Instalment 15 (1895)
Scene 1: Guangzhou; at the assembly point of the rebels
While Sun Yatsen and his followers, who are planning a rebellion, are waiting in vain for weapons and their fellow rebels from the Triads secret society, their planned rebellion is betrayed to Tan Zhonglin, Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi. The rebellion, the first of a series of rebellions the revolutionaries would stage to topple the Qing dynasty, is put down, and revolutionary Lu Huadong is the first to give his life to the cause of the Chinese revolution. [1]
Scene 2: In the office of the State Council
Ronglu, the new member of the State Council, is discussing Sun’s attempted rebellion with Weng Tonghe. Weng believes that Sun does not pose any threat to the empire, whereas Ronglu believes Sun to be a great danger because of his elaborate and well considered programme and his aim to found a people’s government. Therefore, he wants Sun arrested at all costs.
Scene 3: In the USA
After the rebellion has failed, Sun Yatsen is wanted for arrest. He has to flee to his brother who lives in America. This scene lively depicts the brothers’ joy of reunion. Sun Yatsen asks his brother to financially support him and his continued struggle.
Yuan Shikai has succeeded Li Hongzhang as commander-in-chief of the latter’s old Huai troops in Tianjin. At first, the troops underestimate Yuan and lament that their outstanding wages have not been paid yet. Li Hongzhang’s former follower Ma Sanjun, who has been commissioned by Li to aid Yuan, helps Yuan to win the respect of his subordinates. By revoking Li’s authority, Yuan is able to bring the troops back to order. In his inaugural speech, he informs the soldiers that he counts on their help to build up a new army. At the same time, he also shows Li’s golden pistol to the assembled soldiers and says that whoever is against him is also against Li Hongzhang. And whoever is against Li Hong-zhang is against this pistol, i.e. will be accused of insubordination and thus subjected to execution. On the other hand, Yuan has 800 Liang silver given to every soldier as an inaugural present hoping to win their support also in this way.
Yuan Shikai meets with his close friend, the Hanlin Academy scholar Xu Shichang. Yuan tells Xu about his plans for the set up of his own army and asks Xu to work with him.
Yuan Shikai begins recruiting new soldiers.
Sun Yatsen is collecting donations for the revolution from overseas Chinese. He informs his brother of his future plans: to set up a revolutionary school in Japan.[2]
Kang is complaining to his students that he has submitted a petition to the emperor twice, without any response. Kang claims that the realisation of his ideals for reform depends on a good emperor. But he doubts whether the Guangxu emperor is fit for this. (In the last shot, one can see how the assembly rooms of Kang’s society “Qiangxuehui” are being devastated).[3]
[1] In contrast to the script, the TV drama failed to picture in detail the preparations for the rebellion – e.g. Sun Yatsen’s attempt to raise funds for his revolution. Kang Youwei’s reac-tion to the rebellion diverts even more from the original depiction in the script. In the TV drama Kang believes that “Sun has no other choice”. In the script, however, Kang dismisses Sun as a petty thief who has stirred up a rebellion out of sheer self overestimation. There-fore Kang believes that it is not worth talking about Sun’s rebellion.
[2] Instead of this scene, the script describes another scene in which Sun reads a newspaper article after his arrival in Japan which states: “Sun Yatsen, the leader of the Chinese Revo-lutionary Party, has arrived in Japan.” He is so delighted by this article that he goes on to name his party the “Revolutionary Party” (Gemingdang).
[3] This instalment’s depiction of Sun Yatsen differs greatly from his depiction in the script. The script portrays him as a revolutionary with little experience. For example, in the book he fails to recognise a trick played on him by the triads to betray great sums of money which were intended for the revolution. This betrayal was one of the reasons for the first revolution’s failure. In the TV drama, the amount of scenes that deal with Sun Yatsen are more numerous and his personal relation to his brother is dealt with in far greater detail. However, the director also emphasises how zealous Sun follows his revolutionary goals. A further important aspect, not mentioned in the TV drama, but in the script, is the pro-nounced comparison of Sun and Kang Youwei: Kang founds the „Qiangxuehui” society and gives a talk on “Why do we need reforms? – Because reforms will strengthen our country!”. Sun sets up a society „Xingzhonghui“ as well, and also gives a talk in which he contends that internal reforms are not possible anymore and that the only remaining solution is to strive for the abolition of the Qing dynasty.
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