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李端棻徐致靖（子仁鑄）陳寶箴黃遵憲曾鉌楊深秀楊銳劉光第譚嗣同唐才常林旭康廣仁李端棻，字，人。 二年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，為大學士、尚書所器。 十年，出督學政。 值寇亂後，荒服道亙，前使者試未遍，始一一按臨，文化漸振。 五年，轉御史，以叔父官京尹，迴避，改故官。 累擢內閣學士。 十八年，遷刑部侍郎。 越六年，調倉場。 前後迭司文柄，四為鄉試考官，一為會試副總裁，喜獎拔士類。 典試，賞才，以從妹妻之，自是頗納議，娓娓道東西邦制度。 維時上書請變法，兼及興學。 二十二年，遂疏請立京師大學，凡各省府、州、縣遍設學堂，分齋講習； 並建藏書樓、儀器院、譯書局，廣立報館，選派遊歷生。 二十四年，密薦及堪大用。 又以各衙門則例，語涉紛歧，疏請刪訂，上尤善之，詔趣各長官定限期革前敝。 擢禮部尚書。 未幾，等敗，自疏檢舉，詔褫職，戍。 中道遘疾，留。 二十七年，赦歸，主講。 三十三年，卒。 元年，從、京朝官請，復官。 徐致靖（子仁鑄），字，人，寄籍。 二年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 累遷侍讀學士。 父憂服闋，二十三年，起故官。 嘗憂外患日迫，思所以為獻納計。 子，時以編修督學，倡新學，書告舉。 遂上言：「國是未定，請申乾斷示從違。」 藉以覘上意。 未幾，詔果求通才，於是奏堪大用，並及、等。 又連上書請廢製藝，改試策論，省冗官，酌置散卿。 復以邊患棘，宜練重兵，力荐主軍事。 上皆然其言，敕依行。 罷斥禮部尚書等阻遏言路，遂命權右侍郎。 二十四年八月，太后復出訓政，參預新政諸臣皆獲罪。 褫職坐系，尋定永遠監禁，亦罷官。 庚子，聯軍陷京師，始出獄待罪，詔赦免。 卒，年七十五。 陳寶箴，字，人。 少負志節，詩文皆有法度，為所器。 以舉人隨父治鄉團，禦寇。 已而走，參戎幕，軍、間。 來犯，軍飢疲，走募糧，糧至不絕，守益堅，寇稍稍引去。 之，為畫策殲寇，事寧，敘知府，超授。 創，遴選三州學子，延名師教之。 遷按察使，坐事免。 巡撫薦其才，十六年，召入都，除按察使，署布政使。 二十年，擢直隸布政使，入對，時東戰亟，見上形容憂悴，請日讀，以期變不失常。 他所陳奏語甚多，並稱旨。 上以為忠，命治糈台，專摺奏事。 成，泣曰：「殆不國矣！」 明年，以薦，擢巡撫。 撫幕有者，植黨私利，至即重治之。 布政使為關說，據以上聞，獲譴。 覆按被劾事，盡暴其任用非人狀，遂褫職。 繇是有伉直聲。 俗故闇僿，思以一隅致富強，為東南倡，先後設電信，置小輪，建製造槍彈廠，又立保衛局、、。 延主學，俗大變。 又疏請釐正學術及練兵、籌款諸大端，上皆嘉納，敕令持定見，毋為浮言動，並特旨褒勵之。 是時負盛名，司道咸屏息以伺。 初綰籓，遇事不合，獨與爭無私撓，雖不懌，無如何也。 久之，兩人深相結，凡條上新政皆聯銜，而撫反不與。 會言事數見效。 素慕、薦士，因上言、、、佐新政。 上方詔求通變才，遽擢京卿，參新政，於是四人上書論時事無顧忌。 又言四人雖才，恐資望輕，視事過易，原得厚重大臣如者領之。 疏上而太后已出訓政，誅四京卿，罪及舉主，去官，其子主事亦革職，並毀學所著、、、諸書。 初，已革道員，以張揭帖攻西教為總督所治。 至，復刊帖傳布，令毀之，毆毀帖者，怒，下之獄。 舊黨恨次骨，然喜新之士，亦以此翕然稱之。 既去，諸所營構便於民者，雖效益已著，皆廢毀無一存雲。 卒，年七十。 黃遵憲，字，人。 以舉人入貲為道員。 充使參贊，著上之朝。 旋移總領事。 吏嘗藉口衛生，逮僑滿獄。 徑詣獄中，令從者度其容積，曰：「此處衛生顧右於僑居邪？」 吏謝，遽釋之。 歷鹽法道，署按察使。 時為巡撫，行新政，首倡民治於眾曰：「亦自治其身，自治其鄉而已。 由一鄉推之一縣、一府、一省，以迄全國，可以成共和之郅治，臻大同之盛軌。」 於是略仿西國巡警之制，設保衛局，凡與民利民瘼相麗，而為一方民力能舉者，悉屬之，領以民望，而官輔其不及焉。 尋解職，奉出使之命，未行而黨禍起，遂罷歸。 著有等。 曾鉌，字，氏，正白旗人。 父，將軍。 以任子為工部主事，累遷郎中，充軍機章京，轉御史。 九年，出為督糧道。 、各屬農民納糧例繳省倉，道塗艱遠，多弊竇，設法清釐之，民稱便。 士風樸僿，藝事苦窳，延、主書院，督課實學，士論翕然。 又設蠶桑局，聘織師教以煮湅織染法，歲出絲帛埒、。 十三年，遷按察使。 明年，母憂解職。 服除，起故官，俄遷布政使。 二十四年，調，迴避，留本任。 擢巡撫，慨然曰：「時艱至此，猶可拘成法不變耶？」 於是假總督印上陳補官、掣籤、度支、訟獄四事，宜變通成例，厚植國本。 侍讀學士、光祿寺少卿彈其亂政，詔褫職。 始，官京朝，家綦貧，僦居陋室。 及任外台，孜孜民事，不顧問有無。 既閒廢，出入皆徒步，民恆歲醵金濟之。 後益困，至敝衣鬻卜都市。 未幾，卒。 改元，總督為奏復原官。 楊深秀，字，本名，人。 少穎敏，諳西算術。 初，以舉人入貲為刑部員外郎。 假歸，值大饑，銜命籌賑，條上改革差徭法，困少蘇。 十五年，成進士，就本官遷郎中，轉御史。 嘗言：「時勢危迫，不革舊無以圖新，不變法無以圖存。」 二十四年，人脅割、。 深秀力請聯、拒之，詞甚切直。 時朝廷銳意行新政，而大臣恆多異議。 乃與先後疏請定國是，又以取士之法未善，請參酌、、舊制，釐正文體，下其議於禮部，尚書心非之，未奏也。 會議經濟特科務減額，於是合彈其阻撓。 上令自陳，奏上，劾夤緣要津，請罷斥，詞連，上不之詰也。 御史劾傳布有為所立，並暴交通內外狀，責以代人報復，反獲咎。 益感奮，連上書請設譯書局，派王公遊歷各國，並定遊學章程，皆報可。 又請試庶官，日番二十人，料簡貞實，而汰其庸愚罷老不諳時務者，繇是廷臣益側目。 巡撫圖治甚急，中蜚語，為剖辨之，上以特旨褒，乃得行其志。 八月，政變，舉朝惴惴，懼大誅至，獨抗疏請太后歸政。 方疏未上時，其子苦口諫止，厲聲叱之退。 俄被逮，論棄市。 性鯁直，嘗面折人過，以此叢忌。 官臺諫十閱月，封事二十餘上，稿不具存，惟獄中詩三章流傳於世。 著有、。 楊銳，字，人。 少俊慧，督學奇其才，招入幕。 肄業，年最少，嘗冠其曹。 優貢朝考得知縣。 督，從赴。 十一年，舉順天鄉試，考取內閣中書。 二十四年，薦應經濟特科。 又以薦，與、、並加四品卿，充軍機章京，參新政。 召見，面陳興學、練兵為救亡策，稱旨。 七月，禮部主事上封事，尚書等格不奏。 上聞，震怒，盡褫尚書侍郎六人革職，朝臣皆不自安。 上手詔密諭云：「近日朕仰觀聖母意旨，不欲退此老耄昏庸大臣而進英勇通達之人，亦不欲將法盡變。 朕豈不知積弱不振，非力行新政不可？ 然此時不惟朕權力所不及，若強行之，朕位且不能保。 爾與、、等詳悉籌議，必如何而後能進用英達，使新政及時舉行，又不致少拂聖意，即具奏，候朕審擇，不勝焦慮之至！」 復奏言：「太后親挈大位授之皇上，皇上宜以孝先天下，遇事將順。 變法宜有次第，進退大臣不宜太驟。」 上是之。 已而太后再訓政，諸言新政者皆予重誅。 既下獄，自揣實無罪，謂即訊不難白，次日，遽詔與等同棄市。 改元，子繳手詔於都察院，請代奏，始傳於世。 劉光第，字，人。 九年進士，授刑部主事。 治事精嚴，因讞獄忤長官，遂退而閉戶勤學，絕跡不詣署。 家素貧，而性廉介，非舊交，雖禮饋弗受。 獨與善。 通、及。 其應召也，亦以薦，然非其素志，將具疏辭，人官京朝者力勸之。 一日，召見，力陳時危民困，外患日迫，亟宜虛懷圖治，上稱善。 惟時言路宏啟，臣民奏事日數百計，竟日批答，簽識可否，以待上裁。 退語所親曰：「吾終不任此，行當亟假歸矣！」 未一月而禍作，自投獄。 臨刑，協辦大學士監斬，詫曰：「未訊而誅，何哉？」 令跪聽旨，不可，曰：「祖制，雖盜賊，臨刑呼冤，當復訊。 吾輩縱不足惜，如國體何！」 默不應，再詢之，曰：「吾奉命監刑耳，他何知？」 獄卒強之跪，崛立自如。 呼曰：「，跪！ 跪！ 遵旨而已。」 乃跪就戮。 著有。 譚嗣同（唐才常），字，人。 父，巡撫。 少倜儻有大志，文為奇肆。 其學以日新為主，視倫常舊說若無足措意者。 素謹飭，以是頗見惡。 乃遊幕，以同知入貲為知府，銓。 撫，還鄉佐新政。 倡辦，為之長。 屆會期，集者恆數百人，聞慷慨論時事，多感動。 二十四年，召入都，奏對稱旨，擢四品卿、軍機章京。 四人雖同被命，每召對，建議獨多。 欲開，設顧問官，令擬旨，必載明前朝故事，將親詣請命太后。 退謂人曰：「今乃知上絕無權也！」 時督，以監司練兵。 詔擢侍郎，召入覲。 嘗夜詣有所議。 明日，返天津。 越晨，太后自還宮，收政權。 避匿日本使館，往見之，勸東遊。 曰：「不有行者，無以圖將來； 不有死者，無以酬聖主。」 卒不去。 未幾，斬於市。 著有及等。 ，字。 少與齊名，稱「二生」，高材生也。 聞死，憂憤，屢有所謀，每言及，常泣下。 二十六年，兩宮出狩，陰結謀舉事，號勤王，將攻、。 被獲，慷慨言無所隱，請就死，遂殺之。 林旭，字，人。 年十九，舉本省鄉試第一。 後試禮部，值構釁，糾同試者上書論時事，不報。 入貲為內閣中書。 時倡言變法，先於京師立，以振厲士氣，而、、、諸會繼之。 為領袖，又充會員。 先為將軍，雅好士，及至，延入幕。 俄以奏保人才召見，操土語，上不盡解。 退繕摺，上稱善，遂命與等同參機務，詔諭多起草。 及變起，同戮於市，年二十有四。 著有。 妻孫女，聞變，仰藥不死，以毀卒。 康廣仁，名，以字行，弟。 少從兄學。 上書請改革，謂當先變科舉，庶人才可出。 其後罷鄉會試、製藝，而歲科試未變，激勵言官抗疏論之，得旨俞允。 於是語：「今科舉既廢，宜且南歸興學專教育，俟養成多數有用才，數年後乃可云改革也。」 不忍去。 及初聞變，復趣歸。 走，被逮。 在獄言笑自若，臨刑猶言曰：「自強之機在此矣！」 【論曰】論曰：戊戌變法，發憤圖強，用等言，召用新進。 百日維新，外震仰，黨爭遽起，激成政變。 、、、及、同日被禍，世稱「六君子」，皆悲其志。 內爭不已，牽及外交。 其後遂釀庚子排外之亂，終致危亡。 此亦代興衰一大關鍵也。
