Sun Yat Sen and Democracy in China - Indispensable to each other A Critical Analysis - Dissertation Example

He focused on modernizing the Chinese economy on the lines of the Western model (focusing on the British model) and sought to achieve his objective with the help of the Western civilization (British civilization). As a result, Chinese historians have been interested in examining the life, philosophy, and work of Sun Yat Sen. From Chinese historical accounts, it is clear that Sun’s contribution in the development of modern Chinese democratic republic is highly significant (Bergerie & Lloyd, 1998, p 1).

Sun Yat-Sen’s family was farmers and devoted the early stages of his life (upto 6 years of age) in farming activities like herding cows. After this time, he was a member of the secret societies, such as Furen Literary Society, Revive China Society, and in 1888 he directed his efforts in voicing the grievances of the peasant communities. After 1890, he gradually became a part of the new emerging intelligentsia of the Chinese society. Yat-Sen joined the Revolutionary Alliance (?????), a ‘nationalist and republican revolutionary party’ (????, ????, ????, ????) of China and ‘finally became its official leader’.

The Revolutionary Alliance under the leadership of Yat-Sen proceeded to plan a way of putting an end to the then Chinese governmental regime (the Qing government). After this revolution in 1905 China’s famous revolution of 1911 occurred. In the aftermath of the revolution, Sun Yat-Sen became the President of the Chinese Republic for a brief period of time, from 1911 to 1912. However, the republican form of governance did not continue for long and rapidly deteriorated into a dictatorship regime.

However, Yat-Sen did not lose faith in his primary mission.He believed that he could still chart out a new destiny, in 1915, for his nation with the help of his own endeavors. Yat-Sen, in 1918 set about organizing a military base in Canton, who would rally around him and help him to usurp the national power from the then ruling generals in Peking, such as Lu Hao-tung. In 1924, his military party was compelled to form a foreign alliance with Soviet Russia owing to the antagonism of the Western powers.

This collaboration happened for acquiring arms and weapons from Soviet Russia and also to declare attacks on Britain. This partnership model (collaboration with Soviet Russia) provided Yat-Sen with the inspiration for the reorganization of the military party, the Guomingdang ( ?????) and the restatement of his philosophy of the “Three Principles of the People”. Bergerie suggests Sun based them all on the experiences he had with the alliance partnership with the Soviet Union (Bergerie& Lloyd, 1998, p 3-4).

Chinese historians and people remember Dr. Sun Yat-Sen as one of the foremost reformers and revolutionaries in the history of the Chinese civilization. His primary objective in life was to put an end to the corrupt rule of the Qing dynasty and introduce a democratic form of government in China (Hays, 2010, p. 55). Thus, he is considered by Chinese historians to be the Father of the modern 20th century China. His political philosophies, both reforms initiated by Sun refers to these philosophies, have earned the respect of both the Chinese communist thinkers as well as the Nationalist Taiwanese reformers.

During this period, in 1990s and 1920s, China was being ruled by the Qing dynasty, which had become steeped in corruption.The Chinese citizens were gradually beginning protest against the rule of the Qing dynasty. Most of the Chinese individuals were seething in anger against the corrupt rule which ignited a rebellious streak in them. They went ahead and formed secret societies which were engaged in planning and plotting against the Qing rulers.