From Takow to Kaohsiung

The Three Principles of the People (三民主義 Mdn. San Min Zhuyi) is a political philosophy developed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙; SYS) and adopted and widely promoted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (中國國民黨; KMT), particularly by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石; CKS) and particularly in the period following defeat in the Chinese Civil War and KMT's relocation to Taiwan. As such it is quoted as the first line as the ROC national anthem, and it, as well as its three constituant parts, were used to rename numerous towns, villages and streets around the country.

Also very numerous have been the Master’s and PhD theses written discussing what SYS meant, or could have meant, or should have meant by his Three Principles. The first two inspired, he said, by Abraham Lincoln’s “government of the people, by the people, for the people”; the third by social welfare policies he witnessed in European countries during his travels to garner support for opposition to the Qing imperial state.

i) The 民族主義 (Mdn. Minzu Zhuyi), literally meaning something like “principle of [government] of the people(s)”, is usually translated as “nationalism”, since SYS clearly had the Chinese nation in mind, as opposed to the narrow Manchurian-led Qing court which, at least in part, stayed in power though promoting division between all other ethniciites.
Through this principle, he sought to promote commn cause, a “national consciousness”, for all of China’s diverse ethnicities, primarily composed of the “five main groups” (Han, Manchurian, Mongol, Hui (Muslims) and Tibetan ; [MC: as usual the “minority peoples” seem to be overlooked, just as Taiwan’s dozens of indigenous peoples would be half a century later]), who together were symbolized on the Five Color Flag of the early ROC (1911–1928). In short, SYS’s Principle of the Peoples was based on the idea that China’s various peoples had more that united them than divided them, that they were stronger together.

ii) The 民權主義 (Mdn. Minquan Zhuyi), literally meaning “principle of people’s rights”, that is, of “people power” or, in other words, of “government by the people(s)”, which is consequently usually translated as “democracy”.
From this simple statement of principle, SYS (and the generations after him) set about defining these powers / rights (election, recall, initiative and referendum) and working out how these could be applied through various institutions / branches (legislative, executive, judicial, control and examination) to create a fair and effective system of government.

iii) The 民生主義 Mdn. Minsheng Zhuyi), literally meaning “principle of people’s livelihood”, is therefore, “government for the people”, and is often translated as “livelihood” or “social welfare”. It was somthing of an afterthought from SYS, but, being rather socialist in nature, at least in the way he interpreted it, as well as the direction in which he initially led the KMT, made it perhaps the most radical of the Three Principles. It is also perhaps why it is the most disputed and, some would argue, the most ignored.

The strengths of the Three Principles of the People is evidenced, not just in that they were also prasied by the Chinese Communist Party (although, of course, its definitions of “people’s rights” and “people’s livelihood” in particular differ greatly from those of the KMT), but also in that in Taiwan’s post-martial law, multi-party, democratic period, even the bitter opponents of the KMT (which claims to have enacted five or more decades of one-party rule based on these principles) do not seek to serously discard most of SYS’s political foundation.



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