The reading did an excellent job of portraying how radical the change from central, dynastic governments to non-dynastic, decentralized governments was. It’s incredibly difficult to conceptualize just how long dynastic rule in China had lasted, especially given how young the country of America is in comparison, and I thought it was very interesting that the abdication of the last Qing emperor in 1912 led to an even greater period of decentralization and chaos, showing just how powerful the emperor was as a symbol of unity in China.
I also thought the life of Sun Yat-sen was fascinating, particularly his status as a national hero/symbol who is seen as the “Father of the Chinese Republic” despite never holding a major position of authority in Chinese government during his lifetime. This particular aspect of his life reminded me of Confucius, who is now an internationally known historical figure and philosopher, but did not wield much direct power during his lifetime. The reasons behind this for Sun Yat-sen, however, were very different. He was educated in Hawaii and spent most of his life outside of China, making him something of an outsider already before his conversion to Christianity took place, which further divided him from the majority of the Chinese people at this time. He also associated with the West, wearing Western clothes and spending most of his time in the West. His ideas also derived from the West, including his Three People’s Principles of nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood. However, these principles were ill-defined, possibly leading to his lack of true authority in his lifetime. Overall, I thought the Rossabi reading explained some fascinating pieces of Chinese history and the similarities between the lives of Sun Yat-sen and Confucius were very interesting to me.