Why Xinhai Revolution Occurred 100
Years Ago This Month? (1)
辛亥革命 100
周年
13 October 2011
Human
development can take many different paths; it may
progress towards a more civilized society or
revert to a state of savagery. There is no
guaranteed route for a forward movement if the
collective human effort is not put forth or is
misplaced.
Here is a
telling example which demonstrates how a highly
elaborate civilization as exhibited during the
eras of the Song and the Ming could rapidly degenerated to a
hunting tribe's crude existence of barbarism.
The photos
of China under Manchu's rule were originally
taken by Western travelers of the time and widely
posted on Chinese cyber space under the title Why
I Love Manchu's Qing Dynasty with cynical
captions added on by
some online Chinese identities (more
at 明朝吧, tianya.cn). Here
we present further evidences to support their
view.
We love Manchu's Qing because
the ladies in the Ming court were so
skinny like hungry ghosts.
This is a colour ink painting created by Ming
artist Chou Ying (仇英), depicting the
daily life of the palace ladies of the
Ming court donning a typical Chinese
costume.
We love
Manchu's Qing because its royal
concubines were so well-fed.
The
photo of Manchu emperor Guangxu's
imperial concubine.
We love
Manchu's Qing because its palace ladies
contributed so much to the fine art of
head deco.
The
photo of a Manchu palace maiden.
We love
Manchu's Qing because its aristocratic
ladies looked so strong and unassuming
who willingly endured heavy burdens from
the top and duly put on an unisex dress
to keep their vanity for fashion appeal
at bay.
The
photo of Manchu princesses and
aristocratic women.
We love
Manchu's Qing because it never tried to
embarrass foreign nations by building
ships bigger and more powerful than
other countries could do.
The
model of the big vessel indicates the
ship that helped Chinese to travel
between China and Africa in 1421 during
the Ming Dynasty, and the small one
implies the boat that Colombia once used
to cruise from Spain to America in 1492.
We love
Manchu's Qing because after more than
2000 years of fast
development in technology, Chinese
rediscovered the novelty of simple
living.
We love
Manchu's Qing because after more than
2000 years of obssesion with mechanical
equipments, Chinese returned to the
environmental friendly bio energy.
Jackie
Chan played a leading
role in China's blockbuster film Xinhai
Revolution.
驱除鞑虏,
恢复中华!
Drive Away Manchu, Revive Chinese Civilization
10 October 2011 is
the 100th anniversary of Xinhai Revolution which
is widely viewed as a decisive event that kicked
the ancient Middle Kingdom into the moderrn era
by ending a thousands-year-old monarchical
system.
But we found this
notion does not reflect the historical truth.
It was plainly
stated in the Declaration of the Anti-Manchu
Revolutionary Army (辛亥革命军奉天讨满檄文) and clearly illustrated in a series of
symbolic rituals in the aftermath presentation
that the uprising's chief motivation and core
achievement are of liberating Chinese people from
the tyranny of the alien rule, of rescuing
Chinese nation from total disintegration under
the external pressure, and of saving Chinese
civilization from degenerating into a set of
meaningless rituals at the hands of the tartars
who knew very little about the essence of Chinese culture, and understood even less.
As
for a monarchical system, it has never been a
cornerstone to testify on the progressiveness of
a social system. Britain, Denmark, Belgium,
The Netherlands, Sweden,
Spain, Luxembourg,
Canada, Australia
and Norway, all remain as "feudal" kingdoms, but
which do not stop their "subjects" from
identifying themselves as the citizens of a
"modern state", while Chiang
Kai-Shek's reign of iron fist martial law in Taiwan
province was evidently more autocratic than that
of many Chinese emperors in history.
Here are two march
songs sung by Xinhai Revolutionaries at the
time which express clearly the key objective of
their uprising.