Li Duanfen, Xu Zhijing (and his son Ren Zhu), Chen Baozhen, Huang Zunxian, Ceng He, Yang Shenxiu, Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi, Tan Sitong, Tang Caichang, Lin Xu, and Kang Guangren. Li Duanfen, whose courtesy name was Biyuan, came from Guizhou. In the second year of the Guangxu reign he took his jinshi degree, entered the Hanlin as a junior compiler, received appointment as a compiler, and won the regard of Grand Secretary Wo Ren and Minister Luo Dunyan. In the tenth year he was sent out to serve as educational commissioner of Yunnan. This was after the Muslim uprising, when frontier routes were still broken and the previous commissioner had not been able to hold examinations throughout the province. Duanfen now toured each district in person, and learning gradually revived. In the fifth year he was made a censor, but when his uncle became metropolitan magistrate of Beijing he withdrew on account of the kinship rule and resumed his former office. He rose step by step to junior grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat. In the eighteenth year he was moved to vice minister of the Ministry of Punishments. Six years later he was reassigned to oversee the grain depots. On several occasions he held charge of the civil examinations, serving four times as provincial examiner and once as associate chief examiner for the metropolitan examination, and he took pleasure in recognizing and advancing promising scholars. While conducting examinations in Guangdong he admired Liang Qichao's ability, married him to a cousin by marriage, and thereafter often took Liang's counsel, speaking at length about the political systems of East and West. About this time Kang Youwei submitted memorials calling for reform and for the expansion of education. In the twenty-second year Duanfen memorialized to establish a national university in the capital and schools in every province, prefecture, and county, with separate halls for study; and to set up libraries, instrument halls, and translation bureaus, to open newspapers widely, and to select students to travel abroad for study. In the twenty-fourth year he secretly recommended Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong as men capable of high responsibility. He further observed that the regulatory precedents of the various offices were inconsistent in wording and asked that they be revised; the emperor was especially pleased and ordered each department head to fix a deadline for removing old abuses. He was promoted to minister of the Ministry of Rites. Before long Kang Youwei's party fell; Duanfen submitted a memorial denouncing himself, and an edict removed him from office and banished him to Xinjiang. He fell ill en route and was held at Ganzhou. In the twenty-seventh year he was amnestied and went home, where he lectured at the Jingshi Academy in Guizhou. In the thirty-third year he died. In the first year of the Xuantong reign, at the petition of Yunnan and Guizhou officials in Beijing, his former office was restored. Xu Zhijing (and his son Ren Zhu), whose courtesy name was Zijing, came from Yixing in Jiangsu and was registered by adoption at Wanping. In the second year of Guangxu he took his jinshi degree, entered the Hanlin as a junior compiler, and was appointed a compiler. He rose in stages to reader-in-waiting in the Hanlin Academy. After completing mourning for his father, in the twenty-third year he was recalled to his former office. Zhijing had long been troubled by the daily tightening of foreign pressure and pondered how he might advise the throne. His son Ren Zhu, then a compiler serving as Hunan's educational commissioner, promoted the new learning and wrote urging his father to recommend Kang Youwei. Zhijing then memorialized: "The nation's course is still unsettled; I ask that Your Majesty's own judgment be made explicit, showing what is to be adopted and what rejected." In