Sun Yat-sen

Provisional President of the Republic of China (1912) · Founder of the Tongmenghui and the Kuomintang · Leader of the Guangzhou government · Physician

Revolutionary leader who helped overthrow the Qing dynasty, served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China and set out the Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy and livelihood.

Position
Solid, past the ring: second pole
Short, inside the ring: first pole
Balanced

★ Sun Yat-sen on 12 axes

Share of each pole

Economy

Equality / Markets

OwnershipModerate: Public
68%32%
PublicPrivate
MarketsModerate: Planned
68%32%
PlannedFree
WelfareMild: Shared
65%35%
SharedSelf-reliant

State and liberty

Liberty / Authority

AuthorityModerate: Strong leader
33%67%
DemocraticStrong leader
SecurityModerate: Order
33%67%
LibertyOrder
StructureMild: Central
45%55%
LocalCentral

Society

Progress / Tradition

MoralityNo clear record
ProgressiveTraditional
ReligionNo clear record
SecularReligious
TechnologyModerate: Embrace
75%25%
EmbraceCaution
CultureModerate: National identity
23%77%
MulticulturalNational identity

World

Global / Nation

TradeMild: Protected
40%60%
GlobalProtected
Foreign policyNo clear record
CooperationStrength

How we placed it

Judgment calls

Positions summarize typical stances from primary sources and reference works. Where an axis is genuinely contested, the reasoning is below.

Ownership: His principle of livelihood called for state enterprises in communications, mining and manufacturing, with private capital limited but not abolished; scored toward public ownership.
Authority: Sought an eventual constitutional democracy but prescribed a period of military rule and party tutelage first, and argued that Chinese had too much individual liberty; scored toward strong leadership.
Structure: Opposed federalism, which he thought would empower provincial bureaucracies, but favoured autonomy for counties; scored near the middle.
Trade: Blamed foreign economic control and the trade wars of the Powers for China's weakness, while also seeking foreign capital for development; scored mildly toward protection.
Foreign policy: Combined anti-imperialism and Pan-Asianism with appeals for Western finance and an alliance with Soviet Russia, so left unscored.

3 axes are marked as no clear record: there is no reasonable basis to place Sun Yat-sen there, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Sun Yat-sen?

Sun Yat-sen was born in 1866 in Guangdong province, went to school in Honolulu and qualified as a doctor at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. He turned to revolution against the Qing dynasty and in 1905 led the groups that formed the Revolutionary Alliance, or Tongmenghui. After the 1911 revolution, provincial delegates elected him provisional president of the new Republic of China, but he soon yielded the post to Yuan Shikai. He later founded the Kuomintang, led rival governments in Guangzhou and allied with Soviet Russia and the Chinese communists. He died in Beijing in 1925.

Political views

Made the Three Principles of the People, nationalism, people's sovereignty and people's livelihood, the watchword of the Chinese revolution.
Source: revolution.chnm.org
Argued that China was a 'sheet of loose sand' with too much individual liberty and must unite into a firm body to resist foreign imperialism.
Source: revolution.chnm.org
Prescribed a staged transition from military government through a period of tutelage to full constitutional democracy.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Proposed a five-power constitution and supported popular initiative, referendum and recall alongside elections.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Drew on Henry George to propose land equalisation through a self-assessed land value tax, with the right of the state to buy land at its declared value.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Called for state-led modernisation, with state enterprises in communications, mining and manufacturing and limits on private capital.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Was a nationalist with some socialist tendencies who sought to replace Qing rule with a republic.
Source: history.state.gov

Legacy

Sun is honoured on both sides of the Taiwan Strait: the Republic of China calls him the Father of the Nation, and the People's Republic regards him as a forerunner of the revolution. Admirers see him as the founder of Chinese republicanism and modern Chinese nationalism, and his Three Principles shaped land reform and constitutional design in Taiwan. Critics note that his revolution failed to unify China, which fell to warlords, that his theory of party tutelage gave the Kuomintang a justification for one-party rule, and that his early nationalism was directed against the Manchus as a race.

In their words

The watchword of the French Revolution was "Liberty"; the watchword of the American Revolution was "Independence"; the watchword of our Revolution is the "Three Principles of the People."

San Min Chu I: The Three Principles of the People, lectures on democracy, 1924 (trans. Frank W. Price)

Keep reading

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★ 12 Axes Political Test ★

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FAQ

Sun Yat-sen: questions

What political party was Sun Yat-sen?

Sun led the Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui) before 1911 and then founded the Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, which later ruled the Republic of China and still exists in Taiwan.

What are the Three Principles of the People?

They are Sun's core programme: nationalism (minzu), democracy or people's sovereignty (minquan), and people's livelihood (minsheng), which covered land reform and state-led economic development.

Why is Sun Yat-sen respected in both China and Taiwan?

He led the revolution that ended imperial rule and founded the party that governed the Republic of China, so Taiwan calls him the Father of the Nation, while the People's Republic honours him as a forerunner of its own revolution.

Sources

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