A New Treatise on Aids to Administration[2] or A New Treatise on Political Counsel[3] (simplified Chinese: 资政新篇; traditional Chinese: 資政新篇), also called New Treatise on Government,[4] was a pro-modernisation[5] proposal written by Hong Rengan to Hong Xiuquan when he arrived in Tianjing in the ninth year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1859).[6]
| SC | 资政新篇 |
|---|---|
| TC | 資政新篇 |
| Author | Hong Rengan |
| Country | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom |
| Written in | 1859[1] |
A New Treatise on Aids to Administration was a blueprint of modernization for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.[7] In his book, Hong proposed a program for China's economic modernization, including the construction of railroads and ships, the establishment of banks, patents, currency, public welfare institutions and hospitals, and so forth.[8]
Regarding the sources that contributed to Hong's book, many scholars have pointed out the influence of missionaries' Chinese newspapers and periodicals.[9]
Impact and evaluations
editSome Chinese scholars described Hong's New Treatise on Government as "the first vision of the advanced Chinese to develop capitalism in China".[10] However, one scholar argued that this conclusion did not correspond to historical facts. He said that although Hong knew something about the West, he was still an old-fashioned literatus (旧式文人) at heart and lacked the spirit of practical work, and the book he wrote lacked the possibility of practical operation, which could not save the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom or China.[11]
References
edit- ^ "Is the word "bank" a "Japanese loanword"?". Stand News. May 4, 2017. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021.
- ^ Weichi Zhou (2016-03-16). The Origin of "A New Treatise on Aids to Administration". Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004322127_007. ISBN 9789004322127.
- ^ Yunze Zhao; Ping Sun (11 May 2018). A History of Journalism and Communication in China. Routledge. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-1-317-51931-7.
- ^ Michael Lackner; Iwo Amelung; Joachim Kurtz (2001). New Terms for New Ideas: Western Knowledge and Lexical Change in Late Imperial China. Brill Publishers. pp. 78–. ISBN 90-04-12046-7.
- ^ Li Chang (2006). The Modern History of China. Archeobooks. ISBN 978-83-7188-877-9.
- ^ Luo Ergang (1957). Selected Writings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. People's Publishing House.
- ^ Michael Dillon (1 December 2016). Encyclopedia of Chinese History. Taylor & Francis. pp. 289–. ISBN 978-1-317-81716-1.
- ^ Maria H Chang (4 May 2018). Return Of The Dragon: China's Wounded Nationalism. Routledge. pp. 162–. ISBN 978-0-429-97726-8.
- ^ Yearbook of Chinese Theology 2016. BRILL. 21 July 2016. pp. 77–. ISBN 978-90-04-32212-7.
- ^ Yu Jie (2019-06-25). "Hong Xiuquan is not a Christian, but a communist". Yahoo! News.
- ^ "Hong Rengan's New Treatise on Government is actually just an "internal reference"". cul.qq.com. 2014-04-10. Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 28 March 2021.