The Triple Demism of Sun Yat-Sen

by Sun Yat-Sen

English (translation)
Original French, Chinese

Genres: China, Politics, Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Economics

747 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China.

Sun is referred to as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China (ROC), and the "forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China.

He co-founded the Kuomintang and formed an alliance with the communists.

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley]

A weird ragbag, often gnomic, highly repetitious, very simplistic (the bit where he decides to take on Marx on the science of history, my god), extremely dated race science bits here and there too, and very much a man of action's self-justifying notes on the hop; but passionately anti-imperial, often enjoyably taking no shit, and you can see how it caught on - an anti-imperial semi-socialism minus class struggle. 'China's problem is not inequality, it is poverty', a highly prescient line.

[Kai]

So thought-provoking to read, especially after nearly a century since it was written... Should be a must-read for those who wish to learn more about arguments against China blindly adopting a democratic system and just how far China has come in such a short amount of time.

[Curry]

An informative discussion of Sun Yat-Sen's beliefs for the restoration of the Chinese state and society. A good read for any students of history, historians, or historiographers.

[Julius]

Das Buch besteht aus 3 Teilen, die jeweils in "Lectures" unterteilt sind. Der Autor hält praktisch einen Kurs, eine Serie inhaltlich zusammenhängender Reden/Lektüren. Geschrieben wurde das Buch Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts.

1. Das Prinzip des Nationalismus: Die Grundthese ist, dass es China im Vergleich zu anderen, erfolgreicheren Nationen an Nationalismus fehlt. Den gilt es zu erzeugen und zwar auf der "ancient morality: loyalty, filial devotion, kindness, love, faithfulness, justice, harmony, and peace".

2. Das Prinzip der Demokratie: Für eine funktionierende Demokratie in China braucht es "four controlling powers of the people: suffrage, recall, initiative, and referendum", außerdem "the five administrative powers of government: legislative, judicial, executive, civil service examination, and censorshop".

3. Das Prinzip der Lebensgrundlage: Die Lebensgrundlage muss das "Zentrum des ökonomischen Sonnenystems" sein. Dazu gehört eine theoretische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Marxismus genau so wie spezifische Untersuchungen von Nahrung und Kleidung.

Leider ist dre Druck schlecht, die Sichtweise allerdings interessant.

[lukas]

Krásna kniha plná analýz filozofie a riešení problémov medzivojnovej rozpadnutej Číny, niektoré ideály pre buď demokraciu alebo ekonomiku ktoré sú v nej prekladané stále sú nezískane v našich končinách. Analýza marxizmu bola čudná, autor moc nemá rád západnú filozofiu.

[Jazzy Peppers]

The principles of nationalism are interesting but the economic stuff would NOT work with a population as large as China (imo)

[Bu Moo]

it was okay

[Bread]

lectures from an incredibly influential man, sun yat sen has a pretty apparent agenda promoting his 3 principles to a general audience. in his nationalism lectures, he has quaint if vulgar notions of race, nation, & chinese culture in an attempt to promote national self-determination. he advocates building up a national identity starting from the family unit & overthrowing foreign econ & political domination. he would've benefitted from a fanon i think. in his democracy lectures, he repeats tired tropes about equality of opportunity vs outcome & the inevitable spread of democracy. interestingly, he argues for more direct democratic measures in the right of recall, initiative, & referendum, but with a powerful state bureaucracy behind it. in his livelihood lectures, he says that the principle is basically socialism & hes quite positive about the russian revolution. it should be noted that the soviets were supporting him at this time. he critiques marx, but by usually presenting a simplified account of his ideas, then making objections that marx did in fact consider & discuss pretty extensively. he discusses agriculture & the plight of the peasants, the evils of the capitalists & landlords, & argues for improving the welfare of workers, the nationalisation of certain sectors, extensive land reform & a georgist land value tax, large infrastructure projects, & protectionism to develop domestic industries. its thought-provoking, if sometimes frustrating due to his oversimplifications, to read this, esp when considering the state of china & the KMT at the time & sun yat sens legacy today

[Vy Nguyen]

I don't necessarily agree with the contents but it's interesting to learn about Chinese revolutionary ideas at the beginning of the twentieth century.