From: wung@eecom.gatech.edu (Peter Wung)
Subject: Re: Happy Birthday to Dr. Sun
Reply-To: wung@eecom.gatech.edu
Organization: School of EE, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 18:47:00 GMT

In article 6150@mariner.amc.edu.au, lwang@mariner.amc.edu.au (Luo Wang) writes:
>|In article <2B0228B9.3159@news.service.uci.edu>, tao@balboa.eng.uci.edu (Eric Yihching Tao) writes:
>|>
>|>>In article <1992Nov12.015100.1421@hp9000.csc.cuhk.hk>, b073766@hp9000.csc.cuhk.hk (Great Era) writes:
>|>>>
>|>>>Today is Dr. Sun 126th birthday.
>|>>>Happy birthday to Dr. Sun.
>|>>	Yes, happy birthday to our hero and father of the nation.  We will not
>|>>forget what you had done for us.
>|>>
>|>Revolution has not succeded yet, keep on striving, my comrades!!
>|>
>|>And someday when my beloved China become properous and free, my dear Dr. Sun,
>|>you will finally happy and close your eyes for good. Till then, bless us, 
>|>We will try hard.
>|>
>|>Eric Yihching Taor
>|
>|I believe the image created both by KMT and CCP about Dr. Sun is biased.
>|

Could be, most politicians try to use martyrs or icons to help legitamitize their 
own programs and regimes.

>|First of all, I don't think China, with its thousands years of history,
>|does have a nation-father who was born just 126 years ago.
>|

The monicker was given to him as the father of the non-dynastic china, i.e. non-
imperial china.  Something very different from the entire chinese history that 
you refer to.


>|Dr. Sun was an idealist in Chinese history, but his radical approach to
>|the reform of China impeded the possibility of a smooth evolution in Chinese
>|political system. I believe the century-long unstability in this
>|country has a lot to do with Dr. Sun's radicalism.
>|

I think that his beliefs were necessary at the time to overthrow the Manchu dynasty.
Even though the proceding politcal systems did not manage to pull china out of the 
depth of instability, continuing on in the status quo of the Manchu dynasty would
have spelled even greater disaster for china.  I also think that smooth
political evolution in china is next to impossible, given the selfish of most
chinese people, i.e. everyone wants to be the emperor so that they can live the 
good life.  I believe that Dr. Sun is the only one of that generations chinese
leaders who did not wish to become the unquestioned despot of china.

>|He was a great patriotic, idealist, but he wasn't a hard-headed thinker. His
>|perfect image was created on a political rather than on a historic basis. 
>|

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.  I believe that the man had a 
idealistic approach to governing which is what was necessary to overthrow the Manchu dynasty, but he was not hard headed enough to confront all the corrupted officals
that surrounded him.  I think that the poor man was used by those who saw in him a way to attain absolute power in china.  I think ultimately history will view him as a
great visionary who inspired a nation to rebel against a despotic and corrupt government.  Unfortunately, his naivete caused a series of despotic and corrupt 
governments to follow a good precedence.

>|However, I believe that the KMT has given up Dr. Sun's naiveness and
>|radicalism since 1930s, but the CCP has gone too far.
>|
>|I always believe that it is no point to re-judge people, I just hope the 
>|tragedy, resulted from the "good-will" radicalism, will not 
>|be repeated in China. 
>|
>|Luo Wang
>|
>|Australia



---
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*Peter Wung			Email:wung@ee.gatech.edu	   * 
*Electric Power Laboratory	Snail mail: 33787 Ga. Tech Station * 
*School of Electrical Engineering	    Atlanta, GA 30332      *
*Georgia Institute of Technology			    	   *
*Atlanta, Georgia						   *
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*  	Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad for a short, fat guy. 	   *
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