In his Record of Daily Knowledge (日知录), the 17th-century scholar Gu Yanwu distinguished between protecting a state and protecting all under heaven. Protecting the state is a matter for the ruler and his ministers. “Protecting all under heaven is the responsibility of even the humblest commoner.”
Liang Qichao later condensed the idea into the phrase 天下兴亡，匹夫有责: “The rise and fall of all under heaven is the responsibility of every commoner.”