Liang Qichao's Tell Zhou Ye Zhu Jun

I'm telling you, all the gentlemen in my industry

(Guangxu 28th year, 1902)

liang qichao

A nod, a letter to my colleague:

Oh! Don't ask about national affairs! The turbidity of its phenomenon and the darkness of the future are disappointing. There are only three points of dissatisfaction: there are many students, many bookstores and many newspapers. However, these three are all at a naive age, and there will be very good results in other days. What is the worst result of restraining harvesting? Nothing can be decided today. And the result is good or bad, all caused by today. My newspaper, please discuss the newspaper with you. Some people think that newspapers have two bounden duties: one is to supervise the government; Second, it is also true that people are their guides.

What is the so-called supervisor of the government? The world is not peaceful and human nature is not perfect. The reason why common affairs are criticized and group governance is improving day by day is because husbands treat bystanders with a supervisory attitude, and then everyone's obligations are slightly finished. There are different ways of supervision. In short, the same is true of supervision above the law, religious supervision and reputation supervision. The legal supervisor, with the force of legal coercion, clearly said: you must do this, you can't do that; If you fail, you will be punished, and so will the person who supervises the most. Religious supervisors, although they can't be punished now, don't reward you behind saying good things, or don't reward you behind saying good things; It is also the second person who has the right to supervise people below salt. Honorary supervisors can't make people obey, believe and fear like the first two. However, implicitly, you must do this, and you must not do that. If you don't do this, you will not be accepted by society and your happiness will be damaged. The real supervision power also includes those who don't let the cadres and schools go both ways. Who cares about this kind of supervision? Hey; Fuck public opinion. The representative of invisible public opinion is the newspaper, although it is called the universal supervision of human beings. The government, entrusted by the public to handle the business of the highest group, must be granted full power, so it is impossible to make a difference; However, if power is so heavy and huge, and there is no reason to limit it, then it is natural to abuse power, despite wisdom. Therefore, for hundreds of years, the discussion of political scholars and the competition of nationals of various countries have been working hard to establish this kind of supervision right. If the legislative and judicial powers are independent and political parties confront each other, it will be most effective to supervise them. I am still worried about its weakness, so later assistance must rely on public opinion. Westerners have an unchanging saying: "Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are the guarantee of all freedoms." Without these two freedoms, administrative authority will never be established and people's rights will never be exhausted. Newspaper reporters can publish articles according to freedom of speech and exercise their bounden duty of supervising the government. Therefore, if a country's business newspaper believes in this knowledge and practices it, then good politics will come out. Napoleon once said, "If there is a newspaper opposition, its power will be terrible, and the 4,000 muskets will be even more powerful." The reporter sincerely destroyed the autocratic spear and defended the people's armor. In a western country like Thailand, legislative power and judicial power have been separated, and political parties have confirmed that the relationship between them is still very important, and because my Pepsi has not been mentioned, the newspaper must be the only political supervisor! Therefore, the merits and demerits of China's political evolution or decline today cannot be exclusively enjoyed by newspapers. How much do colleagues know about this? what do you think? When it is necessary to have Zhai Ran's position with my assistance, it is so important. "If my aid responsibility is so big, he is still thinking about words! Suppressing this newspaper in China, I know it has something to do with the government. However, this means: I will be an adviser to the government and I will fill the vacancy for the government. If so, I dare not call it a newspaper; Although, everyone says I'm doing my job, that's not the reason why I wait. What is this? Newspaper reporters are not the main body of the government, but people on an equal footing with the government. What is restless is that the government is entrusted by the people and is also employed by the people, while the newspaper represents the people who express their wishes and thinks it is public. Therefore, newspapers treat the government as a father and a brother, and teach them if they are not sensible; If you are wrong, you will be blamed. Just admonish with the text. My husband's statement doesn't mean that everything in the government will be difficult. Teaching and criticism go hand in hand, and both are sincere. Although there are urchins, they will be moved and scared. This is why the country relies on newspapers, and we do our national duty just in case. It is appropriate to suppress the so-called regulatory cloud and serve away from the big, not close to the small. The wolf is in power, ask the fox, and judge the teeth without punishing the rice. If it is not ignorance, it will be evaded. People who think that I am a colleague should correct the whole part of the government, instead of picking the gains and losses of one or two small officials, and make the government's major policies, without replacing one or two things with another; If you don't, you will see a newspaper that flatters the powerful, which is also the pot calling the kettle black. First of all, I should do my duty.