this way he hoped to discern the emperor's intentions. Soon an edict did call for men of talent; Zhijing then reported that Kang Youwei was fit for high office, and also named Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian, and others. He also sent a series of memorials asking to abolish the eight-legged essay, test policy essays instead, cut redundant offices, and appoint honorary grand secretaries as appropriate. He further urged that with border crises pressing, large forces should be drilled, and he strongly recommended Yuan Shikai to direct military affairs. The emperor approved all his proposals and ordered them implemented. Minister of Rites Xu Yingkui and others who had obstructed memorials to the throne were removed, and Zhijing was appointed acting right vice minister. In the eighth month of the twenty-fourth year the empress dowager resumed control of government, and every official who had joined the reform movement was punished. Zhijing was stripped of rank and imprisoned; he was soon sentenced to lifelong detention, and Ren Zhu was dismissed from office as well. In the year 1900, when the allied armies occupied Beijing, he was released from prison to await sentence, and an edict granted him amnesty. He died at the age of seventy-five. Chen Baozhen, whose courtesy name was Youming, came from Yining in Jiangxi. From youth he showed strong character; his poetry and prose were disciplined, and Zeng Guofan valued him. While still a provincial graduate he followed his father Wei Lin in raising local militia against the Taiping rebels from Guangdong. He then went to Hunan, entered Yi Peishen's staff, and fought between Laifeng and Longshan. When Shi Dakai attacked, the troops were hungry and exhausted; Baozhen went to Yongshun to raise grain, supplies kept coming, the defense held firm, and the rebels slowly drew off. In Jiangxi he helped Xi Baotian plan the destruction of Hong Fuzhen's band; when peace returned he was recommended for prefect and was promoted out of turn to intendant of Hebei Circuit. He founded the Zhiyong Jingshe Academy, chose students from three prefectures, and brought in distinguished teachers. He was made judicial commissioner of Zhejiang but was removed after an offense. The Hunan governor praised his ability; in the sixteenth year he was called to the capital, appointed judicial commissioner of Hubei, and named acting provincial treasurer. In the twentieth year he was promoted to treasurer of Zhili; when he was received in audience the war with Japan was pressing, and seeing how worn the emperor looked he urged daily reading of the Kangxi Emperor's commentary on the Book of Changes so that amid upheaval he might keep his balance. His other memorials were many, and all met with the emperor's approval. The emperor judged him loyal and put him in charge of the grain depots with authority to submit memorials directly. When the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, he wept and said, "The dynasty is all but finished!" The following year, on Rong Lu's recommendation, he was made governor of Hunan. A man named Ren Lin in the governor's staff had built a clique for private gain; Baozhen punished him severely as soon as he took office. Zhili treasurer Wang Lian pleaded on Ren's behalf; Baozhen reported the matter upward, and Wang was censured. He reviewed the impeachment of Shi Nianzu, fully exposing how Nianzu had appointed unfit men, and Nianzu was dismissed. From this he gained a reputation for uncompromising integrity. Hunan had long been backward and insular; Baozhen hoped to make the province a model of wealth and strength for the southeast. He set up telegraph lines, introduced steam launches, built an arms and ammunition factory, and founded a Public Security Bureau, the Southern Study Society, and the Current Affairs Academy. He invited Liang Qichao to lead Hunan's schools, and local attitudes changed dramatically. He also memorialized on reforming scholarship, drilling troops, and raising revenue; the emperor approved everything, told him to stand by