WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 You know, whenever we dig into history, especially 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:04.700 the history of revolutions and nation building, 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.379 it's usually a pretty binary affair. You have 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:10.460 your clear cut heroes and your absolute villains. 00:00:10.539 --> 00:00:12.740 That is the general rule. Yes. Yeah. History 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:15.039 is written by the victors. And, you know, the 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:17.059 losers are usually painted as these terrible 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:19.719 figures to justify whatever came next. Right. 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:21.660 And who's who depends entirely on which side 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:24.140 of a border or which side of an ideological wall 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:26.719 you happen to be standing on? It's very rare 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:30.079 to find nuance in the. Foundational myths of 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.820 a nation. Exactly. But today we are unpacking 00:00:33.820 --> 00:00:36.939 a massive, glaring exception to that rule. We're 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:38.799 talking about a figure who manages to be the 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.000 ultimate hero for two governments that have been, 00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:44.159 I mean, technically at war for over 70 years. 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:47.020 It's a fascinating paradox, really a unique case 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:49.640 study in political legacy. We are talking, of 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.219 course, about Sun Yat -sen. Sun Yat -sen, the 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.299 man whose face is on the money in Taiwan and 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:56.679 whose massive portrait gets parked right in the 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:58.960 middle of Tiananmen Square in Beijing on major 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.759 holidays. It's an incredible status. In the Republic 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.879 of China, which we all know as Taiwan, he's officially 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.760 designated as the father of the nation. He's 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.980 their George Washington. He is. Meanwhile, across 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:12.840 the strait in the People's Republic of China 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.799 on the mainland, he's revered as the forerunner 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:18.430 of the revolution. Father versus forerunner. 00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:21.109 I like that. It's a subtle distinction, but it 00:01:21.109 --> 00:01:23.870 lets both sides claim him. Essentially, everyone 00:01:23.870 --> 00:01:25.930 agrees he's the guy who turned the lights on 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:28.670 for modern China. He's a pivotal figure who ended 00:01:28.670 --> 00:01:32.150 thousands of years of imperial rule. But here's 00:01:32.150 --> 00:01:34.189 the thing that really stood out to me when I 00:01:34.189 --> 00:01:36.489 was going through the research for this deep 00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:39.450 dive. What's that? If you look at the raw data 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:43.049 of his life, his actual track record as a leader, 00:01:43.129 --> 00:01:46.560 as a general. It's not exactly a resume of constant 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.540 winning. That's what jumped out at me, too. I 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:50.799 mean, this guy spent way more time losing, hiding, 00:01:50.939 --> 00:01:53.700 running away and begging for money than he ever 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:56.560 spent actually ruling anything. He was in many 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:59.480 ways a professional exile. He spent arguably 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:02.420 more time outside of China than inside it during 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:04.920 his most active years. A professional exile. 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:09.069 I love that. So our mission for this deep dive 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:12.889 is to figure out how this guy, this doctor, this 00:02:12.889 --> 00:02:15.789 failed insurrectionist, this fundraiser managed 00:02:15.789 --> 00:02:18.409 to become the one thing that holds the fractured 00:02:18.409 --> 00:02:21.189 identity of modern China together. We need to 00:02:21.189 --> 00:02:24.229 look at the man behind the statues, not just 00:02:24.229 --> 00:02:26.129 the bronze hero, but the guy who was constantly 00:02:26.129 --> 00:02:29.870 on the move, constantly failing and yet somehow 00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:32.460 never stopped. And we have to start by acknowledging 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:34.620 he wasn't a traditional Chinese rebel. I mean, 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:37.300 he wasn't a peasant leading a revolt with pitchforks. 00:02:37.300 --> 00:02:39.479 No, nor was he a disgruntled general. He was 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:41.699 a product of a collision between worlds, really. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.620 Right. Let's go back to the beginning. Because 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:45.620 when I think of the father of modern China, I 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:48.960 picture, I don't know, a scholar in robes studying 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.780 Confucius in some misty mountain temple. And 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:54.500 you'd be completely wrong. Sun was born in 1866 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:57.340 in Quiang, a small village in Guangdong province. 00:02:57.419 --> 00:03:01.370 His background was humble. His father was a tailor, 00:03:01.490 --> 00:03:04.009 a porter, a farmer. This wasn't the elite scholar 00:03:04.009 --> 00:03:06.229 official class. So he wasn't part of the system 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:08.949 he was about to destroy. Not at all. But the 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:11.349 real plot twist, the thing that changes everything, 00:03:11.550 --> 00:03:14.229 happens when he's a teenager. Because at age 00:03:14.229 --> 00:03:17.349 13, he doesn't go to Beijing to study for the 00:03:17.349 --> 00:03:20.729 imperial exam. He goes to Honolulu, Hawaii. This 00:03:20.729 --> 00:03:22.770 is the pivotal moment. You have to understand, 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:25.469 in the late 19th century, southern China was 00:03:25.469 --> 00:03:28.289 impoverished. Lots of people were leaving to 00:03:28.289 --> 00:03:31.129 find work abroad. Sun's elder brother, Sun Mei, 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:33.810 had moved to Hawaii and had done quite well for 00:03:33.810 --> 00:03:35.610 himself. He was a rancher, right? A rancher and 00:03:35.610 --> 00:03:38.330 a merchant, yes. So Sun Yat -sen packs his bags 00:03:38.330 --> 00:03:40.629 and moves to live with his wealthy brother. I 00:03:40.629 --> 00:03:43.229 just can't imagine that culture shock. It's 1879. 