Prescriptions for Saving China

By Julie Wei

In this book, more than forty selected writings from Sun Yat-Sen, the father of modern China, have been translated into English for the first time. Ranging from early speeches to a graduation address delivered a year before his death, these translations illustrate the depth and breadth of Sun's philosophy and chronicle the development and refinement of the cornerstone of his philosophy, the Three Principles of the People—to mediate open and pluralistic marketplaces in the ideological, economic, and political spheres. Sun's vision called for the creation of a strong, modern, and democratized China to be an equal competitor with Western nations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: May 1, 1994
• ISBN: 9780817992835

Book preview

Taiwan.

Principal Events in the Life of Sun Yat-sen: A Chronology

SECTION ONE

To Overthrow the Manchu Regime

1.1

A Plea to Li Hung-chang¹

June 1894

To His Excellency the Grand Mentor to the Heir Apparent and Grand Secretary:²

I, Wen, am a native of eastern Kwangtung, where for generations my ancestors have lived in Hsiang-shan county.³ In Hong Kong, I was awarded the British medical degree after passing my examinations.⁴ While young, I studied abroad, where I acquainted myself with the written and spoken languages of the Western countries and with their politics, government, and customs, along with astronomy, geography, chemistry, and general science. I tried especially to learn how these countries had grown rich and strong and how they had civilized their people and formed their cultures. In addition, I was able to discern the factors at work behind political change and the proper conduct behind harmonious international relations. Today is an age of expanding awareness, when talented people are converging from every direction on the state and the court, eager to bring about good rule and to work diligently to improve the political situation. I have often wanted to submit to you, who are in authority, my humble opinions regarding the overall political situation. However, because of my humble position and the consequent insignificance of my remarks, I have not dared to do so. On the other hand, lately I have observed the state's vigorous efforts to chart a course to enrich and strengthen the nation. I have also seen the new advances that accompany each succeeding day and the concerted energies directed at achieving them, so that it has become obvious that we will soon gallop abreast of the European nations. Now, we, too, possess the swift battleships, the flying trains, the telegraphs, the ammunition, and the guns with which they once intimidated us.⁵ In addition, such advances will be followed swiftly by other, newer ones. I assume, therefore, that you gentlemen in authority have already pondered what we must do to maintain domestic tranquility and ward off external threats as well as enrich the nation and strengthen its military power. Furthermore, since many people have been sent abroad, nothing that happens in foreign countries is any longer unknown to us. I can only be cheered and rejoice when an ordinary citizen like myself can live in a golden age like this. What, then, could I possibly have to offer you? Nevertheless, I take this opportunity to offer my humble thoughts in the possibility that there is a one-in-ten-thousand chance that they can supplement Your Excellency's high and deep wisdom.

I am keenly aware that the wealth and power of the European nations are the result not only of their having ships and powerful guns, strong fortresses and formidable troops but also because their people can fully employ their talents, their land can be fully utilized, their natural resources can be fully tapped, and their goods can freely flow. These four elements⁶ are the basis of a nation's wealth and strength and the root of good government. Today, in an effort to emulate the West and strengthen itself, our country is embarking on great schemes and seeking far-reaching stratagems. However, if, instead of urgently addressing these four issues, we merely concentrate on building strong ships and powerful guns, we will be ignoring the root [pen] and seeking the flower [mo].7

The utilization of talent means that it is necessary to provide the people with proper education and nurture, correct encouragement, and appropriate appointment and employment. Now, men are not born with knowledge; it must be learned. Not everyone loves to learn; they must be taught. The people were given kings and teachers so that they could be taught and nurtured. Since ancient times, China has been peerless in the breadth and depth of its system of education. Unfortunately, that system has fallen into disrepair, and the old system of education exists only in name. Meanwhile, the modern age has witnessed the sudden emergence of the Western countries. They have inherited the legacy of the Three Dynasties.⁸ Their schools are everywhere in their countries, and their people, rich or poor, are diligent in the pursuit of knowledge. The sciences of heaven and earth and all creatures, the affairs of men and everyday life, are all included in the subjects taught in their schools. Everyone in the nation begins his studies in early childhood, directing and devoting his energies to whatever he has an aptitude for. Furthermore, in each of these nations there are specialized teachers who diligently instruct and inspire. Even if the subject matter is subtle and intricate, they have ways of making it clear as well as the equipment to provide the means of first-hand observation. Since the subjects studied progress from lower to ever-higher levels of complexity, the minds involved in such studies are broadened daily and their knowledge increases with each day. Men have different levels of intelligence, which only education can reveal. One may have broad or narrow talents, but only education renders them useful. Schools set up to train people will develop the intelligence of those who have it and end the stupidity of those who do not, providing a specialty to those who have narrow talent and broad knowledge to those with all-round ability. Without education for the place and the man, the rare qualities of virtue and talent may go squandered or unused, buried and unknown. The existence of such an educational system is the reason why the West has such an abundance of talented people.

