Revolution Chinese Dynasty
Research a key individual and explain their role in the Revolution
Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866 - March 12, 1925)
Sun Yat-sen was from a poor rural family in the Guangzhou area who later became a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. He is still revered by the Chinese as the father of the Chinese revolution. In the 1880s he joined his elder brother in Hawaii and received an education in mission schools. There is a theory that as a child he heard the stories of the Taiping Rebellion and was inspired to become a revolutionary leader. Even though this is a theory someone of a young age can be inspired by the most outrages things. He went on to attend medical school in Hong Kong which provided a strong example of the benefits of modern education, technology and democratic and nationalistic governments. This was the build up to the eventual role that Sun Yat-sen would play, in the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1984 Sun formed a secret society - the Revive China Society to reveal the goal of prospering China and as the platform for future revolutionary activities. Members of the Revive China Society took an oath to expel the Qing, restore Chinese rule and establish a federal republic. In 1985 Sun and his followers attempted their first coup in Guangzhou but it failed, forced into exile he lived in Japan, the United States, Canada and Europe. While in London he was kidnapped and imprisoned in the Chinese legation. In danger of execution and due to Western publicity the British Foreign Office got involved and obtained his release. He continued his anti-Qing activities and developed his Three Principles - Nationalism, Democracy and People's Livelihood.
The first of the principles held that Chinese government should be in the hands of the Chinese rather than a foreign imperial house. Government should be republican and democratically elected. Finally, disparities in land ownership should be equalized among the people, wealth more evenly distributed, and the social effects of unbridled capitalism and commerce should be mitigated by government. Sun believed that land ownership allows too much power to accumulate to the landlords. In his nationalisation theory, people would be deprived of the right to own land, but they could still retain other right over the land by permission of the state.
By 1905 he was the head of a broad range of anti-Qing and revolutionary groups called the Revolutionary Alliance. They were generally nationalistic and opposed to the ruling dynasty. Sun had the support of returned Chinese students who had been educated overseas, disaffected scholars and, perhaps more importantly, officers of the New Army. Although the Revolutionary Alliance served as a rallying point for many groups they still failed six times between 1906 and 1911 to establish a nation wide uprising.
The Qing dynasty was then finally overthrown after the years of struggle and persistence in the Chinese Revolution of 1911. Soon after Sun Yat-sen became the first president of China but it was only for a very brief period of time. He then went on to establish the National People's Party with Song Jiaoren. However in 1913 the party was suppressed by General Yuan Shikai, but escaped to Japan once again. He then returned to Guangzhou and with the help of advisors from the Soviet Union the National People's Party gradually increased its power in China. In 1924 it he joined with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). The following year (1925) he died of cancer in Beijing. Sun Yat-sen became the Father of Revolution for the Communists but the actual socialist nature of his political thinking is unclear.
Sun Yat-sen came from nothing; he knew what it was like to be from a poor family. He went and got the education his mother wanted for him. He learnt of ideals that he believed would better the people of China, to secure a future for his homeland. He spread what he believed and gained many supporters. Sun Yat-sen had a vital role in creating the revolution.
The Last Emperor - Timeline
1903
Birth of Puyi
1908
Death of Emperor Guangxi
Death of Empress Cixi
Two year-old Puyi becomes Emperor. (China)
1924
Puyi loses his throne and is forced to leave the Forbidden City. (Beijing, China)
1932
The invading Japanese army found the state of Manchukuo and install Puyi as its ruler. (Manchuria, China)
1945
Puyi captured by the Soviets while fleeing Japan, put on trial for co-operating with Japan, and spends the next few years in a Chinese re-education camp.
1967
Puyi, the last Chinese emperor, dies as a simple gardener. (Beijing, China)
What role did the Dowager Empress Cixi play in the downfall of the Qing dynasty?
The Empress Dowager, Cixi's (November 29, 1835 - November 15, 1908) was from the Manchu Yehe-Nara Clan. However this may not be the case as there are various stories about her early background. Although this is the case there is an occurrence of her name, used when she entered the Forbidden City in September 1851, where she was recorded as "the Lady Yehenara, daughter of Huizheng". From there on in she was called by her clan's name, the Yehe-Nara clan, as was customary for Manchu girls. She was 16 years old when she entered the Forbidden City as one of Emperor Xianfeng's concubines. She then went from there to become effectively the dominate ruler of China from 1861 until 1908 when she died.
To begin with Yehenara was just a young girl living with her family and it all changed when she participated, with sixty other Manchu girls, in the selection process for concubines for the new Xianfeng Emperor. Daniele Vare's book, “The Last Empress”, says “Yehenara (he calls her Yehonala) rose to the top of the concubine ranks when the emperor overheard her singing and asked to see her. Infatuated, he began picking her name from the nightly roster of choices to visit his bedchamber, and soon she bore him a son. This earned her the title Tzu Hsi, meaning "empress of the western palace," spelled Cixi in pinyin.” After his birth she was raised in rank from third-grade concubine to first-grade. Although this was the case he soon lost interest in her because as he was in love with another consort, Li Fei, who would mysteriously disappear after Cixi became empress, never to be heard from again. When Xianfeng died in 1861 he left only one son, Cixi's fiver-year old boy, Tung Chih or Tongzhi. Tongzhi then became emperor and at this time Yehenara took the name Cixi upon herself. From this point onward was when Cixi would seize the power open to her.
