The Chinese politician Dai Jitao (1891-1949) attended Nihon University's law program in 1907. He was fluent in Japanese and learned about Bushido. Dai criticized the supposedly violent nature of the traditional Japanese "feudal class" structure before the Meiji period. Dai said the samurai brutally exploited the class structure to abuse and kill people below them in the social order (and biasedly claimed the opposite for Chinese society as peace-loving). According to Dai, after Confucianism became influential in the 17th century, it brought ideas of benevolence and humanity that pacified the cruel samurai and set Japan upon the course to become a modern and civilized society. Dai also appreciated aspects of the samurai. For example Dai said: Japan continued to benefit from their spirit of self-sacrifice, selfless loyalty, and—after Confucianism was introduced—compassion. Dai blamed the problems of modern Japan (post-Meiji restoration) due to the loss of samurai virtues when the former merchant class gained power and large corporations started to steer government policy. Dai said after the samurai class was heavily influenced by Confucian ideals of compassion, their bushido became essentially a "life of blood and tears", because they selflessly shed blood for their lords and cried tears of compassion for farmers and other lower class people.