Road to Dawn

The Road To Dawn premiered in Beijing just a few days ago, although it has yet to be screened here. So far, I believe there has been no posting about the movie as it has just been released. I’m doing this review based on historical facts. The film traces the struggle of Dr SunYat Sen, his revolutionary political career as well as his personal life. It showcases the time before the overthrow of the Manchurian government when he arrived in Penang to raise funds from the locals for his revolutionary campaign. Penang was chosen as a historical landmark because it was the center of a large Chinese population and had huge financial capability to help launch an uprising in China. At that time, emotions were burning due to the fact that China was going to be the Land of the Morning Sun.

All roads led to China.

All the fingers were pointing to the imminent transformation from an ancient civilisation into a modern, progressive nation.

That was the scenario before the 1911 Revolution turned China from a Manchurian monarchy into a republic. It was an ultra-radical 180 degree turn in her constitutional, political, education and social system. Mind you, it was not even a moderate change into a limited modernised monarchy. China was about to go full steam to become a democratic state and a land of equal opportunities. For comparison, imagine the atmosphere in KL being transformed from a hot and humid metropolis into a city filled with maple and other trees as you would see in autumn season elsewhere.

The collapse of an imperial civilisation paved way to a rebirth of modern China with the following immediate consequences (whether good or bad is for you to decide):

* introduction of scientific and philosophical methods of thinking

* abolishment of imperial examination system

* popularisation of knowledge in schools

* reform of written language

* freedom for women from social conventions, in particular mistresshood and foot binding

* erosion of Confucianism values with special reference to the family system ( the respect due from a son or daughter in regards to old age and authority)

* equality in government service

Dr Sun was not an ordinary person with revolutionist ideals. He was a medical doctor by training. He was also a prominent well-read scholar with an international status to boot. He drank Lipton tea and read English dailies. His ideas were probably Westernised due to his Christian background though he was also influenced by Confucionist ideologies. He was like Mahatma Gandhi, India’s spiritual leader, although he also possessed military prowess and a charm that would arouse the admiration of women.

His political career,can be traced to the time when he was abroad. That was why I think his return to China was like that of a prodigal son coming home to the welcome of his people. His was a romantic adventure. By romantic I mean, being idealistic and visionary, he had seen the worst of China and was capable of fanning the sentiments of a people to revolt against the monarchists’ corrupt practice. Best of all, he was doing this while most of the time he was in exile. However, he wasn’t able to realize his dream of a genuine unification of China at the time of his premature death in 1925.

His Three People’s Principles of nationalism, democracy and people’s welfare were revered by both the warring Kuomintang and Communist Party. Ironically,it became the fulcrum of the communists’ more liberal policies which were realized at the last quarter of the century. This is actually a paradoxical ideation, a similar concept which doctors learnt in psychiatry – the more obsessed a person is with a task, the worst it gets; so turn the other way.

His speech on pan-asianism in 1924 made in Kyoto, Japan, brought home the point that in order to unite as a people and restore the status of a powerful Asia, we need to veer towards benevolence and virtue, which has been our strength since antiquity. Armaments is only for self-defence and not to oppress or destroy other countries.

This nationalistic sentiment among the local Chinese had been carried through for many decades since his historical visit to Malaya. In fact, apart from generous fundings, many have shown their undivided support by sending their children back to their homeland. My late maternal grandfather was one of those who had the fervent wish to see his children deeply ingrained in this nationalistic culture. I had 3 uncles ,whom I have never met nor am I likely ever to, who were sent back while they were in their teens to join Mao Zedong’s Red Army revolution. The sad news was that they suffered psychological trauma and sometimes had to survive without meals and proper drinking water during the disastrous communist revolution which ended the rule of the Kuomintang.