The spread of western learning to the east refers to the historical process in which modern western academic thoughts were introduced into China. Although it can also refer to the introduction of various western things into China from ancient times to the present, it usually refers to the introduction of academic ideas from Europe and the United States in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties and the early Qing Dynasty.
During this period, China people's attitude towards western things changed from initial rejection to gradual acceptance of western learning, and even demanded "total westernization". In the process of western learning spreading to the east, there are a large number of western philosophy, astronomy, physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, geography, politics, sociology, economics, law, applied science and technology, history, literature and art through the media such as Xihua, overseas Chinese, various newspapers, books and new education, and taking Macao, Hong Kong and other trading ports and Japan as important windows.
Two stages
1, the arrival of Jesuit missionaries in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
During the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, with the arrival of Jesuit missionaries, China's academic thought was touched. At this time, western science and technology began to develop rapidly, while China's science and technology development has been very slow, and it lags far behind Europe. Missionaries not only spread the teachings of Christianity, but also introduced many science and technology. At that time, some scholars and emperors in China accepted scientific and technological knowledge, but their thoughts were basically unaffected. At this stage, the eastward spread of western learning was interrupted by Yongzheng's ban and the Vatican's missionary policy to China, but the smaller-scale eastward spread of western learning did not stop completely.
At this time, the introduction of western learning was mainly based on the translation of western scientific works by missionaries and some China people. 1605, Matteo Ricci compiled Gankun Tiyi, which was called "the beginning of the spread of western learning to the east" by the compilers of Sikuquanshu. At that time, the influence on China was mainly in astronomy, mathematics and cartography. Because it was only circulated among a few literati, most of them were hidden in the palace, so it was not well popularized.
2. Before and after the Opium War until before and after the May 4th Movement.
/kloc-Around the middle of the 0/9th century, westerners began to re-enter China and brought new knowledge from the west through various media. Stimulated by the Opium War and the allied forces of Britain and France, the Qing government started the Westernization Movement in the1860s, which also prompted the western science and technology to be introduced to China again. At that time, westernization people mainly faced western learning with the attitude of "learning from the middle school and using western learning for practical purposes", but they mainly paid attention to the transportation of advanced weapons and related equipment in the west, without trying to learn western academic thoughts. Therefore, the introduction of academic ideas in this period was mainly through the media founded by western missionaries and books translated and introduced by westernization institutions for military purposes.
After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, because China was facing the fate of national ruin and family ruin, many people of insight began to learn from the West more actively and comprehensively, and a number of thinkers such as Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong appeared. They learned a lot of natural science and social science from the west, and they also demanded political reform. During this period, a great deal of western knowledge was introduced into China, which had a wide influence. Many people accept western learning by translating western books written by Japanese. During the Republic of China, dissatisfaction with politics further led intellectuals to put forward the idea of total westernization, which had a great influence during the May 4th Movement. This wave of western learning spreading to the east has continued to the present age.
medium
(1) people from western China.
Westerners who come to China include missionaries, diplomats and officials. , have an impact on the spread of western learning to the east.
1, missionary
Missionaries played a very important role in the wave of western learning spreading eastward in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. At that time, missionaries, mainly Jesuits (later Franciscans, Dominicans and other priests), while trying to introduce Catholicism into China, introduced western scientific and academic ideas and translated a large number of books related to Western learning. Among them, Matteo Ricci, Julio Aleni, Tang Ruowang and others played an important role.
/kloc-in the 9th century, western learning spread to the east, Protestant priests began to enter China, and Catholic priests also traveled around the world with the opening of ports. They founded missionary schools and hospitals, publishing houses, periodicals and translated a large number of books. It has made great contributions to the spread of western learning to the east.
2. Others from western China
In addition to missionaries, many officials and explorers who came to China also became important media for the spread of Western learning to the East, such as the influence of General Gordon on China's military during the Westernization period. Hurd, who presided over the General Administration of Customs and Taxation, had an influence on the introduction of western management system, as well as the introduction of translated works and the earliest western military bands.
(2) China people who go abroad
1, travelers, businessmen and diplomats
At the end of Ming and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, many China people went to Europe with missionaries, but they did not leave relevant words in the early stage, so it had little influence on the introduction of western culture. The earliest record is that Shou-Li Fan (1682- 1753) went to Rome with four missionaries during the Kangxi period and wrote a book "Seeing the corpse", describing the political system, architecture and customs in Europe. During the Qianlong period, Xie, a businessman, traveled around Europe and wrote A Record of the Sea, which recorded European trade, crafts, people's lives and world geography.
