World Civ Spring 11.5

"A Heap of Loose Sand"

As the Qing empire suffered military defeat and economic encroachment at the hands of Western powers and Japan in the nineteenth century, Chinese scholars searched for the roots of their country's weakness, for the keys to the power of the West and Japan, and thus for whatever actions the Qing empire and the Chinese people could take in order to make their country rich, powerful, and able to stand up to external enemies.

Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China, appears with Abraham Lincoln on a 1942 stamp. Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles (nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood) are set as parallels to a concept he admired from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "Of the people, by the people, and for the people." The U.S. Post Office Department twice depicted Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), founding father and first president of the Republic of China, on postage stamps. Courtesy USPS, Postmaster General's Collection .

Key Questions:

What did Chinese intellectuals see as the essential problems plaguing their people?

What did Chinese intellectuals admire about the West, and the United States in particular?

Why did Sun Yat Sen identify Nationalism, Revolution, and People's Livelihood as the three essential principles needed by China at the end of period D?

Homework:

Read and annotate the sources on pages 41-46 in your reader, then answer the questions in a google doc. Questions follow the first two sources.

For the first source (Liang Qichao), answer questions 1,3 and 4 on page 42.

For the second source (Yan Fu), answer questions 1,2, and 3.

For the third source (Sun Yat Sen), write a one sentence definition of the following terms as Sun Yat Sen seems to understand them. What do each of these terms mean to Sun Yat Sen?