Re-reading Liang Qichao as an idealist : from nourishing the mind to the doctrine of Quwei / Wang Xiulu 王岫廬

Monumenta Serica, Volume 74, Issue 1 (2026), pages 191-209

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Taylor & Francis

Abstract
Liang Qichao (1873–1929), one of the most influential reformist thinkers of the late Qing period, has long been recognized as a figure of central importance to literary development in nineteenth and twentieth-century China. Existing scholarship predominantly portrays him as a social reformer, characterizing his literary theory as overly political and utilitarian. While acknowledging the instrumental aspects of Liang Qichao’s view on art and literature, this article revisits Liang Qichao as an idealist. Based on the analysis of Liang’s early idealist philosophy of mind, which was informed by Buddhism, German idealism, and the Lu–Wang School of the Mind, and his subsequent endorsement of the quwei doctrine, this article contends that Liang Qichao’s conception of literature should not be reduced to that of pure didacticism or utilitarianism. Rather, it should be appreciated for its depth and nuanced implications concerning moral idealism and aesthetic preference.