Tradition and Modernization: Evolution of Conceptions of Theory andPractice in Late Qing and Early Republic of China

In late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, with the further introduction of western learning into China, the scholars with LIANG Qi-chao, YAN Fu and CAI Yuan-pei as representatives began to make new interpretation of the connotation of learning and technique and the their relation. Such interpretation was influenced by the western scientific spirit and drove the change of concepts concerning learning and technique from tradition to modernity. In spite of that, their interpretation had certain historical limitations.