Tag Archives: Sun Yat-sen

Why do we call it “Spring Festival”?

Has there ever been a blander term than “Spring Festival”? For thousands of years it was simply the New Year, at least according to the moon. So what changed? (Cross-posted on Rectified.name) Continue reading

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On Sun Yatsen, 1912, and Han Han

Trusting Yuan Shikai to nourish a fragile young republican government was basically akin to dousing a three-year old in A1 Sauce and putting him in the care of a rabid honey badger, but the demise of the first republican experiment might not have been as inevitable as some believe. Continue reading

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Sinica podcast on the 1911 Revolution…

For those who have not yet reached their saturation point for 1911 centennial pontificating, be sure to check out this week’s Sinica podcast. Continue reading

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The Wire Guide to the 1911 Revolution, Part II

Part II of The Wire guide to the 1911 Revolution and some closing thoughts on the significance of 1911 in today’s political climate. Continue reading

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The Wire Guide to the 1911 Revolution, Part I

So, I spent the summer rewatching all five seasons of The Wire and the more I watched it, the more I realized that far from being the story of Baltimore, there was a timelessness and placelessness to the Wire that transcended one city. The sense of hope battling the reality of hopelessness, the way rhetoric and political transitions, however dramatic, rarely change the day-to-day lives of the people at the bottom, the thought of Sun Yat-sen and Yuan Shikai taking swings at each other like Stringer and Avon, it occurred to me how much it reminded me of the years before and after the 1911 Revolution. So without further ado, The Wire guide to the 1911 Revolution, Part I. (Warning: Some strong language) Continue reading

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