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I thought the most fascinating thing was the strong and effective language regarding foreign affairs (i.e. the article about China): "The sun set upon a scene o

by leoh 15y ago

I thought the most fascinating thing was the strong and effective language regarding foreign affairs (i.e. the article about China): "The sun set upon a scene of fire, rapine, desolation, and butchery unrecorded in modern history", "Innocent Chinese are fleeing..." The language these days about these sorts of things are much more deferent, careful, more similar to the language used in articles about domestic affairs. Really shows the issue of globalism. Sounds like the article is in the context of the Xinhai revolution. Anyone know of any interesting details or articles about that?

adestefan 15y ago
It's more about the need to paint a picture that the readers would never actually see with their eyes. Remember the people that read that article didn't see 10 reports on a television news show first.
meric 15y ago
He's talking about the 1911 Chinese revolution[1], taking down the last dynasty of China and beginning of the Republic of China. All is not so bright however, a powerful general was made president because he was instrumental in the revolution; But his greed and death 5 years later leads to the Chinese army splitting among local warlords. It won't be until 1928 China is unified again[2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhai_Revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhai_Revolution [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Expedition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Expedition
nhebb 15y ago
What caught my eye about that story was the transpacific communications, since the dateline was Nov. 10, 1911. Looking it up on Wikipedia, the first transpacific cables were laid in 1902 (transatlantic in 1986), so getting a cable from Nanking was still a recent development. I know 1911 wasn't the stone age, but I have a healthy respect for what they were able to accomplish with the technology they had at the time.

by leoh 15y ago

adestefan 15y ago

It's more about the need to paint a picture that the readers would never actually see with their eyes. Remember the people that read that article didn't see 10 reports on a television news show first.

meric 15y ago

He's talking about the 1911 Chinese revolution[1], taking down the last dynasty of China and beginning of the Republic of China. All is not so bright however, a powerful general was made president because he was instrumental in the revolution; But his greed and death 5 years later leads to the Chinese army splitting among local warlords. It won't be until 1928 China is unified again[2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhai_Revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhai_Revolution [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Expedition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Expedition

nhebb 15y ago

What caught my eye about that story was the transpacific communications, since the dateline was Nov. 10, 1911. Looking it up on Wikipedia, the first transpacific cables were laid in 1902 (transatlantic in 1986), so getting a cable from Nanking was still a recent development. I know 1911 wasn't the stone age, but I have a healthy respect for what they were able to accomplish with the technology they had at the time.