The anonymous author of “On Rights” originally planned a sequel to this article to appear in the next issue of Zhi Shuo. But Zhi Shuo shared the fate of so many other magazines put out by Chinese students in Japan in the beginning of the twentieth century, and faltered after only two issues. The article is a very interesting transitional piece. The author shows a rather thorough understanding of the discussion of rights in the West. He thus contends that the English saw rights as interest (liyi), the Germans saw rights as power (weili), and the French saw rights as “one’s natural lot” (benfen). In his enumeration of rights, besides the usual Western rights to freedom and political participation, we also find the right to marry, which originates in the Confucian duty to continue the family line. The entire discussion of “natural lot,” in fact, resonates with Confucian themes. But the author is also a strong critic of Confucianism, especially its idea of rites (li). In his opinion, the emphasis on rites has harmed the Chinese nation and should be replaced with the idea of rights.
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