Zhang Binlin

Zhang Binlin was born in the village of Qantsianzhen, 25 km from Hangzhou , in a family that lived in this village for 500 consecutive years. Great-grandfather - Zhang Jun - made up a capital of 1 million lan and owned 1000 mu of land. A connoisseur of Confucian doctrine , he invested in education and owned a private school, and also founded a school for educating the children of the Zhang clan, which numbered more than 300 people ^[2] . Grandfather - Zhang Jian - was a passionate bibliophile and collected more than 5,000 juan of rare Sung , Yuan and Minsk works. He earned a living by medical practice. Father - Zhang Shuxian - devoted himself to an official career, but was considered a good connoisseur of literature, especially poetry. During the Taiping uprising, the family went bankrupt, by the time Binlin was born, only 100 mu of land remained ^[2] .

Binlin was the third, youngest son, but was distinguished by his abilities even against the background of his older brothers, who both received a degree of . From the age of 9, his maternal grandfather, Zhu Yutsian, who specially moved from Haiyan for this purpose, was engaged in his training. It was he who instilled in his grandson a deep interest in classical Chinese philology and history. From his grandfather, he learned about Wang Fuzhi and Gu Yanyu - learned patriots who fought against the Manchu conquest. From the age of 13, Binlin was educated by his father, who taught him versification and the art of exam papers . In adolescence, he especially fell in love with the archaic language of Guwen , having mastered it, he cooled to exam papers; he read a lot, guided by a list compiled by his father ^[3] .

At age 16, Zhang Binlin tried to pass the county exams , but suddenly he began to feel dizzy, ending with fainting, a disease that haunted him all his life ^[4] . His father forbade him to prepare for exams, and Binlin turned to the Taoist treatises of Tao de Ching and Chuang Tzu . By the age of 17, having overcome most of the classical canon, Zhang Binlin decided to never participate in state exams ^[4] .

My father passed away when Binlin was 21 years old. After that, he went to study with Yu Yue (1821–1907), the editor of the Hanlin Academy , which maintained a private academy on the banks of Lake Xihu . In 1892, at the age of 23, Binlin, at the behest of his mother, married Ms. Wang (he never mentioned her name in his autobiography and correspondence). The spouses had three daughters, whom Binlin gave names from the rarely used hieroglyphs Li ( Chinese 㸚 ), Zhuo ( Chinese 叕 ) and Zhang ( Chinese 㠭 ) ^[5] . In 1895, his mother died, and the next year, after spending seven years at the Yu Yue Academy, Binlin completed his studies ^[6] .

In 1890-1893, Zhang Binlin wrote his first work, “Commentary on Classical Books,” in which he explained the pronunciation and meaning of the hieroglyphs that make up the oldest parts of the Confucian canon. In just 7 years of training, Binlin wrote 4 voluminous works, of which only one was published. His method of commenting was greatly influenced by the historical and philological works of Kang Yuwei , about which he wrote in his autobiography ^[7] . In 1895, he joined the Society for the Strengthening of the State, founded by Kang Yuwei, and in 1896, Liang Qichao invited him to collaborate in the journal Modern Problems ( Shih u bao ). Despite the teacher’s displeasure, Zhang Binlin moved with his family to Shanghai . However, he could not find a common language with the followers of Kang Yuwei: the interpretation of the ancient canon was not scientific, and, in addition, the leader of the reformers was never his authority ^[8] . The conflicts between Liang Qichao, Mai Menghua and Zhang Binglin literally reached fights ^[9] . In 1897, Zhang Binlin returned to Hangzhou, outraged by the self-deification of Kang Yuwei, as well as his loyalty to the Manchu authorities; he earned a living by writing articles for three periodicals at once ^[10] . Politically, he was disappointed in Confucianism and began to move to the position of legism ^[11] .

In the spring of 1898, Zhang Binlin invited the governor of Hubei and Hunan, Zhang Zhidong , hoping to make him editor of the magazine, but the relationship between them did not work out. During the “ Hundred Days of Reforms, ” Binlin lived in Shanghai, collaborating in magazines and editing Spencer's Chinese translations ^{[12] [Note 2]} . After the defeat of the reform movement in the fall of 1898, Zhang Binlin was put on a proclamation list and accepted the invitation of the Japanese authorities to relocate to Taiwan . The youngest daughter was taken up by his childless older brother. On December 4, 1898, Zhang Binlin arrived in Taipei ^[13] .

Taiwan and Japan

In Taiwan, Zhang Binlin got a job with the Taiwan newspaper Ms. Zhi Xingbao ( Chinese 台灣 日 日新 報 ), and she published six times a week in Chinese and Japanese. In this edition, 25 works of the enlightener were published, including a huge - on several issues - article on the development of natural sciences in the East. The language written by Zhang Binlin was incomprehensible to most readers and aroused complaints: he basically did not use hieroglyphs that were not in the dictionaries before the Tang era (7th – 10th centuries) ^[14] . In addition to popularizing science, he wrote a lot on other topics, including political ones. The content of his articles shows that he tried to defend Kang Yuwei from the attacks of conservatives and at that time still allowed the preservation of the Manchu monarchy in China, subject to constitutional reforms ^[15] .

Staying in Taiwan turned out to be short: the governor of Taiwan found criticism of the Japanese administration in one of Zhang’s articles, the case ended up being distributed by the editor-in-chief and reprimanded Binlin. The offended thinker immediately accepted Liang Qichao's offer to work in the Bulletin of Pure Discussions ( Chinese 清 議 報 ) and in June 1899 he moved to Yokohama . Here he published several poems and two large articles, including On Microbes ^[16] . In Yokohama, Zhang Binlin first met Sun Yat-sen , but in his autobiography he wrote about this very restrainedly, indicating that they did not find mutual understanding at that time. In personal correspondence, he said that he was alarmed by the tendency to unite radical revolutionaries with supporters of reform, for which Liang Qichao advocated. Not too highly he assessed the personal qualities of the future leader of the Chinese revolution ^[17] . After living in Japan for three months, in September 1899, Zhang Binlin returned to Shanghai ^[18] .

Break with Reformers

In Shanghai, Zhang Binlin met with Kang Yuwei's disciple, Tang Tsaichan , who was preparing an anti-government armed uprising. Although he soon moved to Hangzhou, he was actively published in two Shanghai newspapers, defending Kang Yuwei ^[19] . In December 1899, the thinker again moved to Shanghai, where he lived directly in the newspaper Yadong Shibao ( Chinese 亞東 時報 ), in which he worked. Here he wrote an article entitled “The Difference between Modern and Ancient Texts,” directed against the scholar Liao Jiping, but indirectly criticizing Kang Yuwei. The main object of criticism was idolatry before Confucius. In January 1900, Binlin prepared the first collection of his works - 50 articles that had not been published before. The collection was dated 238 from the date of the liquidation of the Ming dynasty ^[20] .

