Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 59

(1) The Kiessling was a restaurant created by German Albert Kiessling in Tianjin‘s international settlement. It opened no later than 1908. The show has the chefs speak French while making Italian soup, which goes to show how much the average Chinese audience understands western cuisine (the same goes for average western perception of a monolithic “Chinese cuisine”).

(2) According to the novel Journey to the West, Guanyin gave Tang Sanzang the Spell of Binding (紧箍咒), which he could recite to tighten the circlet around the Monkey King‘s head, forcing him to comply.

(3) A two-party system is the natural outcome of less sophisticated electoral systems. It is not generally considered the best way to do things in this day and age. But consider that two is a lot more than one.

(4) A famous poem by Li Bai talks about the beauty of Yangzhou in the third month of the year. Although this scene is not meant to take place in the actual city of Yangzhou, but rather a rural village in that region of Jiangnan. The scenery reminds me somewhat of Zhouzhuang, though such canals are pretty common in the whole region.

(5) Generally speaking, the Shaobing, like most wheat-based rather than rice-based food, is more traditional to northern China rather than the south. However, Yangzhou does seem to have a local Shaobing culture, and unsurprisingly it tends to favor sweetness like much of southern cuisine.

(6) Technically the man is in charge of a Xiang township (乡), a population division larger than village (村) but smaller than town (镇). Such a division had existed for thousands of years and persists to this day. During the imperial era, the general rule was that official positions were assigned up to the county level. Below that, regional administration was more autonomous and driven by the local gentry. That is the likely role of this Alderman Xiao.

(7) The alderman here refers to Xiucai, which is a minor degree from imperial examination. While it is generally insufficient to obtain office, people with the Xiucai degree were nevertheless likely to be the most educated and literate people in a small village, and were respected for that.

(8) It is not uncommon for a small Chinese village to have just one or a few prominent last names, hence why both villagers here share the last name Xiao with the alderman.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 58

(1) Bao Zheng was an official of Song dynasty famous, especially in urban legend, for his unquestionable justice and sympathy for the commonfolk. This scene seems to suggest they are visiting Bao Zheng’s shrine in Kaifeng, which was the capital of Northern Song dynasty. It still exists today but is honestly not very impressive. Kaifeng is probably the least preserved among the capitals of the major imperial dynasties (compared to Beijing, Nanjing, Xi’an, and Luoyang).

However, Bao Zheng also has a more notable shrine in his birthplace of Hefei, which was damaged in the Taiping Rebellion and then rebuilt at great expense by Li Hongzhang, who was also from Hefei. Unfortunately, it was then damaged irreparably in the Cultural Revolution and is now a shell of what it once was.

(2) Sun Wen did commit to building 20,000 km of railways in the 10 years from 1912 to 1922. This was a preposterously ambitious plan for the time, and many mocked him for once again being ‘Blowhard Sun.” Indeed, he ended up accomplishing little in the way of railroad construction despite going through a tremendous amount of funding. It must be said Sun Wen was always a better idealist and figurehead than implementer of policy.

The railway remained an important part of his overall vision called Plans for Building the Nation (建国方略), a document which appears in this scene personally addressed to Yuan Shikai, but was officially published in 1919.

(3) Song Jiaoren did purportedly receive a 500,000 yuan cheque as a personal gift from Yuan Shikai. Some claim he did accept this gift, others claim he later returned it, and there are also arguments that this is merely rumor and could never have actually happened. 500,000 yuan is an absurd amount of money. A house could have been bought for 500. What should at least be clear is that despite being nominally ranked below Sun Wen and Huang Xing in the newly formed Nationalist Party, Song Jiaoren was really the most influential and important member. If Song Jiaoren did accept this much money, what did he mean by it? Could he be breaking from Sun Wen to go his own way? In any case it did not seem to have made him particularly pliable towards Yuan later on. In the show’s telling, Song remained aligned with Sun and treated the money as a public, political donation.

(4) The show has Yuan Shikai play host to both Kang Youwei and Sun Wen singing Chinese opera (for Kang see Episode 18). It would have been an even better parallel if both sang in Cantonese, as Sun does here, which would also have made sense for Kang Youwei (but maybe the actor was incapable). This is immediately followed by Kang Youwei’s reentrance into the show after a long absence.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 57

(1) October 10th remains the national day in the Republic of China (Taiwan), but is replaced by October 1st in the People’s Republic

(2) The phrase comes from the Analects, the entire sentence goes “Confuscius says that a Junzi (gentleman or nobleman or prince) is cordial instead of confrontational, and sociable but has no party” (子曰：君子矜而不争，群而不党). Here, the character for party (党) suggests cliques and group conflict. It is not a character with much positive associations in classical Chinese. The extension of the character to mean modern political parties is also no accident, though we believe these parties to be a necessary part of politics today.