After the Opium War, more China people went abroad by themselves. 1840s, businessman Lin Zhen wrote about The Journey to the West and described his trip to Europe and America. Wang Tao, a famous political thinker in modern times, traveled to Europe in 1867. In 1870, he published two books, A Brief History of France and the Discipline of Popularizing Law. 1879' s trip to Japan influenced his various ideas. 1876, Li Gui, a businessman, went to the United States to attend the Expo and wrote a book, A New Record of Traveling Around the World, which became the first narrator of China people traveling around the world and introduced the development of American academic science and technology.
Due to the implementation of the Westernization Movement, the Qing government sent officials such as Bin Chun to Europe 12 in 1866, and wrote travel notes. From 1868 to 1870, Manchu zhigang officially went to Europe and America for the first time, and he wrote the first ambassador to Taixi. In addition, Zhang Deyi, a student of Wentong Museum who visited Binchun in his early years, went to Europe many times and wrote seven books, * * *, which described the academic culture of European society more deeply.
After Guangxu began to send envoys abroad, more important officials and intellectuals went to Europe and America to write travel notes. As the envoys stayed longer than ordinary travelers, they had a deeper understanding of western ideology and culture, among which Guo Songtao, Liu Xihong, Xue Fucheng, Xu and others had a great influence on China's ideology and culture. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the traffic between China and foreign countries opened wide, and going abroad became a very common phenomenon, so I won't go into details.
2. International students
The overseas students in modern China began after the Opium War. Most of the early foreign students came from missionary schools in Hong Kong and Macao and further developed abroad. Rong Hong, who went to Yale University in the United States from 65438 to 0850 and to Edinburgh University in the United Kingdom from 65438 to 0848, was one of the representatives of early international students. Rong Rong felt the lack of social culture in China during his studies, so he hoped that more people would go abroad to learn western things after returning home. At his suggestion, the Qing government finally selected the first batch of young children to study in the United States in 1872, and selected the second batch the following year. After graduating from high school, I mainly studied western military and industrial technology, although in 18866.
On the other hand, from 65438 to 0875, students from Fujian Shipyard and Beiyang Naval Academy were sent to study in European countries one after another, which contributed to the study of the western navy in the late Qing Dynasty, but Yan Fu, the most famous of them, had a great influence on the introduction of other western learning, not the military.
Compared with the Westernization Movement, most of the overseas students were officials, and the number was small and sporadic. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, there was a wave of studying in Japan at first, and a large number of students studying in Japan sponsored by the government and went by the people themselves, which was of great help to Japan in learning western learning. In addition, after 1900, the number of students studying in the United States increased greatly because the United States returned part of boxer indemnity as funds for studying in the United States. When studying in France, around 19 12 years ago, Li Shizeng, Cai Yuanpei and others initiated work-study programs, which made many people stay in France. These large numbers of foreign students have direct contact with western education, which enables them to introduce western learning to China more directly.
medium
Media is a way to spread the western learning acquired by a few intellectuals to more people quickly. In the spread of western learning to the east in modern times, the most important media are books, periodicals and newspapers.
1, the publication and circulation of books
The translation and writing of western books is a very important medium for the spread of western learning to the east. For various published books and profiles, please refer to the following list of books and related contents of various disciplines. This paper mainly discusses the publication and circulation of books.
During the spread of western learning to the east in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, although a large number of books co-authored and co-translated by priests and scholars appeared, these books failed to get the attention of the general society at that time and failed to enter the developed commercial publishing industry in the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, although western books are printed and published, they are mainly circulated among a few interested scholars.
Since the beginning of the19th century, it was the western church organizations that first published a large number of books in western languages. For example, in 1843, the British missionary maddox founded the Mohai Library in Shanghai. Mohai Library has published a number of books on western politics, science and religion, such as the New Testament, A Brief Introduction to America, A New Collection of Natural History, Botany, Differential calculus, Algebra and so on. It also published the Chinese periodical Liuhe Congtan, which was the most important publishing institution for translating and introducing western learning in Daoxian period. In addition, it is also an important publishing institution of early western learning.
1887 guangxue society, composed of missionaries and foreign businessmen, is another important publishing institution of western learning. A large number of books on politics, science and technology, history, geography and law have been published and translated, especially after 1895, which has become an important ideological source for Kang Youwei and other reformists.
