Reformist Slogans from 1900

[Brad Powe]

Would anyone care to offer translations of the slogans on this fan (photo taken in June 1900), associated with the Chinese Empire Reform Association in Sydney, Australia.

My great-grandfather Henry Fine-Chong (Zheng Fanchang, 鄭蕃昌) dated the back of the photo in English (27 June 1900) and Chinese formats.

Douglas Lam has already had a very successful go, but I am interested in hearing other opinions, especially about the less legible outside columns on the left and right.

Brad Powe

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[douglaslam]

Brad has posted the image of a relic pertaining to a tumultuous period in China's recent history, that of the One Hundred Days Reform. It was a bold reform doomed to failure from the outset. China was at a crossroads at the turn of the 20th century, it must reform or face total annihilation at the hands of foreign powers. www.google.com.au/search?q=100+days+reform&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Let me kick off the discussion by reiterate what I said on another public forum, in answer to Brad's query. This is what I have written:

"This is my attempt at translating. Reading down the column, from right to left : Reform to empower or strengthen China. Kang and Liang ( two of the four reformists, very significant figures in modern Chinese history) to rescue the masses. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Qichao Liang came to Australia in early 20th century on a long speaking tour to receptive Chinese audiences. PS, I missed your talk in Sydney as I work every Saturday."

"The others (column) are not so legible. the right column is probably the name of the recipient, left column is the year and presenter. the year was probably the 25th year of Emperor Guangxu. Don't quote me on it because my Chinese is not that flash."

I invite other members to expand on it. Douglas