 This is the story of the Pacific and its people of the peaceful sea and the lands and lives it touches and their meaning to us and to the generations to come. The Pacific story presented by the National Broadcasting Company and dedicated to a full understanding of the vast Pacific basin. This broadcast series comes to you as another public servant with drama of the past and present and commentary by Dr. Yu Shan Han, authority on China and associate professor of history University of California at Los Angeles. The Chinese Revolution. China, a peace-loving people, has a history punctuated with revolution. For 50 years now, China has been in the throes of revolution. The Chinese people in their struggle to free themselves of corruption and weakness first threw off the oak of their manchu rulers. And for the past third of a century have been striving for national reconstruction. The road ahead is difficult and the end is not yet. China's revolution is not yet resolved. It is a many-fold struggle for reconstruction. Generalissimo Zhang Kai-shek has said our task of national revolution is yet to be completed. The Chinese revolution is still in progress reaching back 50 years to the Sino-Japanese war. In 1895, China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese war. As a result of the humiliating peace, the revolutionary movement which had been stirring under cover for some time began to smolder. At Canton in a shabby office on a side street. Is there any news of the shipment, Dr. Sun? Not yet. Lu Hao Dong. You think anything has happened to them? All the previous shipments from Hong Kong got here. But these pistols are long overdue. They shouldn't have been here a week ago. We are in need of all 600 of the pistols. The first shipment of pistols came through? The rifles? The dynamite came through? Hello, Dr. Sun. Hello, Zhang. Hello, Chen. Lu. Zhang. Have you seen anything of the shipment? It has not arrived yet. We're in need of the pistols. Those are men who without arms. Yes. And the time is getting short. Perhaps we should go down and see if they've come in. There is no reason why the pistols should not be here. They were shipped in castes of cement. I'll go down to the customs, Zhang. No, no, Chen. You are too young. I'll go. That is right, Chen. You have just joined us. The castes were agressed as usual, weren't they? Yes. To the Scientific Agricultural Association of Canton. Oh, they should be here. Come, Chen. Let's go down there right away. I want to go along. No. You stay here, Chen. We shall return as soon as we find out. Why couldn't I go with them? We must take every precaution, Chen. It seems I do nothing. Just stay here around your office. There will be much for you to do. We have committed our lives to the revolution, haven't we? Yes. If we are to take the headquarters of the provincial government here in Canton, we must see that nothing upsets our plans. Each of us must do the part he is best fit for. We must be strong. I know, Dr. Chen. We have been humiliated by the Japanese because China is weak. China is like a rope of sand. Millions of individual particles with nothing to hold them together. And so, with no strength. Yes. I'm ashamed of the treaty of human estate. That is six months past now, Chen. But soon our movement will be started. And then we shall forge ahead. What is it? They have taken rule. Who? Who's taken rule? The maritime customs. One of the casks broke open when they dropped it. And then they found out there were pistols in it instead of cement. We've got to get out of here as fast as we can. They'll be here in no time. They arrested Lu Hao Dong. They grabbed him before he could get away. We've got to move, Dr. Sun. They know about our scientific agricultural association. We'll have to destroy all our records, all our papers. Chen. Yes. There's no time. There's a fire on the stove, Chen. Yes, sir. Help me get these records, Chong. All of these over here? Yes. All of them. All of them. The fire's going, Dr. Sun. Look out. All of it into the fire. Pick up those I dropped on the floor. Yes, sir. All of these going to the fire? All of them. Keep the fire set up, Chen. All of them must be destroyed. Now I'll get the papers out of the safe. There isn't time, Dr. Sun. We must leave nothing incriminating behind. Sixth, right? All the way around to the left. Hurry, Dr. Sun. Nine to the left. Back to the right. I think I hear someone coming. Dr. Sun, please. Take these. Get them into the fire. Yes, sir. Chen. Yes, sir. I've got it. Don't drop a paper. No. This is the last of it. Into the fire. Close the door, Chen. Yes, sir. Have we forgotten anything? Dr. Sun, please. We have been discovered. This time. But we shall start again. Come now. It is time to go. The Manchu dynasty, which had ruled China 251 years. The handwriting was on the wall. Some Chinese leaders thought it was a matter of reform or destruction. Emperor Kuang Tzu had taken some step toward reform, but not to the liking of the conservatives, especially the Empress Dowager Su Xi. The military force, the Empress Dowager, seized the emperor, who was her nephew, threw him into confinement and issued an edict. Certain evil-disposed persons have made the need for reforms the excuse for a revolutionary movement. These we have punished. Six of the greatest scholars in China were put to death. A flood of treason and rebellion has been stemmed. These misguided persons overlook the important fact that public interest and public interest alone guide the policy of the Manchu dynasty. The rumblings of the revolution were rising in her ears. A path we pursue diverges neither to the right nor left. We admonish you to