After the suppression of the Ihetuan rebellion, Tang Tsaychan began active operations and in June 1900 proclaimed the independence of the provinces of Hunan and Hubei . However, these actions pursued a very specific goal - the preservation of the Qing dynasty and the return of real power to Emperor Guangxu , who was under house arrest. Zhang Binlin did not approve of these actions, although several months earlier he had signed a petition, the authors of which demanded the same. In exchange, Binlin publicly declared his negative attitude towards the Manchu dynasty:

I told [Tang] Tsaichang: “Anyone who really seeks to bring about the rebirth of the Han people’s glory should not hesitate and miss the chance. If you want to save the throne, then I have other interests. ” So I cut off the braid to show my break [with them] ^[21] .

Having broken Tang Tsaychan with the Independence Army, Zhang Binlin began to search for his own way of saving China. In June 1900, he wrote to Li Hongzhang a memorandum in which he outlined his plan for the autonomy of the provinces of South China and suggested that Li lead the independence movement of these provinces ^[22] . Since these plans were ignored, Binlin returned to his native village. After the defeat of the Independence Army and the death of Tan Tsaychan, Zhang Binlin hid in a Buddhist monastery for 10 days, but since no one was looking for him, he went to Shanghai. In March 1901, he got a job as a teacher at an American missionary college, and he worked for free, living off journalism. Then he met with retired teacher Yu Yue, who was then 80 years old. The teacher remained irreconcilably conservative, expressed extreme dissatisfaction with Zhang and his views and officially expelled him from his circle of students ^{[Note 3]} . Zhang Binlin himself wrote that the break with the teacher occurred on fundamental grounds: Yu Yue accused him of inhumanity, disrespect for the graves of his ancestors and unfaithfulness to the emperor ^[23] .

In 1901, Zhang Binlin published several articles clearly directed against Liang Qichao, and unequivocally stated that the Qing Dynasty should be overthrown due to the inability of the Manchu to rule. In the article “Correcting the theory of revenge on the Manchus,” Zhang Binlin formulated the theory of nationalism and substantiated the need for revolution. He also declared a racial distinction between the Chinese and the Manchus, which prevents their mutual understanding; the purpose of the revolution is the expulsion of the Manchu from China, and not complete destruction ^[24] .

Probably, Zhang Binlin, teaching at an American college, did not hide his views. In his autobiography, he described his resignation as follows:

The first of the first month ^{[Note 4]} Wu Quansui ... visited me. “I heard that you are not restrained in lectures at an American college. Governor Jiangsu En Ming sent an inspector to the institute, and the missionaries told him to leave. I am afraid of trouble. Run to Japan as soon as possible ” ^[25] .

Three months in Japan

In early 1902, Zhang Binlin arrived in Tokyo, where he settled in a dormitory for Chinese students, earning his living by editing manuscripts sent to the newspaper. It was from this time that his friendly relations began with Sun Yat-sen, who, like several other prominent Chinese oppositionists, was in Japan. Zhang concluded that only Liang Qichao and Sun Yat-sen are able to lead the struggle to save China. As a result, Zhang Binlin proposed to organize a rally against the Manchu authorities, and he was supported by all directions of emigrants. It was dedicated to the “242th anniversary of the death of China” ^[26] . The rally was scheduled for April 27, 1902, but Tsai Jun, the ambassador of the Qing Empire in Japan, found out about him, who, having proclaimed Zhang Binlin in his hands, personally arrived at the Japanese Foreign Ministry and got a ban on the rally. On April 26, ten event organizers — and Zhang Binlin — received subpoenas from the police. Zhang Binlin, knowing the Japanese language, undertook to answer for everyone at the interrogation, which was conducted by the head of the police station. He behaved extremely defiantly, when asked about the province of the Qing state, where he came from, he replied: “We are Chinese, not citizens of the Qing state,” and so on. However, they were not arrested, but the rally was officially banned. Students who were not warned about the ban came and were dispersed by the police, and Sun Yat-sen, together with 60 people, honored the memory of the last Minsk emperor in a restaurant ^[27] .

The General History of China Project

After living for three months in Japan, Zhang Binlin returned to China. He rejected offers of collaboration from several magazines, including Enlightenment, but in July 1902 he wrote to Liang Qichao that he was planning to compose a “General History of China” ( Chinese 中國 通史 ). The volume of the essay was enormous - 100 juan , at least 700,000 characters. He outlined a plan of composition: 5 collections of official documents (reign of emperors, administrative structure), 12 chronicles (lifestyle, religion, science); 10 “notes” (political history); 8 monographs (separately about Qin Shihuandi , Han U-di , Tang Tai-tszun , Zhao Kuangyin , Zhu Yuanzhang and others). He intended to write this multifaceted work in just a year; possessing great erudition and memory, he could write entire chapters without the involvement of reference books and sources. Zhang Binlin considered the traditional Chinese, plot method more scientific than the European chronological. It was not possible to write the work, but the book prospectus and its rationale for the publisher were published in his collected works ^[28] .

Pedagogy and Propaganda

In August 1902, the “Sociology” of Kishimoto Nobuta , translated by Zhang Binlin with his own preface, was published in Shanghai ^{[Note 5]} . This was the first translated essay on sociology published in China. After moving to his native village for a year, Zhang began to actively study Western philosophical concepts, especially approving of the works of G. Spencer ^[29] . In the same period, the thinker was widowed, but the exact date is not fixed in the sources. In May 1903, Zhang Binlin returned to Shanghai, where he met Cai Yuanpei , the founder of China's Education Society. To implement its educational program, the Society opened the Higher Patriotic School ( Chinese 愛國 學 省 ) in an English concession . Zhang was invited there to teach Chinese philology in the third and fourth courses. In the classes, he conducted active anti-Manchu propaganda, one of its forms was that Binlin invited students to write their autobiographies in the genre and style of ben ji - court imperial annals. His nationalism at that time grew into xenophobia: he was hostile to the study of English by students ^[30] .

Teachers of the Patriotic School delivered weekly public lectures in Zhangyuan Park, and lectures turned into rallies on the themes of patriotism and revolution; Zhang Binlin also took an active part in them ^[31] . The materials of his lectures were published in the journal "World of Youth", where he saw the light, for example, "Refutation of Kang Yuwei’s Doctrine of the Revolution" ^[32] . Kang Yuwei preached the kinship of the Manchu and Han, and believed that it was impossible to carry out a revolution and a republican form of government in China; if they are nevertheless realized, chaos will reign, which will have no analogues in world history. These views categorically contradicted the doctrine of Zhang Binlin.

