March 29, 1968
Youths of the nation:
History teaches us that the success of a nation and the well-being of its people are contingent on the existence of a fertile and superior culture as well as a long and glorious past. These factors also determine who shall be masters and who the enslaved, and distinguish humankind from those who behave like beasts. The destiny of a nation and a people will be decided by the value they attach to their glorious history, by their defense of cultural tradition, and by the unyielding courage with which they carryon the country's struggle. The people will be regenerated and saved from decline and the nation will be invigorated just as long as their historical greatness and outstanding cultural heritage are preserved and sustained. Even after a relapse brought on by chance, the nation will transform jeopardy into security and defeat into victory in not too long a time and once again will take its illustrious place in the family of nations. The Chinese people have been subjected to disasters and hardships without number during a course of thousands of years. Yet the people have maintained their eminence and defended their historical lineage to become one of the greatest peoples on earth. This is made possible by our magnificent culture and long, long history.
The essence of Chinese culture may be concisely expressed in one word - "benevolence". We find the embodiment of this in Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Principle of Nationalism, which is rooted in loyalty, filial duty, kindness and fraternity; in his Principle of Democracy, which stands for freedom and equality; and in his Principle of the People's Livelihood, which assures a peaceful order and the welfare of hu mankind. The Three Principles of the People (San Min Chu I) set forth the whole essence of the Chinese heritage.
On the mainland today, the Maoist traitors have incited - through the borrowed influence of Marxist-Leninist ideology - a class struggle to give vent to the notorious egocentric antipathy that they direct against the people, against ethics, against democracy and against science. They have made the Chinese people their invariable enemy and the destruction of Chinese culture and termination of Chinese history their only goal. They broke with the Chinese historical tradition long ago, scrapped and destroyed the substance of Chinese culture and become traitors to the Chinese nation. Essentially, they are no longer Chinese.
Why have the people never recognized and supported the Mao regime since it usurped power nearly two decades ago? Why, on the contrary, have they hated and opposed the Maoist rule of violence and terror? Why is the corrupt Peiping regime now on the brink of disruption and extinction? The reason is that San Min Chu I, which epitomizes our national morality as well as our historical and cultural heritage, has penetrated the hearts of the mainland people and generated therein a tremendous anti-Maoist and anti-Communist force.
Youths of the nation! The Mao regime is now writhing in its death agony, Of all its crimes, the most beastly was the dragooning of millions of young people into the "Red Guards" to serve as tools of Maoism in the power-seizure struggle. These youngsters left their homes and their schools to roam all over the country to "exchange revolutionary experiences" and carry out struggle. Many of them have died and their corpses litter the land. Recently the Maoists came to realize that the vast majority of "Red Guards" was disillusioned and no longer subject to control and utilization as a pawn. So these discontented youngsters were pressed into the armed forces or drafted to undergo labor reform or banished to the countryside, the mountains or remote frontier areas to serve as slaves on farms or in other work. Theirs has been a life worse than that of cattle.
In crushing the budding generation of the nation, the Mao regime in reality has severed the thread of national continuity and deprived the next generation of its hope and rightful destiny. Unless these fanatic and fierce jackals are quickly eliminated, our 5,000 years of history and culture will be wiped out. Young men and young women who survived the trampling and destruction of Mao would be transformed into a fierce horde of mindless creatures turned loose to terrorize and scourge the world. At such a moment, the continuity of national life would be terminated. Nation and people would be plunged into an abyss of catastrophe - never to be saved.
We all know that the 72 Martyrs who died 57 years ago and who are enshrined on Yellow Flower Mound were eminent and highly ambitious youths of the time. Among them Yu Pei-lun, Lin Wen, Lin Chueh-min, Fang Sheng-tung, Jao Kuo-liang, Li Wen-fu, Lin Yi-min and Lo Chung-huo were scholars known to the entire nation. Dedicating themselves to San Min Chu I and responding to the great call of National Revolution, they did not hesitate to leave schools and parents and say last farewells to their wives. "I do not want to sacrifice my life but I am prepared to die" (said Martyr Lin Yi-min in his last testament) in order to "help achieve what others desire" (as expressed in his last letter to his wife). They were defenders of Chinese culture and history who took action to realize their ideals. These were true practitioners of San Min Chu I and the vanguard of the National Revolution. Their sacrifice demonstrated their total loyalty to the nation and their supreme fulfillment of filial duty to the people. Their courage in vying with one another in acts of self-sacrifice reawakened the soul of the nation and triggered the Wuchang uprising that overthrew Manchu despotism and resulted in establishment of the Republic of China. They boldly displayed the revolutionary spirit embodied in Chinese culture, transformed this into a national sense of righteousness and contributed to a great revolutionary undertaking that still shines brilliantly in our history.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen once taught our young men and young women that "while engaging in revolution, we should not neglect our study; while at study, we should not forget about our revolution" and that "the basis of revolution lies in profound learning". Everyone knows that study is synonymous with learning and that revolution is synonymous with renovation. When we get rid of the old political entity of a nation and provide a new one, that is called revolution. If we ourselves cultivate knowledge, rectify our conduct and enable others to do so, that is called renovation. A precept of our Moral Codes for Youth says "Learning is fundamental to world salvation". As young men and young women study, they must keep in mind the objective of world salvation. Those who harbor in their heart great aspirations will naturally achieve greatly in their undertakings. Those who expect less of themselves will achieve moderately. Those without ambition will idle away the whole of their lives and accomplish nothing of significance. Young men and young women who want to show their gratitude for the sustenance provided by their parents and for the fostering care of the nation must determine to give their loyalty to the country, to be useful members of society and to bring credit to their families. They will strive for the advancement of their nation's military and financial strength and for the well-being of the people. They will do all within their power to contribute to the peace of the world and the freedom of humankind. These actions involve the security of our country and our people as well as the salvation of the world and the human race.