00:03:43.349 --> 00:03:45.590 You have a teenage boy from a Chinese village 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:48.310 where tradition is everything suddenly dropped 00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:50.669 into Honolulu. He enrolls at the Iolani School. 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:53.069 And the curriculum there is absolutely vital 00:03:53.069 --> 00:03:55.889 to understanding who he becomes. He's studying. 00:03:56.110 --> 00:03:58.449 English, British history, mathematics, Christianity. 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:00.729 He's reading about the Magna Carta, the American 00:04:00.729 --> 00:04:02.689 Revolution, the rule of law. It's a complete 00:04:02.689 --> 00:04:06.349 software update for his brain. Exactly. He arrived 00:04:06.349 --> 00:04:08.710 unable to speak a word of English, but he was 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:11.800 incredibly bright. By the time he graduated in 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.000 1882, he won a prize for academic achievement 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.220 from King Kalakaua himself. Wow. But it's not 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:19.860 just about learning the language, is it? It's 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:22.639 about the heroes he starts to adopt. Yes. He 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.899 began to admire figures like Abraham Lincoln 00:04:24.899 --> 00:04:27.779 and Alexander Hamilton. He saw the structure 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:30.699 of Western democracy, the concepts of republicanism, 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:34.100 and he started to contrast that with the decaying, 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.120 corrupt Qing dynasty back home. He realized that 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:39.060 the way things were in China wasn't the only 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:42.000 way things could be. Precisely. So Hawaii is 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.399 the incubator. It's where he gets the perspective 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.459 that makes him totally incompatible with the 00:04:46.459 --> 00:04:49.120 old system. Incompatible is the perfect word. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.100 And that incompatibility showed itself pretty 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:54.120 violently the moment he went back home. Yes, 00:04:54.220 --> 00:04:56.040 the idol smashing incident. This sounds like 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.279 something out of a rebellious teen movie. It 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:00.660 really does. He returns to his village at age 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:03.259 17, you know, filled with these new ideas about 00:05:03.259 --> 00:05:06.180 modernization and science. He looks around and 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:08.579 sees his neighbors pouring their money and hope 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:12.120 into worshiping wooden statues in the local temple. 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:14.040 And to him, this isn't just culture anymore. 00:05:14.139 --> 00:05:16.829 It's a superstition holding them back. It's the 00:05:16.829 --> 00:05:19.509 chain. So he goes to the Beijing temple with 00:05:19.509 --> 00:05:22.149 his childhood friend, Lu Hadong. And I remember 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:24.529 that name. He's important later. They walk up 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:26.910 to the statue of the North Star God. And he decides 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:29.110 to prove a point. He wants to prove that the 00:05:29.110 --> 00:05:32.790 superstition is powerless. So he climbs up and 00:05:32.790 --> 00:05:35.870 physically breaks the finger off the idol. Some 00:05:35.870 --> 00:05:38.509 accounts say he did more damage, but the symbolic 00:05:38.509 --> 00:05:41.170 act was breaking that finger. He was basically 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:43.410 saying, look, I hurt your God and he didn't strike 00:05:43.410 --> 00:05:46.000 me down. He has no power. I can't imagine that 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.240 went over well with the villagers. Furious would 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.339 be an understatement. It was a massive scandal. 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:52.579 You have to remember, this wasn't just vandalism. 00:05:52.579 --> 00:05:56.300 It was sacrilege. To avoid their wrath, Sun's 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:59.319 parents basically had to banish him. They kicked 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.459 him out. They sent him away to Hong Kong to cool 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:04.579 off. So his first act of rebellion gets him kicked 00:06:04.579 --> 00:06:06.920 out of his home terror. But this actually works 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:09.240 out for him because it sets him on the path to 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.360 becoming a doctor. It does. He continued his 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:14.779 education in Hong Kong, eventually attending 00:06:14.779 --> 00:06:16.720 the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:19.800 And he was a brilliant student. He was one of 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:23.300 only two graduates in his class in 1892. So he's 00:06:23.300 --> 00:06:25.420 Dr. Sun now. He could have had a comfortable 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:27.279 life. He could have been a wealthy, respected 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:29.879 doctor. He certainly could have. But while he's 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:32.740 studying anatomy and surgery, he's also diagnosing 00:06:32.740 --> 00:06:35.600 China's political illness. He fell in with a 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.699 group of friends. Young, hawkling, Chan Subak. 