Submitted by: Submitted by duckie
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Words: 1042
Pages: 5
Category: Societal Issues
Date Submitted: 08/24/2013 02:02 PM
The Road Not Taken In China
In his famous poem “The Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost wrote "Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
As we begin celebrating the 100th year of the Republic of China, it is important to understand just what that means, because although the People's Republic of China might also celebrate this seminal event which occurred on October 10th, 1911, the results have been significantly different.
The road to freedom is a long and difficult road, and not many nations have successfully traversed it's ragged and often challenging terrain. In postulating a China free from tyranny, Sun Yat-sen borrowed liberally from America's experience and fundamentals, and from the words of Abraham Lincoln, in formulating an approach of the people, by the people and for the people, which he envisioned as a Chinese free and democratic "republic", based on the three principles, nationalism, democracy and the people’s livelihood. To date, this vision has yet to be realized in China. However, the general outline of a vibrant free and democratic nation has been accomplished in Taiwan, despite the tendency of Sun’s followers to adhere mostly to the principle of nationalism only, to the detriment of Sun's other two building blocks of freedom.
As is typical throughout world history, the choices made for China were choices based on power, not the principles Sun espoused. Those with vision for a new China were focused on consolidating control, not on giving the people freedom, and the means by which to accomplish this control, as often has been the case in history (and even now in spots around globe), was through oppression and tyranny. The Chinese people, unfortunately, were pawns in this conflict, which later became a series of civil wars beginning as early as 1913, and which later became the death of freedom for all concerned. Truthfully, all sides were brutal, though not nearly to the...