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.

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.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 50

(1) This is the scene that introduces Luo Wen, future republican senator, and Tian Mo the journalist. The two characters become highly involved in the later episodes with all the major events of the Republic era, but are entirely fictional. A lot of people dislike them considering the show has been meticulous about basing even its minor characters on history up to this point. They think this contributes to the show having a somewhat weaker final act.

I, too, used to be of a similar mindset. It is really this translation effort that has shifted some of my opinion. The show simply covers so much history in such a long timespan, with so many important figures. The Republic era introduces a slew of new names and faces, and the show has done its best to introduce some of them earlier on. For example, the name-dropping that happened in previous episodes with Yuan Shikai’s officers in Xiaozhan, or the character Yang Du who has been hanging around for a few episodes without much yet to do. In spite of all that effort, there are just too many new people to expect a viewer who is not already acquainted with the history to keep track of. Luo and Tian exist to condense some of that narrative.

Having said that, I still wish the show was able to get away without inventing original characters. But it is what it is, they exist, so I’m making a note about them right at the beginning and will not comment about it further. Just remember that for any later scene involving these two, the historical event is generally real but they played no role in it.

(2) Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang are the three cities that constitute modern Wuhan, a megatropolis situated on the Yangtze River in Hubei province. The Wuchang Uprising initially took place in Wuchang, which is considered the political center of the region and also the location of the estate of the Viceroy of Huguang. This was Zhang Zhidong‘s former position, and it was in Hanyang that he built his ironworks and arsenal.

(3) As each of these provinces declared their own independence, the local leaders were the true powers, and they never forfeited that power. This was a problem never resolved by the early Republic, and Yan Xishan and Cai E both became warlords. Of course, the most influential of these powers would be Li Yuanhong, the man who was unwittingly dragged out from under the bed at the end of the last episode.

(4) According to the Book of Han, this quote comes from Liu Bang‘s summation of his own conquests. While Liu had so praised Zhang Liang and Han Xin, he saved his highest praise for Xiao He, for his logistics and governance. Interesting that Yuan Shikai here does not assign anyone to be his Xiao He.

(5) The ones named are some members of the so-called Cabinet of Yuan Shikai. A complete break from the previous Cabinet of Prince Qing, this cabinet eschews royals for Yuan’s own familiars.

(6) This very famous line comes from a poem by Wen Tianxiang, who led the Southern Song dynasty‘s doomed resistance against Kublai Khan.

(7) The show makes a lot of parallels between characters and repeating motifs and that is one of its strengths. It’s been prevalent throughout past episodes but this is perhaps the most blatant example, with Yuan Shikai, Zaifeng, and Huang Xing all referring to Liu Bang in the span of 10 minutes.

(8) Empress Dowager Longyu here uses the term Northern and Southern dynasties (南北朝), which refers to a specific historical period in the 5th and 6th centuries, when China was divided between various regimes both north and south of the Yangtze River. This is not the only time China was divided by the Yangtze (see also Southern Song).

(9) Prince Qing‘s subsequent allusions to the events of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are, I think, understandable by those with even a passing interest in Chinese history, so I will not overexplain things here.

Towards the Republic. English Captions and Annotations. Episode 49

(1) That the Qing Empire started “in the regency of princes” is a reference to Dorgon, the paramount power of the empire during the early reign of Emperor Shunzhi, immediately after the Qing dynasty seized Beijing and most of Chinese territory from the Ming dynasty.

A contentious figure, Dorgon was generally seen as overly commandeering, and was gravely condemned by Shunzhi after his death. Hence, drawing the comparison between him and Zaifeng is far from flattering.

(2) The people named here are members of the Qing Empire’s first cabinet, also called the Cabinet of Prince Qing, or the “royal cabinet.” Indeed, the show was quite deliberate about naming only people of Manchu origin. In truth, there were also a few Han-ethnic members of cabinet, notably Xu Shichang, Yuan Shikai‘s former confidant but now a formidable politician in his own right. Still, with five princes and a duke, not to mention being overseen by Zaifeng, the cabinet does very much feel like the imperial clan’s own affair.

Note that Shouqi is named to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, or Lifan Yuan (理藩院), which was separate from the Ministry of Internal or Foreign Affairs, and dedicated to regions such as Tibet and Mongolia.

(3) This is an actual poem by Zhang Zhidong, and a somewhat obtuse one. The first part mentions that there was apparently a tradition in Song dynasty to not promote men from the south to chancellorship. There is a story that the poet Shao Yong, hearing the cry of cuckoo birds on a bridge, lamented that the breaking of this tradition would lead to the empire’s doom. This was realized by the employment of Wang Anshi, a southerner whose overly radical reforms were thought to have caused the downfall of the Northern Song dynasty. The poem then proceeds to name four well-known and capable chancellors of Southern Song dynasty, and points out not one of them could have restored the empire to its height.

Zhang Zhidong almost certainly wrote this poem as a parallel to his own life. He is a southerner born in Guizhou, and was denied office in central government for a long time. Being a reformer, he was also more likely to be sympathetic to Wang Anshi than traditional scholars, which gives the whole poem a sardonic air. Song Jiaoren trying to apply this poem to Yuan Shikai is a stretch at best, since Yuan was born in Henan, which is not considered the south. Of course, Yuan is not very well educated, and might simply not have understood the poem.

(4) While I think the poem is a poor pretext, here is the interesting way Song Jiaoren is making his point to Yuan Shikai. The notable thing here is that Zhao Kuangyin is also from Henan and thus a natural comparison to Yuan. The parallel goes further, since Zhao Kuangyin was original a powerful military leader of the previous dynasty, and became emperor when his men thrust the imperial garment upon him. This is Song Jiaoren’s hint towards Yuan for how he could seize power for himself.

(5) Yuan’s description of “thin horses” (瘦马) is based on solid historical fact, and is particularly well known as a “culture” of Yangzhou.