his convictions and ignore loose talk, and issued a special edict of praise. Zhang Zhidong then enjoyed enormous prestige, and every provincial official watched him in silence. When Baozhen first governed Hubei they often clashed, yet he alone argued with Zhang without private interest; Zhang was displeased but could not prevail. In time the two became close allies and co-signed every memorial on the new policies, while Hubei governor Tan Jixun was not included. About then Kang Youwei's proposals repeatedly bore fruit. He had long admired how Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi had promoted talent, and memorialized that Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi, Tan Sitong, and Lin Xu should help carry out the reforms. The emperor had just called for adaptable talent; the four were suddenly raised to high office in the capital to join the reforms, and from then on they spoke on public affairs without restraint. Baozhen also said that though the four were able, their rank was low and they might treat office too lightly; he asked that a senior figure such as Zhang Zhidong supervise them. By the time the memorial arrived the empress dowager had resumed power; the four capital officials were executed, blame fell on their recommender, Baozhen was dismissed, his son Sanli was stripped of office, and the Hunan school's Xueyue, Jieshuo, Zhaji, and Dawen were destroyed. Earlier the dismissed intendant Zhou Han of Ningxiang had been punished by the governor for posting anti-Christian placards. When Baozhen arrived Zhou Han printed placards again; Baozhen ordered them destroyed, Zhou Han beat those who tore them down, and Baozhen had him jailed in anger. The conservative faction hated him bitterly, yet reform-minded men united in praise for the same act. After he left, every institution he had built for the people, though already proving useful, was abolished until nothing remained. He died at the age of seventy. Huang Zunxian, whose courtesy name was Gongdu, came from Jiaying Prefecture. As a provincial graduate he bought appointment as a circuit intendant. He served as attaché on the mission to Japan and submitted his Record of Japan to the court. He was soon made consul-general at San Francisco. American officials once used public health as a pretext to arrest Chinese residents until the prisons were packed. Zunxian went straight to the jail and had his attendants measure its space, saying, "Is sanitation really better here than where the Chinese live?" The officials apologized and released them immediately. He served as salt controller of Changbao Circuit and acted as judicial commissioner. Chen Baozhen was then governor and pursuing reforms; Zunxian first preached popular self-government to the people, saying, "It means governing yourself and governing your own township. Extend that from one township to a county, a prefecture, a province, and then the whole country, and you can reach the ideal of republican government and the great harmony of the Datong age." He then roughly copied the Western police system and set up a Public Security Bureau; everything touching local welfare that the people could manage was placed under respected local leaders, with officials helping where needed. He soon left office, was ordered abroad as envoy, but before he could depart the reform purge began and he went home. He wrote works including Renjinglu Shicao and others. Ceng He, whose courtesy name was Huaiqing, of the Xitala clan, was a Manchu of the Plain White Banner. His father Qing Yun was general at Ningxia. By hereditary privilege he entered the Ministry of Works as a director, rose to bureau director, served on the Grand Council staff, and became a censor. In the ninth year he was sent out as grain transport commissioner of Shaanxi. In the Xi'an and Tongzhou circuits peasants normally paid grain tax to the provincial granary; the routes were long and corrupt; he reformed the system and the people welcomed the change. Scholarship in the capital region was plain and the arts neglected; he brought