Furthermore, people have differences in talent and aspiration. The superior ones are unwilling to live useless lives and, no matter how lowly their status, will make the nation their own responsibility. Such men can no doubt be ambitious and independent with no need of encouragement. Men of outstanding ability will emerge even without the arrival of King Wen.⁹ As for mediocre people, they must have appropriate encouragement. Therefore, in the West a man who has even the slightest talent will be cherished by being given a specialty. Consequently, everyone strives of his own accord, and no one lives in vain. After they have graduated, established themselves, and served society, there are learned societies to further broaden their knowledge as well as scholarly journals to advance their growth. When scholars throughout a nation devote their talents to examining what the ancients already knew and what the moderns have not yet discovered, old ideas will give way to the new. When men's boundless creativity is set free and can be directed toward elucidating the endless mysteries of the universe, how can anyone be isolated or ignorant? Furthermore, if, after mastering a new subject, a scholar invents something new, he will surely receive the highest national award. Who, then, among that nation's scholars will not concentrate his efforts on doing his best? Such encouragement is the reason for the West's continual advances in various fields of learning, until accomplishments there now nearly rival those of Creation itself.

Now, if people are not employed in work for which they are trained, they will not be competent in their tasks even if they are bright, and the clever ones will easily conceal their misdeeds. Without a doubt, employing people in this way will result in many gifted people being unemployed and many people reaching high office undeservedly. Western countries, on the other hand, are guided by principles similar to those of the emperors T'ang and Yü.10 When employing people, the emphasis is on taking advantage of each person's aptitudes and providing him with long-term employment. Therefore, a civil official must attend a college of liberal arts; and a military official, a military academy. As for others, those versed in literature become teachers; those familiar with agriculture, the heads of farms; those with engineering expertise, foremen; and those familiar with commerce, business directors. In their youth all are assigned to positions appropriate to their training. In short, the state provides a post suited to whatever one has learned in school. Men in their prime practice whatever they studied while young, and those who excel in their studies enter public life. Furthermore, a person who remains in his field can be promoted without having to transfer. Lengthy service results in richer experience, and familiarity with the job leads to innovations. In addition, people do not gaze around if they are rewarded for honesty and given permanent positions; rather, they dedicate themselves to their jobs. This practice in employing people is the reason why officials in the West are both conscientious and diligent.

Thus, given the right education, there will be no waste of talent; given the right encouragement, there will be no unhappy scholar; given the right system of appointment and employment, there will be no place for people to gain undeserved promotions to high office. If these three principles are properly followed, everyone will be able to fully employ his talent, and all things will flourish. Then we need not worry about whether the nation will become strong and wealthy; it will happen as a matter of course. Why, then, do not you, the nation's leaders, give this matter your attention?

If land is to be used to best advantage, there must be officials to supervise agriculture, farming must be in the hands of those versed in agricultural affairs, and they must have machines to assist them in planting and harvesting.

Now, land is the lifeline of the common people. From the time when Hou Chi¹¹ taught the people how to plant crops, China has had special officials in charge of agriculture. These were the pastors of the people of later times, for it was thought that before the Three Dynasties, the people had not developed the means of sustaining themselves, and so good government meant sustaining and feeding them. In a still later age, after agriculture had developed, good government came to mean leaving people alone to sustain and feed themselves and not disturbing them with excessive interference. For this reason, agriculture in China today has been increasingly neglected. The farmers only know how to cling to traditional ways and do not know how to adjust to change. Since clearing the wilderness has been neglected and irrigation systems have fallen into disrepair, people toil much but gain little, and feeding the people is increasingly difficult. Waterways and rivers once beneficial to cultivation have now become its scourge.¹² Let us momentarily set aside the subject of the Yellow River in the north. In Kwangtung, even the East, West, and North rivers, which never flooded in ancient times, have been bringing ever-worse floods each year. Similar situations exist all over other provinces. This is the result of not having officials charged with overseeing agriculture. The farmers, though victimized, are helpless; they wish to repair the waterways but have no power, so they can only leave it to a vague Destiny. Across the nation, the amount of crops lost each year because of lack of timely cultivation has reached astronomical proportions. Such is the magnitude of losses caused by neglected waterworks. Then too, substantial losses have resulted from wilderness land being left unreclaimed and from the neglect of forests and water resources.