00:06:40.329 --> 00:06:42.569 And Yalit. And they gave themselves a nickname 00:06:42.569 --> 00:06:46.069 that is just fantastic. The Four Bandits. The 00:06:46.069 --> 00:06:48.129 Four Bandits. In the eyes of the king authorities, 00:06:48.430 --> 00:06:50.610 they were dangerous. They weren't robbing trains, 00:06:50.769 --> 00:06:53.269 they were meeting in tea houses to discuss revolutionary 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:56.250 theory, talking about overthrowing the king dynasty. 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:58.970 But talk is cheap. When does the doctor become 00:06:58.970 --> 00:07:00.829 the revolutionary? When does he decide, okay, 00:07:00.970 --> 00:07:02.850 I'm putting down the scalpel, I'm picking up 00:07:02.850 --> 00:07:04.930 the sword, so to speak. The tipping point came 00:07:04.930 --> 00:07:08.730 in 1894. And interestingly... Sun didn't jump 00:07:08.730 --> 00:07:11.449 straight to revolution. He tried one last time 00:07:11.449 --> 00:07:14.670 to be your former. The petition. Yes. He wrote 00:07:14.670 --> 00:07:17.569 an 8 ,000 -character petition to Li Hongzhang. 00:07:17.949 --> 00:07:20.910 Now, Li Hongzhang was a heavy hitter, a powerful 00:07:20.910 --> 00:07:23.149 viceroy, one of the most influential officials 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:25.610 in the Qing court. And what was in the petition? 00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:28.769 Was it radical? Not at all. It was incredibly 00:07:28.769 --> 00:07:30.730 rational. It was a blueprint for modernizing 00:07:30.730 --> 00:07:34.660 China. He proposed investing in education, modernizing 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:37.379 agriculture, building industry. It wasn't a call 00:07:37.379 --> 00:07:39.220 for democracy. It was a call for competence. 00:07:39.540 --> 00:07:41.800 A very sensible proposal. Which was completely 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:44.319 ignored. He traveled all the way to Tianjin to 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:46.879 deliver it, and he was refused an audience. He 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:48.639 never even got in the room. And that's the moment, 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:50.600 right? The door slams shut, so he decides to 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:52.319 burn down the house. That's a good way to put 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.259 it. He realized that the king's system was too 00:07:54.259 --> 00:07:56.939 ossified to change from within. It had to be 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:59.980 removed. So he traveled back to Hawaii and founded 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.579 the Revive China Society. Okay, so now he's an 00:08:02.579 --> 00:08:05.939 organizer. But an organization needs a win. It 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:09.439 needs action. And action came in 1895 with the 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:13.060 first Guangzhou uprising. The plan was to capture 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:14.699 the city of Guangzhou, which would have given 00:08:14.699 --> 00:08:17.339 them a major base of operations. Planned being 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:20.220 the operative word. Unfortunately, yes. This 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:23.139 sets a pattern for Sun's early career. The plans 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:25.930 were leaped. The Qing government. which had spies 00:08:25.930 --> 00:08:29.509 everywhere, cracked down immediately. Over 70 00:08:29.509 --> 00:08:31.829 members were captured. And this wasn't just a 00:08:31.829 --> 00:08:34.009 slap on the wrist. This was the Qing Dynasty. 00:08:34.370 --> 00:08:37.529 It was brutal. Sun's childhood friend, Lu Hudong, 00:08:37.690 --> 00:08:40.190 the one who helped him smash the idol, was captured. 00:08:40.590 --> 00:08:42.690 He was executed. He's often called the first 00:08:42.690 --> 00:08:45.490 martyr of the revolution. Wow. That had to weigh 00:08:45.490 --> 00:08:48.580 on him. Your best friend is dead. Your plan is 00:08:48.580 --> 00:08:51.440 in ruins. And Sun himself was a wanted man with 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.399 a price on his head. He had to flee into exile. 00:08:53.779 --> 00:08:56.580 And this brings us to the financial cost. Revolutions 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:00.399 are expensive. His brother, Sun May, the wealthy 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:02.519 rancher in Hawaii. The one who took him in. He 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:05.419 had to sell 12 ,000 acres of ranch land to support 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.679 Sun's activities and to hide the families of 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:10.419 the revolutionaries. 12 ,000 acres. He basically 00:09:10.419 --> 00:09:13.120 liquidated his entire fortune for his brother's 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.539 dream. The family was all in. But Sun doesn't 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:19.950 just stay in Hawaii. He goes to London. And this 00:09:19.950 --> 00:09:22.230 is where the story turns into a legitimate spy 00:09:22.230 --> 00:09:24.990 thriller. The kidnapped in London incident of 00:09:24.990 --> 00:09:28.750 1896. This is the event that made Sun Yat -sen 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:31.690 a household name, isn't it? It is. So picture 00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:36.909 this. October 1896. Sun is in London. But the 00:09:36.909 --> 00:09:39.330 King government has a long reach. Their secret 00:09:39.330 --> 00:09:41.210 service is tracking him. And he's just walking 00:09:41.210 --> 00:09:44.049 down the street. On Sunday, October 11th, he 00:09:44.049 --> 00:09:46.519 was walking past the Chinese legation. the embassy 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:49.139 in portland place he was engaged in conversation 00:09:49.139 --> 00:09:52.899 by some chinese men and lured or well dragged 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:55.440 into the building once he was inside the doors 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.919 locked he was on chinese sovereign territory 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:00.460 he's a prisoner what was their plan they can't 00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:02.759 just execute him in downtown london no that would 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:05.159 cause a huge diplomatic incident their plan was 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:07.419 to smuggle him out to the docks Put him on a 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.580 boat chartered specifically for this, ship him 00:10:09.580 --> 00:10:11.460 back to China, and execute him there. Which would 00:10:11.460 --> 00:10:13.200 have been a horrible death. Almost certainly 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.860 Lingchi death by a thousand cuts. Or a ritual 00:10:15.860 --> 00:10:18.580 beheading. That is terrifying. Locked in a room 00:10:18.580 --> 00:10:20.960 in London, just waiting to be shipped back to 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:23.340 be tortured to death. How on earth did he get 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:25.500 out? He tried throwing notes out the window, 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.779 but they fell on a roof. Finally, he managed 00:10:28.779 --> 00:10:30.879 to befriend an English servant working at the 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:33.769 legation. He convinced this man to smuggle a 00:10:33.769 --> 00:10:36.169 message out to his former medical teacher, Dr. 