Bo Jingwei of Chang'an and Liu Guangzan of Xianyang to head the Guanzhong Academy, stressed practical studies, and scholars rallied to him. He also set up a sericulture bureau, hired weavers to teach reeling, weaving, and dyeing, and each year's silk output rivaled Shandong and Henan. In the thirteenth year he was made judicial commissioner. The next year he left office to mourn his mother. When mourning ended he returned to office and was soon made treasurer of Gansu. In the twenty-fourth year he was transferred to Zhili but stayed in Gansu on account of a conflict-of-interest rule. He was made governor of Hubei and said with feeling, "Times are this desperate—can we still cling to old rules and refuse to change?" He then used the Shaan-Gan governor-general's seal to memorialize on filling offices, drawing lots for posts, revenue, and litigation, urging flexible change to strengthen the state. Reader-in-waiting Yi Gu and vice minister Zhang Zhongxin impeached him for subverting government, and he was dismissed by edict. When he first served in Beijing his family was very poor and he lived in rented quarters. Once he held office in the provinces, he devoted himself tirelessly to the people's affairs, heedless of his own comfort. After his dismissal he went everywhere on foot; the people of Shaanxi regularly collected money each year to support him. His circumstances worsened until he wore threadbare clothes and sold divination in the city markets. Before long he died. At the Xuantong change of reign era, Governor-General Duan Fang memorialized to restore his former rank. Yang Shenxiu, whose courtesy name was Yicun and whose original name was Yuxiu, came from Wenxi in Shanxi. As a youth he was sharp and quick-witted, and thoroughly versed in Chinese and Western mathematics. Early in the Tongzhi reign, as a provincial graduate he bought appointment as an assistant department director in the Ministry of Punishments. While on leave he encountered the great famine in Shanxi; Yan Jingsming, charged with organizing relief, submitted a detailed plan to reform corvée and labor levies, and the people's distress was somewhat relieved. In the fifteenth year of Guangxu he took his jinshi degree, was promoted within his existing office to department director, and then transferred to censor. He once said, "The times are perilously urgent: without overturning the old there is no way to plan the new, and without changing the laws there is no way to plan for survival." In the twenty-fourth year, Russia coerced China into ceding Port Arthur and Dalian Bay. Shenxiu urgently petitioned that China ally with Britain and Japan to resist, in language that was forceful and blunt. The court was then eager to enact new policies, but senior ministers constantly raised objections. He and Xu Zhijing then submitted successive memorials asking that the national course be fixed; finding the method of selecting talent inadequate, he urged that the old systems of Song, Yuan, and Ming be consulted, literary forms standardized, and the matter referred to the Ministry of Rites—but Minister Xu Yingkui privately disapproved and never forwarded the proposal. When the economic special examination came up for discussion with efforts to cut its quotas, he joined Song Bolu in impeaching Xu Yingkui for obstruction. The Emperor ordered Xu Yingkui to explain himself; in his reply Xu impeached Kang Youwei for currying favor at key posts and asked that he be dismissed, implicating Shenxiu in the wording—but the Emperor did not pursue Shenxiu. Censor Wen Ti impeached Shenxiu for disseminating the Baoguo Society founded by Kang Youwei and exposed Youwei's dealings inside and outside the court; Emperor Dezong rebuked Wen for retaliating on another's behalf, and Wen himself was punished. Shenxiu was all the more stirred to action, and in a series of memorials asked that a Translation Bureau be established, that princes and nobles be sent to tour foreign countries, and that regulations for study in Japan be drawn up—all were approved. He also proposed testing