Abstract: Although Zhang Zhidong drew close to reformists for a time in 1896, helping to finance their publications, he did not truly support the reform movement. Even at the time of his most harmonious relations with Liang Qichao and other reformers, Zhang remained uncompromising in his attitude toward all opinions that violated feudal ethics. The Contradiction sharpened as the reforms progressed, and in 1898, to save his own interests, Zhang wrote Exhortation to learning a frontal attack on reformist thought, this amplified both the connectedness and the contradictions between the Selt-streng thening official and the reform movement.