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Tan Sitong

Reformer from Liuyang, author of An Exposition of Benevolence, who joined the Grand Council secretariat in the 1898 reforms and was executed after refusing to flee

Also known as Zi Fusheng · Hao Zhuangfei

Tan Sitong, styled Fusheng and Zhuangfei, was from Liuyang in Hunan, a son of the Hubei governor Tan Jixun. He travelled widely, served on Liu Jintang's staff in Xinjiang and wrote An Exposition of Benevolence (Renxue) while an expectant prefect at Nanjing. From 1897 he helped Governor Chen Baozhen with reforms in Hunan, presiding over the Southern Study Society and working with the School of Current Affairs and the Hunan Daily. Summoned to Beijing in 1898, he was made a secretary of the Grand Council with fourth-rank status and, with Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi and Lin Xu, handled reform business. When the Empress Dowager resumed control that autumn, Liang Qichao urged him to escape to Japan, but he replied that some must leave to plan for the future and some must die to repay the emperor, and stayed. He was arrested and beheaded at Caishikou with five others, remembered as the Six Gentlemen of 1898. Liang Qichao wrote his biography and serialised Renxue in the Qingyi bao.

Life and times

  1. 1865 CEBornQing
  2. 1898Hundred Days' ReformTook partage 33Hundred Days of institutional reform, founding Peking University and awakening modern constitutionalism.
    1. Hundred Days' Reform (1898 CE)Guangxu's Hundred Days' Reform & Martyrdom of Six Gentlemen
  3. 1898 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Prose6
    1. The Study of HumanenessQingTan Sitong's radical philosophy of humaneness, attacking autocracy and the Three Bonds
    2. The Study of Humaneness: Author's PrefaceQing
    3. The Study of Humaneness: Twenty-Seven Definitions of the Study of HumanenessQing
    4. The Study of Humaneness: The Study of Humaneness, Book 1Qing
    5. The Study of Humaneness: The Study of Humaneness, Book 2Qing
    6. +1 more
      1. The Study of Humaneness: Author's Preface (excerpt)Qing
  2. Literature · Sayings3
    1. Breaking Through the Nets of ConventionQingFamous phrase from Tan Sitong's Study of Benevolence: breaking every net that binds
    2. Worn Bare from Crown to Heel for OthersQingIdiom from the Mencius, taken up by Tan Sitong: Mozi's self-sacrifice for the world
    3. Two Kunlun Peaks of CourageQingLine from Tan Sitong's prison-wall poem: those who flee and those who stay both stand tall
  3. Literature · Poetry2
    1. Inscribed upon the Prison WallQingTan Sitong's prison-wall quatrain after the failed 1898 reforms, written before his execution
    2. Tong PassQingYoung Tan Sitong's quatrain at the pass, the Yellow River and mountains as restless as himself

Connections

  1. Shared events4
    1. Kang Youwei1858 CE–1927 CE
    2. Liang Qichao1873 CE–1929 CE
    3. Guangxu Emperor1871 CE–1908 CE
    4. Empress Dowager Cixi1835 CE–1908 CE

Records

His learning centered on daily renewal

Late Qing

The Draft History of the Qing says Tan Sitong, courtesy name Fusheng, from Liuyang in Hunan, was bold in youth and held great ambitions. His learning centered on daily renewal, and he gave little weight to the old teachings on human relations. When Chen Baozhen governed Hunan he returned home to assist the new policies, and when Liang Qichao founded the Southern Study Society he became its head. His works include On Benevolence and the poems of the Mangcangcang Studio.

References (1)