ordinary officials twenty at a time each day, selecting the upright and sincere while weeding out the mediocre, foolish, and aged who did not understand current affairs; from this the court ministers looked upon him with growing hostility. Hunan Governor Chen Baozhen was pressing hard for reform when slander spread against him; Shenxiu defended him in a memorial, and the Emperor issued a special edict praising Baozhen, who was then able to carry out his plans. In the eighth month the coup occurred; the whole court trembled, fearing mass executions—yet Shenxiu alone submitted a bold memorial asking the Empress Dowager to restore power to the Emperor. Before the memorial could be submitted, his son Futian pleaded desperately with him to desist; Shenxiu sharply rebuked him and ordered him away. Soon he was arrested and condemned to execution in the marketplace. By nature he was blunt and upright, often rebuking others to their faces over their faults—and for this he accumulated many enemies. In ten months on the censorate he submitted more than twenty sealed memorials; the drafts are not fully preserved—only three poems written in prison survive. He authored the Collected Drafts from the Hall of Empty Sounds and the New Gazetteer of Wenxi County. Yang Rui, whose courtesy name was Shujiao, came from Mianzhu in Sichuan. As a youth he was brilliant and quick-witted; Educational Commissioner Zhang Zhidong was struck by his talent and brought him onto his staff. He studied at the Zunjing Academy; though the youngest in his cohort, he often ranked first among his peers. Selected as an outstanding tribute student, he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed district magistrate. When Zhang Zhidong became governor-general of the Two Guang, Rui accompanied him to Guangdong. In the eleventh year of Guangxu he passed the Shuntian provincial examination and was selected as a secretary in the Grand Secretariat. In the twenty-fourth year Zhang Zhidong recommended him to sit for the economic special examination. Again through Chen Baozhen's recommendation, he was together with Liu Guangdi, Tan Sitong, and Lin Xu promoted to fourth-grade secretary, appointed Grand Council clerk, and charged with carrying out the new policies. When summoned for audience, Rui stated directly that promoting education and drilling troops were the strategies to save the nation—and the Emperor was pleased. In the seventh month, Ministry of Rites clerk Wang Zhao submitted a sealed memorial, but Minister Xu Yingkui and others withheld it from the throne. When the Emperor learned of this he was furious and dismissed all six ministers and vice ministers; the court was thrown into unease. The Emperor personally sent Rui a secret hand-edict: "Of late I have observed the Empress Dowager's intent—she does not wish to remove these aged and incompetent ministers in favor of bold and capable men, nor does she wish to change the laws entirely. Do I not know that China has long been weak and enfeebled, and that only vigorous new policies can save it? Yet at this moment my power does not reach that far; if I force the matter, I cannot even keep my throne. You, together with Liu Guangdi, Tan Sitong, Lin Xu, and the others, must deliberate carefully on how to advance able men so that the new policies may proceed in good time without the least offense to the Empress Dowager's wishes—memorialize at once for my review. My anxiety is beyond words!" Rui memorialized in reply: "The Empress Dowager personally invested the throne in Your Majesty; Your Majesty should put filial piety before all else and accommodate her wishes in every matter. Reform should proceed step by step; the advancement and dismissal of ministers should not be too sudden." The Emperor approved. Before long the Empress Dowager resumed regency, and all who had advocated the new policies were severely punished. Once imprisoned, Rui believed himself innocent and thought he could easily clear his name under interrogation—but the next day an edict suddenly ordered him executed in the marketplace