Comparative Questions?

  1. The documents in this chapter show different ways that Asian cultures engaged with Western modernity. Describe some of those forms of engagement.
  2. Compare the attitudes of Lin Zexu (Document 26-1), Gandhi (Document 26-3), and Sun Yatsen (Document 26-5) toward the West. Compare also their approaches to both international and domestic affairs.
  3. Several of the documents deal with the question of violence, either impending or ongoing. How does the position (or positions) taken in each document show a tolerance or distaste for violence? How is violence justified, and why? How and why is it condemned?
  4. How might Gandhi (Document 26-3) have responded to the Great Revolt of 1857? Would he have sympathized with the rebels’ goals? What about their methods for achieving those goals?

Prescriptions for Saving China: Selected Writings of Sun Yat-sen, ed. Julie Lee Wei, Ramon H. Myers, and Donald G. Gillin (Palo Alto, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 1994).