In Yu-kai Chou's "10,000 Hours of Play," Sun Yat-sen's petition to Li Hongzhang is described as a "Plot Fail Quest" — a devastating setback that ultimately redirects the hero toward their true path. After that rejection, Sun didn't quit. He sailed to Hawaii and founded his first revolutionary organization.

After Li Hongzhang's rejection shattered any hope for peaceful reform, Sun Yat-sen sailed to Honolulu and did something no Chinese dissident had done before. On November 24, 1894, he gathered about 20 supporters at Ho Foon's house in Chinatown and founded the Xingzhonghui — the Revive China Society. Members paid a $5 fee and swore an oath: "Expel the Tatar barbarians, revive Zhonghua, and establish a unified government." It was the first organized Chinese revolutionary group in history. Sun recruited over 120 supporters across the Hawaiian Islands, turning the same place where he'd gone to school as a boy into the launchpad for toppling an empire.

📖 Discover the full journey: 10,000 Hours of Play by Yu-kai Chou