Memo #108
(Theme: 100 Years after the Xinhai Revolution)
Today, on October 10, 2011, the world is commemorating the centennial of the Xinhai Revolution, which ended the Qing Dynasty and founded a republican China. In a series of Memos we examined the impact that the revolution and its aftermath have had on China and its neighbours.
The Democracy Card, by Diana Lary (Memo #102)
The goal of the Xinhai Revolution, for its leaders, was to establish a democratic republic in China. Working out how to celebrate the centenary of the revolution on October 10, 2011 has not been easy. The republican ideal has been achieved, but in most of the Chinese world, democracy has not. Read more
The Xinhai Revolution and Counter Revolution on the Frontiers of Republican China, by Tsering Shakya (Memo #103)
The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and the subsequent founding of the republic sought to remould China as being composed of five nationalities: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan, and Uyghur. This vision of a multi-ethnic nation had no appeal to Tibetans and Mongols. Read more
The Middle Mountain of the Xinhai Revolution, by Henry Yu (Memo #104)
Growing up in Canada, my relatives would always remind me that my family came from the same county as Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the “Father of China”, when I was picked on by other kids because I was Chinese. This seemed like cold comfort. But it turns out that my relatives understood the relationship between the rise of modern China and the role of the overseas Chinese. Read more
One Hundred Years of Waiting, by Timothy Brook (Memo #107)
For many Chinese, the Xinhai Revolution will be recalled on October 10 as modern China’s founding moment a century ago. The revolution ended an imperial system whose foundations go back millennia. In those terms, 1911 was a great success. But suppose that, rather than look backward, we look ahead. What if we measured the republican revolution by the republic it ushered in, and not the empire it ushered out? Read more