The anonymous article “On Citizens” was published in the magazine Guomin bao in 1901. This interesting but very short-lived magazine came out with only four issues in 1901 before publication ceased. The magazine was published under the auspices of the Chinese National Society in Tokyo. Its goal was to inaugurate a national movement in China, and it advocated liberal methods to achieve this end. As the editors wrote in English in the first issue: “We are liberal, unprejudiced, and impartial reformers. We promise to tolerate all sorts of religions and we also promise to protect the life and property of all people living within our jurisdiction. What we are trying to do is to defend our inalienable rights, the rights of independence and of humanity. Self-defense is our justification; ‘China for the Chinese’ is our motto.” The magazine discussed politics and China’s dismal state of affairs. It also published articles on Western philosophy, including the first translation of the American Declaration of independence.
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