The Sun Yat-sen It's feature Not too many public figures are respected and upheld as national heroes in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), but Sun Yat-sen is. He is a "pioneer of the revolution" to the Communists and the founding father to the dominant Nationalist Party of Taiwan. Bergere (Chinese civilization, National Inst. of Oriental Languages and Civilization, Paris) has written a new biography that seems very balanced and promising. Writings about Sun tend to divide sharply into two biased camps: highly politicized accounts by Chinese Communists of the heroic Sun opening the way for Mao vs. Western accounts of the myth-busting and belittling type. Bergere shows Sun in a much more balanced manner, and the scholarship is sound, as evidenced by the well-done notes and bibliography. Even so, for most libraries Harold Schiffrin's standard biography, Sun Yat-sen: Reluctant Revolutionary (LJ 7/80), is probably sufficient. This newer account is recommended only for libraries with a strong scholarly subject interest in China. (Index, maps, and illustrations not seen.)?Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., SUNY at BrockportCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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