Young-tsu Wong throws new light on Kang Youwei and Zhang Binglin, both through research on the sources, nature and import of their ideas and through juxtaposing them. The result is a provocative and stimulating analysis of late Qing-early Republican thought. Never before these two rival thinkers have been studied in any western language, and Wong sees these two men, though distinctly different in personality and thought, as the genuine pioneers of modern Chinese thought. The author highlights the mix of traditional Chinese thought, especially Confucianism and western ideas as well as the...