Each revolution strongly pushed for modernization of society; whether it was in military tactics, education, industrialization, or so on . They all supported both gender and class equality in addition to fighting for freedom from …show more content…
Sun Yat-sen published and mass released Fundamentals of National Reconstruction to guide the country during this tumultuous time and to give the people a model with which to strive for. In this piece Sun Yat-sen details the three main principals of revolution: nationalism, democracy, and livelihood. Nationalism to the Nationalist Revolution was crucial; it showed that “the Chinese as a people are independent in spirit and in conduct.” The political situation of China leading into this revolution was one of weakness; it had been only a handful of years since the nation had freed itself from over 250 years of foreign rule and Western countries had split the country into spheres of influence immediately. Nationalism was a way to draw a fractured and bruised nation together again under one umbrella. Sun Yat-sen’s second principal was that of democracy. He lists three reasons for why a democracy must be put in place: “from a theoretical point of view, there is no ground for preserving a monarchical form of government,” due to the long monarchical rule of the Manchu the Chinese people will not tolerate another monarchy, and there will be no possibility for disorder when power is transferred as there always is when a new emperor is needed. The final principal included by Sun Yat-sen is that of livelihood. This principal is based off of his travels to Europe and America where the uneven distribution of wealth caused “the instability of their economic structure and the deep concern of their leaders in grouping for a solution.” The solution to this problem was state ownership thus livelihood equaled socialism to the 1920s revolution. This document summarizes the three driving forces behind the 1920s Nationalist Revolution: Nationalism, a desire for democracy,