Another important translation and publishing institution was established by the Qing government under the promotion of the Westernization Movement. Among them, Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, founded in 1865, translated the most books and had the greatest influence, especially in science and technology. The Wentong Museum in Beijing has the greatest influence on books on public international law, chemistry and law. In addition, Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, Kaiping Mining Bureau, Tianjin Machinery Bureau, Shanghai Guangdong Pavilion, Guangzhou Wentong Pavilion and other institutions have translation and publishing institutions.
Private publishing houses in China started from the Commercial Press, which was established in 1897. For commercial reasons, its publication attaches great importance to the introduction of universal knowledge and the publication of new teaching materials in line with the promotion of new education. At the same time, because its publishing house has branches and sales outlets all over the country, it has made great contributions to spreading new knowledge of western learning to a wider public. Later 19 12 established Zhonghua Bookstore, which was in competition with business, also played a similar role.
As for the circulation of books, in addition to bookstores, all kinds of libraries began to be promoted during the Reform Movement of 1898, hoping to change the traditional situation that China librarians kept their books in private possession and had poor circulation. At the earliest, reformers set up societies all over the country and opened their books to the public. Among them, in addition to traditional academic books, many western books have been borrowed. The public library was established by the Qing government in 1902, and the first large-scale public library was established in Hunan in 1905, with a large collection of western books. Later, the provinces were gradually established. In the Republic of China, public libraries and private libraries were more developed and played an important role in spreading new knowledge to the people.
2. periodicals
Compared with books, magazines and newspapers play an important role in spreading the latest western knowledge because they are published regularly. In the first stage of western learning spreading to the east, there were no periodicals.
Most of the periodicals in the early late Qing Dynasty were church periodicals. The earliest periodical in China is the Biography of Examining the Worldly Monthly, which was founded by Ma Lixun, a Jesuit in Britain, and milian in Malacca (18 15). Although it was not published in China, many of them spread to China. In China, Karl gutzlaff, a Dutch priest, founded the monthly Exam of the East and the West in 1833, introducing western culture, news and literature. In the following decades, missionaries founded various periodicals one after another, but most of them didn't last long (five years is a long time) and their circulation had little impact. 1853, Jacob and Maihuatuo founded the "Treasure Vision" in Hong Kong; 1854, American missionary margot founded Chinese and foreign bulletin in Ningbo. 1857, Mohai Library published the Chinese periodical Liuhe Congtan; 1862, English Jesuits founded Miscellanies of China and the West in Shanghai; China Church News (1874), founded by American pastor Lin Lezhi on 1868, was renamed World Bulletin, which introduced a wide range of western knowledge. It continued to have a large circulation in Lin Lezhi. It was an important medium to spread western learning in the late Qing Dynasty. China, published by Beijing Kyoto Stone Hospital 65438-0872, is the earliest periodical in Beijing. In addition, Gezhi, founded by John Fryer (formerly known as John Fryer) in 1876, was the first scientific journal in China, which had a great influence on the introduction of western scientific knowledge.
Stimulated by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 1895, a large number of periodicals founded by China people emerged, which were mostly used to publicize western political thoughts and academics. The earliest ones are 1895' s Wan Guo Bulletin founded by Kang Youwei (with the same name as that founded by Lin Lezhi), 1896' s Qiangkan, and the current affairs newspaper founded by Liang Qichao in the same year. After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, Qingyi Newspaper was founded in Yokohama, Japan in 1898, and was later stopped by fire in 190 1 year. At the same time, revolutionary groups have people's newspapers in Japan. The dispute between the two newspapers aroused readers' enthusiastic participation in political affairs and their understanding of many western political, economic and social theories.
The success of the Revolution of 1911 reduced the upsurge of political periodicals in the late Qing Dynasty. New Youth, founded in 19 15, represents a new periodical with cultural discussion as its main purpose. New Youth and other similar periodicals had a great influence on the introduction of western ideas in the Republic of China.