(3) Chinese drinking culture is all about Ganbei (干杯, same as Japanese Kampai), where draining the cup is considered a sign of respect. Even today, from personal experience, people do come to you and drain their cup first, and will be insulted if you do not follow suit. All in all a pretty toxic way to socialize. Of course, in this scene, all this can be considered mere pretext for Zhang Xun to stir up trouble.

(4) Back in Episode 23 I had mentioned that the term used for this transitional period of the Republic of China was 训政, the same term used by Empress Dowager Cixi for her regency after taking power back from Emperor Guangxu. It means literally “to instruct in the matter of politics.”

(5) According to Records of the Grand Historian, Tai Jia was a king of the Shang dynasty. Due to his poor rulership, he was stripped of power by his own minister Yi Yin, who allowed him back only after he repented. The historicity of this story, which would have taken place over 3600 years ago, is unverifiable.

(6) The story from Romance of the Three Kingdoms has Zhou Yu corporally punish Huang Gai, in order to better sell Huang Gai’s feigned defection to Cao Cao, which ultimately led to victory in the Battle of Red Cliffs.

(7) It’s true the United League or Tongmenghui had equal land rights as one of its four core tenets. Considering the other three were “drive out the barbarians (Manchu), restore China, establish the republic,” it’s clear that land use was a fundamentally important issue to this revolution, much as it is for all peasant revolutions when China is such a profoundly agrarian state.

However, frequently, when revolutions succeed, such creeds become “take all the land and give it to me,” as was for example the case with the Taiping Rebellion, where Hong Xiuquan‘s redistribution of land, called the Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty, benefited no one except the new elites. My perception is that such promises were generally made by revolutions to entice peasants to participate with some promise of reward.

Of course, Sun Wen is honored as a founding father on both sides of the strait, and communist China did eventually succeed by mobilizing the peasantry to a never-before-seen extent. However, Sun Wen’s exactly phrasing of “those who work the land should own it” (耕者有其田) is actually a policy that was implemented in Taiwan after the defeat and retreat of the Kuomintang, and it was frankly a way for the newly arrived refugees to establish themselves by taking over the possessions of Taiwanese natives.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 56

(1) You can follow along here with the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. It is helpful since this scene does adhere to it very precisely. Note in particular which General Provisions Yuan Shikai deems empty words.

(2) More precisely, emperors issued “death-exemption plates” (免死牌) as awards, especially for military merit and especially at the founding of a dynasty. In theory, these plates could be redeemed to avert even capital punishment. In practice, they had little effect. The original form of these plates, called “red engraving iron plates” (丹书铁卷), did not save Han Xin from execution in Han dynasty, but you could argue they didn’t officially grant reprive from death back then. Nevertheless, the true form of the golden “death-exemption plate” didn’t save Li Shanchang in Ming dynasty either. Emperors will never let anything get in the way of executing who they want, not even their own former promises.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 55

No annotations for this episode.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 54

(1) To make its narrative intelligible, the show necessarily simplifies many events and characters. Tang Shaoyi is one such example. An ivy league graduate and experienced politician, I do not think Tang would have been so curt and uncordial with foreign ambassadors or with Yuan Shikai.

On the surface, Tang was the ideal choice for premier, as the most favorable towards Sun Wen’s party among Yuan’s familiars. His early resignation is a defeat for the hope of a joint government.

(2) Simplification also leads to the discrediting of Lu Zhengxiang. Lu is by any account a skilled diplomat, who would later do his best to represent the Republic of China at the ultimately unsuccessful (from the Chinese standpoint) Treaty of Versailles. This is why he is not remembered very fondly in public perception (though I doubt anyone could have done better in Versailles), and may be why the show portrays him as incompetent in this short stint as premier.

It must be said the true reason for the failure of the second cabinet, much like the first, is the fundamental divide between Yuan Shikai and the United League. No qualities of individual cabinet members could have changed that.

Lu Zhengxiang also has a fascinating personal character. A devout Catholic, he retired from politics to live out the rest of his life as a Benedictine monk in Belgium, eventually being named the abbot of the Abbey of St. Peter in Ghent.

The Third Coming

Towards the Republic has been off the air for two decades, so it is quite the surprise that it recently made waves in China again. What’s even more of a coincidence is that it had to do with the most recent episode I just happened to post – Episode 52 (at least in this 68-episode version). Dear reader, have you heard about it?

Basically what happened was a particular individual was confirmed as President of the People’s Republic of China for his third term, against all previous political precedent. Of course, this was a foregone conclusion to anyone who was paying any attention, after the constitution was changed to make this possible in 2018, and especially after the results of the 20th Natioanl Congress last year. But still, not everyone was paying attention, were they? Oh, and he was elected unanimously.

