2016 is Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's 150th Birthday

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Song

To serve the world... by Dr. Sun

​When a country builds a monument in celebration, it looks to the men and women who helped make it thrive, survive, and prosper for inspiration. Americans might enshrine Lincoln or Jefferson in granite, while Indians celebrate Ghandi and the art of passivity. Mongolians look to a time when a great Khan came across the plains introducing himself and his people to the world on horseback. With five thousand years of history, this can be difficult for the residents of Southern Asia and the Middle Kingdom. Yet in modern times, most agree that Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (aka Sun Zhong-Shan) is recognized as the father of Modern China, and perhaps one of the most important figures in its 5,000 year history. Born in a small village in the Guandong Province on November 12th, 1866, he would soon get his education in Hawaii and Hong Kong, and receive his medical education at what is now the University of Hong Kong. During his college years, he became radicalized by observing the corrupt and backward practices of the Qing Emperors who failed to see a global vision of technology, democracy, and knowledge that would have greatly improved the lives of all Chinese citizens. With this realization, Sun decided to devote his life to changing his country and helping his people. As a doctor, he realized that the biggest threat to Chinese health, to the Chinese body as a whole was the Chinese body politic, and as a doctor he would treat this disease. Something had to change, and he devoted his life to this change. He would spend most of his life traveling the world and gaining support for his cause from Hawaii, to Japan, America, England, Belgium; too many to mention. His movement was truly one of globalism as people from around the world gladly helped Sun -whether in jail, escaping assassination, fighting exile, travel documents, and material support. In order to fulfill the dreams he had for his people and country, Sun needed to develop a philosophy that would make China a free, prosperous, and modern country. The philosophy he created was called the “Three Principles of the People.”These principles (roughly translated) included nationalism, democracy, and welfare. Sun was heavily influenced by his visit to the United States and study of Abraham Lincoln and his writings. He took the simple sentence, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” to heart and developed a complex philosophy with a Chinese soul that would guide him and his party to power in China, and far outlive him in spirit. These principles are still sung by school children today and are intertwined in many government declarations throughout Asia. Dr. Sun is recognized as the father of modern China, the man who brought down the Imperial dynastic system, and the leader who established the first Democratic, Republican government in China. In this government, he was also named the frst elected President