3. newspapers
Compared with periodicals, newspapers are mostly reportable and commercial, lacking in in-depth knowledge. However, because of their quick publication time and large circulation, they are helpful to widely spread western knowledge and news. Among the most influential newspapers, the earliest is the Shanghai New Newspaper, which was founded in Shanghai by British businessman Pickwood in 186 1. Its contents include news and business news, as well as the introduction of western science and technology. From 65438 to 0864, Chinese and foreign bulletins, current affairs catalogue and Chen Dexi newspaper were published in Hong Kong. Later, another western businessman, Ernest Major, founded Shenbao on 1872, which became an important newspaper in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Although its content is mainly news and anecdotes, it also includes reports on western thoughts and news, as well as discussions on the contact between Chinese and Western cultures in readers' contributions (especially the debate on railways and geomantic omen). 1874, Wang Tao founded Circular Daily in Hong Kong, which is the first Chinese daily newspaper founded by Chinese in the world. Wang Tao wrote a lot of political ideas that advocated reform and self-improvement.
Before 1895, the influence of the new newspaper was limited to coastal port areas. However, after 1895, the circulation of these newspapers increased greatly. For example, in addition to the increase in the layout and distribution area of Shenbao, more newspapers began to compete, including Shanghai News, The Times and Tianjin Ta Kung Pao. In addition, there are revolutionary newspapers such as Alarm Daily, which have been dominated by classical Chinese since the early days.
New school
In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the priest giulio aleni introduced the school system to European countries, but it did not attract the attention of scholars at that time, nor did it affect the education in China.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, with this wave of western learning spreading to the east, new western-style schools began to be gradually established and became an important medium for learning western learning. Most of the early western-style schools were run by westerners, especially churches. The earliest school was Ma Lixun School, which was established in Macau in 1839, and a similar school was established in Guangzhou, the only port at that time. After the Opium War, missionary schools were widely established in various ports, and further developed inland after the Tianjin Treaty, which became an important channel for the early spread of Western learning among the people. Gezhi Academy was founded by Xu Shou and John Flair in 1876. It was an early academy that taught western natural science.
In the Westernization Movement, in order to cultivate relevant talents, the Qing government also began to set up new schools, the earliest of which were Wentong Pavilion in Beijing and Guangfu Pavilion in Shanghai. Later, western-style schools specializing in astronomy, electricity, medicine and military affairs were set up all over the country. During this period, missionary schools also developed further and began to dilute the religious color of schools, which played a significant role in the spread of western learning.
Stimulated by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and advocated by the Reform Movement of 1898, a large number of new schools appeared, and a large number of traditional academies were changed into new schools. 1905 the abolition of the imperial examination made traditional private schools lose their main role and go into decline or transformation. In the late Qing Dynasty, the New Deal formally adopted the western academic system to standardize schools at all levels, and the content of learning western learning was more extensive.
The role of Hong Kong, Macao and other port concessions
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Macao was ceded to Portugal by the imperial court. Therefore, in the process of western learning spreading to the east in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, western missionaries often took Macau as a relay station, and some academic ideas were gradually introduced into China. Many China people who deal with westerners also study western languages and cultures in Macau.
184 1 year, Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in treaty of nanking, which made Hong Kong replace Macau to a great extent and become a bridge between China and the West. China people who emigrated to Hong Kong were exposed to the British political system, laws, customs, academic culture and so on. In this environment, many intellectuals with new ideas were born in modern China, including Wang Tao, He Qi, Hong Rengan and others.
With the signing of the unequal treaties between the Qing Dynasty and western countries, the treaty port concessions in various places were gradually established, resulting in many channels for cultural exchanges between China and the West. Among them, the Shanghai Concession is the most representative and influential, and people living in the Concession are more directly exposed to western new scientific and technological things, western political and legal system, capitalist economy and western media. Therefore, many new intellectuals in modern times were influenced by western learning because they lived in Shanghai. In addition, comprador businessmen who are active in various ports have become a group of people who began to understand western languages and cultural customs earlier because of their business needs. For example, Zheng, who advocates parliamentary democracy, is a businessman from Guangdong port area.
The Role of Japan in the Spread of Western Learning to the East
During the reign of Daoguang Xianfeng, China had been in contact with the West before Japan, so the Japanese often learned about the West through China's translation (including the works of Wei Yuan and others). However, as the Japanese began to learn Western learning, including the implementation of the Meiji Restoration, the study of Western learning began to surpass China in the 1960s and 1960s, and attracted the attention of Li Hongzhang and others. In addition, Japanese consul Huang Zunxian introduced the history, progress and development of Japan in 1887, but it did not attract people's attention at that time.