When one says, The land has unused benefits, and the people have excess strength, it means that the soil for growing crops is not fully cultivated and that the forests and waters are not fully tapped. How can we achieve wealth in this fashion? The countries of the great West are keenly aware that the great source of wealth lies in not wasting the land and in making certain that it is planted and harvested in a timely manner. For this reason they have set up special offices to manage such matters. In those countries, everything that is good for agriculture is promoted and everything harmful to it is removed. Take, for example, the Ganges in India and the Mississippi in the United States. These rivers once caused disastrous floods as often as the Yellow River; the fact that they were eventually controlled proves that human effort can compensate for acts of nature. How can a nation's rulers not take urgent action to help its people by setting up government departments in charge of agriculture?¹³ However, even after floods have been controlled, hydraulic works have been promoted, and wilderness has been cultivated, it does not necessarily follow that the problem of utilizing the land and feeding the population will have been solved, for, while the population increases every day, the amount of land cannot daily increase. Unless new advances take place each day, will not overpopulation subsequent to cultivation of the wilderness result in more famines? In order to prevent such recurrences, therefore, it is urgent that the agricultural sciences be promoted and that planting and husbandry be constantly improved so as to speed up growth and multiply production. In making man the intelligent being among the myriad things, heaven has provided the myriad things for his use. And even though these things are inexhaustible, it is up to man's intelligence to put them to good use. Man cannot eat soil, but soil can produce the five grains and the hundred fruits to feed man. Man cannot eat grass, but grass can nurture the six animals, which provide meat for his table. Now, to be sure, earth and grass are inexhaustible, but only if man can study what is suitable for the soil and can understand the nature of the soil. If we understand the laws involved, we can convert rocky and barren soil into fertile land. This is the soil science and chemistry of agriculture. By differentiating the biological laws of species and by distinguishing the differences in their productivity, by investigating the nature of plants, and understanding the physiology of animals, man can hold sway over them. These are the botany and zoology of agriculture. Sunlight can enhance growth, electricity can accelerate the process of maturation; this is the physics of agriculture. Pests can be prevented, and epidemics avoided; this is the medicine of agriculture. Once agriculture is enlightened, the productivity of the same patch of land will multiply several times, which amounts to transforming one acre of land into several acres and enlarging one country into the size of several countries. Consequently, although the size of the population may increase several times, the threat of famine need no longer exist. This is why I advocate the speedy creation of agricultural schools.

After we have established government agricultural departments and after agricultural science is developed, we must have sophisticated machinery if we are to save labor and accelerate production. This is why agricultural machinery should be emphasized. Ever since ancient times, plowing has been done with the labor of oxen and horses; in modern times, however, animals have largely been replaced by ever-more sophisticated machines, which do more work at less cost. With respect to plowing fields, for example, one machine will do the work of hundreds of oxen and horses, one pump will irrigate thousands of acres of paddy, and a single machine will reap as much rice as hundreds of people. Machines are also indispensable for digging wells and dredging rivers; they likewise facilitate the cultivation of wilderness and the felling of timber. How great are the applications of machinery to agriculture! In the great West, inventors of machines endlessly rack their brains, so that in the future agricultural machinery will be even more sophisticated. We in China should purchase their machines and reproduce them.

So when there are official departments in charge of agriculture, people will work hard; when farming is in the hands of people trained in agricultural techniques, then planting and animal husbandry will be excellent; and when machines are used for plowing, human labor can be spared. These are the three conditions our country should copy from the West in order to gather the fruits of the land.

When we say that resources are to be fully utilized, we mean that scientific research must constantly grow; machines must become ever-more advanced; and nothing should be done to deter what is beneficial.

