Introduction

Summary

This volume is a collection of papers in English presented at our conference to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution in China. While there are extensive research and voluminous publications on Sun Yat-sen and the 1911 Revolution, it was felt that less had been done on the Southeast Asian connections. Thus this volume tries to chip in some original and at times provocative analysis on not only Sun Yat-sen and the 1911 Revolution but also contributions from selected Southeast Asian countries.

This volume starts with the keynote speech given by Wang Gungwu. Wang's speech revisited his earlier thesis that Sun Yat-sen was China's first modern politician. By comparing Sun with other Chinese in the 1860s generation, Wang noted that Sun was different from students sent to the United States by the Qing Government and selected figures from the Overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. By and large, Sun was able to plant a vision of ideals from the West and graft it onto Chinese traditions that still mattered to the majority of his followers. Sun was definitely not following the traditional mandarin-literati framework or the way of the upper class. Instead, he was interested in pushing for western political ideas and combining them with some of China's popular ideas of legitimate authority and governance. Wang came to the conclusion that Sun's ability to project his mixed vision in times of uncertainty in China would carve out a political life for Sun and make him “the first to offer a dedicated political leadership for a cause that set China on its own path to modernity”.

In the light of Wang's remarks, it is perhaps befitting to examine Sun's vision or thoughts on modernity and nation-building. Thus the chapters in Part I starts with an analysis of the British influence on Sun Yat-sen's vision of modernization with special reference to the Three Principles of the People by John Wong.