together with Liu Guangdi and the others. At the Xuantong change of reign era, Rui's son Qingchang submitted the hand-edict to the Censorate and asked that it be forwarded to the throne; only then did it become known to the world. Liu Guangdi, whose courtesy name was Peicun, came from Fushun in Sichuan. In the ninth year of Guangxu he took his jinshi degree and was appointed a clerk in the Ministry of Punishments. He handled business with exacting rigor; when a criminal case brought him into conflict with his superior, he withdrew, shut his doors to study, and stopped going to the office altogether. His family had always been poor, but he was incorruptible by nature and would accept no courtesy gift from anyone who was not an old friend. Yang Rui alone numbered among his close friends. He was deeply versed in the Offices of Zhou, the Rites, and both recensions of the Record of Rites. He answered the summons on Chen Baozhen's recommendation too, though it was not what he had wanted; he was preparing a memorial to decline when Sichuan colleagues in the capital pressed him hard to accept. One day he was received in audience and spoke urgently of national peril, popular distress, and the daily tightening of foreign pressure, urging the emperor to govern with an open mind; the emperor was pleased. Memorial channels were then wide open, with hundreds of submissions arriving daily; Guangdi spent entire days drafting replies and marking what should stand or fall, all for the emperor's final ruling. Afterward he told those close to him, "I cannot carry this burden—I mean to ask leave and go home at once! Less than a month later catastrophe fell, and he surrendered himself to prison. At the execution Associate Grand Secretary Gang Yi supervised the beheading; Guangdi cried out in astonishment, "To put a man to death without trial—why? He was ordered to kneel and hear the edict; he refused, saying, "By ancestral law, even a thief who cries injustice at execution must be heard again. Even if we are not worth sparing, what becomes of the dignity of the state! Gang Yi said nothing; pressed again, he replied, "I am here only to supervise the execution on orders—what more do I know? The jailers tried to force him to his knees, but he stood straight and unmoved. Yang Rui called out, "Peicun, kneel! Kneel! It is only to obey the edict." Then he knelt and went to his death. He wrote the Jiebai Tang shiwenji (Collected Poetry and Prose of the Jiebai Hall). Tan Sitong (with Tang Caichang appended), whose courtesy name was Fusheng, came from Liuyang in Hunan. His father Tan Jixun was governor of Hubei. From youth he was spirited and ambitious, and his prose was bold and unrestrained. He took daily renewal as the heart of his learning and treated conventional morality and inherited doctrine as hardly worth notice. Jixun was stern and proper by nature, and for this Sitong was much disliked by his father. He joined Liu Jintang's staff in Xinjiang, bought appointment as prefect through the rank of sub-prefect, and was assigned to Jiangsu. When Chen Baozhen became Hunan governor he went home to help carry out the reforms. Liang Qichao founded the Southern Study Society, and Sitong served as its director. Meetings regularly drew hundreds, and many were moved when they heard Sitong speak passionately about public affairs. In the twenty-fourth year he was called to the capital; his audience replies pleased the emperor, and he was raised to fourth-rank grand secretary and appointed to the Grand Council staff. All four received the same commission, but at every audience Sitong offered the most proposals. The emperor planned to open Maoxun Hall and appoint advisory officials, with Sitong drafting edicts that cited past dynastic precedents, while he himself would go to the Summer Palace to seek the empress dowager's consent. On leaving, Sitong told others, "Now I see the emperor has no real power at all! Rong Lu then supervised the metropolitan region while Yuan Shikai, as surveillance commissioner, drilled troops at Tianjin. An edict promoted