袁世凯与桐城派

Yuan Shikai and the Tongcheng School

袁世凯与桐城派关系密切,在袁世凯生平中的一些重要阶段都有着桐城派的身影存在。袁世凯发迹之时的贵人吴长庆,后保荐其任直隶总督的李鸿章,都深受桐城派影响。袁世凯总督直隶时先后建校士馆、文学馆,聘请桐城派学人为师,亲为桐城派学人著作作序,大力宣扬桐城派古文。民初总统任上亦不忘提携,积极支持,桐城派得以在北京大学和清史馆一度占据重要位置。清末民初之际,为助其施政,袁世凯网罗任用了一批桐城派名流于其幕下,他们对教育、经济、政治变革多是积极参与。袁世凯与桐城派之间的政学互动,无疑对近代中国的历史演变产生了一定影响。

Yuan Shikai had a deep connection with the Tongcheng School and the influence of Tongcheng School was discerned in some important stages of Yuan Shikai’s life.Wu Changqing and Li Hongzhang,who helped Yuan Shikai,were deeply influenced by the Tongcheng School.At the end of the Qing dynasty,Yuan Shikai was appointed as the governor of Zhili province.He built a school and a museum of literature,employing literati from the Tongcheng School as teachers,writing prefaces for Tongcheng literati’s works and actively propagating ancient proses of Tongcheng School.At the beginning of the Republic of China,as the president of the republic,Yuan Shikai did not forget to help the Tongcheng School.Due to his support,literati of Tongcheng School were once able to occupy important positions at Peking University and the Qing Historiographers’Institute.In the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China,Yuan Shikai also netted a number of celebrities from the Tongcheng School in his shogunate,and commissioned them to govern China.These people took an active part in the reform of China’s education,economy and politics.Thus,it is beyond doubt that the political and intellectual interaction between Yuan Shikai and the Tongcheng School had a considerable influence on the historical evolution of modern China.