The article studies the thinking of early reformism in China after the second opium war before the Xinhai revolution, based on the analysis of historical documents, the result of social changes in thinking in China at that time. The main characteristics are: to advocate for the preservation of national unity and sovereignty; to try to open the way for the development of capitalism in China; to go for the change of feudal autocratic monarchy and the implementation of a constitutional monarchy in imitation of Western capitalist countries. Early reformists at that time wanted to harmoniously combine Western civilization with Chinese, although these ideas had shortcomings, but were progressive.

Shi Lei, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Associate Professor, Jiangsu Normal University, 101, Shanghai Road, Xuzhou, 221116, China, tel.: +86 13814435637, e-mail: cn_ru@junu.edu.cn 

Zhao Zhiqiang, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Chief Lecturer, Xuzhou University of Technology, 2, Lishui st., Xuzhou, 221018, China, tel.: +86 1377597435, e-mail: office@xzit.edu.cn

Shi Lei, Zhao Zhiqiang. Social Changing Ideologies in China: The Ideas of Early Reformism. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series History, 2019, vol. 27, pp. 73-79. https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2019.27.73 (in Russian)

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