The late Qing Dynasty was turbulent. How does an ordinary Taiyuan scholar view the great changes in the late Qing Dynasty?

During the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1895 (1895), Liu Dapeng, a scholar from Taiyuan, happened to go to Beijing to take the exam. Walking from a small place, he found that he should pay attention to writing good words, especially small ones. It is not clear whether the scope of the examination questions is beyond the content of Confucian classics because of this word, and the result of the final examination is not ideal. Liu Dapeng hastily concluded his first scientific expedition and was the last one to go home.

My first feeling: I accept the questions from Shi Jing University. The initial test has a great influence on Dapeng. It is very likely that he really came into contact with some common sense about westernization in this exam, which can be roughly seen from the list of books he asked others to buy the next year.

The second feeling: old learning can't be abolished. This "can't be abandoned" is divided into two levels, one is personal behavior and the other is mentality. Personally, Dapeng still regards lifting as the highest standard of success.

Link the improvement of personal and family experiences with the implementation of the imperial examination system. At least before the founding of the Republic of China, Dapeng had a strong resistance to the abolition of the imperial examination, that is, he felt that "if the heart is dying, everything in front of him is empty and nothing can last forever."

Dapeng is anxious, worried and confused about the "great change that has never happened in three thousand years". Not only is there a realistic reason that "life is worse than death", but the deeper reason is the psychological loss caused by the collapse of the old value system. Thanks to Dapeng, although he is an ordinary scholar in the local area, he is also a preacher.

Dapeng-style complaints reflect the values of martyrdom in traditional Confucian culture. This can also be understood that the date of his diary insists on using the Qing calendar year. Although a little melodramatic, this is his lovely gesture of "guarding the old morality and culture" under that "change".