Tan Sitong
Encyclopedia
Tan Sitong , courtesy name Fusheng(复生), pseudonym Zhuangfei (壮飞), was a well-known Chinese politician, thinker and revolutionist in the late Qing Dynasty(1636-1911) who was in support of reform; he was however, finally executed because of the failure of the reformation. He was one of the “Six gentlemen of the Hundred Days' Reform” (戊戌六君子).
Unfortunately, at the age of 12 ,Tan Sitong lost his mother, his eldest brother and his second eldest sister one after the other within 5 days dueing to diphtheria. A cousin of him who had this disease infected them when they went to see her. He himself also went off into a dead faint and revived three days later which deemed to be a wonder. This event struck him a lot and since then he regarded life as nothing. After that, his father’s concubine treated him worse and worse. He married to Li Run(李闰) at the age of 19 and had a son called Tan Lansheng(谭兰生) who died within a year.
In 1879, he learned from another scholar, Xu Qixian(徐启先), from whom he had a systematic study of Chinese typical works and began to contact with some natural science.
In 1884, he left his home and began his long trip to which expanded his outlook. He traveled to several different provinces of China including Hebei, Gansu, Xinjiang, Shanxi(陕西), Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Shangdong, Shanxi(山西), and wrote more than 200 poems during the trip.
In 1895, through a war of aggression against China, Japan forced the Qing Government to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki, and forcibly occupied Taiwan. Tan Sitong was astonished by the news, and felt quite disappointed to impotent of the authority and indignant to the invasion of the imperialist. He and his colleagues began to search for new ways to change the current situation.
During 1896 and 1897, he finished a famous book called “Ren Xue”, which considered to be the first philosophical work of the faction of reformation. In this book, he pointed out that absolute monarchy greatly oppressed human nature and was the fountain head of every sorts of evil. In 1897, Tan Sitong helped the governor of Hunan province with the new policy. In 1898, he founded a new academy called “South Academy” which aimed at combining the power of reformation in the South. Later, he also created “news of Hunan” (湘报) to give publicity to the advantage of new policies.
An officer proposed Tan Sitong to the Guang Xu Emperor, and he was soon appointed to be a member of the Grand Council in April 1898. The Hundred Days Reform began with the publication of a new rescript which contained a series of new policies on June 11, 1898. However, new policies greatly harmed the interests of feudal nobles and were seriously obstructed by various excuses. When Tan heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi was brewing a scheme of putting the emperor under house arrest, he immediately visited general Yuan Shikai(袁世凯) and resorted to his army on September 18. After Yuan Shikai came back to Tianjin on September 20, he betrayed them immediately by leaking all their conspiracy of overthrowing the sway of Ci Xi and regaining the power by the emperor from Ci Xi. Ci Xi soon launched the coup and issued the command of arresting all those people who were involved in the reform on September 21. Since then, their reform was utterly failed after 103 days. Tan Sitong was arrested at “guild hall of Liuyang”(浏阳会馆) in Beijing on September 24. Before that, someone had persuaded him to escape to Japan, but he refused to do so with the anticipation of arising the public’s passion of revolution by his death. Finally, he was executed by beheading in Caishikou(菜市口) outside the Xuanwu Gate on September 28, 1898, along with five others. In 1899, his remains were sent back and buried in Liuyang.
His family
Tan Sitong was born in Beijing while his family came from Liuyang, Hunan Province. His father, Tan Jixun(谭继洵), was the governor of Hubei Province. His mother, Xu Wuyuan(徐五缘), a traditional Chinese housewife, was quite strict on the study of her children. Tan Sitong had nine siblings in total.eldest brother: Tan Sixiang(谭嗣襄) , second eldest brother: Tan Siyi(谭嗣贻), eldest sister: Tan Sihuai(谭嗣怀), second eldest sister: Tan Sishu(谭嗣淑) , half brothers: Tan Sizhun(谭嗣准), Tan Sijiong (谭嗣冏), Tan Sikui (谭嗣揆) and half sisters: Tan Sifu(谭嗣茀), Tan Sijia(谭嗣嘉).Unfortunately, at the age of 12 ,Tan Sitong lost his mother, his eldest brother and his second eldest sister one after the other within 5 days dueing to diphtheria. A cousin of him who had this disease infected them when they went to see her. He himself also went off into a dead faint and revived three days later which deemed to be a wonder. This event struck him a lot and since then he regarded life as nothing. After that, his father’s concubine treated him worse and worse. He married to Li Run(李闰) at the age of 19 and had a son called Tan Lansheng(谭兰生) who died within a year.
His life
Tan Sitong spent his childhood in Beijing and his youth in Liuyang. He began to study at the age of 5. He learned from a famous scholar called Ouyang Zhonggu(欧阳中鹄) when he was 10. Though he was talented in writing essays, he objected to the conventional form of the essay which was required in every exam at that time. As a result, he was only titled “mandarin scholar” (Xiu Cai), a very low educational level.In 1879, he learned from another scholar, Xu Qixian(徐启先), from whom he had a systematic study of Chinese typical works and began to contact with some natural science.
In 1884, he left his home and began his long trip to which expanded his outlook. He traveled to several different provinces of China including Hebei, Gansu, Xinjiang, Shanxi(陕西), Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Shangdong, Shanxi(山西), and wrote more than 200 poems during the trip.
In 1895, through a war of aggression against China, Japan forced the Qing Government to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki, and forcibly occupied Taiwan. Tan Sitong was astonished by the news, and felt quite disappointed to impotent of the authority and indignant to the invasion of the imperialist. He and his colleagues began to search for new ways to change the current situation.
During 1896 and 1897, he finished a famous book called “Ren Xue”, which considered to be the first philosophical work of the faction of reformation. In this book, he pointed out that absolute monarchy greatly oppressed human nature and was the fountain head of every sorts of evil. In 1897, Tan Sitong helped the governor of Hunan province with the new policy. In 1898, he founded a new academy called “South Academy” which aimed at combining the power of reformation in the South. Later, he also created “news of Hunan” (湘报) to give publicity to the advantage of new policies.
An officer proposed Tan Sitong to the Guang Xu Emperor, and he was soon appointed to be a member of the Grand Council in April 1898. The Hundred Days Reform began with the publication of a new rescript which contained a series of new policies on June 11, 1898. However, new policies greatly harmed the interests of feudal nobles and were seriously obstructed by various excuses. When Tan heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi was brewing a scheme of putting the emperor under house arrest, he immediately visited general Yuan Shikai(袁世凯) and resorted to his army on September 18. After Yuan Shikai came back to Tianjin on September 20, he betrayed them immediately by leaking all their conspiracy of overthrowing the sway of Ci Xi and regaining the power by the emperor from Ci Xi. Ci Xi soon launched the coup and issued the command of arresting all those people who were involved in the reform on September 21. Since then, their reform was utterly failed after 103 days. Tan Sitong was arrested at “guild hall of Liuyang”(浏阳会馆) in Beijing on September 24. Before that, someone had persuaded him to escape to Japan, but he refused to do so with the anticipation of arising the public’s passion of revolution by his death. Finally, he was executed by beheading in Caishikou(菜市口) outside the Xuanwu Gate on September 28, 1898, along with five others. In 1899, his remains were sent back and buried in Liuyang.