Is Sun Yat-sen Father
of the Nation?
After being “Father of the
Nation” for decades in the
Chinese community, Dr
Sun Yat-sen has “lost” this
honour as far as Taiwan is
concerned, writes Sudden
Translated by Lon Yan
HEN the title “Father
of the Nation” (國父) is
mentioned, you may
immediately think of
Sun Yat-sen (孫中山). However, Taiwan has changed its history textbooks in an attempt (嘗試) to separate itself from mainland history.
No longer honoured as the Father
of the Nation, he is referred to
simply as Sun Yat-sen.
The revisions also include the
addition of topics such as the separate administration of Taiwan, and
contents about unification (統一) and
independence. Also added are controversial topics such as “Will Taiwan’s
independence lead to war?” and “How
to ensure Taiwan will not be gobbled
up?” Schools are using the new books.
W
CHINESE
HISTORY
Friday, March 16, 2007
Name game
TAIWAN has been struggling with its
name for a long time. On 1 September,
2003, the government put the word
“Taiwan” on its passports. Other features of the passport, including the Chinese and English name of
“Republic of China”(中華民
國), its logos and format
were not changed.
Many names of
Sun Yat-sen
SUN Yat-sen had used many different
names throughout his life for various
reasons: to evade arrest, and for religious or schooling reasons. He is registered on the family record as Deming (德
明). Later, he used the names Rixin (日新)
and Yixian (逸仙) when he was in Hong
Kong. The name Yixian also became
Yat-sen, his most well-known name.
When he was on exile in Japan in
1897, he assumed the name
Nakayama Shō (中山樵) to
evade detection. He was
later called Sun Zhongshan (孫中山).
Questions
Websites
Father of the Nation
Sun Yat-sen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_
Yat-sen
Father of the Nation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fath
er_of_the_Nation
Sun Yat-sen museum
http://hk.drsunyatsen.
museum
CAN you match the Father of the Nation below with
the corresponding Asian countries?
1. North Korea
a. Emperor Meiji (明治天皇)
2. Japan
b. Kim Il-sung (金日成)
c. Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀)
3. Vietnam
4.Singapore
d. Mohandas Gandhi (甘地)
5. India
e. Ho Chi Minh (胡志明)
A. Knowledge
Do you know when Sun Yat-sen was born?
B. Multi-angle
Some countries in Asia have been trying hard to
shake off the image of being related to China. For
example, Taiwan changed “our country” (我國) in
its history textbooks to “China” when referring to
the mainland; South Korea changed the Chinese
name of its capital city. Are there other examples?
What are the reasons for doing so?
C. Critical thinking
Sun Yat-sen has been called “Father of the
Nation”. However, the newly revised history textbooks in Taiwan have removed this reference.
How do you think this will affect students?
Answers: 1.(b) 2.(a) 3.(e) 4.(c) 5.(d)
E09