Arrest and Detention

On June 12 and 13, 1903, an article entitled “Refute the Criticism of the Revolution,” written jointly by Zhang Binlin and his colleagues, appeared in the newspaper Su Bao. The article expressed the hope that if the revolution began, the great powers would support the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the restoration of Han Chinese national independence. As a result, the governor Wei of Guangdao sent a commissioner to Shanghai; of the six publication participants, Zhang Binlin and Zou Rong were arrested (June 30 and July 1); the rest chose to hide. On July 7, both the newspaper and the Patriotic School were closed. Zhang Binlin publicly stated that he was going to sacrifice himself, and the Shanghai press did not approve of him ^[33] .

The Qing authorities tried to transfer Zhang Binlin and Zou Rong to Beijing, but the public perceived this as an attempt at reprisal. In general, the lawsuit contributed to raising the profile of revolutionaries in China. However, the foreign consuls of Shanghai were not allowed to remove the arrested from the settlement, the court was international. At first, Zhang Binlin was sentenced to life imprisonment, but soon the case was reviewed, and he received 3 years of hard labor with expulsion from Shanghai after serving his sentence. ^[34] Relatives and students obtained for Zhang permission to read and keep notes, supplied him with books. In prison, interest in Buddhism aroused in him, and he diligently studied the sutras , often reciting from lights out to waking hours. In the afternoon he worked in a tragedy: he sewed tracks and prisoner robes, but he was soon transferred to make patterns for the hieroglyphs that marked the clothes of prisoners. At the end of the term, he got a cook place, which allowed him to steal food and eat better. Nevertheless, the conditions of detention were difficult: the prisoners were kept in solitary confinement, food parcels were not allowed, even books were only handed over without binding. Tuberculosis was rampant in prison, from which Zou Rong died shortly before his release ^[35] .

Prisoner Zhang Binlin brought a lot of trouble to the administration: he behaved extremely belligerently, regularly fought with prisoners and guards, and announced a week-long hunger strike. His memoirs of imprisonment were published in 1907 ^[36] . On June 29, 1906, the term of imprisonment was over. Zhang reacted to this with a joke: “Should I go now? But you can read books here as well ” ^[35] . At the gates of the prison he was met by a large group of colleagues and students, as well as Cai Yuanpei, who was to meet him at the request of Sun Yat-sen and deliver him to Japan. On the same day he boarded a ship ^[37] .

On July 15, a banquet was organized in honor of Zhang Binlin, who arrived in Tokyo, and more than 2,000 students met him at the door of the hotel. Zhang delivered a speech, "full of deep innermost meaning." In this speech, he directly linked the process of historical development in the East and in the West with the spread of world religions - Christianity and Buddhism. The historical process has a threefold nature, that is, all stages of social and spiritual development have three stages, for example, in the spiritual sense, mankind successively goes through the stages of pantheism and monotheism in order to give way to atheism . In the case of jumping over the step of a progressive social system, it will not work: the phenomena inherent in the system will be two orders of magnitude lower in development. Actually, Zhang Binlin hardly mentioned the content of the concept of “revolution” ^[38] .

In Japan, Zhang was immediately admitted to the ranks of Tongmenhui and immediately became editor-in-chief of Ming Bao magazine. Of the 26 issues published, Zhang Binlin personally edited 16 (not counting the separate almanac “Kara Neba”), with No. 22 and 24 entirely consisting of his materials, and published 80 of his own articles. In Japan, he began to use the literary pseudonym Zhang Taiyan, which he later turned into his own name ^[39] . In his articles, he actively polemicized with the followers of Kang Yuwei and Liang Qichao, but sought to give the polemic a calm, academic character. He actively preached anarchist ideas, painted in Buddhist colors, set out the theory of evolution, propagated the teachings of Sun Yat-sen ^[40] .

At first, Zhang Binlin and Sun Yat-sen actively collaborated, Zhang joined the leadership of Tongmenhui and was one of the co-authors of the “Revolutionary Strategy”. Along with political activity, he founded the Society for the Revival of National Sciences, giving lectures there on philosophy, literature, political science, neo-Confucianism, and the history of China. He also taught socialism courses founded in 1907 by the anarchists Zhang Ji and Liu Shipei . By the end of 1908, the courses ceased to exist. Zhang Binlin lectured directly in the editorial office of the magazine, where he also lived. In October 1908, Japanese authorities closed the Ming Bao magazine for publishing an article justifying individual terror ^[41] . After that, the publishing house’s projects to move to the USA or France were considered, it all ended with a quarrel between Zhang and the rest of the Sun Yat-sen party members.

On November 26, 1908, a trial was held in Tokyo over Zhang Binlin, who was defended by two lawyers; more than 600 sympathizers gathered at the courthouse. The court sentenced him to a fine of 115 yen, which he refused to pay. On March 3, 1909, he was arrested and sent to forced labor for a period of 115 days, but Lu Xin collected the necessary amount and bought the teacher ^[42] . Soon after, an incident occurred: a teapot with poisoned tea was in the editorial office of the former Ming Bao magazine. Zhang Binlin considered this an attempted assassination attempt, accused the Qing ambassador Tang Shaoy of him, and immediately tried to get even with him. Since the ambassador was not in Tokyo, Zhang bought his portrait and publicly trampled ^[43] .

Xinhai Revolution

Zhang Binlin learned about the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution on October 11, 1911 from newspapers. He immediately abandoned all affairs (he taught at the school for emigrants then) and a week later published the “Manifesto of the Chinese Revolution”, in which he attacked the Manchus with abuse and, without hesitation, proclaimed himself a Republican. On November 11, 1911, together with a group of students, Zhang returned to his homeland. On the day of his arrival in Shanghai, November 16, Yuan Shikai was appointed imperial prime minister, by then 14 provinces of the Qing empire had declared independence in 18. A conference was held in Nanjing on the issue of the interim head of government, one of the candidates for this post was Li Yuanhong , whom Zhang supported. After Sun Yat-sen was elected interim president on December 25, Li Yuanhong became vice president ^[44] .

The position taken by Zhang Binglin these days is noteworthy - he published an article on the liquidation of the revolutionary party in the Tianjin newspaper, because he was an enemy of the party-representative system, believing that the revolutionaries, having come to power, would not bother about the welfare of the people, but only about your personal interests. Sun Yat-sen responded with a critical article in which Zhang's name was not mentioned, but at the same time invited him to his government as an undercover adviser. Zhang accepted this invitation, but at the last moment remained in Shanghai. At the same time, he tried to create a Union for the Unification of the Republic of China, which in March 1912 merged with the Unity Party ^[45] .