In 1972 the Emperor reached his majority and married but died, childless in 1875 only 3 years later. Cixi then announced her choice of heir her nephew, Guangxu. Although Tongzhi had no heir when he died, his first ranking concubine, Alute was pregnant. During the debate over succession Alute and her unborn child died, the court announced it suicide, but as The New York Times reported at the time, the circumstances “aroused general suspicion”. With this Cixi became a co-regent once again. In 1886 Guangxu reached his majority but did not succeed in ruling independently until 1889 and again the Dowager Empress became the effective ruler of China.
Through this period of time The Dowager Empress did whatever she could to stay as the effective ruler of China. She has been portrayed throughout history as one of the most power-hungry, manipulative and evil rulers in history and also being blamed for the downfall of the old regime in China. She fought against the modernisation of China. If the country were to become modernised and westernised there would be a move from rural areas to the cities. This would give a greater opportunity for the people and groups opposing the dynasty as they will have more people to shares views with. Not only did she fail to modernise the nation so that she could keep rule, the mysterious deaths of capable Emperors during her time was astonishing. She chose her rule over her own family and her people; this was largely involved in the downfall of the Qing dynasty.
Give your assessment of the accuracy of the movie to historical facts
The film The Last Emperor is a biopic about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, hence the title. The movie was written by Mark Peploe and Bernardo Bertolucci as well as being directed by Bertolucci. The movie depicts Puyi's life from his ascension to the throne as a small boy to his imprisonment and political rehabilitation by the Chinese Communist authorities. The film was based for the most part on the autobiography of Puyi "From Emperor to Citizen". Puyi's younger brother, Pu Chieh, and Li Wenda, who helped him write his autobiography, were brought in as advisors on the film.
Puyi's character in The Last Emperor is created in such a way to make us feel sympathetic for him; rather than tell the complete truth and show times when he was emotionless, this is why we are given a lightly fabricated heartfelt movie. Not only did this happen in the film, it also skipped over areas of his life to shorten the length of the film. An example of a period of time that was left out of the film was from 1945 to 1950, there is no reference or mention, it is completely absent. It is during this time that Puyi was held as a gulag prisoner by Stalin's Soviet Union. It was also during this time that he gave testimony and was indicted as a war criminal at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.
There is also no reference or metion of Puyi's later wives and other concubines, such as Tan Yuling, Li Yuqin and Li Shuxian, even though he was together with them after 1937 a time in the film. Regarding Puyi's wives and concubines historical records indicate that there wasn't any intimacy, another inaccuracy clearly depicted in the film. Another major inaccuracy that could have caused many viewers to be misled into thinking badly of Puyi is that he did not have his driver shot. In the film, the driver who impregnates the Empress is named ‘Chang” and he is shot because of what he has done. However in reality his name was Li Tieh-yu and Puyi did not have him killed, he allowed him to leave. Puyi also did more than gardening in his later life; he in actuality served as a figurehead in governmental public appearances.
The film has no major inaccuracies within it and prevailed in keeping the focus of the life of Puyi. Although there were the minor inaccuracies that may have caused both confusion, an example of this is when in the film the Emperor has the driver shot when in actuality he allowed him to leave. This changes ones thinking of Puyi as he went to an extreme when he really was a more focussed person. However if they had shown the lack of intimacy in the relationships with his concubines people could really understand what type of person he was, but it's a film and only based on a true story some things are change to make people look better. Although that isn't the case with The Last Emperor as they clearly depict his driver being killed rather than what really happened and Puyi letting him leave. The motive behind this is unknown, maybe it was the time issue, and whatever the case the film didn't revere off topic and gave a clear understanding of a near true story.
Bibliography
Research a key individual and explain their role in the Revolution:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CHINAsun.htm
http://wsu.edu/~dee/MODCHINA/SUN.HTM
Year 12 Modern History, Topic 3: Revolutions and Turmoil, Chinese Revolution
The Last Emperor - Timeline
http://www.themovietimeline.com/film724
What role did the Dowager Empress Cixi play in the downfall of the Qing dynasty?
Year 12 Modern History, Topic 3: Revolutions and Turmoil, Chinese Revolution
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/headland-courtlife.html http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/da-cixi.html http://www.royalty.nu/Asia/China/TzuHsi.html
Give your assessment of the accuracy of the movie to historical facts
http://www.britain.tv/wikipedia.php?title=The_Last_Emperor
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