This study aims to explore how Sun Yat-sen’s nationalism and cosmopolitanism could coexist in a historical context in which nationalism was an influential factor in the process of Chinese nation-building. The investigation of the compatibility of na...
This study aims to explore how Sun Yat-sen’s nationalism and cosmopolitanism could coexist in a historical context in which nationalism was an influential factor in the process of Chinese nation-building. The investigation of the compatibility of nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Sun Yat-sen’s political thought contributes to determining his idea of nation-building and understanding the trend of political thoughts during the late Qing Dynasty. Moreover, since there are legacies deeply intertwined and entangled between Imperial China, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China, this also provides implications on understanding the Republic of China and People’s Republic of China,
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chinese intellectuals struggled to transform Imperial China into a modern nation-state by waving the flags of modern nationalism. They concluded that only by establishing a modern nation-state could Chinese continue to survive in the world during an imperial era. On the other hand, they also appealed for cosmopolitanism, which emphasizes the elimination of national-ethnic lines between nation-states. It is worth noting that when faced with the difficulty in building a modern nation-state, Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, was also a representative among them advocating for nationalism and cosmopolitanism simultaneously. With this discovery, this thesis examines Sun Yat-sen’s nationalism and cosmopolitanism to comprehend how he struck a balance between national identity and cosmopolitan identity.
The majority of previous research focused on how modern nationalism shaped the Chinese Nation, but ignored another side of the formation of a modern nation-state; that is how modern nationalism shaped the formation of the Republic of China. Therefore, this thesis chose a framework and focused on the influence of nationalism and cosmopolitanism from a holistic perspective by considering both sides and the interaction between them. The main arguments for this study are as follows.
First, liberalism and sinocentrism can both serve as the connection to understand how nationalism was compatible with cosmopolitanism in Sun’s case, especially before the 1910s. However, after being frustrated in the wars that aimed to protect his republic, Sun attempted to concentrate his personal political power and strengthen dictatorship in order to reverse this. Therefore, liberalism could not continue to serve as a catalyst, which performed to transform his nationalism and cosmopolitanism into open and democratic ones. In this way, sinocentrism became the only connection.
Second, Sun Yat-sen was not a complete traditionalist, since he accepted western liberalism and built the first democratic republic in China by introducing liberal democracy. However, he eventually returned to sinocentrism, which served as the best instrument to achieve Sun’s ultimate political goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
In conclusion, Sun Yat-sen attempted to unify China as a modern nation-state by introducing liberal democracy. However, as the dictatorship and sinocentrism were resurrected, his republic also came to turn into an empire bringing the imperial legacies of imperial China to life.