The Sino-Japanese War made more people pay attention to the success of Japanese learning from the West. After that, Russia invaded northeast China, which made the Qing government decide to be friendly with Japan. In addition, due to geographical convenience, a large number of international students go to Japan to study. Because of the closed Chinese characters (there were more Chinese characters in Japanese than in modern Japanese at that time), many people who only knew a little about Japanese could read and even translate Japanese versions of western learning, so Japan became the most important medium for China to learn western academic culture in the late Qing Dynasty (especially in the period of 1895- 19 14).
For example, Kang Youwei, a reformist, took Japan's study of the western political system as an example when implementing the New Deal. Liang Qichao is one of the most influential figures in the ideological circle in the late Qing Dynasty. During his stay in Japan, he introduced a large number of western vocabulary from the study of related translated works. Japan's influence on the spread of western learning in China can be seen from a large number of references to Japanese characters, including important western new concepts such as politics, society, culture, economy, philosophy, chemistry and physics. * * * Hundreds of Japanese-translated western neologisms were introduced into China and widely used.
After 19 14, due to the strong anti-Japanese movement caused by Japan's proposal of Article 21 to the China government, and the convenience of studying in Europe and America, the number of people increased and more attention was paid, and the intermediary role of Japan in learning western learning in China weakened.
The Changes of China People's Views on Western Learning
1, late Ming and early Qing dynasty
At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, the spread of western learning to the east made a few scholars in China begin to realize that western learning was superior to China, but this did not change the basic view of China people on Manabu Nakanishi. In western learning, technical aspects, such as astronomical calendars, surveying and so-called "exotic things in the west" are still the main concerns, which have little influence on China's academic itself.
In addition, the most common saying at that time was that "Western learning originated in China", and it was thought that what was inferior to Western learning now was actually something that existed in ancient China and was introduced to the West, but China himself was lost. For example, Huang Zongxi thinks that the Duke of Zhou introduced some mathematical principles to the West. Wang Fuzhi thinks that western learning is mostly "copying China Thought". Qian Daxin believes that western astronomy and arithmetic are all learned from Zu Chongzhi's works that have been lost in China, which makes people feel at ease to recognize and learn these superior western academics.
2. Late Qing Dynasty
When China people came into contact with westerners at the turn of Daoguang and Xianfeng in the late Qing Dynasty, only a few people of insight, such as Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan, began to notice the advantages of western learning, but they basically did not regard western learning as equivalent to the academic culture of middle schools. Judging from Wei Yuan's famous saying "Learn from foreigners to control foreigners", western learning can only be "learn from foreigners and learn from them".
In the early days of the Westernization Movement, most people still had this similar view. However, with the increasing contact with the west, the word "western learning" has gradually replaced "foreign learning". Many officials and intellectuals began to face up to Western learning as an academic thought equivalent to middle school, and began to explore how to integrate their strengths and weaknesses to help China become rich and strong. At that time, Zhang Zhidong, who had an important position in politics and academia, put forward "taking middle school as the body and learning from the west for use"
This view of western learning in middle school once gave this generation of intellectuals a model of learning western learning with peace of mind in the late Qing Dynasty, but it began to be challenged in the last decade of the late Qing Dynasty. In the early years of the Republic of China, more people were dissatisfied with traditional culture and began to regard western learning as "new learning", thinking that western learning was higher than middle school and should replace middle school, which triggered further debate.
The Controversy and Influence of Western Learning Spreading to the East during the Republic of China
The first theoretical confrontation began with the publication of New Youth in 19 15. The focus of the debate is the evaluation and understanding of the cultural differences between China and the West. As soon as New Youth came out, it publicized and advocated new ideas, new culture and new morality with great fanfare. They advocate that "the so-called new is foreign western culture, and the so-called old is China's inherent culture", and openly advocate replacing traditional feudal culture with western culture. In order to emphasize the advanced nature of western civilization, Chen Duxiu summed up the characteristics of eastern and western civilizations after comparing them in "Differences in the Basic Thoughts of Eastern and Western Nationalities". He believes that the western nations take war as the standard and the eastern nations take rest as the standard; Western nations are individual-oriented, while eastern nations are family-oriented; Western nations are based on the rule of law and practical interests, while eastern nations are based on feelings and empty words. This paper uses the length of western culture to reflect the length of China culture. This attitude and obvious orientation quickly aroused strong opposition from cultural conservatives. Starting from 19 16, Du Yaquan, editor-in-chief of Oriental Magazine, published a series of articles on the cultural differences between the East and the West under the pseudonym "Gunman", arguing with Chen Duxiu and others. He also adopted Chen Duxiu's comparison method, but his conclusion was completely opposite. He summarized western civilization as dynamic civilization, while China civilization was static civilization. He said that these two civilizations can complement each other and learn from each other's strengths, but at the same time, "they have to be based on quietness." Even western civilization depends on the civilization of our country to save the poor. He warned Chinese people not to be dazzled by western material civilization and insisted on taking Confucianism as the standard of right and wrong. He accused the importation of new ideas and new cultures from the west, which destroyed this traditional standard, resulting in "confusion of people's hearts", less loss of the country and less bankruptcy of the spirit. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao made a tit-for-tat rebuttal. Li Dazhao adopted the gun father's view that the eastern civilization is mainly static and the western civilization is mainly dynamic, but completely denied the gun father's argument in value orientation.