purify your ears and get rid once and for all of these false distinctions between reaction and reform. The Empress Dowager was making frantic efforts to maintain the power of the Manchu dynasty. But revolution was in the wind. Some Chinese opposed the Manchu's, but wished only a measure of reform. But the strongest movement against the Manchu's was the revolutionary party under Dr. Sun Yat Sen. Dr. Sun fabbled widely in the effaces of the revolution to Hawaii, London, San Francisco, and in 1905 to Tokyo. I've heard about Dr. Sun for years. Did you never see him in China? No, no. I was one of the students under Huang Xing and Sun Jiao Jian in Hunan. You were there in the uprising? Yes. When they came here to Tokyo, we came with them. Revolutionaries from all over China were here in Tokyo? Yes. I've never seen those people before. Oh, there comes Dr. Sun now. Oh, he's just a young man. Much younger than I expected. He's been a revolutionary since he was a boy. What a strong faith. Brother revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen. Eleven years ago in Hawaii, we organized the Xing Zhong Wee, Society for the Reformation of China. This organization was made up of Chinese living outside of China. Our purpose as a moderate, patriotic society was to seek the welfare of China. In the years since then, much has happened. It is now time to cultivate the revolutionary movement in China itself. You who make up this audience are vanguards of a modern China. You fellow students have come to Japan to learn the technique for a modernized China. New fellow merchants from China are hoping to provide for your families, especially for the future of your children. Our modern China needs men and women in all walks of life to guide our fellow countrymen to become citizens of a new China. We have come here tonight for the purpose of organizing a revolutionary brotherhood, the Tong Meng Wee. As members of the Tong Meng Wee, we shall be pledged together by oath, which shall itself be secret. We shall be sworn brothers. Our objectives are for our 400 million fellow men. They are China. China must be saved. Your committee has drafted the objects of the Tong Meng Wee and to these, we pledge our very lives. First, to overthrow the Manchu government. Second, to establish a republic. Third, to conserve world peace. Fourth, to entreat the world powers to act favorably toward our revolutionary movement. Here, establish a Chinese republic. Recover China from corrupt Manchu domination. Equalize land ownership. To those world corporations. Tong Meng Wee. We pledge oath for China. The revolution was taking form. Organized outbreaks began to occur. Scattered voices throughout China and the Chinese colonies abroad were raised in the name of the revolution. The Jiangsu Tribune, the People's Tribune of Tokyo, the Peking Chung Hua Zhebao, the Hong Kong China Daily, the San Francisco Tatong Zhebao, the patriot Su Zhong died in prison for his book, The Revolutionary Army. And out of this determined movement rose the brilliant young woman revolutionist, Qiu Jin. Those who knew Qiu Jin liked her or hated her. She is strikingly beautiful and she is an ardent revolutionist. But she has two small children and she refuses to devote her life to them. The joy of congenial marriage is the right and privilege of every Chinese woman. She is lighthearted and intelligent and she has great personal courage. But her tongue is sharp. She is able at repartee. True. And she is an inspired leader and writer. At Shanghai, Qiu Jin founded a magazine to stir feminine opinion for the revolution. In her house, she supervised the making of bombs and took a leading part in planning the outbreak for July 19th, 1907. Qiu Jin, our insurgents and Chequian have already started the uprising. What? But it's only July 1st. The word just came. They were not to start until the 19th. That was the plan, to start everywhere at once. Oh, our whole crew will be ruined. So, you must go to my cousin, Su Xilin and Anhui at once. We and all our people under him and Anhui are in danger. He must be informed. You must travel by sunlight and by starlight. Nothing will keep me from reaching him. Start it once. Yes, Qiu Jin. Oh, why were our people in Chequian so impatient? Nothing but sailor and sorrow can come of it. In Anhui, the governor had ordered all revolutionaries seized. Su Xilin, cousin of the beautiful Qiu Jin, decided to seize the governor before the governor seized him. He invited the governor to a police drill. And when the governor approached, saluted him, then suddenly drew a pistol from his boots. He got the governor! He got the governor! Su Xilin was executed. And in Shanghai, a woman who disliked Qiu Jin informed the police that Qiu Jin was implicated in the assassination of the governor of Anhui. Qiu Jin was arrested and tried. Qiu Jin? You whose lips have uttered such sparkling denunciation. Will you say nothing? You said nothing in defense of yourself in this trial. Do you fear implicating your fellow revolutionaries more than you fear death? Very well. Qiu Jin, you have been found guilty. It is the order of this court that your life be taken from you by decapitation. Look how serenely she walks. She is the only one who has come for God's appeal. What courage! She walks along in the red robes of a criminal with her head high. The world is her. They're stopping. This is a dreadful place. She is kneeling. Look, the attendant behind her is bracing his feet against the soles of her feet, drawing her arms back. What too blind courage you have, Qiu Jin. The attendant is shuddering. Oh, the one in front of her. She's drawing her long, glossy hair away from her