Yuan Shikai, who came to power as president, sought to attract popular public figures to his side, so Zhang Binlin was invited to Beijing as an adviser and moved to the capital in May 1912. However, the disagreement between Yuan and Zhang turned out to be excessively large. After the independence of Mongolia, Zhang Binlin created the Union of Fundamental Reforms in Beijing on November 25, the official declaration of which was announced in the newspapers on December 1. In a constituent speech, Zhang Binlin literally stated the following:

Revolutionaries are bandits, and constitutionalists are prostitutes ^[46]

Yuan Shikai clearly began to strive to get rid of the restless adviser, so he was first appointed general inspector of the Yangtze, and then transferred to the inspector for the protection of the Three Eastern Provinces ( Manchuria ). In early March 1913, he arrived at his destination in Changchun , intending to launch a broad reform program. He founded a commercial and industrial bank, bought gold mines into the treasury and converted the currency to the gold standard, and also organized a free exchange of paper money for silver. He also started the construction of a canal between the rivers Songhujiang and Liaohe , believing that it would be cheaper than the construction of the railway. However, there was no money in the treasury, so Zhang Binlin began negotiations with the Western powers on a loan of 5 million yuan, provided that creditors would not encroach on the sovereignty of Chinese territories ^[47] .

On March 20, 1913, on the eve of the opening of the parliament (in which the majority received the party of Sun Yatsen Kuomintang ), on the orders of Yuan Shikai, Sun Jiaozhen was killed, who was Yuan's main rival in the presidential election - the president was then elected parliament in China. Zhang Binlin immediately left for Beijing, and the Kuomintang proclaimed the beginning of the second revolution - already against Yuan Shikai. Having restored relations with Sun Yat-sen, Zhang Binlin did not change his mind about the political system: after analyzing the identities of the revolutionary leaders, he came to the conclusion that not one of them was suitable for state activity; More or less acceptable to him was Li Yuanhong's candidacy. Zhang even went to Wuchang in May to persuade him to run for president; Lee refused. In response, Yuan Shikai awarded Zhang Binlin with the Order of the Founder of the Republic ^[48] ; After being awarded, Zhang hung him on a fan and went to the presidential palace demanding an audience. When they refused him, he made a scandal. After this, Zhang left for Shanghai, and in June officially abandoned the post of inspector of the Three Eastern Provinces and joined the punitive campaign of the army of Huang Sina , proclaimed in Nanjing on July 16, 1913 ^[49] .

Marriage. Arrest

In the midst of political battles, Zhang Binlin, after 10 years of widowhood, decided to remarry. His friends acted as matchmakers, and Zhang set three conditions for the future darling: to know the literary language , to be able to write poetry and fiction; come from a noble family; to have a spotless reputation and humble nature ^[50] . His chosen one was Tan Goli ( Chinese 湯 國 梨 , 1883-1980), who graduated from a pedagogical institute and headed a women's school in Shenzhou, and was also the editor-in-chief of a magazine for women. For the wedding ceremony on June 15, 1913, for the first time in his life, the groom put on a European costume, and out of habit, he put on his shoes on the wrong foot. Among the guests at the wedding were Sun Yat-sen and Huang Sin ^[51] . The couple had two sons - Zhang Dao and Zhang Qi, born in 1917 and 1924 - but the father was completely not involved in their education.

On August 11, Zhang Binlin arrived in Beijing, after which he was arrested by the deputy commander in chief and spent the next three years under house arrest in the Longquans Temple. At the new residence, Zhang Binlin pasted the Yuan bandit hieroglyphics leaflets throughout the room and beat them with a stick; sometimes he wrote his name on a large sheet of paper, and then burned it, saying that Yuan was also burning. Having become depressed, he decided to commit suicide according to the ancient Chinese canon - to starve himself to death. For more than two weeks, Zhang refrained from eating until his students — among them Lu Xin — persuaded him from suicide. ^[52] Eccentric antics didn’t end there: Zhang Binlin came up with the Six Rules for the servants and security guards, which made him strictly follow, for example, wish Zhang good health every morning and night; when it appears, get up at attention; call him "great", and himself a "slave"; to the full moon and new moon to greet him on his knees, etc. When asked why he was doing this, Zhang replied: “I demonstrate that we live under the monarchy” ^[53] .

In 1914, the conditions of detention were relaxed: Zhang Binlin returned to teaching at the National Science Courses, he was allowed to leave his house, not only allowing him to leave the capital. In 1915, he composed his third collected works in 9 juan, comprising 62 articles. Yuan's monarchical sympathies irritated him, and after the proclamation of Shikai by emperor, Zhang Binlin wrote a series of satirical poems. This coincided with a personal tragedy - in August 1915, his eldest daughter, Zhang Li, who arrived in Beijing with her husband, committed suicide. The news got to Japan in a distorted form: it was believed that Zhang Binlin himself died ^[54] .

In May 1916, Zhang Binlin made an unsuccessful attempt to escape. However, on June 6, Yuan Shikai suddenly died, Li Yuanhong took the presidency, and Zhang was released on June 16, and reunited with his family in Shanghai on July 1 ^[55] . The difficult situation in the country plunged him into depression, at the same time Juan Sin returned from the United States, and the thinker received first-hand information about the First World War . In a complete upset of feelings, Zhang Binlin left for Malaya , but could not live far from his homeland and returned to China at the end of 1916 ^[56] .

Recent Political Attempts

In March 1917, Zhang Binlin founded the Society of Ancient Sciences of Asia, which in September issued the installation number of Great Asia magazine immediately in Chinese, Japanese, and English. The aim of the society was to unite the intellectuals of different eastern countries with the aim of re-educating their peoples in the spirit of mutual respect. At the same time, he actively participated in the work of the Kuomintang party, so his wife, Tan Goli, wrote: “ for Zhang, there was only a state, and there was no family ” ^[56] . On July 3-5, 1917, several meetings of Sun Yat-sen with Liao Zhongkai , Zhu Zhixin, and He Xiannian took place, at which Zhang Binlin was also present. At the meetings, it was decided to declare war on the northern militarists, whose leader was Duan Qizhui . In October, Zhang Binlin was appointed ambassador extraordinary to Yunnan , whose leaders were supposed to support Sun Yat-sen. Having secured the consent of Governor Tan Jiyao, in January 1918, Zhang Binlin left for Chongqing , where on January 12, the local intelligentsia magnificently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the thinker (according to the Chinese account from conception). The Sichuan mission, however, was completely defeated. Not resigned to failure, Zhang Binlin went to Hubei, but in vain. Completely disappointed, in October 1918 he returned to Shanghai ^[57] . Unsuccessful attempts to unite the North and the South led to the fact that in 1919 he began to doubt the expediency of reconstructing a single state. Zhang Binlin began to call for the autonomy of the provinces of the southwest.

The most difficult year in life of Zhang Binlin was 1920 - until April he suffered from jaundice , the consequence of which was chronic cholecystitis , in July he almost died of pneumonia , from which he recovered only by October. In October, he gathered in Changsha , visiting his native county along the way, in which he was not 17 years old. On November 1, 1920, a self-governing provincial federation was proclaimed in Hunan. At the same time, he took a sharply anti-communist position, since the CPC , from his point of view, was an expression of the interests of not China, but Russia. He completely disagreed with Sun Yat-sen and founded the “Xinhai Revolution Comrade Club”, which sharply opposed the policy of the alliance between the Kuomintang and the Communists. After the death of Sun Yat-sen (March 12, 1925), he entered the commission for organizing the funeral and delivered a grave speech ^[58] .

