The first of two essays on the concept of human rights in the late Ch'ing period, this article places special emphasis on the phrase tzu-chu chih ch'üan (the right of autonomy) as used in the early writings of K'ang Yu-wei, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, Ho Ch'i (Ho Kai), Hu Li-yüan, and others. This phrase was singled out for criticism by Chang Chih-tung and even Huang Tsun-hsien. Its usage was traced to contemporaneous Christian publications in Chinese which constituted a principal influence on Chinese thought at that time, before the concept of ch'üan-li (lit., prerogatives and interests) was popularized by Yen Fu and by Chinese in Japan after 1898, including Liang Ch'i-ch'ao himself.