head. Her neck. See, the executioner is grieving heavily. He stands there with his legs braced apart. He's raising the cruel broadsword. With Qiu Jin's blood, the revolution soaked into the soil of China. It spread across the hills and the plains and awakened cities and towns and hamlets. Of Qiu Jin it was said her heart part was given a whetstone that the country sharpened its dull sword. The seeds of revolution had been sown well and discontent swelled with the great floods of 1910 and 1911. Help us! Help! The worst flood in 40 years. The central provinces are underwater 3 million people have been drippin' from their homes. The horrors of pestilence and famine are sweeping through the flooded provinces. Millions of people are starving and dying from disease. Misery and despair joined forces with the revolutionary movement and opened rebellion against the man shoes hung by a slender thread. On October 10, 1911, in a secret ammunition depot within the Russian concession at Hang Kao. A revolutionary plot has been discovered in the explosion at Hang Kao. This is the viceroy at Wuqiao. The Chinese have arrested 30 implicated in the plot and have seized their documents. Among them is the register of Dr. Sun Yat-Sin's revolutionary brotherhood, the Tong-Wang-Wi. We will move against all these revolutionaries. So many people were incriminated that it was too late for the revolutionists to withdraw. The Chinese revolution suddenly thundered down upon the Manchu government. The imperial artillery and art and engineering corps at Wuqiao would have been secretly won by the revolutionists openly mused. Captain. Yes, Colonel Lee. Direct your fire on the viceroy's Yaman and Wuqiao. Yes, sir. Bombard it and burn it. Destroy it. Yes, sir. Range, 379. 379. Elevation, 462. 462. Lord. The viceroy and his military commander fled. This day, October 10th, was to go down in history as double 10, the day of the outbreak of the Chinese Revolution. The next day... Wuqiao has fallen to us currently. Good. Today we have also taken Hanyang in its steel mills in Arsenal. The revolution spread like wildfire. The next day, the provincial assembly of the province of Hufei joined the revolution. Proclaimed its succession from Manchu rule. Hangkou was captured. And with this was issued the manifesto. Rise, people of China. Rise, you people in cities and towns and hamlets and drive out the Manchus. Yes, out with the men. The Manchus were swept from the throne. And the next year, the revolutionary brotherhood was joined with several other revolutionary groups and reorganized as a political party, the Guomin Dong. The revolution had become a reality, a living thing. The Chinese people had broken with the past. Now before them was the enormous task of working out their own destiny as a free people. For 10 years, the reconstruction program of the revolutionary party was forced to the background. Provincial governors struggled for power. International observers speculated on the fate of China. Why, it's a disgrace. China's in civil war. Here it is 1923 and all China's at the mercy of the war, Lord. You overlook something. The Guomin Dong is still a factor. A factor, name only. China's overrun by selfish men. Grasping for power has become more open than it was under the monarchy. Too far-reaching things have happened this year. Now, you know the young military genius Yong Kai-shek. The protege of Sonia Sanya. Yong Kai-shek has gone to Moscow to study revolutionary technique. To Moscow? Yes. And Michael Borodin has arrived from Moscow to act as advisor to the Guomin Dong headquarters in Canton. Well, it's probably just a diplomatic exchange of kurtises. It's a straw in the wind. What do you say there? Dr. Sun has just said for publication we no longer look to the west. Our faces are turned towards right. These events were indeed straws in the wind. Yong Kai-shek returned, became head of the Russian-inspired Wampoa Military Academy at Canton. The sleeping dragon was beginning to bristle and in 1926 and 27 the Guomin Dong bosses in close cooperation with the Russians are marching northward from Canton. Yong Kai-shek is driving ahead, overcoming resistance to bring the nation under Guomin Dong. Yong Kai-shek has taken Nanjing and has established the capital of China of this important city. The revolution was marching toward the unification of China toward bringing all the nation under the Guomin Dong. In 1927, the Guomin Dong broke with the Chinese Communists. The Guomin Dong became the only legal party but the Communists held out at the point of the sword. In 1928, Yong Kai-shek has captured Pete King, the stronghold capital of the former Manchu dynasty. The capital of United China will be moved to Nanjing. To eradicate memories of the pre-revolutionary days, the name of Pete King has been changed to Beiping. The first stage of the revolution was passed. Ahead lay the difficult second stage, the period of political tutelage. In 1937, the Communists submitted themselves to the central government and joined forces with the Guomin Dong to fight the common enemy, Japan. Today, China's revolution has entered the third stage, constitutional reconstruction. Generalissimo Yong Kai-shek has named two Chinese Communists to the committee of 60, assigned to work out the constitutional government, an important stride toward welding together the Republic of China. Before a unified China can arise, the political strife between the nationalists and the Communists must somehow be resolved. For 50 years, the tide of the Chinese Revolution has ebbed and closed. Today, it is facing one of its greatest tests. And here to tell the underlying meaning of this half-century