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:38.830 James Cantley. The old professor to the rescue. 00:10:39.049 --> 00:10:41.029 Dr. Cantley didn't hesitate. He went to Scotland 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:42.950 Yard, who said they couldn't really do much. 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:45.830 So he went to the press. He leaked it. He blew 00:10:45.830 --> 00:10:49.049 it wide open. The Globe, The Times. They ran 00:10:49.049 --> 00:10:51.250 these sensational stories about a Chinese revolutionary 00:10:51.250 --> 00:10:54.149 kidnapped on British soil. British justice violated. 00:10:54.470 --> 00:10:57.169 It became a massive scandal. So public pressure 00:10:57.169 --> 00:10:59.970 mounted. Crowds gathered outside the legation. 00:11:00.110 --> 00:11:02.059 The British foreign... Foreign office pressured 00:11:02.059 --> 00:11:04.919 the Chinese diplomats. And after 12 days of captivity, 00:11:05.139 --> 00:11:08.039 Sun was released. Talk about a backfire. The 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:10.320 Qing government tried to silence him and instead 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.519 they made him a global celebrity. Exactly. He 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.740 walked out of that location a star. He wrote 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:17.779 a book about it, Kidnapped in London, which became 00:11:17.779 --> 00:11:20.519 a bestseller. Suddenly, he wasn't just a failed 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:22.960 rebel from Guangdong. He was the face of the 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.360 Chinese resistance to the West. So he's famous 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:29.080 now. But he's still in exile. He can't go back 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:31.559 to China. So what does a revolutionary do when 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:34.019 he can't be in the country he's trying to revolutionize? 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:36.899 He hustles. This next phase of his life is all 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:40.120 about fundraising, building alliances, and navigating 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:44.120 international bureaucracy. And he was incredibly 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.159 creative with the truth when he needed to be. 00:11:46.570 --> 00:11:48.730 Speaking of being creative with the truth, let's 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:50.950 talk about the Hawaii birth certificate. This 00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:53.990 detail blew my mind. Ah, yes. This is a masterclass 00:11:53.990 --> 00:11:56.049 in pragmatic maneuvering. You have to remember, 00:11:56.129 --> 00:11:58.629 this is the early 1900s. The U .S. had the Chinese 00:11:58.629 --> 00:12:02.409 Exclusion Act of 1882 in full swing. Which made 00:12:02.409 --> 00:12:04.470 it almost impossible for Chinese nationals to 00:12:04.470 --> 00:12:06.309 enter the United States. Right. And that's a 00:12:06.309 --> 00:12:08.409 huge problem if you want to tour the U .S. raising 00:12:08.409 --> 00:12:11.029 money from wealthy Chinese American communities. 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:14.950 So in 1904, Sun obtained a certificate of Hawaiian 00:12:14.950 --> 00:12:17.519 birth. He essentially claimed he was born in 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:21.360 Hawaii in 1870. Wait, he just he lied to the 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:23.100 U .S. government. He claimed he was a natural 00:12:23.100 --> 00:12:25.620 born U .S. citizen. He did. And despite some 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:28.080 initial pushback, the U .S. government accepted 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.500 it on appeal. This granted him U .S. nationality 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:34.509 and a U .S. passport. It allowed him to travel 00:12:34.509 --> 00:12:37.710 freely across the states to raise funds. That 00:12:37.710 --> 00:12:40.669 is ironic on so many levels. The father of modern 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:43.529 China was technically, for a while, a U .S. citizen 00:12:43.529 --> 00:12:46.309 based on a complete fabrication. It speaks to 00:12:46.309 --> 00:12:49.610 his by any means necessary approach. He viewed 00:12:49.610 --> 00:12:52.330 these laws as obstacles to be circumvented for 00:12:52.330 --> 00:12:54.990 the greater good. And that pragmatism extended 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:57.379 to his alliances, particularly with Japan. Right, 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:59.159 because he spent a lot of time in Japan during 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:01.720 these exile years. And this is a very sensitive 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:03.779 topic, isn't it, given what happened later? It's 00:13:03.779 --> 00:13:06.220 very complicated. Japan was Sun's primary base 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:08.539 of operations for years. He was supported by 00:13:08.539 --> 00:13:10.740 Japanese Pan -Asianists. These were people who 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:13.259 believed that Asia should throw off Western imperialism. 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:16.360 They saw a strong modern China as a necessary 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.879 partner for Japan. Asia for the Asians, essentially. 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:21.809 Right. But there was another side to it. Some 00:13:21.809 --> 00:13:23.970 Japanese supporters wanted a revolution in China 00:13:23.970 --> 00:13:26.190 because they thought it would create chaos, allowing 00:13:26.190 --> 00:13:30.090 Japan to expand its influence. But Sun took their 00:13:30.090 --> 00:13:32.850 money and their protection. He had to. There's 00:13:32.850 --> 00:13:34.549 a story about a supporter who built him a safe 00:13:34.549 --> 00:13:38.190 house. Yes, a wealthy businessman named Fusanosuke 00:13:38.190 --> 00:13:41.549 Kuhara. He built a villa for Sun called the Orchid 00:13:41.549 --> 00:13:44.210 Room. It actually had a secret escape tunnel 00:13:44.210 --> 00:13:46.429 hidden behind a fireplace. You're kidding me. 00:13:46.429 --> 00:13:49.429 A secret tunnel? A secret tunnel. Sun could slip 00:13:49.429 --> 00:13:51.929 out if the king assassins came knocking. It really 00:13:51.929 --> 00:13:54.970 is like a movie. Secret tunnels, fake passports. 