Fw: Chinese Revolution of 1911

["S. L . Lee" <sllee@asiawind.com>]

Dear Hakka Friends,

Whether Dr. Sun Yat Sen is Hakka or not is still a question. But the
following news about the discovery of some photos recording the actual
revolution going on in Wuchang, 1911, is very exciting.  I would like to
share with everybody.

SL Lee

----- Original Message -----
From: "Feng, Da Hsuan" <DA.HSUAN.FENG@saic.com>
>
> Friends:
>
> I met someone recently whom I felt you should know.
>
> His name is Ronald Anderson.  Ronald is Professor of Sociology of the
> University of Minnesota.  He and I were on the same panel for the US
> Department of Education recently, and I am sure he is an outstanding
> sociologist.  However, these are NOT the reasons why I am writing to you.
>
> I am writing to you because something Ronald told me, something which we
as
> Chinese Americans, in fact as Asian Americans, would be (in my humble
> opinion) deeply interested in!
>
> Ronald told me that his grandfather, a photographer from the United
States,
> at the turn of the 20th century, went to China.  Remember, this was not a
> photographer of today, who would have all the technologies to assist him.
> This was a photographer in the early 1900's.  He was in China.  And,
> amazingly, in 1911, he was in Wu Chang, the seat of the Chinese
revolution.
>
>
> I suspect that Mr. Anderson must have realized that what he was observing
in
> Wu Chang in 1911 was of such profound importance not just for China, not
> just for Asia, but for the world in general, that he made every effort to
> capture what he saw on photos!  After all, this Chinese revolution, under
> the leadership of Sun Yat-San, was turing China from its 5000 years of
> fuedal system to a system that resembles modern thinking.
>
> And, boy did he ever.  Throughout Hsin-Hai Revolution, he took over 1000
> (yes, 1000) photos, using very primitive photographic technologies. Yet,
> incredibly, he was able to do so, under unimaginably difficult conditions!
>
> While I am sure all of us, sometime in our life, have seen an old photo
here
> and there about Hsin-Hai Revolution, very few of us, if any, have ever
> feasted on 1000 photos!
>
> According to Ronald, the Chinese government of today found out about this
> treasure recently and will be exhibiting these photos in a Shanghai musuem
> in the coming months.
>
> I would like to suggest to CAPSEC that we organize a joint seminar and
> invite Ronald to come to the East Coast to give a talk about this
remarkable
> treasure of historical proportion.
>
> Let me know what you think.
>
> Warmest regards,
> Da Hsuan
.........

> Dear Da Hsuan,
>
> I am sorry I did not reply sooner to your many e-mails, but since
> returning
> from Washington DC, I have been totally concentrating on finishing a paper
> to meet a deadline.
> You may share this with your colleagues.
>
> Ron
>
> With regard to my grandfather's photographs of China in 1910-14, I want to
> fill in some details and correct a mis-impression. While he took over
> 1,000
> photos in China, which I now have in my possession, only about 100 of them
> were of the fighting in the Wuhan area during the national revolution. The
> remainder were of Shanghai, where he lived and worked, and of other places
> where he went on short trips.
>
> After I obtained the photos about a year ago, I began doing research on
> the
> scenes as there was no documentation. As part of the research I went to
> China in late 1998 and made contact with the Shanghai History Museum to
> solict their interest in doing an exhibit with the photos. I have been
> corresponding with them ever since and two months ago when I returned to
> Shanghai, I met with the Museum officials and they formally agreed to
> prepare an exhibit including the publication of a book of the photographs
> on
> or by October, 2001. The Museum is in the process of moving into the first
> floor of the Oriental Pearl TV tower, where the exhibit will be highly
> visible. While the Museum has committed to the project, they are still
> trying to raise funds for it in order to cover the costs of publishing a
> very high quality book of photos.
>
> When I visited the Shanghai History Museum this summer they arranged for
> Shanghai TV to film our meeting and to tour the city looking for the home
> where my grandfather lived and the place where he worked. After that
> visit,
> Shanghai TV broadcast a 10 minute story on my visit and showed many of my
> grandfathers photos. In addition, a camera crew from CCTV in Beijing came
> to
> Shanghai to film the event. They are in the process of producing a 6 hour
> documentary on San Yat-Sen to be shown in October. Part of that 6 hours
> will
> feature a side-story on my grandfather and his photos.  As next year is
> the
> 90th anniversary of the nationalist revolution, the film and exhibit will
> help to promote the anniversary celebration.
>
> At the moment I am scanning each of the photos into digital form and
> sending
> them to the Museum on CD. So far I have done only 150 so it will take me
> several more weeks to finish this job. Eventually I would like to work on
> a
> Web site that includes some of the photos. I am not trying to make any
> money
> off the the project, which the Chinese media seems to find curious. I
> would
> be happy to develop a presention of the photos for a short seminar, but I
> would not be able to do it until Fall of next year. The first week in
> November, 2001, might work out the best as I need to go to New York that
> week. Anytime after that would be OK too.
>
> Ron Anderson
> rea@umn.edu
>