In the 1920s and 1930s, Zhang Binlin was actively engaged in scientific and educational activities. Back in 1922, he gave a series of 10 lectures, but they were unsuccessful: Binlin’s language and themes seemed archaic. Suffering a variety of chronic diseases (cholecystitis, asthma, malaria ), he began to research and promote Chinese medicine . In total, he published more than 100 notes and articles on this topic, trying to give a natural-science assessment of Chinese traditional medicine ^[59] . However, he was increasingly interested in traditional culture, which entailed the following definition of Lu Xin:

Although Zhang Taiyan at first became a revolutionary, he later retired, as a scientist fenced off his contemporaries with a wall ^[60] .

Zhang Binlin did not remain indifferent to Japanese aggression . In 1932-1933 he signed appeals, traveled to Beijing, trying to convince military leaders to activate the resistance movement, but these actions did not give any effect ^[61] .

In the last five years of his life, Zhang Binlin conducted intensive scientific and educational activities, communicated with Western and Japanese Sinologists . He consistently promoted traditional Chinese science. In the spring of 1932, he gave a lecture at Peking University on the topic of streamlining basic knowledge in the field of canon studies, and in January 1933 joined the Suzhou National Science Society. In 1934, he revived the National Science Courses, where he taught three times a week for two hours, about 100 people from 20 different cities attended. Despite the disease - nasopharyngeal cancer , he worked actively; disciplines taught included philology, the classical canon, history, and traditional philosophy. Chiang Kai-shek sent him 10,000 yuan for treatment, which the scientist spent on the needs of the courses ^[62] . Binlin sincerely believed that the propaganda of traditional science leads to the deepening of nationalism and, as a result, patriotism. He expressed this idea in a letter to the editor of the Da Gong Bao newspaper Zhang Jiluan, dated July 1935. The scientist died on June 14, 1936, leaving the following testament:

If the aliens take possession of China, contemporaries and descendants will lose their ranks and salaries ^[63] .

The central organs of the Communist Party and the Kuomintang placed obituaries, paying tribute to the merits of a scientist and politician. The Kuomintang ordered the allocation of 100,000 yuan for a national funeral, but nothing was done because of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war . During the Japanese occupation of Hangzhou, the ashes of Zhang Binlin were lowered into a well in the backyard of his house ^[64] . The official funeral took place only in 1955; according to the will, the ashes were buried on the shore of Lake Xihu next to the fighter with the Manchu conquest Zhang Huanyang. Hieroglyphs were drawn on the grave from his dying message of 1913, when he tried to commit suicide. In 1983, by the decision of the Chinese government, Zhang Binlin was included in the list of 83 prominent people of China ^[65] .

Being an intellectual almost constantly immersed in solving complex social and scientific problems, Zhang Binlin paid little attention to himself and the everyday side of life. Outwardly, this was expressed in the untidiness and constant funny situations in which he regularly fell. According to eyewitnesses, while working at an American college in Shanghai, thinking deeply, Zhang often went to a neighboring house. Having cut off the braid in 1899, he was forced to wear a waybill so as not to arouse suspicion of appearance, but since he did not like to go to the hairdresser, his fake braid regularly fell out from under the hat to the surprise of passers-by ^[66] . He wore rather long hair, combing them on both sides. Xiong Yuezhi described his daily routines: in the summer, Zhang Binlin wore a Chinese robe, draped a kimono of Japanese cut over it, wore a straw rope instead of a belt, and always wore shoes on his bare foot. In the room, as a rule, he walked naked to the waist and constantly fanned himself with a fan. In Yokohama, he settled over a tavern and was thoroughly saturated with kitchen fumes and smoke. Unappealing was his appearance: he rarely washed, did not like to change clothes, and the sleeves of his robe had a repulsive appearance, because he used them instead of a handkerchief ^[67] .

Zhang Binlin often drank, addicted to alcohol as a child under the influence of his uncle from his mother ^[68] .

Zhang Binlin is one of the most paradoxical and controversial Chinese thinkers of the New Age. Speaking for the revolution and considered, along with Sun Yat-sen, as the main ideologist of the revolutionary movement in China, in a number of provisions of his theory, he joined with the Chinese conservatives. His entire ideological heritage was an eclectic mixture of ultraradical nationalism, revolutionism on the one hand, and commitment to the ideals of antiquity on the other ^[69] .

Zhang Binlin did not differ in consistency in his statements, often changed his beliefs, and set forth his own concepts in such an archaic and ornate language that the meaning of his work was often incomprehensible even to educated contemporaries. Lu Xin emphasized that Zhang had “a mysterious ancient style that was difficult to understand” ^[60] .

Nationalism

The core of Zhang Binlin's political and legal views are the rule of law and nationalism. However, if other thinkers of China at that time understood nationalism culturally and socially - as perceiving the achievements of European culture while preserving national specificity ( Kang Yuwei , Yan Fu , Liang Qichao ) - or in the political sense - as a struggle for national independence and the commission of a national revolution ( Sun Yat-sen ), then Zhang Binlin interpreted nationalism in the most literal, radical sense: as the superiority of the Chinese nation and the culture it created not only over the Manchus , but over the entire European civilization her. Zhang Binlin noted the depressing position of the Chinese: in his opinion, a nation that had a great role in history, a nation with an ancient and highest culture, had been under the rule of the Manchus for the third century, and recently underwent more and more humiliation from the so-called great powers. It was the Manchus and foreigners who, according to Zhang Binlin, were the main cause of all the disasters in China. It is against these old and new conquerors, "old and new barbarians" that the struggle of the Han people should be directed.

Nationalism led Zhang Binlin to reject the Western social sciences, which he called the "ignorant teachings of Europe." The nationalistic bias, as well as the neglect of Western science and education, can be traced already in the earliest works of Zhang Binlin. The article "On the need for mutual relations between Asian countries" (1897) dealt with the need to unite the countries of the East (with the dominant role of China) to jointly confront the West and Russia. In the article “On the enormous benefits of educational societies for the yellows and the urgent need to protect them” (1897), Zhang Binlin advocated the creation of educational societies and the expansion of the network of national schools, while completely denying the benefits of Western education ^[70] . Such an attitude to Western social sciences remained with Zhang Binlin throughout his life. In 1906, he said: “ Since studying with Europeans and Americans, following their example will not make us look like them, is it not better to take the people of old China as a model? " ^[71] In 1924, in the article" On the Elimination of Scientific Errors, "he repeated his point of view on the priority study of national sciences and on the use of Western sciences, mainly natural, as" auxiliary ". Western scientific achievements are, in his opinion, of value only in the field of natural and technical developments ^[59] .

