뉴스레터

Sun Wen in 1912 when
he was president of the
provisional government

This year marks the 100^th year of the Xinhai Revolution [辛亥革命], which occurred in China in October 1911. Conferences are being held everywhere in Korea and elsewhere, commemorating the centennial of this historic event. Why is this revolution, which overthrew the Manchu-founded Qing Empire and established the Republic of China, celebrated? It is because the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the imperial monarchy that ruled China over 2,000 years and founded for the first time in East Asia, a republic. The republican ideology of the revolution not only became the ideological root of the Chinese national state later but also spread to other countries in East Asia that were suffering imperial aggressions and became the seed of nationalist movements.

There is a historical figure whose name always resurfaces in association with the Xinhai Revolution; he is Sun Wen [孫文]. He is regarded as a symbol of the revolution with the ideology of Three Principles of the People [三民主義] and the Tongmenghui [同盟會]. Recently Sun Wen has been recalled with the centennial anniversary of the Xinhai as the pioneer of 'Prospering China' and 'Patriotism'. Not just the People's Daily but Hu Jintao [胡錦濤] is leading this parade of praising Sun Wen. Of course, Sun Wen is still highly revered as the "Father of the Nation" and the "Hero of China" and idolized both in mainland China and Taiwan. Still, why is he reminded in this glorified light again? It is because he is not only the professional revolutionist who led the Xinhai Revolution and the National Revolution but also the symbol of 20^th century Chinese nationalism.

Sun Wen was born to a poor farming family in Xianshan, Guangdong Province in 1866 and spent his childhood in a remote corner of the country. At age 13, he was able to receive Western education in Hawaii and Hong Kong thanks to his elder brother Sun Mei. He spent his youth years in Hong Kong and became a doctor after graduating from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. During his college years, he was taught by Ho Chi [何啓] and Wu Tingfang [伍廷芳], early Britain-educated Chinese, and learned the Western Enlightenment philosophy.

Sun Wen lived in a farming village so poor that his family had to move to Hawaii as migrant workers. He grew up listening to heroic stories of Hong Xiuquan [洪秀全] from a warrior of Taiping Tianguo [太平天國, Great Peaceful Kingdom of Heaven], fostering social consciousness and anti-Manchu sentiment. But he was not an obvious nationalist or revolutionary at the beginning. Rather he was a devout Christian in his early years enough to cut off the wood totems in his Chinese hometown for being idols and be chased off from his hometown. In 1894, he went to Li Hongzhang [李鴻章] and made a proposal that he could make use of his knowledge of Western culture and help revive China. However, it seems that he was not given chance to meet Li Hongzhang because was too busy with the problem of Joseon just before the Qing-Japanese war. If he had become one of the officers of Li Hongzhang, would he still have become a revolutionist?

Persecution Bore Revolutionist

Sun Wen left his second hometown Hawaii in 1894. He founded the Revive China Society [楊衢雲] and started revolution activities. Later he moved to Hong Kong and colluded with Yeung Kuiwan [楊衢雲] and other Society members, and started to conspire actual revolutionary activities. However, their planned uprising ended in failure due to poor preparation. Sun Wen fled to Japan to avoid the Qing government's persecution; then he went on a world trip.

Sun Wen's handwriting

What made Sun Wen transform from an irrelevant lawbreaker in a border area to China's most celebrated revolutionist? Ironically it was the Qing's persecution. In 1896, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Qing's Legation in London, and was waiting for forced repatriation to China. His plight was made front page in the British newspaper with help of a British Christian missionary. This prompted the British government to pressure the Chinese Legation to release Sun, and he became famous overnight as a renowned Chinese revolutionist in the Western world.

His experience in Britain was a turning point in his life as a revolutionist. First, extensive readings at the Great Britain Museum taught him the evils of capitalism, Western socialist ideals and movements, and other basic understanding of the West, providing him with knowledge to form a theoretical foundation for the Three Principles of the People. Second, he gained international fame as a renowned revolutionist of China and could procure political support from Japan's pan-Asianists and right-wing people. Third, he could establish himself as the political leader of the new Chinese intellectuals including those studying in Japan. After this fruitful span of exile, he declared the Three Principles of the People (the principles of people, people's rights and people's welfare) as his political doctrine, gathered the revolutionary forces and started full-scale anti-Qing revolutionary movement.

His revolutionary activities were not always successful; rather, he experienced a series of failures. However, he did not take these failures as a permanent defeat, but took them as opportunities to strengthen his revolutionary ideology and develop strategies and tactics. For example, after he was thrown from the Guangdong Government [護法政府] in 1918, he wrote Methods and Strategies of Establishing the Country [建國方略] in Shanghai. Then after the failure of the May 4th Movement, he developed a national revolution theory that advocates the participation of the public, and strengthened the revolution group's capability by reforming Kuomindang. Finally, he built the foundation for the National Government by making a military expedition to the north with help of political and military aids from the Soviet Union. All these were possible because of his optimism as a revolutionist.

New Evaluation Necessary to Establish a Desirable Regional Order of East Asia

The relationship between Korea and Sun Wen is important in two respects. One is his support of Korean independent movements after the Xinhai Revolution and the other is the Pan-Asianism that he put emphasis on. Joseon intellectuals had high hopes for the Xinhai Revolution; thus Sun Wen and Korea's independent movements were closely interrelated from the beginning. However, Sun Wen's support for Korea could only be a hindrance to his primary goal of establishing a Chinese nation state. Therefore, he was very reluctant to approve the provisional government of Korea, and his support for the Korean independence activities was also quite limited so far as it did not interfere with the Chinese causes.

On the other hand, his political ideas had great impact on Asia's national liberation movements. The pan-Asianism that he proclaimed in 1925 drew great interest from the leaders of small and weaker nations as one of the most prominent anti-imperialist ideals. But his pan-Asianism, although it advocated the solidarity of Asian nations against the Western imperialism, presumed the leadership roles of China and Japan, which was enough for the Korean intellectuals to criticize it. His nationalist ideas, which started from the anti-Machu revolution, developed to the theory of five clan republicanism and to the Han-centered assimilationism in 1920, which indicates his leaning to Greater Han nationalism. Also Sun Wen's territorial perception of China was clearly based on traditional Sino-centrism. These aspects of Sun Wen need to be more examined, for it represents the duality of 20^th century Chinese nationalism.

The Xinhai Revolution gave a fresh impetus to the Korean intellectuals at first, who were facing imperialist aggressions and were sympathetic to the similar situations of China. In the same regard, Sun Wen's nationalist movement was also received very positively by the people of Joseon. But now Sun Wen is interpreted as an icon of the new Chinese nationalism. What does this trend signify? Finding the answer to this question is our task.