What is the so-called people-friendly guide? Xizhe said, "Journalists are also modern historical books." Therefore, it is necessary to have the spirit of historians to govern this industry. What is the spirit of a historian? Remember the past, be a teacher of the future, and guide the people to evolve. Therefore, historians should have subjective and objective boundaries, and so should newspaper writers. Objectively report what the government and people have done recently and the phenomena from home and abroad. Compare recent events, observe phenomena and think about problems, so as to benefit the people and report subjectively. Being objective and not subjective is not reporting. Subjective embrace, everything is uneven, people who want to guide the people, historians applaud history, newspapers applaud news. Newspapers are used to guide citizens for different reasons than schools and books. People who study at school build a knowledge base and cultivate specific people. Newspapermen are the driving force of the world, and those who raise ordinary things are also. People who write books are also those who have a long history of understanding and justice. Those who report to the newspaper will temporarily save those who are honest and clean. Therefore, some people think that a newspaper reporter should set a goal in an extreme sense. It's a little extreme, but it's not a disease. Why? If we go to extremes at this end, then at the same time, there will be people who go to extremes at the other end to correct me, and there will be people at both ends to compromise me, rely on each other, correct each other and compromise each other, and the truth will come out; If it is calm, the whole country's brain will be quiet and the group treatment will stagnate. A lady's comfort lies in what she has learned, but she is afraid of what she has heard, and her nature is good, so she must change what she is afraid of and let her learn, and then her intelligence can be gradually improved. A certain department said: An overnight traveler was startled when he saw a woman at night. He took her head off the box and combed it. When I arrived in other places, I saw several people get together to drink, talk about their affairs and describe their differences. If there are several people, he said, what's strange? We can all be indifferent, so we should take their heads off and put them on the box for display. The guests were not surprised. This is what I call turning terror into wisdom. Agitation is the only thing. There is no terror at first, but when I make it twice as horrible as B, it can move its horrible heart to scare B, and A becomes a habit. And its terrible B, I also show it several times as terrible as C, and then it is a habit to move its terrible B's heart to scare C and B. In this case, if the similarities are endless, the frightened people will go to by going up one flight of stairs, and the learned people will go to by going up one flight of stairs. In this way, the world is very different, and strange theories cannot be tamed, but the intelligence of human beings is at its extreme. Don't look at your sick husband in the sea? At first, crossing a stream a few feet long was still dazzling. Later, taking it across the Three Gorges and Pan-Five Lakes was considered a flat land. Moreover, sailing in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, sailing in the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, inland rivers have since been regarded as flat land. The same is true of national wisdom. Suddenly, I'm asking about the distance. Please speak closer. Twenty years ago, many people were frightened by western learning. And Taiwan Province's political reform, learning from the West is not terrible; 10 years ago, many people were frightened by political reform, and people who talked about civil rights were not frightened by political reform. A year or two ago, people who heard about civil rights were everywhere. When it came to revolutionaries, they were not afraid of civil rights, but only of revolution. The ideological trend in China's academic circles today is generally shocking to revolutionaries, and it is complicated; Those who are afraid of revolution and not afraid of civil rights will get a hundred points; If you are afraid of western political reform and scholars, it is almost impossible for you. However, the reason why you guide the people is clear. If you want to guide the people to reform, you can't help but use civil rights; If you want to lead the people to fight for civil rights, you can't be afraid of revolution; When it comes to revolution, civil rights are not too scary, and political reform doesn't matter. If there is a more terrible theory, it will be terrible to integrate with the revolution, and civil rights will be ignored. Generally, you have to go through two levels in fear, and then the learned one is appropriate. Some people think that newspapers guide people because they have to practice this skill. Although this is close to everything, right? But according to my Buddha, there is real power, and all beings are rooted here. Since it is immature, if it is not bad, the real law may not be effective. Therefore, those who care about the people should not be biased. If what I want to do is here, what I want to say is not there. I always talk about it, but what our citizens will do in the future is not there but here. The reason is that people in the future will laugh at my ignorance and treat me as extreme. Laugh at me, tease me, I am not hurt, I have achieved what I want. Therefore, those who want to save the country with their own bodies have to sacrifice their own lives, and those who want to save the country with their own words have to sacrifice their own reputation. People who are willing to aim at the whole body have never regretted it, and then have several ambitions. Although it's not polite, you must be enthusiastic. Generally speaking, newspapers are like children in strict father to the government. Being a son for the people, never forgetting a few admonitions, not compromising, not accommodating, and being close to the Tao is this dutiful son. I should do my duty. This is the second one.

What I said above, I am willing to encourage you; If that's not what you mean, please give me more advice according to Hong's theory. I don't have an axe in my hand, so those who repay the debt rely on this three-inch golden tongue and seven-inch golden tongue Although, there is no doubt that being a corpse seems to be a great responsibility, when China will live forever, my economy and residence are the same thing, and my husband's safety is non-negotiable, so I encourage each other with him. It was founded in the age of innocence, in the age of kings. Bye.

(Transferred from Zhang's Notes: Supplement to Historical Materials Published in China, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 1957).

See pages 96 ~ 99 of a brief history, 106 ~ 107, and pages 650 ~ 659 of general history (I).