The idea of ​​a national revolution

At the very beginning of his activity, Zhang Binlin adhered to reformist views. In articles of this period, he talked about the fact that at this stage the country is faced with the tasks of reform, transformation of governance ( Chinese trade. 革 政 , pinyin : gézhèng ), and not revolution ( Chinese trade. 革命 , pinyin : gémìng ). Education should be preceded by education. At that time, Zhang Binlin did not see a big difference between reforms and revolution, and he also did not have any clear idea of ​​the content of reforms ^[72] .

After the defeat of the reform movement and relocation to Taiwan, and then to Japan, the anti-Manchu sentiment began to manifest itself more and more openly in the works of Zhang Binlin. If in the article “On the Guest Emperor” (1898), he still allowed the Manchurian monarch to remain in power ^[73] , then in the next few years he completely switched to revolutionary anti-Manchu positions. In the article “I Correct Errors [of the Article]“ On the Guest Emperor “” (1900), the author abandoned his earlier theory and openly called for the expulsion of the Manchus, and some time later the article “Correcting the theory of revenge on the Manchus” was published (1901), in which contained a call for revolution.

In 1903, in response to Kang Yuwei’s Contesting the Idea of ​​Revolution (1902), Zhang Binlin published an article entitled “A Letter to Refute Kang Yuwei’s Reasoning on the Revolution.” The main idea of ​​this article is the futility of political reform and the creation of parliament under the rule of the Manchu dynasty and the need to overthrow it with the help of the revolution. First of all, Zhang Binlin rejected Kang Yuwei’s statement that Han Chinese and Manchus are equal in their rights and under equal conditions can achieve the same situation in society. He also sharply criticized Kang Yuwei’s remark that the Manchus abolished corporal punishment for officials and introduced fixed taxes. In his opinion, the Manchus still rob the people, although they do it in a different way. Economic exploitation is complemented by ideological enslavement: starting with Emperor Kangxi , trials of writers began , which allowed themselves to ridicule the existing political regime. The summary is:

After all, Chansu [Kang Yuwei] ^{[Note 6]} therefore does not recognize [the existence in China] of slavery and persistently insists on the introduction of a constitution that would eliminate the sprouts of the revolution because he has been in a slavish position all his life, crooked and restraining his will ^[74] .

From that time on, Zhang Binlin finally transferred to a revolutionary position: only a revolution can end the Manchu rule in China, only a revolution will save the Han people from national humiliation and return to them their original rights. In addition, the revolution is much easier to implement than to introduce a constitution, since in the first case the political mind of one person is not so much important as the unanimity of the masses, and in the second case, on the contrary, the mass unanimity is not so much important as the political mind of one person. The revolution is supported by the people, which cannot be said about political reforms, and the unanimity of the people, in fact, is the political mind ^[75] .

An appeal to the revolutionary creativity of the masses allowed Zhang Binlin not to spread about the specific content of social transformations. Neither in this, nor in another article - "I Refute the Criticism of the Revolution" (1903) - he practically does not clarify his political program. In the article “I Refute the Criticism of the Revolution”, Zhang Binlin wrote: “ in order to implement a policy based on the principles of the republic (gunhe zhui), to revive our golden vessel, completely devoid of flaws, it is necessary to carry out a political and social revolution ” ^[76] . However, he did not go further than this general statement and did not reveal either the concept of a republic or the concepts and ways of carrying out political and social revolutions. In a later article, “On the State” (1907), Zhang Binlin wrote about three revolutions — the racial revolution ( zhongzu gemin ), the political revolution ( zhengzhi gemin ), and the social revolution ( shehui gemin ), but again without revealing the specific content of the last two concepts .

How much the concrete content of the revolution was indifferent to Zhang Binlin, and how all other goals were dimmed against the backdrop of the desire to expel the Manchus, can be judged by the following statement:

Whether they [the Manchus] will be able or unable to carry out reforms, they need to be done away with, they can or cannot save the people, they still need to be resolved ^[77] .

Rebirth of Glory

Over time, along with the term “revolution”, Zhang Binlin began to increasingly use the terms “rebirth” ( hui fu kit. 恢复 ) and “revival of glory” ( guan fu kit. 光复 ). The need for a change of terminology was caused by a mismatch between the meaning that Zhang Binlin put into the concept of revolution and the meaning that most other Chinese thinkers attached to it. This is confirmed, in particular, by the fact that initially by the term "guan fu" Zhang Binlin meant the same expulsion of the Manchus, while by the term "revolution" he began to understand a change in state structure. After the line was drawn between the two terms, Zhang Binlin focused on promoting the very first of them. The second reason for the appearance of the term “guan fu” was that Zhang Binlin finally turned his attention to the problem of changing the state system after the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. The fact that Zhang Binlin admired the history of pre-Qing China and disdained Western social sciences led to the fact that, when designing a model of the state structure of China, Zhang Binlin could focus only on archaic models. “Everyone unanimously advocates the return of antiquity, a return to the roots (fan gu fu shi),” he wrote in the article “Moral of the Revolution” ^[78] . Thus, the term "guan fu" began to mean not only the overthrow of the Manchu, but also the revival of antiquity, including the old state system. Zhang Binlin wrote that the government that would come to power after the overthrow of the Qing should imagine "what should be transformed and what should be revived from antiquity." In particular, he advocated the revival of the “field equation” system, some provisions of the examination system and criminal law.

Rule of Law

Unacceptable of the achievements of Western political and legal science, Zhang Binlin turned to the ancient history of China, from where he began to draw ideas for his own project of political organization. He was especially attracted to the concept of legists with its respect for the law as the main regulator of social relations. Sympathy for the teachings of the legists can be traced already in two early works of Zhang Binlin, "Confucianism and Legism" (1897) and " Shan Yang " (1898). If in the first of them Confucianism has not yet been sharply criticized, then in the second it was said that “the legists and the tricksters in their strengths and weaknesses are truly incomparable” ^[79] . In the article “Shan Yang”, the author, defining the law, wrote that the law itself is “only the general name of the established orders” ^[80] , which are used for ease of management. Thus, according to Zhang Binlin, positive law is not created by the will of the legislator, but is formed from customary law or, more precisely, is a simple formulation of customary law.

Further in his article, Zhang Binlin spoke about the need to form a legal estate, representatives of which could correctly present the existing customs in the law. Speaking about the prematureness of the transformation in the conditions of a low literacy rate, Zhang Binlin wrote:

In order for a people to gain power, it is necessary that talented and intelligent people appear in their midst, who are able to establish laws ... If a stupid and illiterate people begin to introduce laws of government, then there will be no benefit, but there will be a complete mess in that useful and what is harmful, and then there will be no other choice but to prohibit [such a practice] ^[81] .

The general conclusion reached by Zhang Binlin is that the approach of the Legists to the laws as the main instrument for regulating public relations should be borrowed by all who seek to transform China, and in general, the doctrine of the Legists applies to modern China.

