Creating "Real Learning" for China's Survival: Liang Qichao and the Ma Brothers, 1896–1898

Liang Qichao used the Taoist term zhenzhi to express his admiration for the Ma brothers who he felt personified his ideal of seamlessly blending together Chinese and Western knowledge. This article considers Liang's interaction with the Ma brothers as the vantage point from which to trace the formation and development of his concept of "real learning" and to show the Ma brothers' influence on his understanding of the West and Western learning prior to the 1898 Reform. It further analyzes Liang's thought by examining the rationale and logic behind his great appreciation for The Ma Grammar and his dialogue with Ma Jianzhong on how to train qualified translators. The final section employs the reflections of Liang Qichao and Ma Xiangbo in the aftermath of the 1898 Reform to examine the differences as well as their shared views on the synthesis of Chinese and Western learning, and the relationship between language and scholarship.