Duxiu's Ideals

The tedious workday and the harsh living conditions of a peasant eventually gave way to social unrest and revolution in Russia. Peasants had a harsh life since the beginning, but they never blamed the tsar for their rough living conditions. Approximately 90 percent of Russia were peasants, with the average peasant living to only 35 years old. Many lived in damp and musty homes, which they shared with all types of farm animals. [1] They were part of a larger community where the community and family were more important than the individual, and many of them did not have sufficient education until the 1910s, when the literacy rate rose to 40 percent. [8] At the time, the peasants were not content but tolerable with their current lives. The peasants’
Chen Duxiu, a leading intellectual of the May Fourth movement, wants nothing to do with the traditions and “the desires of dignitaries and influential elders.” He wants to build a constitutional republic, where the power is not held by one party or group, but held by the majority of the people. [1] Compared to Duxiu’s goals for a future China, Liang Shuming’s vision is more neutral towards China. However, he gives India as an example not to follow, not because there is anything against the Indians, but because the British once colonized India. Shuming does not believe that China should not be under rule of any other nation, for it shows weakness and gives strength to the controlling nation. He also sees that China lacks “the conquest of nature on the material side of Western culture...the scientific method on the intellectual side of Western culture… [and the] democracy on the social side of Western culture.” [6] Duxiu’s way of creating a constitutional republic is nearly the opposite of the way Sun Yat-sen planned future China: in Yat-sen’s ideal China, the government takes control first, not the people get their freedom right away. Sun Yat-sen has his “three stages of revolution”: everything is to be destroyed by the revolutionary army in the period of destruction, the transitional period is when the people are taught the
In the Meiji Constitution, Articles XI through XVI state that the emperor has full control of the army and navy and is able to declare war whenever felt necessary. The emperor is completely prepared to launch an attack on another nation if necessary since he is in charge of the military aspects of the nation. Article XX states that all the Japanese subjects have to be prepared in case their service is needed in the army and navy. In Article XXXII, all the provisions in the articles of the second chapter apply to the army and navy, but they specifically cannot go against the laws, rules, and discipline of the army and navy. Because the emperor is able to control when and where the army and navy fight, choose the people who fight in the army or navy, pull everyone into paying taxes, and make the people support the decisions of the emperor and encourage the army and navy, the emperor is able to declare war anytime he feels like doing so no matter the cost but without losing any time, since the military is always prepared. [1] This militarism can lead to events like the Nanking Massacre, where many Chinese were killed using brutal methods such as “mass execution, burning, burying alive, beheading, and biting by dogs.” [9] Different