Then, the second large-scale debate was after the May 4th Movement in 19 19. At this time, traditional culture has been violently impacted, and western culture has flooded in. The spread of new culture is an irresistible trend, and the argument that foreign cultures are completely excluded is untenable. Therefore, a "harmony theory" of Chinese and western cultures has emerged on the cultural front. Since the autumn of 19 19, Zhang has been giving speeches everywhere, advocating the theory of reconciling the old with the new. He thinks: "Harmony, society has evolved to the essence", "Without the old, there is no new" and "If you are not good at preserving the old, you must never welcome the new". Gunfu and others quickly echoed this argument, further suggesting that China's inherent civilization cannot be "abolished", and this kind of reconciliation can only "integrate western civilization into our inherent civilization". In fact, this is still a brand-new cultural conservatism. In the debate, Li Dazhao analyzed the objective inevitability that the new culture must replace the old culture, not reconcile with it, from the decisive factors of the economic base. Magazines such as New Youth, Trendy, Minfeng and Weekly Review all took an active part in this debate. On the one hand, this debate further spread the new cultural spirit of a complete break with feudal traditional culture, and at the same time, it also opened the precedent of the theory of "total westernization"
The third debate about Chinese and Western cultures took place in the early1968+0920s. Its theme is the position and value of China culture in the world culture. 19 18, Liang Qichao returned from Europe and published "European Travels", which made many impressions. It is mainly because of the high development of material civilization in Europe in the past hundred years, but it has brought many disasters. If we want to liberate the western world, we can only rely on the ancient civilization of China. Liang Shuming, in 192 1 published "Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophy", believes that western culture "takes the desire as the fundamental spirit", Indian culture "takes the desire as the fundamental spirit" and China culture "takes the harmony of self-desire as the fundamental spirit". He believes that these three cultural systems represent three stages of the development of human culture, and draws the conclusion that the road of western culture has come to an end, and the next step is "the era of China's cultural revival becoming a world culture." Hu Shi and others immediately rose up to fight. Hu Shi believes: "Now that the world is big, the environment and problems that originally spurred Europeans are also urging us now. There is no doubt that China and India will become more scientific and governed by the people in the future. Li Dazhao, Qu Qiubai and others began to use Marxist theoretical weapons to participate in this debate. Qu Qiubai pointed out: "Western culture has gone from capitalism to imperialism, while eastern culture is still stuck between patriarchal society and feudal system", both of which should be abandoned by contemporary society. Only by carrying out the proletarian world revolution can we achieve real cultural development.
Western learning spread to the east in various disciplines
1 philosophy
There is no strictly defined philosophical concept in China's traditional thought, and the basic logic of philosophy only exists in a few ancient thoughts such as famous scholars.
Western philosophy began to be introduced in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, mostly written by Portuguese missionary Goinbauer, who introduced Aristotle's philosophy from epistemology, philosophy and metaphysics. In addition, the works of the medieval philosopher Aquinas were also translated into China in the early Qing Dynasty.
But it was not until the late Qing Dynasty that western philosophy was really imported into China in large quantities, and the word philosophy was not used in the early period. By the beginning of the 20th century, this word had been widely used in Japan, indicating that philosophy was separated from Confucianism and Confucian classics. At that time, there were a lot of introductions of ancient Greek philosophy and modern western learning. Many new concepts, such as matter, spirit, idealism, materialism and other important philosophical concepts, were also introduced into China, and the introduction of the concept of evolution had a great influence on China's philosophical thought. In terms of logic, the earliest work was The Enlightenment of Differentiating Learning published by Guangdong Institute 1895, which was later translated by Yan Fu.