At Kobe, whither I fled from Hong Kong, I took a step of great importance. I cut off my cue, which had been growing all my life.
Sun Yat-SenRead
The government should help and guide the weak and small racial groups within its national boundaries toward self-determination and self-government. It should offer resistance to foreign aggression, and simultaneously, it should revise foreign treaties in order to restore our equality and independence among the nations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Governments have a responsibility to empower marginalized groups and protect national sovereignty.
This quote emphasizes the role of the government in supporting weaker and smaller racial groups to achieve self-determination and self-governance, highlighting the balance between internal support and external resistance. Sun Yat-sen advocates for a government that not only promotes equality and independence among nations but also stands firm against foreign aggression, thereby fostering a sense of national unity and strength through self-empowerment.
Themes
GovernmentSelf-DeterminationEqualityIndependenceEmpowerment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be cited in a speech advocating for minority rights during a political rally.
More from Sun Yat-Sen
All quotes →After the Manchu government had carried on wars with foreign nations and had been defeated, China was forced to sign many unequal treaties. Foreign nations are still using these treaties to bind China, and as a result, China fails at whatever she attempts.
Sun Yat-SenRead
What problem does Pan-Asianism attempt to solve? The problem is how to terminate the sufferings of the Asiatic peoples and how to resist the aggression of the powerful European countries. In a word, Pan-Asianism represents the cause of the oppressed Asiatic peoples.
Sun Yat-SenRead
How can human rights be ever developed for the majority of Chinese people? The only way is to organize. To organize workers, peasants, merchants, industrialists, and students at the grassroots level.
Sun Yat-SenRead
At thirteen, I accompanied my mother to the Hawaiian Islands. There, for the first time, I saw the wonder of a steamship and the vastness of the ocean. From that time on, I was eager to acquire the knowledge of the West and to fathom the mysteries of nature.
Sun Yat-SenRead
Because of poverty, we must adopt the capitalist means of production to develop our resources to get rich. However, if we ignore the issue of social justice at the beginning of China's industrialization, we will sow the seeds of class warfare in the future.
Sun Yat-SenRead
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