So the memes came out and flooded the Chinese web, and a particular meme was from Episode 52, when Yuan Shikai was elected unanimously and hailed as the second coming of George Washington. So of course there was much mockery and sarcastic comments made thereof.

We congratulate Lord Yuan on becoming the world’s second Washington, and China’s first Washington

The official response to this was as rapid as it was predictable. In short order, not only were all the images and discussions about this particular meme removed, but terms such as “Yuan Shikai” and “today in history” became sensitive topics that could produce no results in Chinese search engines. Again, no one should be shocked, if they followed any reactions to dissent about the lockdown measures during the pandemic, or to recent protests of the 20th congress.

But to me, this reaction is more distressing than the event itself. Look, we always knew and accepted that China was a one-party state, even a one-person state. That is the world we grew up in. This degree of sensitivity to public discourse and intolerance of even the mildest form of critique is something more recent.

In retrospect, Towards the Republic and Ming Dynasty 1566 are both products of an unique era, although that was not obvious at the time. In the early 21st century, increasing political awareness in the public provided both the ability to produce such shows and the audience to appreciate them. Of course, any criticism of the current regime is not directly possible, and must be made in the most veiled and circuitous of ways. Still, there are many, many lines of dialogue in Ming Dynasty and especially Towards the Republic which you cannot watch without drawing the allusion to current events.

Of course, at the time, we all hoped this was just a beginning, that the opening of the market would eventually lead to the opening of political discourse and mayhaps even political participation. I think only a small number of people could have predicted back then that the opposite would occur – not only would political freedom not expand, but even the market may be closing back down.

In this day and age, Ming Dynasty 1566 and Towards the Republic are no longer possible to re-air on TV, much less be produced. In fact, I’m sure they only still exist to be found online within the Great Firewall due to how blatant a move it would be to ban them. But we’ll see how long that lasts. It is a shame. A China that could produce shows such as these was still one I could respect, identify with, and maybe even feel patriotic about. I do not know when it will ever return.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 53

(1) The viceroyalty of Liangjiang presided over the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu, and was traditionally stationed in Nanjing, hence Yuan Shikai‘s remark. Indeed, Sun Wen‘s presidential office in Nanjing is located at the former viceroyal estate, which also served as the “royal palace” when it was occupied by the Taiping rebels. It is now Nanjing’s foremost tourist attraction.

(2) These are direct quotes from the provisional constitution, the full text of which can be found at https://www.jstor.org/stable/2212590.

(3) In the original language, the antique dealer claims the bowl is blue-and-white porcelain from the Song dynasty. True blue-and-white dates to Yuan dynasty at the earliest, with any preceding claims disputed and certainly not to be found in a regular antique store. This is a pretty obvious goof for anyone who knows anything about Chinese porcelain, so it is probably just him trying to scam a complete novice. Evidently his wares are all fake anyway as proven later when he lets a plate go for 1 yuan.

(4) As mentioned before in Episode 30, the silver Yuan, modeled after the Spanish silver dollar, was the official currency of the Republic of China.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 52

(1) The term in Chinese for republicanism (共和), like many translations of modern western concepts, is rooted on Chinese classical texts (and oftentimes, these translations were first invented by the Japanese, using the same Kanji from the same texts). In this case, the term Gong He derives from the Gonghe Regency, a period in the 9th century BC when nobles ruled in the stead of the king of Zhou dynasty. In this sense, it might be claimed that republicanism is a return to an ancient historical precedent, though there was absolutely no true republicanism recorded in ancient China.

(2) This is a reference to many Chinese operas centered around 托孤, a dying ruler entrusting their child successor with regents, who may then either serve the role honorably or attempt to usurp. For the former, the most famous example is of Liu Shan and Zhuge Liang. The latter can be found within Qing dynasty with Emperor Shunzhi and Dorgon, or Emperor Kangxi and Oboi, or Emperor Tongzhi and Sushun. There is no shortage of examples from recent history of officials abusing the vulnerability of a young liege, in the vein of Yuan Shikai.

(3) During the period of the provisional governments, the Republic of China had a bicameral parliament, with a senate and a house of representatives modeled after the United States.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 51

(1) This is another set of references to episodes from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Jiang Gan feigned defection from Wei to Wu, but was secretly a spy. This ploy was discovered and he was tricked with false information. Pang Tong likewise feigned friendliness with Liu Zhang, only to open the doors to Liu Bei. In both cases the common theme is a false gesture of friendship, only Jiang failed where Pang succeeded.

(2) The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is indeed located in the same mountains as Ming Xiaoling. They are two of the most notable attractions of modern Nanjing.