Who was Tse Tsan Tai? Insurrectionist? Socialite? Patriot? Revolutionary?

Born and raised in Australia and trained in Anglo-Hong Kong’s civil service, Tse Tsan Tai (1872–1938) was all of these and more. A first native media man and anti-Qing patriot, he advocated independent thinking and a free China. Through the lens of his life, this book explores a composite identity, touching on themes of diaspora, religion, colonialism, civil society, science, and revolutions in Qing and Nationalist China.

Ideal reading for students of Asian Studies, East Asian Studies, Diaspora Studies, Chinese and Hong Kong History, international Relations, Indo-Pacific Studies, Colonial Studies, Cultural History, Sociology, and related courses, this fascinating course reading uses biography to ask the question: what were the original ideals for republicanism in China?