He became a royalist and conservative who supported Yuan Shikai (袁世凱) and Zhang Xun (張勛) to proclaim themselves emperor in his later life.
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In 1877–79 he studied at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, England.
Yan'an | Yan | Liu Yan (general) | Liu Yan | Zhang Yan (Han Dynasty) | Zhang Yan | Yan (state) | Rico Yan | Yan Stastny | Yan (musician) | Yan, Kedah | Saint-Yan | Mo Yan | Ko-Yan | Gao Yan (politician) | Yan Ying | Yan Yean, Victoria | Yan Yean | Yan Yanming | Yan Yan Chan | Yan Yan (author) | Yan Yan | Yan (surname) | Yan Pascal Tortelier | Yan Lianke | Yan Huo | Yan Fu | Yan Dynasty | Yan Can Cook | Yan (Anshi) |
During this time, he read Yan Fu's Tian Yan Lun (天演論) — a translation of Thomas Henry Huxley's Evolution and Ethics — and other books on Western ideas.
The essay discusses essays by Yan Fu, Liang Qichao (Liang Ch'i-ch'ao), and other intellectuals which advocated for fiction that called for modernization, since the authors believed fiction had the ability to influence minds of people.