If the previous articles were aimed at justifying the teachings of Shang Yang, then the articles “Notes on the wisdom of Qin [Shihuang]” (1901) and “Notes on the rule of Qin [Shihuang]” (1910) aimed at rehabilitating Emperor Qin Shihuang . According to Zhang Binlin, the policy of Qin Shihuang did not seriously harm either Confucianism or its supporters, moreover, in terms of veneration of Confucianism, he “surpassed other rulers” ^[82] . In the presentation of Zhang Binlin, Qin Shihuang personified the ideal ruler: “In ancient times there was no government under which the people would be more equal than under the Qin dynasty” ^[83] . Under Qin Shihuang "only the emperor held the highest position and was not equal to the people" ^[83] . In general, Zhang Binlin believes that “the rule can be considered fair when the monarch complies with the laws and does not provide protection to his relatives” ^[83] . Thus, for Zhang Binlin, the rule of Qin Shihuang was an example of the successful application of the theory of legism in practice.

Legism has had an extremely strong influence on many of Zhang Binlin's views. In a somewhat interpreted form, the legistic ideas were reflected in the model of political organization that he proposed to apply in China.

The Question of Government Form and Social Ideal

The issue of state structure was not the most important for Zhang Binlin. In several of his works, he talked about the republic, without explaining, however, his own interpretation of this concept. Zhang Binlin didn’t have any sympathy for the republic in its Western sense (and in the understanding of most Chinese thinkers), which is especially noticeable as it moves away from the Sun Yat-sen group and the development of its own concept of state structure. Zhang Binglin perceives the republican system as the “least evil”, to which it will be necessary to resort to the inability to quickly implement a more perfect political project ^[84] . Over time, Zhang Binlin became even more critical of the republican system, up to its complete denial. He wrote:

The constitution leads to a concentration of power, the parliament has a tendency to gain power, and the president is equal to the monarch ... If we do not eradicate these three crustaceans, then China will have no rest ^[85]

For the same reason, the constitutional monarchy also did not attract Zhang Binlin. He was not satisfied with the principle of popular representation in all existing forms of government - the cornerstone of all Western democracies.

The most complete justification for the unsuitability for China of a republican form of government with a representative system is set forth in an article by Zhang Binlin “Do I need a representative system?” (1908). The same work contained his own social project of a Chinese thinker. In his opinion, the Chinese people, who are the source of any law and any justice, are not yet ready for more active participation in public administration and the lawmaking process. Zhang Binlin denied the idea of ​​popular representation in principle. In his opinion, parliamentarism is contrary to the principles of nationalism and welfare, since “any law established from above serves the government, any law established from below serves the prosperity of the people”, and therefore, the parliament will adopt laws based primarily on its own interests ^{[86 ]} .

As a result of the denial of the idea of ​​popular representation, Zhang Binglin faced the extremely important and intractable question - how should the legislative process be carried out so that national sovereignty would not be affected and the general will of the people would not be violated. According to the arguments of Zhang Binlin, it turns out that the common will of the people has long been expressed and is contained in the perfect institutions of old China. From ancient times to the present, it remains unchanged, it is very easy to determine, from which it follows that, firstly, no additional expression of the popular will is required, and secondly, since the popular will is unchanged, the same should be and legislation. Zhang Binlin proceeds from the assumption that the people's will must be a source of law, and at the same time completely denies the possibility of a strong-willed creation of legislation ^[87] .

The idea of ​​the possibility of establishing perfect and unchanging legislation is the foundation on which the entire social project of Zhang Binlin is built. According to this project, the state has three senior dignitaries - the president, the head of the court and the trustee of educational institutions. Zhang Binlin considers such an organization of power as a traditional Chinese principle ^[88] . The President is elected by universal suffrage from among the most prominent state dignitaries. He is responsible for administrative matters, as well as issues of state defense and foreign policy. The judicial system, led by the head of the court, is called upon to ensure compliance with the law, both on the part of the people and on the part of government officials, including the president, who in case of violation of the law is held accountable on a common basis. The head of the court and all other judges are directly elected by the same “legal estate”, which is entrusted with the task of “formulating” laws. Finally, the educational authorities, led by the trustee of educational institutions, are called upon to educate the people and to cultivate moral qualities in them. All educational institutions, except primary schools and military schools, are independent of the government ^[89] .

Everything in Zhang Binlin’s project aims to limit the power of the president. The president has the right to remove or demote an official only if he does not cope with his duties or has committed a crime and if there is an appropriate court decision. The president is also deprived of the opportunity to bring any officials closer to him. Promotion is carried out gradually, strictly taking into account the abilities and achievements of the official. “If the president and officials make mistakes in administrative matters or treat their duties irresponsibly, much less commit a crime such as accepting bribes, the population should complain to the court. The court holds them accountable by subjecting them to arrest or other punishment. In this way, mistakes are corrected and the vices of officials are eliminated ” ^[90] . Finally, “if serious mistakes are made in foreign relations that entail the disgrace of the state and the disaster of the people, people can resort to extreme measures - to execute their ruler, without being held responsible for this” ^[91] .

Law scholars in the Zhang Binlin project are endowed with tremendous power. They are in charge of drafting laws, form judicial bodies on their own, and monitor compliance with the laws they have created. The judicial authorities have control functions in relation to the president and the entire government, the fate of an official directly depends on their decision. Zhang Binlin practically does not say anything about the composition of the legal estate, as well as the specific procedure for the formation of the judiciary, although the administration of the legislative, control and judicial functions on behalf of the people is attributed to the representatives of this estate. In only one place does Zhang Binlin talk about how courts will be monitored. “If the judge convicted the innocent, the senior boss must punish [the judge]. If the senior boss did not punish him, the people have the right to inform the official from the [education] authorities who will call the lawyers for a collective decision on the punishment. So we will avoid autocratic order. ” That is, as a result, control over the courts is in the hands of the same “legal estate” ^[92] .

The original concept of the state system could hardly be categorized, which the thinker himself admitted: “If we call it a republic (gunhe), then this is a true republic (dishi ji gunhe), and if you call it absolutism (zhuangzhi), then this is original absolutism (qigu chzhi chzhuanzhi) " ^[93] .

Zhang Binlin's economic ideal was an agrarian state, living according to the principle: “to bend the rich and strong, to help the poor and weak ” ^[94] . The state should fully restrict private capital, prohibit the combination of entrepreneurship and public service, consistently implement the principle of equality (equalization of land rights, equal responsibility before the law, universal compulsory education as a means of attracting people to govern the country). Zhang Binlin believed that all these principles are consistent with Chinese national culture and at the same time close to socialism ^[94] . He also addressed the problems of the distant future: from the synthesis of the teachings of the Buddhist schools of Huayan and Fasyan with European philosophy, he created the theory of “Five disappearances.” The future society must go through three stages: at the first, “governments”, that is, any government, then “joint settlements” and the family should disappear, which will eliminate quarrels and violence. At the second stage, humanity will disappear - individuals will get rid of their own "I" and merge with the truth of nirvana ; then all living things will leave, from which a man with his sorrows and sufferings could be reborn. At the third stage, the Universe itself will disappear and alaya will reign supreme consciousness, the source and the end of all things ^[95] .

