Sun Yat-sen's Granddaughter Criticizes Chinese Regime for Distortion(video)
Time：2011-10-04 11:20:00 Resource：NTDTV Author：
The granddaughter of Dr. Sun Yat-sen—the man known as the father of modern China—spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party for distorting his legacy. Lily Sui-fong Sun criticized the regime for misrepresenting the political ideals he left behind.
Sun Yat-sen is credited for founding the first republic in Asia. He co-founded the Nationalist Party, or the Kuomintang, and played an instrumental role in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. That revolution overturned the Qing Dynasty making way for establishing the Republic of China—now the government of Taiwan. This is not to be confused with the People’s Republic of China, which is founded by the Chinese Communist Party.
To mark this year’s 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, 76-year-old Lily Sun has been working to preserve her grandfather’s legacy. The most influential aspect of this legacy is Sun’s political ideal of The Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy and the people’s livelihood. These principles focused on the idea that a country would only be successful if it was run by the people and for the people.
Although the Chinese Communist Party heralds Sun as forerunner of China’s revolution, it overthrew his Republic of China in a civil war with the Kuomintang, which then retreated to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party has also retold Sun’s Three Principles of the People to be: working with the Soviets, working with the communists, and helping the farmers.
Historian Xin Haonian says this version sought to legitimize communist rule over China, by portraying Sun Yat-sen as the forerunner of communist revolutions.
[Xin Haonian, Chinese Historian]:
“Is the CCP a successor of Sun Yat-sen? The CCP used Marxist theories to counter Sun’s Three Principles of the People. It used the People’s Republic of China to overthrow the Republic of China—which was first republic established by Sun Yat-sen. What kind of a successor is this? The CCP actually should not even dare to face up to Sun Yat-sen.”
In an interview with Hong Kong’s Ming Bao over the weekend, Lily Sun said, (quote) "Some people have distorted my grandfather's `Three Principles of the People' and have implemented a string of policies to fool the citizens."
The centenary of the Xinhai Anniversary will be marked in Taiwan as its National Day on October 10th. Lily Sun says she plans to give away 100 bronze statutes of her grandfather to various places around the world, as a way to preserve his legacy.