00:13:55.149 --> 00:13:57.190 But while he's running through tunnels, he also 00:13:57.190 --> 00:14:00.710 has a very, let's call it complex, personal life. 00:14:00.970 --> 00:14:03.509 That is a fair description. He had an arranged 00:14:03.509 --> 00:14:06.350 marriage to his first wife, Lumuzin, back in 00:14:06.350 --> 00:14:08.549 the village. A traditional woman, but he also 00:14:08.549 --> 00:14:11.269 had a concubine. Chen Kuifin, who lived with 00:14:11.269 --> 00:14:12.950 him in Malaysia. And then there were the Japanese 00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:16.490 partners. Yes, Haro Sada and Kaoru Atsuki. He 00:14:16.490 --> 00:14:18.330 actually married Atsuki while she was just a 00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:20.950 teenager, then had to leave her. But the marriage 00:14:20.950 --> 00:14:23.269 that really caused a political earthquake, the 00:14:23.269 --> 00:14:26.070 iconic one, was to Soon Ching Ling. This is where 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:29.330 it gets dramatic. Because Soon Ching Ling wasn't 00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:32.110 just some random woman. Not at all. She was the 00:14:32.110 --> 00:14:34.610 daughter of Charles Soon. Now, Charles Soong 00:14:34.610 --> 00:14:36.950 was one of Sun's closest friends and arguably 00:14:36.950 --> 00:14:39.669 his biggest financial backer. So Sun goes to 00:14:39.669 --> 00:14:41.570 his best friend and main fundraiser and says, 00:14:41.730 --> 00:14:43.830 hey, I want to marry your daughter. And the daughter, 00:14:43.950 --> 00:14:47.490 Ching Ling, was 26 years younger than Sun. Plus, 00:14:47.730 --> 00:14:50.269 Sun was still legally married to his first wife. 00:14:50.750 --> 00:14:53.990 And the Soongs were devout Christians. I can 00:14:53.990 --> 00:14:56.210 see why Charles might be upset. Upset doesn't 00:14:56.210 --> 00:14:59.429 cover it. He was furious. He felt betrayed. He 00:14:59.429 --> 00:15:01.230 locked his daughter up. He tried everything to 00:15:01.230 --> 00:15:04.710 break up the match. Sun and Xing Ling were both 00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:08.029 incredibly stubborn. They fled to Japan and got 00:15:08.029 --> 00:15:11.049 married in 1915. This marriage created a power 00:15:11.049 --> 00:15:13.230 couple that would shape Chinese politics for 00:15:13.230 --> 00:15:16.590 decades. She became Madam Sun Yat -sen. Exactly. 00:15:16.809 --> 00:15:18.429 But we're getting ahead of ourselves. We have 00:15:18.429 --> 00:15:20.970 the fundraiser, the exile, the lover. We still 00:15:20.970 --> 00:15:23.070 need a revolution that actually works. Right. 00:15:23.149 --> 00:15:25.789 How do we get from guy hiding in a villa in Japan 00:15:25.789 --> 00:15:28.269 to president? We have to talk about the Tong 00:15:28.269 --> 00:15:30.590 Ming Wee. The Tong Ming Wee. This is the United 00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:35.019 League. Yes. Up until 1905, the Chinese resistance 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:37.879 was fragmented. You had student groups, secret 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:40.299 societies, radicals, moderates. They couldn't 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:44.159 agree on anything. In 1905 in Tokyo, Sun managed 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.940 to do something very difficult. He herded the 00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:48.899 cats. He brought them all under one umbrella. 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:52.320 He united them under a specific mantra. Expel 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:55.139 the Tatar barbarians, revive Zongwa, establish 00:15:55.139 --> 00:15:58.360 a republic, distribute land equally. Tatar barbarians 00:15:58.360 --> 00:15:59.860 are pretty harsh. He's referring to the Manchu 00:15:59.860 --> 00:16:02.240 rulers of the Qing dynasty. It was ethnic nationalism. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:04.899 He was tapping into the resentment of the Han 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:07.679 Chinese majority against the Manchu minority 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.220 ruling class. But he combined that with Republican 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:13.870 idealism. But even with this united front, they 00:16:13.870 --> 00:16:15.990 kept failing, didn't they? They launched uprising 00:16:15.990 --> 00:16:18.429 after uprising. Over and over again. The Huizhou 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:21.269 Uprising, the Zanangwood Uprising. Between 1895 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.769 and 1911, there were 10 major failed uprisings. 00:16:23.769 --> 00:16:26.190 10. It must have been incredibly demoralizing. 00:16:26.269 --> 00:16:28.789 It was. But Sun had this almost supernatural 00:16:28.789 --> 00:16:30.789 persistence. He just kept moving, kept raising 00:16:30.789 --> 00:16:33.330 money, kept talking. And then finally came October 00:16:33.330 --> 00:16:37.090 10th, 1911. The Wuchang Uprising. This is the 00:16:37.090 --> 00:16:40.570 big one. The Xinhai Revolution. The one that 00:16:40.570 --> 00:16:43.450 finally topples the empire. And here's the best 00:16:43.450 --> 00:16:45.950 part. The detail that I think defines his life. 00:16:46.710 --> 00:16:48.889 Sun Yat -sen wasn't even there. It is one of 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:52.309 history's great ironies. The father of the revolution 00:16:52.309 --> 00:16:55.269 was in Denver, Colorado. Denver? What was he 00:16:55.269 --> 00:16:57.549 doing in Denver? He was on a fundraising tour. 00:16:57.870 --> 00:17:00.970 He was staying at the Brown Palace Hotel. And 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:02.710 he found out that the revolution had finally 00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:05.180 succeeded. by reading about it in a newspaper 00:17:05.180 --> 00:17:07.599 the next morning. Imagine that scene. You've 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:09.480 been trying to start a fire for 20 years. You're 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:11.519 grabbing coffee in Denver. You open the paper 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:14.420 and you see, oh, look, the fire started without 00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:17.380 me. And significantly, he didn't rush back immediately. 00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:20.240 A military commander would have jumped on the 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:24.319 first boat. But Sun knew his strengths. He knew 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.740 that a military victory wasn't enough. The revolution 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:29.059 would die without money and diplomatic recognition. 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:31.759 So he took the long way home. He did. He went 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.609 to London and Paris first. He lobbied the British 00:17:34.609 --> 00:17:36.529 and French governments to stop loaning money 00:17:36.529 --> 00:17:39.390 to the Qing dynasty. He was cutting off the empire's 00:17:39.390 --> 00:17:41.609 financial lifeline. He didn't arrive back in 00:17:41.609 --> 00:17:43.750 China until December. But when he gets back, 00:17:43.930 --> 00:17:47.130 he is the man of the hour. He is. The revolutionaries 00:17:47.130 --> 00:17:49.430 needed a figurehead everyone could agree on. 