Public Morality

Morality from the point of view of Zhang Binlin played a key role in the fate of the state and nation. He recognized the division of morality into universal and social, and also recognized the change in morality during the development of society. As a result, Zhang Binlin developed the theory of “professional morality”, which was based on the postulate of Mencius about the dependence of morality on profession and occupation. He divided humanity into 16 strata, ranking them by occupation, ranking in descending order of morality. The six strata are "morally appropriate" - peasants, artisans, merchants of various kinds, intelligentsia. The remaining 10 strata (the upper layers of society) are completely devoid of morality ^[96] .

The ideal of morality for him was George Washington . Among the basic norms of morality were included: shame, earnestness, inflexibility and obligatory fidelity to the word. The key element is shame. Since public morality is degrading, the government should re-educate the people, but this work should be individual, not collective. The charge of morality is provided by the study of Confucian canons and Buddhist sutras, while the school decomposes morality ^[97] . In general, Chinese Buddhism should be eliminated from harmful "impurities": " various funny and ugly rituals: burning paper, prayers, reincarnation, astrology, that is, all that was not contained in the Buddhist canons ." Preaching patriotism as “protection of the race”, “love of his race”, Zhang Binlin insisted on the priority of the Han people in “gaining official posts”, and considered the assimilation of small nations as a condition of their equality ^[98] . He began to consider even business relations with the West as “betrayal”, sharply criticizing all the Western socio-political and philosophical theories he knew ^[99] .

Regarding the role of the individual in society, Zhang Binlin had a different opinion in different years. For some time, under the influence of the anarchists, he preached unlimited personal freedom, but then, carried away by Spinoza , recognized limited freedom. The origins of the formation of society are moral and psychological factors: society arose when people wanted security and united into communities. The stimulating factors in the unification process are the moral categories of humanity and duty. The relationship between the individual and society is thus extremely controversial ^[100] .

The publication of works. Historiography

The entire legacy of Zhang Binlin (for example, his work in the field of Chinese medicine) has not yet been revealed. According to the most minimal estimates, the total volume of his work is at least 4 million characters ^[101] . During his lifetime, he himself composed and published four collections of his works, some works were published by students. For example, in 1921, the "Collection of Zhang Taiyang's Articles in Spoken Language" was published, written by him in Baihua . After his death, the works continued to be published by relatives, for example, the widow, Tan Goli, issued a facsimile edition of 84 letters of Zhang Binlin in 1962, which he sent to his family from prison in 1913-1916. In 1986, the great-grandson of Zhang Binlin - Zhang Nyanchi - published 30 previously unpublished works of his great-grandfather, mainly articles on scientific topics ^[101] . In 1982, the publication of the complete works of Zhang Binlin began; By 1986, 6 volumes were published, but the publication was interrupted.

Zhang Binlin began writing his autobiography in 1928, but did not finish it, bringing the exposition only until 1922. It was published by Suzhou National Science Courses, and has been regularly reprinted since 1957. Chinese researcher Tan Zhijun in 1979 compiled a detailed biography of the thinker in two volumes, which is also regularly reprinted.

The legacy of Zhang Binlin is very popular in China. Even during the Cultural Revolution , when everything related to traditional culture was subjected to pogrom in China (for example, the grave of Kang Yuwei was desecrated), Zhang Binlin was proclaimed “ an outstanding representative of the bourgeois revolutionaries who systematically opposed Confucius and raised the banner of legism in the fight against Confucianism ” ^[102] . For the needs of poorly educated hunweibins, even translations of selected articles by Zhang Binlin into spoken language were even published ^[102] .

In the 1980s, China published 6 monographs on the legacy of Zhang Binlin, and a huge number of articles ^[103] . Western historiography is relatively poor, especially Japanese and American Sinologists began to deal with it only in the 1980s, and in 1990 fundamental monographs by Kenji Simada ^[104] and K. Laitinen ^[105] were published. In 2011, Viren Murty's monograph, the most fundamental at the moment, was published ^[106] . For many years, N. M. Kalyuzhnaya was studying the heritage of Zhang Binlin in the USSR, her monograph Tradition and Revolution was prepared for publication back in 1990, but was published five years later due to financial problems. Translations into the Western languages ​​of the works of Zhang Binlin (sophisticated stylistically, paradoxical, sometimes incomprehensible) almost do not exist, with one exception ^[107] . N. M. Kalyuzhnaya prepared a translation into Russian of 12 articles by Zhang Binlin, written in 1894-1913; richly commented edition, equipped with facsimile reproduction of texts, was published in Moscow in 2013.

• Kalyuzhnaya N. M. Tradition and revolution. Zhang Binlin (1869-1936) is a Chinese thinker and politician of the New Age. - M .: Uprpoligrafizdat government of the Moscow region, 1995. - 342 p.
• Kalyuzhnaya N. M. Interpretation by Zhang Binlin of the de category // From magical power to the moral imperative: de category in Chinese culture. M .: Publishing company "Eastern Literature" RAS, 1998. - S. 264-293.
• Kalyuzhnaya N. M. Zhang Bin-lin // The Spiritual Culture of China: Encyclopedia: in 5 volumes / Ch. ed. M. L. Titarenko; Institute of the Far East. - M.: East. lit., 2006. T. 1. Philosophy / ed. M.L. Titarenko, A.I. Kobzev, A.E. Lukyanov. - 2006 .-- 727 p. - S. 559-561.
• Martynov D.E., Martynova Yu.A. Nirvana and anarchy: the doctrine of the "five disappearances" of Zhang Bin-lin // Questions of Philosophy . - 2018. - No. 8. - S. 164-181. - DOI : 10.31857 / S004287440000747-6 .
• Zhang Binlin. Selected Works (1894-1913) / Transl. with China, comp., introduction by N. M. Kalyuzhnaya. - M .: Science; Oriental literature, 2013 .-- 304 p.
• Xiong Yuezhi. Zhang Taiyan / Xiong Yuezhi Zhu Chinese. 章太炎 / 熊 月 之 著 . - Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1982. - 218 p.
• Tang Zhijun . Zhang Taiyan Nianpu Changyan / Tang Zhijun Bian China. 章太炎 年谱 长 编 / 汤志钧 编 . - Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1979.- 984 p.

• N. M. Kalyuzhnaya. Zhang Bin-lin (neopr.) . Sinology.Ru. Date of treatment January 18, 2014.
• 章太炎 （1869－1936） (Chinese) . Date of treatment January 18, 2014.
• 梁 涛. 章太炎 年谱 简 编 (Chinese) . Date of treatment January 18, 2014. Archived January 13, 2006.