Abstract:

As one of the key reformers, Yang Shenxiu was not only keen on submitting memorials to the throne, which rendered a huge impact on the proceedings of the Reform Movement, but also a crucial participant in the “Conspiracy to Besiege the Old Summer Palace” (or “weiyuanmimou”). His memorial and the attached file presented to the throne the day before the coup d’état of 1898, in which he advocated “soliciting talents” from Japan and “forging alliance” with Japan, Britain and the U.S.，suggested sending personnel to the Palace for the search of gold cellars. The memorial aroused the Empress Dowager Cixi’s acute vigilance and constituted a direct and vital stimulus to the coup. The newly discovered articles written by Yang Shenxiu displayed his specialty in balancing Han Learning and Song Learning, and his expertise in epigraphy and textual research. In the realm of the compilation of local records, he was deeply influenced by Dai Zhen’s studies. Meanwhile, apart from being nourished from the traditional scholarship, the efforts of establishing the geographical coordinates based on distance and combining the theory of “the Procession of Stars” with the traditional method of matching the twenty-eight stars with different regions on earth (or the theory of “xingye”) illustrated Yang’s passion for new Western knowledge, which made him a pioneer among his fellow scholars. In the domain of poetry, Yang’s poems, which followed the genre of the poetry of Song Dynasty yet avoided the tendency of falling into rigidness and unnaturalness, demonstrated his vision of assimilating the virtues of different schools of thought and learning.