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:54.670 On January 1st, 1912, Sun Yat -sen is inaugurated 00:17:54.670 --> 00:17:56.450 as the provisional president of the Republic 00:17:56.450 --> 00:17:59.890 of China in Nanjing. The dynasty is over. The 00:17:59.890 --> 00:18:02.440 republic has begun. Mission accomplished. Roll 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:05.559 credits. If only. This is where the tragedy of 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.039 Sun's political career really begins. Because 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:10.500 being a revolutionary is very, very different 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:12.799 from being a president. What was the main hurdle? 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.059 Why couldn't he just govern? The problem was 00:18:15.059 --> 00:18:19.240 the army. Or, well, the lack of one. The provisional 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:21.660 government in Nanjing had high ideals and a new 00:18:21.660 --> 00:18:24.220 flag, but they had no real military power and 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:26.980 no money. The north of China was controlled by 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:30.180 Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai, the powerful king general. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.579 He was the commander of the Beiyang Army, the 00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:35.059 most modern and powerful military force in China. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:38.220 He was a shrewd, ambitious operator. So you have 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:41.220 Sun with the ideals and Yuan with the guns. Exactly. 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:43.539 And Sun knew that if they fought, it would be 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:45.980 a bloody civil war that the infant republic would 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:48.720 likely lose. So his son made a deal, a heartbreaking 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:50.980 deal. What was the trade? He agreed to step down. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:54.180 He would resign as president and let Yuan Shikai 00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:57.359 take the job. In exchange, Yuan had to force 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:00.559 the king emperor to abdicate peacefully and agree 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.319 to support the republic. That is a massive sacrifice. 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:06.319 He basically handed the keys to the kingdom to 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.720 the guy with the biggest army just to save the 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.660 concept of the republic. It was an act of supreme 00:19:10.660 --> 00:19:13.079 idealism. He believed that institutions were 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.200 more important than individuals. He thought Yuan 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:17.180 Shikai would play by the rules. And he did not 00:19:17.180 --> 00:19:19.140 play by the rules. He did not. Once Yuan had 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:22.259 the presidency, he consolidated power. He assassinated 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:26.339 rivals, specifically Song Jiao. a key KMT leader. 00:19:26.539 --> 00:19:29.259 And eventually, Yuan Shikai went fully off the 00:19:29.259 --> 00:19:31.480 rails and tried to declare himself emperor. So 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:34.680 the Republic was dead, and Sun is back on the 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:36.880 run. Back on the run. He launched a second revolution 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.000 in 1913 against Yuan, but it failed miserably. 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:44.059 He fled to Japan. Again. This poor guy. He finally 00:19:44.059 --> 00:19:46.420 wins, gives it up for the greater good, gets 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:49.019 betrayed, and ends up back in exile. And things 00:19:49.019 --> 00:19:52.299 got even worse. After Yuan Shikai died in 1916, 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.559 China didn't go back to being a republic. It 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.700 shattered. This was the beginning of the warlord 00:19:56.700 --> 00:19:58.900 era. Describe that for us. What was that like? 00:19:59.539 --> 00:20:02.460 Imagine the country broken into pieces. Local 00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:04.720 generals turned provinces into their own private 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.819 kingdoms. They taxed the peasants into starvation 00:20:07.819 --> 00:20:10.920 to fund their private armies. Wars were constant. 00:20:11.059 --> 00:20:12.759 There was no central government, just chaos. 00:20:13.099 --> 00:20:16.410 It sounds like Mad Max. It was. Sun tried to 00:20:16.410 --> 00:20:18.690 establish rival governments in Guangzhou in the 00:20:18.690 --> 00:20:21.950 south to oppose the warlords in the north. But 00:20:21.950 --> 00:20:24.089 he was constantly struggling. A warlord would 00:20:24.089 --> 00:20:27.069 ally with him, then betray him. He needed powerful 00:20:27.069 --> 00:20:29.809 friends. And this is where the story pivots toward 00:20:29.809 --> 00:20:32.190 the Soviet Union. Because he tried the West again 00:20:32.190 --> 00:20:34.630 first, right? He did. He appealed to the United 00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:36.789 States and Britain for aid. He wrote to them 00:20:36.789 --> 00:20:39.109 saying, help me develop China. Help me build 00:20:39.109 --> 00:20:41.509 a democracy. And what did the West say? They 00:20:41.509 --> 00:20:44.490 ghosted him. The Western powers preferred stability. 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:47.450 Even if it meant dealing with corrupt warlords 00:20:47.450 --> 00:20:50.269 over supporting a perpetual revolutionary like 00:20:50.269 --> 00:20:53.069 Sun, they ignored him. So if the capitalists 00:20:53.069 --> 00:20:55.490 won't help, you turn to the communists. The newly 00:20:55.490 --> 00:20:57.650 formed associate union was more than happy to 00:20:57.650 --> 00:21:01.930 help. In 1923, Sun signed the Sun Jaffe Manifesto. 00:21:02.049 --> 00:21:05.009 Now, this is crucial because this explains why 00:21:05.009 --> 00:21:07.250 the Communist Party in China today claims him. 00:21:07.690 --> 00:21:11.380 But was Sun actually a communist? No. He was 00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:13.819 very clear about that. Yeah. He explicitly stated 00:21:13.819 --> 00:21:15.740 in the manifesto that he didn't think the Soviet 00:21:15.740 --> 00:21:18.839 system was suitable for China. He wasn't a Marxist, 00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:21.640 but he was a pragmatist. He needed their organizational 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:24.079 structure, their training and their weapons. