Visiting the Tomb of Sun Yat Sen in Nanjing

I am visiting Sun Yat Sen's tomb today. If you don't already know, Sun Yat Sen (孫中山) is the founder of modern China. He wished to be buried in Nanjing, and his tomb is located about a five minute drive from that of the first Ming Emperor. This, of course, is no coincidence. Sun Yat Sen is as important as any Chinese emperor.

As a matter of fact, his tomb is about three or four times as crowded as the Emperor's. I would estimate that on this national holiday, about two or three thousand people, every hour, are entering the grounds to climb up to his mausoleum.

Since I lived in Taiwan and saw his image often (on money, mostly, but in parks in the form of statues as well), I feel at home.

To tell you the truth, I don't feel "at home" when I see communist statues. I see Mao's image all over the place, and I definitely don't feel at home looking at the image of a man whose rule brought the death of millions upon millions, whose whims caused not only the loss of lives but also of pieces of Chinese culture which can never return.

I am starting to get close to my Chinese friends on the mainland, and I want them to forget Mao. A Chinese person I met (who will of course remain nameless) tells me, in fact, he doesn't like Mao, and that about half of the Chinese people don't like him either. This makes me hopeful. I don't like seeing his face everywhere.

But I am happy to see Sun Yat Sen again. As I approach the memorial, I hear a Chinese person trying to make out the old seal script characters above the hall where the founder. In fact, the characters are the three principles of the revolution of 1911: Nationalism, Democracy, and Livelihood. It's funny (or sad?) that he can't quite make out the characters and isn't sure what the third principle is.

Unfortunately, Sun Yat Sen died too early. The Chinese people were left with a choice between Chiang Kai-Shek (Sun's successor) and Mao. In the words of my ABC (American-born Chinese) friend (who will definitely remain nameless), it was a choice between a pr&ck and a d%ckh$d, and the Chinese people chose the d%ckh$d.

Having lived in Taiwan, and now living on the mainland, I can't help but feel I am witnessing an old, deep family feud that hasn't gone away, even after almost 60 years.

You want dear old Sun to come back and set things straight.

But, it's too late, and all you can do is hope and pray.