Sun Yat-sen was an essential leader in the Chinese community. He wrote an expose that helped give a perspective on how the integration of western and Chinese beliefs mingled. “Sun, who had once represented the vanguard of nationalism from the West, now fought a rear guard action in defense of his old cause. He spoke increasingly in deprecation of the modern West — its materialism especially — and increasingly sought in Chinese tradition the basis for nationalism that it had never been made to serve before.” Sun converted the secret revolution into an open political party. The party that was started was a Nationalist party that drew inspiration from the successful insurrection in Russia. He analyzed the governments and tried to figure out what was the best fit for China.
One view he had of China was that it was a “Hypo-colony.” Because of the oppression by the Manchus, the Chinese government struggled to regain control and the people’s trust. “For this reason, they are letting up in their efforts to control China by political force and instead are using economic pressure to keep us d o w n ….. Regarding political oppression, people are readily aware of their suffering, but when it comes to economic oppression, they are often hardly conscious of it.” China had already faced decades of economic oppression from foreign powers controlling their economy, and it seemed like they had no irritation. The Chinese were conscious of the pressure and did nothing about it, slowly turning Chine into a colony.
Sun also had a view on democracy and its principles of it. “Sun had proclaimed the principle of democracy mainly against the advocates of constitutional monarchy who lie identified with an absolutism.” He also believed a country needed a strong political leader or leadership to have a strong government. Sun thought the Chinese should have five branches of government instead of the traditional 5. “These would include the three associated with the American government-executive, legislative and judicial— along with two that were intended as a
check on elected officials and their powers of appointment, and for which Sun believed Chinese political tradition provided a unique precedent, a censored or supervisory organ, and an independent civil service system.” This way of government would have a constitution that represented Chinese synthesis and also redeemed Chinese tradition. This was important for China to come out of a colony and be the power it used to be.
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