Rules and the Ruler

Sun Yat-sen was once fond of telling a peculiar story.

In 1894, at the start of the First Sino-Japanese War, Sun Yat-sen met an old man in a coastal area of China. The old man heard of the initial Qing Dynasty defeat yet appeared to be in light spirits. Mystified, Sun questioned him and asked why he displayed mirth on a Japanese victory. The old man replied that the Han Chinese had been trampled by their Manchurian rulers under the Qing Dynasty, and that if there had been no opportunity for revenge, then at least the Japanese could exact a form of punishment.