On the New Citizen (Xinmin shuo)

Introduction

Liang Qichao, a student of Kang Youwei, wrote these essays in Japanese exile after the failure of the 1898 reforms and published them in instalments from 1902 to 1906 in his journal Xinmin congbao (New Citizen Journal), printed in Yokohama. He argues that China’s weakness lies not only in its government but in its people, who have cultivated private morality but lack “public morality”, national consciousness, a sense of rights, an enterprising spirit and the capacity for self-government. Drawing on Western political thought, Social Darwinism and Japanese debates, he calls for a renewal of the people as the foundation of a modern nation-state. The essays were widely read by the young Chinese intellectuals of the following generation.

Connections

Builds on

• The Social Contract1762 · Jean-Jacques Rousseau