The Research Of Zenglian’s Life Story And Ideas

Zeng Lian(1856-1928),was a native of Shaoyang,Hunan.He was a provincial graduate in the 20th year of Guangxu’s reign(1894),but he failed in both Metropolitan Examination.In the 28th year of Guangxu’s reign(1902),he was distributed to alternate prefects of Shaanxi by endowing official.In the same year,he was dismissed by the Qing government and never hired.Since then,he has devoted himself to writing and lecturing.Zeng Lian was known for his memorial in the 1898 movement requesting the killing of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao,therefore,the academic circles mainly focus on this matter.Previous studies have not been able to sort out Zeng Lian’s life clearly,there are confusions and errors in historical facts.The generalization of his academic achievements and ideological propositions is not comprehensive and in-depth.Based on the comprehensive reorganization of Zeng Lian’s poetry collections and diary,this paper divides Zeng Lian’s life into three stages:the first stage is his personal growth life and lectures in Hunan before he became an official;the second is endowing officials to stay in Beijing and participating in events such as opposing the 1988 Reform and supporting the Boxer Regiment;The third is that after being dismissed,he lived in Guizhou and wrote books.At the same time,this paper uses Li’an Diary,which is less used by predecessors,and conducts full research on its academic interests,political propositions,and interpersonal communication to reintroduced Zeng Lian’s ideas and propositions.This paper argues that Zeng Lian is not completely opposed to the reform,but emphasizes that there should be trade-offs,which revises the one-sided evaluation of Zeng Lian in previous studies.Except for the memorial in the 1898 movement,Zeng Lian’s life experience and ideological views are not much different from those of other gentry in his generation.All their life experiences are relatively ordinary,and they have not achieved enough academic achievements to be remembered in history.But at that time,they were the majority of the gentry in that era,and their ideas were the mainstream of that era.They are the "normal state" of history.Therefore,the study of Zeng Lian’s life and thought can not only supplement the relevant research on the 1980 coup,but also can understand the life and ideological conditions of the gentry at that time through Zeng Lian,supplement the historical "normal" research,and reveal the basic background of history.