Introduction

Liang Qichao (1873–1929) was a modern figure with distinctive personality, who frequently navigated between academic work and politics. He devoted himself to politics and witnessed the sickening reality of power struggles in his early years, which so disgusted him that he resorted to academic activities. Unfortunately, Liang was neither a sophisticated politician nor a pure scholar, as he did not forget his academic work while engaged in politics, and he did not forget politics while engaged in academic work. However, he was hardly alone in China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when men of letters often oscillated between academic life and politics.