Sino File | The 150-year-old Chinese man who binds and divides a nation
In improving people’s livelihoods, China has achieved one of Sun Yat-sen’s three principles. If it is to achieve the other two, Beijing must embrace democratic reform
Nothing serveS to bind Chinese across the world closer than their shared admiration of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China.
Chinese from across the world marked Sun’s 150th birthday on November 11 by paying homage to the revolutionary who led the fight to overthrow the Qing dynasty and end imperial rule in the 1911 revolution.
Tug of war over China’s founding father Sun Yat-sen as Communist Party celebrates his legacy
Despite being bitter foes for nearly a century, the mainland’s ruling Communist Party and Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist Party, or KMT, share Sun’s aspirations for national unification and rejuvenation – two of Sun’s three main doctrines.
Sun, who founded the KMT, has been revered in Taiwan for decades as the “father of the nation” and for his devotion to national unity, improving people’s livelihoods and the development of democracy – Sun’s so-called “Three Principles of the People”.
While Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, which leans towards independence, has kept a low profile regarding Sun’s anniversary, it cannot deny the fact that not only did Sun found the island’s self-ruled Republic of China – he also founded its “Five-Power Constitution”, which is based on liberal Western ideals of democracy, human rights and division of powers.