(HD 720p) Towards the Republic (走向共和). Ep 58/68 - ENG Subs 英文字幕

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Towards the Republic (走向共和)
Alternate title: The End of the Manchurian Empire (满清末代王朝)
Release date: 2003
Director: Zhang Li
A gripping tale about the end of the Qing Dynasty, reformations and revolutions, and the formation of the republic. Chinese history at its most dramatic.
Playlist: • Towards the Republic (...
(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.
Full annotations with links: dinnermonologu...

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What was Yuan thinking while Sun was singing?

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