“To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy.” (Lifequoteslib, 2011, p. 1) These symbolic words were spoken by Sun Yat-Sen at one of his many speeches. Sun Yat-Sen was a Chinese revolutionary who sought to make China into a republic so he could end the suppressive Qing dynasty, and was elected by officials to become the first president in 1911.
Sun Yat-Sen was born on November 12, 1866 in the village of Cuiheng, Guangdong, China. He was born into a peasant farming family that was underprivileged. On the other hand, Sun’s older brother, Sun Mei, became a successful merchant so he paid for Sun to receive a decent education. After finishing primary school in China, Sun moved to Honolulu in 1878 and studied at Iolani School. He graduated in 1882 then went to attend Oahu College. Sun only got to study for one semester before Sun Mei sent Sun back to China. Sun Mei was afraid Sun was going to embrace Christianity.
Upon returning home in 1883, Sun met up with his childhood friend, Lu Hao-Tung, at the village temple. They witnessed the villagers worshipping a statue of the Emperor-God. Sun and Lu were dissatisfied by the villagers’ ancient practices so they vandalized the statue. The villagers were extremely angry, resulting in Sun escaping to Hong Kong. Sun studied medicine there under a Christian missionary, and ultimately earned his medical license from Hong Kong College in 1892. Sun also converted to Christianity, which he expressed as a symbol of the acceptance of “modern” or Western knowledge and ideas.
Sun did not become a doctor. Instead, Sun was becoming increasingly frustrated by the conservative Qing government not adopting knowledge from more advanced western nations. Soon after getting his medical license, ...
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...ang continued to grow. Today, China would not be a thriving republic without Sun Yat-Sen. He is referred to as the “Father of the Nation.” Only with Sun Yat-Sen’s ambition and dedication towards China becoming a modern republic was it able to become one. His political philosophy, known as the “Three Principles of the People” still lives on. Nationalism. Democracy. Welfare.
Sun Yat-Sen accomplished his goal of a revolutionary to: transform China into a republic, end the rule of emperors, and make China equivalent to the West by being elected president in 1911. His legacy will never be forgotten. “When we undertake a task, we should not falter from first to last until the task is accomplished; if we fail, we should not begrudge our lives as a sacrifice- this is what we mean by loyalty. The ancient teaching of loyalty meant sometimes death.” (Lifequoteslib, 2011, p.1)
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
Shi Huangdi now able to unite the warring states, explored ways to establish a stable, and long lasting dynasty. The improvements he made to a now unified China, changed they way the world looked upon the country.
Wu Zhao, the first female emperor of China, rose to power during the Tang Dynasty and her active role with Buddhism fabricated a perpetual impact in the Chinese society as a whole. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration, under Wu’s reign, formed a symbiotic relationship with one another. She is considered to be one of the most prominent advocators of the religion during the era. Her efforts to spread of Buddhism and the monetary support help Buddhism to expand throughout the people significantly, which provide the religion another source of financial income to spread even further. Regardless of Empress Wu’s intention, she has furnished the religion in numerous ways, but what did she receive in return? This proposes the question: To what extent did Empress Wu’s support of Buddhism, politically and financially, help Wu and better her empire overall?
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” (BAM, 2010, p.20) These words were first written down over 2,400 years ago by a Chinese general named Sun Tzu in his famous military strategy treatise known today as The Art of War. These words, in fact the entire book, are just as valid today as they were during Sun Tzu’s lifetime. He was one of the first truly visionary and ethical military leaders in the world. Despite the fact that there is not much known about Sun Tzu today other than his writings, in this essay, I intend to extract his essence from his treatise to prove he was a visionary leader. I will then continue to prove he was also an ethical leader. Finally, I will finish by detailing how his seminal work has inspired me to self-reflect on how I can be a better visionary and ethical leader in the 21st Century Air Force. So, what exactly is a ‘visionary’ leader?
Success, as defined by the Oxford English dictionary, is the prosperous achievement of an objective. (Oed.com 1968) Conferring to this definition, the 1949 Chinese revolution was certainly a successful revolution. The communist party of China (CCP) was incredibly successful in its attempt in replacing the bourgeoisie dominated nationalist government – The Kuomintang (KMT) - with a proletariat class lead communist government. However, whether the achievement of such objective proves to be prosperous for China and its peoples requires further analysis. Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the
After the Chinese revolution of 1911, Confucian scholars failed to maintain Confucianism as a state religion in China’s new constitution. However, the new leader, Sun Zhongshan, when speaking of his plans for the Republic, quoted Confucian phrases and values. Overall, the Nationalist Party and the New Life movement incorporated Confucius virtues and colorings throughout their belief systems. With the rise of Communism Confucian once again went under revision, this time with Confucius teachings of ren being attack as primitive and unprogressive. The Confucius philosophy of today is uncertain and there has been talk of developing a more “modern Confucianism”. Nonetheless, in certain areas Confucian is still popular and its virtues are still promoted. (Noss and Grangaard 285-287)
(Qian 26) Through his support of who he thought was the best man to lead China, Li portrayed another Confucian virtue; "'What should I do to win the hearts of the people?'
