This quote is from Liang Qichao's The Sayings of Young China.
Selected passages from the original text:
The red sun rises, and its path is bright. The river emerges from the ambush, a plunge into the ocean.
The submerged dragon rises to the abyss, its scales and claws flying. The tiger's voice is heard in the valley, and all the beasts are terrified.
The falcon tries its wings, and the wind and dust open and close. The first flower is born, and it is grand.
The dry will be whetted, and there will be its mane. The sky is wearing its gray, and the earth is walking on its yellow.
There are thousands of years of history, and there are eight wastelands. The future looks like the sea, and the coming days are long.
Beautifully, I am a young man of China, and the sky is not old! I am a young man of China, and my country has no boundaries!
Translation:
The sun has just risen, and the road is sprinkled with sunshine; the river flows out of the ground and rushes on;
The submerged dragon leaps up from the abyss, and its scales and claws dance and fly;
The tiger roars in the valley, and all the wild beasts are terrified, and the eagle and falcon and bird lift their wings and fly, and the wind and dust fly up in the sky;
The strange flower has just begun to grow new buds. The sword of the dry general has just been sharpened and emits a dazzling light.
Our country has a long history when viewed vertically and a vast territory when viewed horizontally.
My beautiful young China will exist for a long time together with the heaven and the earth, and my majestic young China will live a long life together with our country.
Expanded Information:
This article was written in the 26th year of the Guangxu reign, and it begins with a refutation of the slander of Japan and the Western Powers against our country as the "oldest empire," showing that China is a growing young China. The "country" referred to in this article is the ideal bourgeois **** and country.
The article argues that the feudal autocracy and feudal officials have become corrupt, and that the hope is pinned on the Chinese youth, and firmly believes that the Chinese youth will have the ambition to make the country rich and strong, and stand majestically on the earth.
Reflecting the author's patriotic thoughts and positive and optimistic national self-confidence, he desires the prosperity of his country. The article is tightly focused on the theme, the use of prose, layer by layer to promote, one by one to explain, written with great emotion, great momentum.
Saying of Young China is one of Liang Qichao's masterpieces, a famous article published in the Qingdao Newspaper at that time. This article was quite influential and was a long political essay.
The author stood on the position of the bourgeois reformists, contrasted the feudal and ancient China with the juvenile China in his mind, praised the juvenile's courageous spirit of reform, encouraged people to take up the important task of building juvenile China, and expressed the desire for a prosperous and strong motherland and the spirit of positive progress.
It is recognized as the most positive and emotional chapter in Liang Qichao's writings, and the author himself regarded it as his masterpiece, which "opens a new style of writing and stirs up the dark tide of the people".
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