Ao and Ch’in Shih-Huang: Humanity or Patriotism

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Gefei Han Asian American Studies R2A Anna Leong and Mihiri Tillakaratne 2015/02/22 Bao and Ch’in Shih-huang: Humanity or Patriotism In the Boxers, harnessing the power of ancient Chinese god, Bao leads an army of Boxers to fight for China, which is under control of foreign missionaries and soldiers. However, the glory fight for China has its own cost. Ch’in Shih-huang, who in fact is the other personality of Bao who dreams to be a hero, influences Bao both in thoughts and actions. In order to win the rebellion for China and to meet the social expectation of being hero, Bao is forced to abandon his compassion to the weak and personal emotions. Bao faces an internal struggle between patriotism and humanity under the influences of Ch’in Shih-huang throughout the book. As a result, Bao is overwhelmed by his sense of patriotism and loses his humanity, changing him into a different person who fights bravely for China, but causes the death of innocent people. In the book, Ch’in Shih-huang drags Bao into water for four times, and at every moment before he is submerged, Bao sees different meaningful scenes on the ground, which indicate different influences that Ch’in Shih-huang casts on Bao. The initial struggle between patriotism and humanity can be seen when Ch’in, who represents Bao’s patriotic side, drags Bao away from his father. Bao sees his father is waving hands and shouting to him on the land, but is getting hit by the foreign devils. Although he wants to save his father, Ch’in Shih-huang drags his ankle severely. The four close-up pictures of the grabbing scene on the right (146) illustrate how Ch’in forces Bao to abandon his personal emotion towards his father. As Bao frowning and shouting out “Let go of me! My father needs my help!”, Ch’in does nothing but glares at Bao and grits his teeth in anger. In the third picture, Bao seems

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