In the great West, educated people regard science and its application as the basis for providing people with a good life and as the only avenue to abundance and higher living standards. Consequently, they devote themselves daily to the study of the laws of nature and their application. For example, if we are sophisticated in chemistry, all the animals, plants, and minerals that our ancestors knew how to put to use can be put to even greater use. And those that men of the past did not know how to use can, through study, be put to use. Petroleum was once discarded as a waste product; now, it is a daily necessity and each year comprises a major part of imports from abroad. Coal tar, once considered useless, is now processed into pharmaceuticals and dyes. Also, sand is melted to make glassware, while earth is transformed to yield aluminum. There are countless such examples, all illustrating how a knowledge of the laws of chemistry enables men to reap benefits from the material world, providing them each year with incalculable sources of wealth. If our country can do the same, it will have hit upon an avenue to riches. Once we have mastered the sciences, electricity, wind, water, and fire will all be at our disposal. Wind can drive wheels and replace human labor; water can drive machines and save coal; interacting pressures can draw water; and interacting electricity can produce light: these are only the smaller examples. As for fire, that produces steam to drive ships and trains; ten thousand horses, wind and waves cannot resist their might. And the electric waves that send messages across ten thousand miles in the blink of a second—how can one describe such applications? But the uses of matter do not end with these. As long as man probes into its laws, the more he understands these laws, the greater will be the uses of matter. Electricity, for example, has neither form nor substance; it resembles but is not water. Its energy pervades all things and circulates throughout the universe. Its uses are more extensive than anything else, and it is most versatile. It can provide light, send messages, move machines, generate goods, and develop mines. It is already used worldwide to provide light and send telegrams; only recently have men learned how to use it to run machinery. In the future, electricity will surely replace coal in driving machines. Its future role in generating goods and developing mines is still unclear. What is certain, however, is that in the future, talented people will understand enough of the laws of nature so that growing grain and other plants and obtaining minerals will depend on human ingenuity instead of the work of nature. But obtaining electricity requires energy, and generating energy depends on coal. Recently, someone has come up with another innovative idea, namely, generating electricity with the hydraulic power obtained from a waterfall and then storing it in containers so that it can be used anytime and anywhere. This means that electricity, too, will have become inexhaustible. All this suggests that the more we seek to use matter, the less we have to use human labor. Certainly the day will come when man will need only to use his mind and not his muscle, and machines will do all his work for him. This is logical and inevitable.

When machines are ingenious, crafts will flourish, manufacturing will prosper, producing, in ever-higher quality and at consistently lower cost, goods that will meet the needs of not only the state and the army but also the people in their daily lives, thus performing work that human labor is unable to perform and making products that humans are unable to make. For example, machines can excavate mines, can smash hard rock into powder, and dig the deepest spring wells. In this way, we can open up the hidden wealth of the earth. When we have machines for weaving, they can accomplish the work of a thousand workers in half a day. Moreover, they can sort out waste threads and weave them into fabric, thus turning the useless into the useful. I cannot enumerate all the great uses for machinery. China is vast in area and rich in resources; if we can use machinery more extensively, then we can be more effective in excavating mines and controlling rivers, as well as spinning thread and weaving cloth to meet the needs of the people. Otherwise, much of the treasure hidden under the earth and the natural resources of the entire nation will be squandered, resulting in incalculable waste each year. If this continues, how can the nation and its people not remain poor? How can those who strive to enrich the nation not stress the use of machinery?

Even when science is being emphasized and first-rate machinery is being used, unless we conserve material resources, we will still be unable to strengthen the foundation of the nation and raise living standards. Accordingly, in the great West people seldom engage in useless activities. We in China have the custom of worshiping ghosts and spirits. The expenses incurred for ushering in the spirits, organizing temple fairs, and burning silk and paper money for the dead run into tens of millions of taels.¹⁴ This is using useful resources for useless purposes, and the drain on the nation is even greater than that from opium. This, too, the authorities should ban.

With respect to material goods, some come from nature, some from the land, and others are man-made. Material goods bestowed by nature, such as light, heat, and electricity, are shared by all nations. The extent to which they are utilized depends on how well the sciences are developed. Goods from the land, such as minerals and grain, are owned by particular nations when they can properly obtain and utilize them. On the other hand, man made goods depend much on the quality of the machines used and whether workers are diligent or lazy. Thus, higher levels of science will lead to greater use of materials, and better machinery will lead to more goods. Refraining from useless activity will lead to conservation of material resources. These constitute a major part of wealth creation by means of developing financial resources and reducing