A leader ahead of his times

Sun Yat-sen died 85 years ago, and this the 100th year of the 1911 Revolution, which will always be identified with him. He emerged as the leader of a revolution at the end of the 19th century, and was China's first modern politician.

"Modernity" is a concept that has been much debated, especially when compared with tradition. Western scholars first used the term "modern" to mark the progress in Western people's struggles against tradition. But the term was not applied to Asia. For Asian leaders, Western power was the reality. The question for them was how far their countries should be Westernized to avoid being dominated, or worse, conquered or colonized by Western powers.

The first decisive response came from Japanese samurai who helped overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. They were prepared to go all out to learn everything they wanted from the West in order to fight back. Other Asian leaders were less eager to allow their countries to Westernize to that extent and continued to believe that their established ways need not be changed by imitating the West. If they thought about being modern, it was only in terms of learning from the West.