present I shall not need it yet, when I need it, I shall write and let you know.â
See three articles entitled âKang Yu-wei,â National Review, January 24, 1914, 96; March 14, 1914, 313; and Supplement to the National Review, January 23, 1915, 14. Also, âThe President and Mr. Kang Yu-wei,â Supplement to the National Review, January 30, 1915, 18.
Cui Zhihai å´å¿æµ·, âGuangxu Huangdi he Cixi Taihou zhi Si yu Meiguo Zhengfude FanyingâJian Lun Guangxu Si Yinâ å ç·çå¸åæ 禧太åä¹æ»èç¾åæ¿åºçåæâå ¼è«å ç·æ»å [The Deaths of Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi and the American Governmentâs Response], Qingshi Yanjiu (Studies in Qing History) æ¸ å²ç 究 no. 3 (August 2009): 128â29. âImperial Decrees,â North China Herald, November 24, 1908, 456; Headland, Court Life in China, 344â46.
Cui, âGuangxu Huangdi he Cixi Taihou,â 132â33. Cui used the diaries and official notes of the officials in charge of Guangxu on a daily basis: Yun Yuding, Xu Baoheng, and Lu Chuanlin.
The former Xuantong Emperor later wrote that the Guangxu Emperorâs death was âvery suspiciousâ and tended to adhere to the story that Yuan conspired with Prince Qing in poisoning the emperor; see Puyi, From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, V. J. F. Jenner, trans. (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1964), 18.
Dai Yi æ´é¸, âGuangxu zhi Siâ å ç·ä¹æ» [The Death of Guangxu], Qingshi Yanjiu (Studies in Qing History) no. 4 (November 2008): 27â32. This edict was issued in the emperorâs name saying heâd been unwell since June [1898] in spite of medical treatment and calling for immediate help from outside physicians.
Zhong Liman é¾è£¡æ»¿, et al., âGuojia Qingshi Zuanxiu Gongcheng Zhongda Xueshu Wenti Yanjiu Zhuanxiang Keti Chengguo: Qing Guangxu Di Siyin Yanjiu Gongzuo Baogaoâ åå®¶æ¸ å²çºä¿®å·¥ç¨é大å¸è¡ç 究å°é 課é¡ææ: æ¸ å ç·å¸æ»å ç 究工ä½å ±å [Results of Research on Special Study Topics by the National Qing history Compilation Project to Analyze Major Scholarly Problems: Report on the Research Work on the Death of the Guangxu Emperor], Qingshi Yanjiu (Studies in Qing History) no. 4 (November 2008): 1â12. âForensic Scientists: Chinaâs Reformist Second-to-Last Emperor was Murdered,â China Daily, November 3, 2008, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-11/03/content_7169775.htm, accessed July 17, 2019.
Fang Delin æ¿å¾·é°, ââQing Guangxu Di Siyin Jianzhengâ Zhiyiâ âæ¸ å ç·å¸æ»å éèâ質ç[Calling into Question the âAuthentication of the Cause of Death of Qing Emperor Guangxuâ] (paper, 7th International Scholarly Conference on the History of Modern Chinese Thought, in Commemoration of 160 years since the Birth of Kang Youwei, Nanhai, Guangdong, March 2018).
Dai Yi, âGuangxu zhi Si,â 29.
Thank you to Chen Xuezhang for reviewing the literature, including Fang Delinâs paper, and helping the book team reach this carefully considered if incomplete conclusion.