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:25.680 So what was the deal? What was the arrangement? 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:29.200 He agreed to a united front. He allowed members 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.859 of the newly formed Chinese Communist Party to 00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:34.940 join his nationalist party, the KMT, as individuals. 00:21:35.609 --> 00:21:37.250 He thought he could use them and control them. 00:21:37.349 --> 00:21:40.369 A marriage of convenience. Exactly. The Soviets 00:21:40.369 --> 00:21:43.869 sent advisors. The most famous was a man named 00:21:43.869 --> 00:21:46.950 Mikhail Borodin. Sun actually called Borodin 00:21:46.950 --> 00:21:49.589 his Lafayette, referencing the French general 00:21:49.589 --> 00:21:51.529 who helped George Washington. That's a telling 00:21:51.529 --> 00:21:53.990 comparison. He sees himself as Washington and 00:21:53.990 --> 00:21:56.369 the Russian Bolshevik as just a means to an end. 00:21:56.490 --> 00:21:58.750 And with Soviet money in arms, they founded the 00:21:58.750 --> 00:22:02.269 Wampoa Military Academy. This is hugely significant 00:22:02.269 --> 00:22:04.769 for modern Chinese history. Why is Wampoa so 00:22:04.769 --> 00:22:07.240 important? Because it built the army that would 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:10.599 eventually conquer the warlords. But look at 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:13.660 the staff list. It's a who's who of the future 00:22:13.660 --> 00:22:16.779 civil war. The commandant was Chiang Kai -shek, 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:19.940 Sun's conservative protege, the head of the political 00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:23.240 department. Zhu Anlai, the future premier of 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:25.259 communist China. They were all under the same 00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:27.940 roof. The future bitter enemies were colleagues. 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:30.400 They were working together under Sun's umbrella. 00:22:30.660 --> 00:22:33.750 That is the power of Sun Yat -sen. He was the 00:22:33.750 --> 00:22:35.869 only figure with enough gravity to hold these 00:22:35.869 --> 00:22:38.549 contradictory forces together. He was the glue. 00:22:38.809 --> 00:22:40.950 Let's talk about his philosophy, then. The three 00:22:40.950 --> 00:22:43.069 principles of the people. We hear this term a 00:22:43.069 --> 00:22:45.589 lot, San Minzu Yi, but what does it actually 00:22:45.589 --> 00:22:49.150 mean? It's his political legacy. The three principles 00:22:49.150 --> 00:22:51.970 are nationalism, democracy, and livelihood. Okay, 00:22:52.029 --> 00:22:54.750 let's break those down. First, nationalism. Minzu. 00:22:54.890 --> 00:22:57.420 This wasn't just simple patriotism. It was about 00:22:57.420 --> 00:23:00.039 independence, freedom from imperialist domination, 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.359 getting the Western powers in Japan out of China. 00:23:02.500 --> 00:23:05.319 It was about China standing up as an equal nation 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:08.579 state. Second, democracy. Min Kwan. He wanted 00:23:08.579 --> 00:23:11.720 a constitutional government. But, and this is 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.480 interesting, he has his own unique spin on it. 00:23:13.619 --> 00:23:16.519 He proposed a five -power constitution. Five 00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:20.109 powers. In the U .S., we have three. Legislative, 00:23:20.150 --> 00:23:21.990 executive, judicial. What were the other two? 00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:24.130 He added the examination yuan and the control 00:23:24.130 --> 00:23:26.650 yuan. Explain those. The examination yuan was 00:23:26.650 --> 00:23:28.970 based on the ancient Chinese civil service exams. 00:23:29.589 --> 00:23:31.829 Sun believed that leaders and bureaucrats should 00:23:31.829 --> 00:23:34.329 be qualified, not just popular. You had to pass 00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:37.319 the test. The Control Yuan was an independent 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:40.319 body to monitor government corruption like an 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:43.119 independent auditor with real teeth. He was trying 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.799 to blend Western democracy with traditional Chinese 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:47.779 strengths. That's actually really innovative. 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:51.180 It is. And the third principle, livelihood. Mention. 00:23:51.339 --> 00:23:53.359 This is the most debated one. It covered social 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.380 welfare. Communists interpret this as socialism. 00:23:56.619 --> 00:23:59.039 But Sun was actually heavily influenced by an 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:01.940 American economist named Henry George, who advocated 00:24:01.940 --> 00:24:06.000 for a land value tax. Sun wanted to prevent massive 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.480 wealth inequality, but he wasn't calling for 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.000 the abolition of private property. So nationalism, 00:24:11.339 --> 00:24:15.700 democracy, livelihood, a solid platform. But 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:17.539 he never really got to see it fully implemented, 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:21.440 did he? No, he didn't. In 1924, he traveled north 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:24.900 to Beijing. He was trying one last time to negotiate 00:24:24.900 --> 00:24:27.359 national unity with the warlords peacefully. 00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:31.119 But he was exhausted. He fell ill on the trip. