MAO Yushi, Honorary President of Unirule Institute of Economics
It was the under the rule of Chinese Nationalist Party(or Kuomintang) that I went to elementary school, middle and high school, and college. At that time, we had a ceremony-like “memorial week” every Monday morning before class. The venue for the “memorial week” was set up in a certain form. The picture of Sun Yat-sen was hang in the middle, two elegiac couplets were by the sides, with the right written “Revolution has not been successful yet”， and the left written “and comrades still have to work hard”. The national flag of Republic of China and the party flag of Chinese Nationalist Party were hang on the top. There was also a fixed arrangement for the “memorial week”. Firstly, we would sing the national anthem, “San Min Chu-i, our aim shall be, to found, a free land…” and then we would recite the wills of Sun Yat-sen(there were three wills of Sun Yat-sen). After that, the principles, or the president, would give a speech. And the “memorial week” was not only for schools but also for government departments. The “memorial week” was just one form of party education, and it was not successful.
As we had “memorial week” on a weekly basis, even though other things were just a blur to me, I am very familiar with the will of Sun Yat-sen. The will was not long with just around 200 words in two paragraphs The first paragraph goes “I have served the cause of the People's Revolution for forty years, during which time my object has consistently been to secure liberty and equality for our country. From the experience of these forty years, I have come to realize that, in order to reach this object, it is necessary to awaken the masses of our people, and to join hands with those countries which are prepared to treat us as equals in our fight for the common cause of humanity.”I was just reciting these words in a parrot fashion without much understanding of the meaning. However, after seven to eight decades, I feel quite connected to the meaning of Sun Yat-sen’s will. If we put his will and his other statements together, we can get a glimpse of his insights into the situation back then and the future of China, which is still relevant to today’s China.
The aim of Sun Yat-sen’s revolution was to secure “liberty and equality” for China, nothing else. However, he did not make it specific about whose “liberty and equality” he was talking about, which we would never know. If we try to understand what he said in today’s context, the “liberty and equality” may well be the liberty of individuals, and the equality of every man and woman. Of course, the China back then was much different than it is today. There was extreme poverty, a weak state, and a lot of foreign abuse at that time. What Sun Yat-sen wished for China was to have prosperity and powerful national defense. But he knew clearly that without liberty and equality, the other aims would not be reached. That’s why he did not mention the prosperity and well-off of Chinese people; nor did he put the national defense or fight against foreign enemies in the first place, let alone promoting Chinese culture or competing with other countries in the world. It is not that these aims were not important, but that they could not be realized without liberty and equality. So, he put emphasized liberty and equality. Unfortunately, his comrades and protege Mr. Chiang Kai-shek and Mr. MAO Zedong did not think alike. What they envisaged for China was a path of authoritarian rule. They considered liberty and equality the most dangerous enemy of their rule, and they hunted down those who pursued liberty and equality; they also thought of foreign forces that helped China to realize liberty and equality as enemies. What they did was total against Sun Yat-sen’s will. It was only after the opening-up and reform that there existed some room for liberty and equality. As there was a minimum liberty and equality, China’s opening-up and reform achieved unprecedented success. The rest of what needs to be done is the uncompleted part of liberty and equality. [Page]
As for the method of realizing liberty and equality, Sun Yat-sen said "it is necessary to awaken the masses of our people”. What he said was “to awaken” instead of “to educate”. He thought as the masses of Chinese people were awaken, liberty and equality could be realized. But how? Considering his emphasis on liberty and equality, it can be assumed that what he wished for Chinese people to have was freedom of expression, and self-education for people, instead of the top-down knowledge cramming education。 Sun Yat-sen’s will was composed before he passed away in 1925, which was almost 90 years ago. Back then, the majority of Chinese people were uncivilized with very low literacy rate and very limited knowledge of the outside world. If Sun Yat-sen was that confident of his people back then, how can we have so little faith in our people today?
It was not enough just to “awaken the masses of our people”, but also necessary “to join hands with those countries which are prepared to treat us as equals in our fight for the common cause of humanity.”He saw the significance of uniting other countries in the world. He knew how important the world was to China. He even held high expectations of the former Soviet Union. However, history proved that the former Soviet Union had great territorial ambitions. In fact, the reason why the Republic of China became of the initiating countries to join the United Nations and became one of the five standing committee members of the Security Council after the World War II was the support of “those countries which are prepared to treat us as equals in our fight for the common cause of humanity.” Strictly speaking, the end of the World War II in the Pacific front was mainly attributed to US intervention where American soldiers took over Saipan and Ryukyu Islands at great cost. The US also played a decisive role in defeating Japan by dropping two atomic bombs. It would have not been possible for China to defeat Japan on its own for one or two decades. Therefore, it is apparent how important the world was to China. Sun Yat-sen’s view of China’s foreign policy is still the basic principles for foreign affairs in China today.
He also said that “the trend of the world is too immense to resist. Those who go with the trend survive, and those who don’t decease.” What was the trend of the world back then? The trend was the Manchu Qing Dynasty was falling apart, and the contradiction of China’s feudal system, and the inevitable shift towards constitutionalism and democracy. However, the Revolution of 1911, the Wuhan Uprising, and the success of the national revolution were just a flash in the pan. Democratic politics was a big success in UK and the US, which was also very helpful for Sun Yat-sen to lead his revolution against the Manchu Empire. For many times, he sought refuge in London and Honolulu. He saw that Japan was taking after the democratic wave of the world, and his Japanese friends also helped him to set up bases in Japan. Therefore,I am sure the trend of the world back then for Sun Yat-sen was about democracy, liberty, and equality.[Page]
The wills of Sun Yat-sen were based on his forty-year experience. His visions are truly extraordinary. The Chinese Nationalist Party still considers him the founding father. Even the Chinese Communist Party, after years of movements, cannot diminish his importance in China’s revolutionary history. His pictures are still shown in important ceremonies nowadays on the Tiananmen Square. Many people worry where China is going, which is an unsolved problem. Maybe another look at Sun Yat-sen’s will may give us some hints.
Source: FT Chinese and China-Review |
