How far did Sun Yixian contribute to the ending of Manzhu rule in 1911? (1994)
Introduction
The 1911 Revolution was so important in the Chinese history that it ended the thousand-year-old absolute monarchy君主專制 and opened a new era. The KMT國民黨 followers liked calling Dr. Sun the “Father of Nation國父”, as if the birth of the Chinese republic was mainly his contribution. Let’s evaluate衡量 how far Dr. Sun really led to the success of the 1911 Revolution.
Main Body
- Dr. Sun’s role:
Like Lenin, Dr. Sun was mainly engaged從事 in the preparation準備工作 and aftermath善後 of the Revolution, rather than in actual fighting.
- Role as thinker思想家, propagandist宣傳家 and fund-raiser籌款人: He was the first one who advocated提倡 for a modern revolution in China in order to build up a Chinese nation-state with popular sovereignty主權在民.
- Inspirational激勵性Oath口號: “Expel the Manzhu, restore the Chinese rule, establish a republic, equalize land ownership驅除韃虜、恢復中華、創立民國、平均地權” made the revolutionary goal clear → many followers.
- Three Principles of the People (sanmin zhuyi三民主義) refer to nationalism, democracy (people’s rights) and livelihood. These made up a basic revolutionary ideology意識形態 after 1905 → popular support
- Nationalism (minzu zhuyi民族主義): anti-Manzhu nature → widely echoed回應
- Democracy (minquan zhuyi民權主義): noble高尚 ideal理想 (but few people understood except the literati知識份子)
- Livelihood (minsheng zhuyi民生主義): attractive (but difficult to implement執行; especially the equalization of land ownership was hardly possible)
- The Outline of National Reconstruction (jianguo dagang建國大綱) suggested a comprehensive programme to re-build China → popular support
- Propaganda宣傳 on his journeys旅程 to the U.S., Britain, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia to spread revolutionary ideas among the overseas Chinese (some were the Taiping remnants太平遺老) → more followers and acquisition獲得 of weapons and money (His role as the fund-raiser was incomparable無與倫比)
- Newspaper (Citizen’s Tribute or Min Bao民報) for political debates with Kang Youwei’s Baohuanghui保皇會 → successfully aroused喚起 popular interest in the faith of China → finally defeated the constitutionalists立憲派
- Reservation: As a propagandist, Wang Jingwei汪精衛 was comparable及得上 to Dr. Sun, and Song Jiaoren宋教仁was as good as Dr. Sun in political science.