Deepening and expanding

The period from 1991 to 1999 was the period during which Sun Yat-sen research had been deepened and further expanded. Innovation is the most important thing to keep the vitality of the research. Since the 1990s, Sun Yat-sen research has been faced with the problem of how to further deepen and expand the research on the basis of previous studies. Scholars had reflected on this problem and opened a new path from the macro perspective to maintain its strong vitality and vigor. There were four hot issues during this stage.

Sun Yat-sen and China's modernization

Integrating Sun Yat-sen research with the research on China’s modernization has been a major feature of the research of this period. “The International Symposium on Sun Yat-sen and China’s Modernization” held in Guangdong in 1996 was a review of the studies on this topic. Some scholars pointed out that the Three People’s Principles were the most complete thought on modernization in China at that time, which reflected Sun’s idea of founding the nation-state “following” the European and American countries’ normal courses of modernization, and his idea of “surpassing” these countries by catching up with them in the social development while avoiding their drawbacks.⁷⁵ Scholars emphasized that Sun’s thought on modernization was a complete system: “breaking the twofold shackles of colonialism and feudalism was its premise; industrialization was the core of its program; democratic politics was the lever; science, education and culture should be the necessary conditions; the correct cultural orientation was the important key to the ideological orientation, spiritual motivation and intellectual support”. The basic goal of modernization “was to establish a New China of independence, unity, democracy and prosperity”.⁷⁶ All the revolutionary activities and struggles of Sun Yat-sen revolved around the two aims of the national emancipation and modernization. “His thought on modernization was the most advanced one among those of his contemporaries, and no or few people could surpass him”.⁷⁷

With regard to Sun’s thought on political modernization, some scholars said that “Sun Yat-sen was not only a great pioneer of the great democratic revolution who had been the first to put forward and always adhered to the implementation of the democratic constitutional system in China, but also a great forerunner in the spread of modern socialist thought in China”. He “was the first to propose the thought that the state power ‘should be shared by the common people’ and ‘led’ by the party formed by the union of the KMTand the CPC in the history of Chinese political thought”.⁷⁸ Some scholars held that Sun’s thought represented the peak of modern political thought and declared the end of the dominance of the Confucianist political thought, which was a new construction of modern China’s system culture.⁷⁵

As for Sun’s thought on the economic modernization, scholars thought that national capitalism and private capitalism constituted the economic model of Sun’s modernization program. To “rely on state power” and “let the government assume overall responsibility” was its method, and opening up and utilizing foreign investment were its important ways.⁸⁰ The Principle of People’s Livelihood was the theoretical premise and logical starting point of its strategies to develop the economy, whose characteristics were as follows: the graded regional development strategy with three big ports as the growth poles and the coastal areas as the center; the point-axis development mode with the ports as the points, and the railways, waterways and roads as the axes; the development strategy of industrialization focusing on the traffic, transportation, raw materials and living materials industry.⁸¹

Scholars also discussed Sun Yat-sen’s thoughts on society, agriculture, education, law, science, the military and other aspects from the perspective of modernization.⁸²

Research on Sun Yat-sen and China’s Road of Modernization written by Lin Jiayou in 1999 is a masterpiece in this field. Taking modernization as the main line and Sun Yat-sen’s reflection on Western modernization and China’s modernization as the point of penetration, this book analyzed the various models for China’s modernization and the causes for their failure, and explored the ideological origin, theoretical framework, and concrete practices of Sun Yat-sen’s thought on modernization. It highlighted the superiority of Sun’s thought on modernization by comparing Sun’s “modernization” with those of the advocates of the Westernization Movement, the Reformers and the advocates of the New Deal of the late Qing Dynasty.