struggle is one born and bred in China who has been identified with China's fight for national existence. Dr. Yu Shan Han, Associate Professor of History, University of California, at Los Angeles. Dr. Han. Today, China is celebrating the birthday of Generalissimo Yong Kai-shek. It is therefore a fitting day to discuss the Chinese Revolution. To understand the meaning of the Chinese Revolution, it is necessary to study it from three angles. China's political heritage, the challenge and influence of the Western world, and the indigenous development of China's national life. China's political heritage, there is a saying older than confuses. To gag the voice of the people is more dangerous than to dam the flow of a river. The voice engineer of the river deepens his face and facilitates his flow. The voice ruler of men encourages them to speak freely. Confuses capitalize this saying. If an emperor has seven outspoken ministers, he cannot lose his empire in spite of his misdeeds. In the face of wrong, it is the duty of the son to oppose his father and the duty of the minister to oppose his sovereign. Men says, when to step further, when he said, the people are our first importance. The state comes next. The ruler is the least important. When a ruler treats his people like grass and dirt, then the people should regard him as bandit and enemy. The right to freedom of speech, the right to petition and the right to revolt have long been incorporated into the Chinese political ideas and institutions by the sages. No ruler had the claim of loyalty of his people, except by his own moral quality, expressed through the attraction of worthy men in the government. On the other hand, when a ruler failed to save the people in time of emergency, the people have the right to replace him. Toward the end of the 19th century, the Chinese people saw the men through court, was too feeble to cope with the situation. This threatening hour produced the leader, Dr. Sun Yaxin. Dr. Sun had a difficult task, in that his revolution was not only for a change of government, but also for the making of a modern state. He had not only the men through to replace, but also the Western powers to cope with. The man throughs made their last stand in the boxer uprising, which resulted only in a shameful plight. This debacle, together with the victory of Japan, in the Russo-Japanese War, shook China. When the American Congress in 1908 voted to return the boxer in Demti Fund for the education of Chinese youth, China saw promise of a friend in the West. By 1910, China had 30,000 students in Japan, 300 in Europe, and 500 in the United States. Meanwhile, the Christian missions had been training men and women. From 1895 on, Dr. Sun Yaxin had led several attempts to replace the man throughs, but each proved to be abortive with many martyrs as the prize. Until October 10, 1911, when the first final shots were fired. In less than four months, the man through rule came to an end. From 1912 to 1926, China remained the republic in name, but torn in factional warfare among newly risen warlord adventurers. The political and economic domination by foreign powers was left unchallenged. This brings us to the face of indigenous development of China's national life. In China's effort at total national reconstruction, Dr. Sun realized the importance of external assistance. Such assistance had been necessary even in the days of George Washington. He longed for a Lafayette, but after the First World War, the victorious powers only increased their special privileges and often blocked the revolutionary movement. At this juncture, Russia voluntarily surrendered her extraterritorial rights and withdrew her forces from China. As a result, an entombed cordial between Moscow and Dr. Sun's revolutionary government at Canton was established in 1923. Dr. Sun was not a communist and made no secret of his opposition to communism. Unfortunately, Dr. Sun died in 1925, but this was his will, was taken up by the people as a symbol of national ideals. I have devoted myself, said he, to the cause of the people's revolution for 40 years with but one end in view. The elevation of China to a position of freedom and equality among all nations. To achieve this end, it is imperative to realize the Sun Min Dui, the three people's principles, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. For this program, Jiang Kai-shek and his associates have been striving for the last 17 years. The Communist Party has contributed its share by acting as a check to the one-party government and by fighting for the common cause. The road to a political, economic, and social democracy is a rugged and long one, but the people of China have determined to do what they ought and bear what they must. Thank you, Dr. Yu Shan Han. Next week, at the same time over most of these stations, the National Broadcasting Company will present another program on the Pacific with drama of the past and present and dedicated to a fuller understanding of the vast Pacific basin. A reprint of tonight's Pacific Story program is available at the cost of 10 cents. Send 10 cents in stamps or coins to the University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The address again, University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The story is written and directed by Arnold Markworth. The musical score is composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso, your narrator, Gain Whitman. This program has been presented as a public service by the National Broadcasting Company and the independent radio stations associated with the NBC network. The program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.