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life.
In the early years of China, the Chinese began a period of establishment in the world with ideas and teachings of new religions, changing powers, and building empires. In a nutshell the Chinese were progressing toward new technology, writings, and belief systems. The Chinese saw many dynasties come and go as well as many ups and downs experienced with societies over the course of history. As all nation’s go through change, the Chinese experienced changes from other lands far away and produced many concepts in which helped other realms to see change for themselves. The Chinese used many inventive innovations to prosper as an economic power and stabilize intellectually. Change mixed with innovation proved to be the roots of China’s success as a powerful nation to be reckoned with for the vast numbers appeared in China’s favor.
More murderous than Hitler, more powerful than Stalin, in the battle of the Communist leaders Mao Zedong trumps all. Born into a comfortable peasant family, Mao would rise up to become China’s great leader. After leading the communists away from Kuomintang rule, he set out to modernize China, but the results of this audacious move were horrific. He rebounded from his failures time and again, and used his influence to eliminate his enemies and to purge China of its old ways. Mao saw a brighter future for China, but it was not within his grasp; his Cultural Revolution was not as successful as he had wanted it to be. Liberator, oppressor, revolutionary, Mao Zedong was the greatest emancipator in China’s history, as his reforms and actions changed the history of China and of the wider world.
Xuanzang was a highly educated Buddhist monk from China, who in 629 C.E. made the long and treacherous journey along the Silk Road to India. His main objectives in his sixteen years away from home were fundamentally religious; he only wanted to study more complete scriptures to answer questions he had, which he deemed unsolvable in his own country. It is important to understand Xuanzang’s own position within the Chinese society and the type of situation it was in: Chinese Buddhists had many disagreements
When Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong first rose to power at the start of the Chinese Civil War, major change was on the horizon for Nationalist China. With rising inflation and civil instability at the hands of corrupt government leaders, the time had come for the Communists to take the helm in China. Mao branded this as a chance to use communist ideals to promote economic development. He believed that he could bring China to an economic level on par with its industrialized neighbors at a rapid pace, gaining him a huge following. Unfortunately for the Communist party, support for Mao hemorrhaged following the profound failures of the Great Leap Forward, an economic program he spearheaded. Mao’s plan managed to leave the agricultural industry in ruins and destroy the working population in China. Not accepting failure, once Mao had faded into near obsoleteness, he plunged back into the public eye. He claimed China was on the cusp of a dangerous return to capitalism. He called for a rebellion. Newfound support was especially common among Chinese youth, who searched for something to believe in in a relatively stagnant China. Mao’s Cultural Revolution, enabled by the rebellious youths, left the nation in a catastrophic state. It wreaked havoc on the Chinese social structure, forging class divides and resulting in a breakdown of law and order. Therefore, Chairman Mao Zedong's efforts to improve China to his own standards—the botched Great Leap Forward and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, accomplished exactly opposite of what they desired to achieve, leaving the Chinese economy and social struc...
Chang, King- yuh, The Impact of the Three Principles of the People on China (Taipei, _____Taiwan, Republic of China, National Chengchi University, 1988) pp.vii
The supposed author of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, is said to be the father of Taoism. It is estimated that Lao Tzu, spelled many other ways including Lao-tsu, Lao Tse, and Lao Tzi, was born under the name of Li Erh in Honan, China, around 604 B.C.E. Myth says that Lao Tzu was born fully developed with a long, white beard and hair the color of snow. He was somewhat of a recluse and withdrew from society to avoid governmental law and rule. He retreated to the Western frontier after the fall of the Zhou dynasty to continue his personal study of metaphysics and philosophy (Taoism 2). The collaborations of his studies and observations are said to be the basis of the Tao Te Ching, although some scholars argue that Lao Tzu’s existence cannot be proved and that the scholar Chuang-tzu played at least a partial role in the authorship. However the Tao Te Ching came to be, it is prized for being the foundation of Taoist belief and should hold merit as a universal guide, not as an author’s accomplishment (De Bary, Chan, and Watson 49).
He was able to judge the value of some Chinese herbs. For example, he found that Ch'ang Shan was helpful in treating fevers. Such fevers were, and still are, caused by malaria parasites.