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.180 He did. And for decades, the official story was 00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:37.380 that he had liver cancer. But the notes say there 00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:40.339 was a plot twist in 2016. Yes, a rediscovery 00:24:40.339 --> 00:24:42.599 of the original autopsy report by an American 00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:45.529 pathologist. It turns out it wasn't liver cancer 00:24:45.529 --> 00:24:47.789 initially. It was gallbladder cancer that had 00:24:47.789 --> 00:24:50.309 metastasized to the liver. A small medical detail, 00:24:50.450 --> 00:24:52.470 but it speaks to how much of his life was sort 00:24:52.470 --> 00:24:56.470 of mythologized. He died on March 12, 1925. He 00:24:56.470 --> 00:24:59.049 was only 58 years old. His last words were reportedly, 00:24:59.170 --> 00:25:02.369 peace, struggle, save China. And even in death, 00:25:02.490 --> 00:25:05.490 things got weird. The Soviets sent a glass coffin, 00:25:05.650 --> 00:25:07.630 right? Like the one they used for Lenin. They 00:25:07.630 --> 00:25:09.329 did. They wanted to turn him into a Leninist 00:25:09.329 --> 00:25:11.690 -style saint preserved for eternity. But the 00:25:11.690 --> 00:25:14.000 family rejected the crystal coffin. Apparently 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:15.819 the quality wasn't great and they found the idea 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:18.759 unsuitable. Thanks, but no thanks. Exactly. His 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:21.579 body was eventually buried in a massive imperial 00:25:21.579 --> 00:25:24.299 -style mausoleum in Nanjing. You can still visit 00:25:24.299 --> 00:25:26.720 it today. It's huge. But once he was dead, the 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:28.920 glue holding the KMT and the communists together 00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:31.920 dissolved instantly. Almost immediately. The 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.180 united front collapsed. Chiang Kai -shek took 00:25:34.180 --> 00:25:36.660 control of the military and the KMT. He turned 00:25:36.660 --> 00:25:39.539 on the communists in 1927 in a bloody purge. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.480 the civil war began. And this is where the fight 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:45.539 for Sun's legacy gets intense because both sides 00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:48.400 claimed him. They both said, we are the true 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:51.200 heirs of Sun Yat -sen. Chiang Kai -shek solidified 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:53.740 his claim by marrying Sun Meiling Sun's sister 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:56.720 -in -law. So he became family. He elevated Sun 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.039 to a godlike status in the Republic of China, 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:01.740 emphasizing nationalism and democracy. But the 00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:04.480 communists didn't let him go either. No. And 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:07.319 here's the family tragedy. Sun's widow, Sun Qingling, 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:10.140 actually sided with the communists. She felt 00:26:10.140 --> 00:26:13.160 Chiang Kai -shek had betrayed Sun's ideals. She 00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:15.019 stayed on the mainland and eventually became 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:17.019 the vice president of the People's Republic of 00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:19.099 China. That is a family dinner I would not want 00:26:19.099 --> 00:26:21.920 to attend. One sister married to Chiang Kai -shek, 00:26:22.059 --> 00:26:24.900 the other the widow of Sun, standing on opposite 00:26:24.900 --> 00:26:27.299 sides of a civil war. It perfectly illustrates 00:26:27.299 --> 00:26:30.910 the fracture of the nation. The communists reinterpreted 00:26:30.910 --> 00:26:33.710 Sun's three principles. They focused on livelihood 00:26:33.710 --> 00:26:36.470 and his policy of allying with Russia and helping 00:26:36.470 --> 00:26:38.910 the peasants. So today, if you go to Taiwan, 00:26:39.170 --> 00:26:41.109 he's the father of the nation. If you go to Beijing, 00:26:41.309 --> 00:26:43.450 he's the forerunner. And in Tiananmen Square 00:26:43.450 --> 00:26:46.750 on major holidays, huge portraits of Sun Yat 00:26:46.750 --> 00:26:49.650 -sen are displayed. He's the one historical figure 00:26:49.650 --> 00:26:52.670 that both sides can agree to honor. So coming 00:26:52.670 --> 00:26:55.190 back to our original mission, how did the professional 00:26:55.190 --> 00:26:58.670 exile become... The national icon. How did the 00:26:58.670 --> 00:27:01.309 guy who failed so many times become the one success 00:27:01.309 --> 00:27:03.789 story everyone agrees on? I think the key is 00:27:03.789 --> 00:27:06.410 to look at Sun as a bridge. A bridge. Yes. He 00:27:06.410 --> 00:27:08.549 was a bridge between ancient China and the modern 00:27:08.549 --> 00:27:11.369 world. He started by smashing an idol and ended 00:27:11.369 --> 00:27:13.910 by designing a constitution. But he was also 00:27:13.910 --> 00:27:16.069 a bridge between East and West. He was educated 00:27:16.069 --> 00:27:18.950 in Hawaii. He wore Western suits, but he fought 00:27:18.950 --> 00:27:21.569 for Chinese dignity. And maybe, most importantly, 00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:24.130 a bridge between the different factions of China 00:27:24.130 --> 00:27:27.329 itself. Exactly. Even though he failed militarily 00:27:27.329 --> 00:27:30.210 and politically over and over again, he never 00:27:30.210 --> 00:27:32.650 defeated the warlords. He never saw a unified 00:27:32.650 --> 00:27:36.210 China. His image became the only thing strong 00:27:36.210 --> 00:27:38.630 enough to hold the concept of China together. 00:27:38.910 --> 00:27:41.190 It's the persistence, isn't it? That's what sticks 00:27:41.190 --> 00:27:43.829 with me. The image of him reading about his own 00:27:43.829 --> 00:27:46.779 revolution in a newspaper in Denver. It wasn't 00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:49.700 his military genius that won. It was his relentless 00:27:49.700 --> 00:27:53.279 traveling, speaking, and fundraising. He just 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:55.859 kept the idea alive when the reality was falling 00:27:55.859 --> 00:27:57.960 apart. There's a provocative thought to end on 00:27:57.960 --> 00:28:01.039 here. Sun left a will that was recited in schools 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.119 for decades, right? Yes. It ends with the phrase, 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:07.700 the revolution is not yet effective. All my comrades 00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:10.099 must continue to work hard. The revolution is 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:12.609 not yet effective. In a way, both Taiwan and 00:28:12.609 --> 00:28:14.910 the mainland are still arguing over who is effectively 00:28:14.910 --> 00:28:17.549 finishing Sun's work. And as long as that argument 00:28:17.549 --> 00:28:20.029 continues, Sun Yat -sen remains the most important 00:28:20.029 --> 00:28:22.809 common ground they have left. He's the only person 00:28:22.809 --> 00:28:25.130 both sides can talk about without arguing. So 00:28:25.130 --> 00:28:27.730 next time you see that statue, whether it's in 00:28:27.730 --> 00:28:30.190 Taipei, Beijing or even a Chinatown somewhere, 00:28:30.369 --> 00:28:34.029 don't just see the stiff statesman. See the kids 00:28:34.029 --> 00:28:35.950 smashing the idol, the guy hiding in the secret 00:28:35.950 --> 00:28:38.329 tunnel and the traveler in the train station 00:28:38.329 --> 00:28:40.690 trying to talk the world into believing in a 00:28:40.690 --> 00:28:43.410 new China. Well said. Thanks for listening to 00:28:43.410 --> 00:28:45.130 this deep dive. We'll catch you on the next one.