Idealism on Real Ground: An Analysis of Sun Yat-sen's Three-Stage Political Program and its Implementation in China

Zhang Jirui

The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University

Abstract：

This paper takes Sun Yat-sen’s three-stage political program of “Military Administration, Political Tutelage, and Constitutional Government” as the research object. Combining the historical background of modern China, it sorts out the core connotations of the program, analyzes its practice during the Nationalist Government period, and discusses the compatibility between the ideal system and China’s actual conditions. The study holds that as an idealized transplantation of Western institutions, the program was alienated into a tool for the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang during the period of Political Tutelage, and also failed in the period of Constitutional Government due to the lack of a social foundation. In contrast, drawing on the traditional wisdom of seeking truth from facts, putting people first, and appointing people on their merits, the Communist Party of China has formed a successful path of modernization aimed at solving practical problems and achieving effective governance. Through this comparative study, this paper provides an interpretive perspective based on history and reality for understanding the uniqueness of the Chinese path to modernization.

Key Words：

Sun Yat-sen; military administration, political tutelage, constitutional government; realism; Chinese path to modernization