A Study Of The National Classic Movement In The Late Qing Dynasty

In the late 19 th century, Chinese army was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War. In order to search for ways to save the nation out of the crisis, many knowledgeable people went to Japan for further study, during which they introduced Japanese Nationalism Thought into China. With the spread of Japan nationalism thoughts in late Qing Dynasty, Quintessence School who have a strong academic foundation has taken shape.The movement of Quintessence was driven by many important conditions. These conditions include the following aspects: first, the Quintessence School proposed that it has positive significance to raise people’s nationalist feelings by advocating the quintessence of Chinese culture; second, the thought of Anti-Manchu conformed to the prevailing bourgeois revolution;third, the Qing government lacked social control that provided a relatively relaxed atmosphere of thought; fourth, the "cultural consciousness" of Quintessence School was helpful for the development of the movement of Quintessence in the late Qing Dynasty; fifth, the academic debate between Quintessence School and Reformation Group promoted the development of the movement; sixth, the academic debate between China and the West in national studies promoted the development of the movement; seventh, a series of new archaeological discoveries at that time promoted the development of the movement.Because of so many favorable conditions, the movement of Quintessence turned into an intellectual movement popular all over the country. Specifically, the prosperity of the movement mainly shows in the following aspects: first, a huge number of participants; second, a large number of press and social organizations that advocated Quintessence; third, abundant works on Quintessence; fourth, the large-scale work about collecting and collating Traditional books.The movement of Quintessence began to decline around the 1911 Revolution. Specifically,there are four points contributing to the downfall of the movement of Quintessence: first, the academic limitation of the some Quintessence School scholars; second, there was a tendency of restoring ancient ways among the Quintessence School; third, many people of the Quintessence School had the thought of "quit after succeed" after the victory of 1911 Revolution and their enthusiasm for politics began to drain away due to a series of following political events; fourth,the divisions among the members of the Quintessence School caused bad influence on the movement of Quintessence.The influence of the movement of Quintessence in the late Qing Dynasty is very extensive.On the positive side, it provided the necessary public support for the Bourgeois revolution; it maintained the dignity and status of Traditional Chinese Culture; it promoted the modernizationof the subject sinology; it helped to spread some advanced thoughts and ideas; it broke the domination of Confucianism and enriched the content of Sinology; it provided references for the Movement of Rearranging the National Heritage. On the negative side, the Great-Hanism thought in the movement of Quintessence threat the national unity against foreign aggression;Quintessence School overemphasized the traditional culture and hindered the introduction of western culture into China.At present, we should make full use of the experience of the movement of Quintessence to promote the traditional culture in our country. We should inherit and carry forward the fine traditional Chinese culture while introspecting and criticizing the traditional culture; we should deal well with the relationship between eastern and western culture; we should promote further the modern transformation of the cultural heritage; we should handle the relationship between the academic truth and practice correctly; we should cultivate scholars’ self-consciousness. We should learn from the movement of Quintessence. We should keep going rather than slow down and admire our achievements. We should become one to put our work forward;We should use the latest academic theory and improve our Academic theory system to promote the construction of traditional cultures; we should fight against the trend of restoration in traditional culture construction; we should oppose narrow nationalism and stick to equality and unity among ethnic groups and preserve their traditional cultures.