Sun Yat-sen’s concluding speech in “Towards the Republic”
For Double Ten Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwb1Mnpp3hs&feature=related
National Father of China Sun Yat-sen’s concluding speech at the end of the CCTV series, “Towards the Republic,” which would have taken place around 1918. This remains one of my favorite monologues of all time.
My English translation of Sun’s speech follows below. An alternative translation (done by someone else) is available at: http://lily.gebweb.net/?p=131
Any suggestions or corrections to this translation or comments on the speech are welcome.
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I know that you are worried. Zhang Xun has restored the monarchy. Once more, the National Assembly can no longer convene. I know. As for me, I am not worried about this. I have been thinking a lot these past few days. We were supposed to be a republic. But how come time and again we have degenerated into feudalism and tyranny? If we do not resolve this problem, then a return to tyranny is only inevitable. The republic will forever be an illusion.
The principles of the republic are liberty, equality, fraternity, of course. But in the six years of the republic, what have we seen? Government executives of all levels have viewed the laws as excrement. The people remain enslaved.
The republic is supposed to be a nation of liberty. Liberty is the God-given right of the people! But in the six years of the republic, what have we seen? Only the people with power have freedom. Those with great power have great freedom. Those with little power have little freedom. And the people? They have no power. They have no freedom.
The republic is supposed to be a nation of fraternity. All for one and one for all. But in the six years of the republic, again, what have we seen? The only love that the people show tyrants is out of fear. And the tyrants, they merely pay lip service to the concept of fraternity. Honest, sincere fraternity is nowhere to be seen!
The republic, most importantly, should be a nation of rule of law. But in the six years of the republic, time and again we have seen the executive branch wantonly interfering in the legislature. You don’t listen? Then I buy you off. You don’t obey? Then I arrest you, even assassinate you. The legislature has become the whore of the executive that it ravages when it pleases!
Then, what is the executive? The executive is supposed to be a bureaucracy of the president and his cabinet. It is supposed to serve the people and execute a republican government. But in the six years of the republic, what have we seen? A family dynasty masquerading as a republic. And in the governance of this family dynasty, we cannot see any amount of transparency, even less an open government! How these executive officials have wasted the money that the people have earned through blood, sweat, and tears! The people cannot even begin to count how much of their money these executive officials have stuffed into their own pockets. You do not know how much, do you? I do not know, either.
Surely you know that the judiciary is an arbiter. Wherein lay the principles of its arbitration? In a sovereign, republican constitution. But in the six years of the republic, we have yet to see any such constitution, only an unripe “provisional constitution” that has been raped time and again!
Someone said . . . no, not someone . . . some people have said that the republic can only exist in name. What you, Cannon Sun [a nickname from his confrontational speeches], say is too unreal, too distant, not befitting the national temperament. It is like a balloon. It looks beautiful, but when it floats up into the sky – poof! It bursts.
I want to ask you, then, do we no longer want the republic? Is the republic truly a mistake? If we give up on the republic, then what we will have is eternal tyranny. If we give up on the republic, then what we will have is eternal enslavement. If the republic is a mistake, then liberty is a mistake. If the republic is a mistake, then equality is a mistake. If the republic is a mistake, then is fraternity a mistake? Our pursuit of a republic is no mistake. Of course, it is still imperfect. So we must, bit by bit, work to perfect it, no matter the price we have to pay!
Right. The suit that I am wearing today looks a bit strange, does it not? Even my tailor said it was strange. But when I say is that this is for the perfection of the republic, do you still find it strange? I am here to say, “This is the republic. This is the suit of the republic!”
On this [right] side, I have designed three buttons. The principles of the republic are liberty, equality, and fraternity. This side [left side] also has three buttons[, the Three Principles of the People]: civic nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood. And the constitution? No, no, I am not talking about a three-powered constitution. I have invented a new term. It is called the five-powered constitution. In here [this pocket] is the power of the legislature. This [second pocket] contains the power of the executive. This [third pocket] contains the power of the judiciary. All of you are familiar with these three powers. These are the “indirect civil powers.”
What I desire with all my heart is “direct civil power,” to allow ordinary people to have the power to directly participate and represent themselves in government. One is the power of examination. Since antiquity, we Chinese have had a tradition of using examinations to select our government officials, but we abolished it along with the imperial system. Of course, this had benefits for the spread of modern sciences. One no longer needed to take an exam to become a government official. This is a mistake! This is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
In the six years of the republic, what kind of people have been our government officials? They were all Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang people [military clique], even to this day. Therefore, we must return the right of examination to the people. From this day forward, everyone in government must take and pass an exam, no matter who they are!
Another one is the power of impeachment. There’s no place to put it. Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s placed in here, this power of impeachment. Why is the power of impeachment hidden inside? Because it is the secret weapon of the people. It may, at any given time, come out and trump you and impeach you. Therefore, you government officials must conduct yourselves cautiously and serve the people with integrity.
Surely by now some people must be thinking that I, Sun Wen, must be mad. When I eat, when I dress, all I talk about is the republic. Cannon Sun, what else do you know?
These people are right. I only know this word “republic.” In this lifetime, the only word I know is “republic.” We have had several comrades and colleagues who, for the sake of the republic, have sacrificed even their own lives.
In this life, I, Sun Wen, have no other wish, just this one wish. That is, to have the republic not just be a name, an empty word, or a façade. It must become a concrete way of life. It must become an ingrained, unshakeable belief. The republic is the choice of all people under heaven. It is the trend of the world. The trends of the world are as mighty as the currents of the ocean. Those who flow with it, prosper. Those who go against it, perish! I, Sun Wen, believe that our Chinese nation absolutely will realize a republic. In this point I firmly believe.