Yuan Shikai to vice minister and summoned him to court. Sitong once visited Yuan Shikai at night for a private talk. The next day Yuan Shikai went back to Tianjin. The next morning the empress dowager returned from the Summer Palace to the Forbidden City and reclaimed power. Liang Qichao took refuge in the Japanese legation; Sitong visited him and Liang urged him to flee abroad. Sitong said, "Without someone who survives to act, there is no way to plan for the future; without someone who dies, there is no way to repay a devoted sovereign." In the end he refused to go. Before long he was executed in the marketplace. He wrote Renxue and Mangcangzhai shiji, among other works. Tang Caichang, whose courtesy name was Fochen. From youth he had ranked equal with Sitong as "the Two Talents of Liuyang," an outstanding student at the Lianghu Academy. Learning of Sitong's death, he was stricken with grief and rage; he plotted repeatedly, and whenever he spoke of Emperor Guangxu he wept. In the twenty-sixth year, after the court fled on tour, he secretly organized the Fuyou Society to raise arms under the banner of "Rescue the Throne," planning to strike at Wuhan. Captured, he spoke without concealment and asked only to die; he was killed. Lin Xu, whose courtesy name was Tangu, came from Houguan in Fujian. At nineteen he topped the provincial examinations in Fujian. He later took the metropolitan examination; when war broke out with Japan, he joined fellow candidates in a memorial on public affairs, but the court did not reply. He bought appointment as a secretary in the Grand Secretariat. When Kang Youwei began calling for reform, he first founded the Guangdong Study Society in the capital to stir scholarly morale; the Sichuan, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Fujian societies followed. Xu led the Fujian Study Society and also joined the Baoguo Society. Rong Lu, formerly general at Fuzhou, had long favored Fujian scholars; when he went to Tianjin he brought Xu onto his staff. Soon he was summoned on memorial recommendation; he spoke in his local dialect and the emperor could not fully follow him. He then revised his memorial, which the emperor praised, and was ordered to join Tan Sitong and the others in confidential duties; many edicts were drafted by Xu. When the coup came he was executed in the marketplace with the others, aged twenty-four. He wrote the Wancui Xuan shiji. His wife was Shen Baozhen's granddaughter; on hearing the news she took poison but survived, and died of grief. Kang Guangren, whose personal name was Youpu and who went by his courtesy name, was Kang Youwei's younger brother. From youth he studied under his brother. When Youwei memorialized for reform, Guangren urged that the examinations be changed first so talent could emerge. After the provincial and metropolitan examinations and the eight-legged essay were abolished, the annual local tests remained unchanged; Guangren pressed censors to memorialize boldly, and the emperor approved. Guangren then told Youwei, "With the examinations gone, you should go south and devote yourself to education, train many useful men, and only after several years speak of reform again." Youwei could not bring himself to leave. When news of the coup first came, Guangren again urged Youwei to flee. Youwei escaped; Guangren was arrested. In prison he was calm and even cheerful; at the block he still said, "China's chance to strengthen itself lies in this!" The commentator says: In the Wuxu reforms Emperor Dezong, determined to strengthen the state, took the advice of Li Duanfen and others and called in new men. For a hundred days the reforms awed China and the world, but factional struggle erupted and provoked the coup. Rui, Guangdi, Sitong, Xu, Shenxiu, and Guangren were executed on the same day; the world called them the Six Gentlemen, and all mourned their purpose. Internal strife continued and entangled foreign relations. This led to the Boxer uprising of 1900 and, in the end, ruin. This was a great turning point in the fate of the Qing dynasty.