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China’s upcoming commemorations of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution demonstrate how the Chinese Communist regime twists historical facts to suit its political needs. In this case, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is reshaping the memory of Sun Yat-sen, to further its “United Front” efforts of bringing Taiwan under its rule.
Oct. 10, 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, when Chinese people, under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, overthrew the Qing Dynasty. This year, the CCP is preparing special official celebratory activities across the country, highlighting Sun.
Already on Oct. 1, during the CCP’s 62-year anniversary celebrations, a huge portrait of Sun Yat-sen was erected on Tiananmen Square, with the five star red flags and banners hanging on both sides, making him appear to be a dear Communist comrade.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Sun became China’s first president in the newly founded Republic of China (ROC) in early 1912. Sun helped cofound both the Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist Party in China—which later fought against the Communist takeover--and the ROC.
Thirty-seven years later, the KMT and RCO government retreated to the island of Taiwan after being defeated by the CCP’s red army in 1949. Taiwan still bears the name Republic of China today and celebrates Oct. 10, 1911 as its National Day. The Xinhai Revolution under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen actually marked the beginning of the ROC.
However, there was no mentioning of these fine details during the CCP’s recent festivities, and they are not likely going to be brought up during the upcoming celebrations either, as Sun Yat-sen is now supposed to serve as an ambassador of reunification between Taiwan and the mainland.
Paying High Tribute?
Commemoration activities will be held in Wuhan of Hubei Province, Nanjing of Jiangsu Province, Guangzhou of Guangdong Province, and Zhongshan of Guangdong Province, among other places, according to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao.
The major event is planned for Beijing, organized by the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The focus will be “to pay high tribute” to Sun Yat-sen’s contributions to the revolution, but to avoid mentioning Taiwan.
Professor Hu Xingdou from the Beijing Institute of Technology sees these ceremonies as mainly a United Front strategy.
“The Chinese government uses the name of the CPPCC instead of the government to host this grand event mainly to promote unification and unite the hearts of people across the strait. They try not to give it a political connotation,” Hu told Ming Pao.
However, it’s exactly for its own political reason’s the CCP is doing all of this, and it seems to have found an angle to make use of Sun Yat-sen hero status.
According to Xinhua News, while meeting with the film crew of the movie “Xinhai Revolution,” chairman Jia Qinglin of the CPPCC said that the CCP is “the most faithful successor of Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary career,” and “we will carry forward the spirit of the Xinhai Revolution.”
Fooling the People
While the Chinese regime praised Sun Yat-sen highly, Sun’s granddaughter, Lily Sui-fong Sun, told Ming Pao recently that the CCP has distorted her grandfather’s legacy and is fooling people.
Ten years ago, at the 90th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, then General Secretary of the CCP, Jiang Zemin, stated that Sun Yat-sen had proposed three new principles for the people: Working with Russia, working with the Communist Party, supporting workers and peasants, Sun said.
“My grandfather never said anything like that to the Communist Party,” she said.
In 2002, she even asked Jiang’s teacher to pass a letter to Jiang regarding his statements. The following year, Jiang responded to Sun, offering her money in exchange of her organizing activities to commemorate the Xinhai Revolution. In 2008, Jiang again proposed to give her money, “even in the amount of US$10 million,” but she turned him down, Sun said.
“They want to make modifications. But this is deceiving people and scrubbing my grandfather’s revolutionary image. I cannot do it. This is distorting history.”
United Front Strategy
The CCP’s 100th anniversary celebration of the Xinhai Revolution includes various events throughout this year, and is part of the regime’s United Front strategy towards Taiwan, according to an article published by Taiwan’s Navy Command Headquarters.
Besides the October festivities, the article mentioned a commemoration held in March of the Huanghuagang Uprising, also known as the Second Guangzhou Uprising against the Qing Dynasty in 1911, as well as a Sun Yat-sen memorial, and a memorial for the Xinhai Revolution martyrs, among others.
The article pointed out that in recent years the CCP’s United Front tactics against Taiwan have often been carried out in the form of commemorative conferences, seminars, or friendship exchange meetings, to which they would invite domestic and overseas celebrities, descendants of Xinhai Revolution martyrs, Taiwanese political leaders, scholars, and retired Taiwanese military officials.
These activities are usually grand in scale and provide every kind of hospitality, the article said, with the titles of the events gushing with affection, such as: “The Two Straits are One Big Family”, “China’s Heart, Taiwan’s Love,” and “Love Between the Two Straits.”
One event, however, was abruptly canceled. An opera, called “Dr. Sun Yat-Sen,” that was scheduled at the National Grand Theater in Beijing, was suddenly pulled just days prior to its Sept. 30 debut.It seems that after netizens began making comparisons between the corrupt and sclerotic final years of the Qing Dynasty reign, and the current rule of the CCP, the topic was elevated to the level of a sensitive political matter, highlighting the fact that this part of history is a profoundly political matter to the country’s Communist rulers, The Epoch Times said in a Sept. 26 report.
Authorities have also reprimanded some mainland media for their unproved commentaries on the anniversary.