How can we hope to safeguard our country and our people and save the world and humankind? We must not direct ourselves only to egocentric, selfish, realistic acts of pleasure-seeking. We should dedicate ourselves to the revolution and support justice and uphold righteousness through the elimination of tyranny and the maintenance of rightful order in order to guard against recurrence of such evils as the majority oppressing the minority and the strong taking advantage of the weak and so the sufferings of famine, terror and persecution can be relegated to the past. Everyone will enter upon a happy state of freedom, equality and prosperity. If our young men and young women decide to dedicate themselves to self-development and to realization of the potential inherited from our national culture, every single one of them may become the cornerstone of the country, disciple of the revolution and hero of the nation. As Mencius has said, "All men may become as wise as the sage-emperors Yao and Shun."
Youths of the nation! All of us know that San Min Chu I is a composite entity made up of ethics, democracy and science. It is an integrated system and no part of it can be dispensed with. However, the order of priority among the parts must vary with the needs of the National Revolution in its different stages. Thus we concentrated on nationalism in our revolution against the Manchus. During the revolutionary movement against the warlords, we centered our efforts on democracy. Today, while we are suppressing the Communist rebellion and endeavoring to carry out national renaissance, our revolutionary activity focuses on the people's livelihood. Our principal and priority task of today is that of making scientific progress essentially based on the concept of the people's livelihood.
In any period of time, the victories of the National Revolution must be primarily attributed to the ethics of our nationalism. Democracy and science may promote the advance of nation and contribute to the well-being of its people. But these will lose their effectiveness and endless calamities will occur if the people are lacking in national ethics and neglect their historical responsibility to the nation. Soon after the establishment of our Republic, most members of the Revolutionary Party wrongly considered that having succeeded in the National Revolution, they had reached their revolutionary goal. They were misled into neglecting the importance of democracy and science.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen alone repeatedly warned that the purpose of our nationalist-based revolution was to promote democracy and the people's livelihood; he said that this was the only way to consummate the revolution and that the revolution would be meaningless and could not succeed without the development of both democracy and the people's livelihood. In 1918 and 1919, at a time when our country was partitioned by warlords and the people suffered in their livelihood and were deprived of their civil rights, many of our compatriots advocated democracy and the development of science. But some of them forgot about or were opposed to consideration of the basic problems of national ethics and democracy and science, and therefore were rendered helpless vis-a-vis either national reconstruction or the propagation of national culture. These historic lessons teach us that if we hope to succeed in establishing a really great system of democracy and science, we must establish national ethics as the foundation and see that we accomplish:
- The promotion of democracy without neglecting ethics;
- The study of science without neglecting national reconstruction; and
- The pursuit of science on the assumption that it will be used for national development and the propagation of national ethics.
All branches of learning should be based on San Min Chu I, which sets forth the cultural essence of the Chinese race, and all branches of science must be firmly established on the basis of national ethics. This is the kind of science that may be put to use in the rehabilitation of our nation and people. Only then can our nation be restored to its former position in the world, only then will it deservedly become a bulwark of universal peace. Thus will the culture of the Chinese race make its contributions to mankind and display the brilliance of its achievements for all the world to see.
We are charged with the duty of safeguarding our cultural heritage and of restoring and reconstructing the nation. In carrying out these tasks, the most urgent necessity is to develop our own science. We believe that as long as our people's promotion of science keeps up with the dictates of the times and as long as we do not abuse science, we can be assured of the restoration and reconstruction of our nation in the shortest possible time and of the continued improvement of the livelihood and welfare of our people. We should remember that our cultural heritage stresses not only the Principle of Democracy, which decrees that "the people shall be supreme", but also expresses the spirit of science in providing for the "utilization of natural resources for the welfare of the people",
As long ago as 2,000 years, our people excelled all others of the time whether in agriculture, industry or medicine, military arts or the humanities, astronomy or geography, or any of the other natural sciences. Fact and history bear out the reputation of the Chinese people for high intelligence and outstanding abilities. Regrettably, the spirit of the people was weakened by successive foreign invasions. Chinese culture then declined and the country was reduced to the situation of today. Nevertheless, we are supremely confident that national restoration and reconstruction will be accomplished by the Chinese youth of this generation.
The essential requirement is to restore the self-confidence and self-respect of the nation. Each and every one of our young people must fix his mind on the loftiest of objectives and courageously march forward toward the national goal. At each and every school of the nation, the supreme purpose must be the glorification of Chinese culture and the Three Principles of the People. This is the way to harness the intelligence and the potential of each and every student in the service of the country.
Our government has undertaken various measures and has embarked upon a program of general reform to implement extension of the system of free education from six to nine years. This will assure a stronger plebeian foundation for the nation. Our people will have opportunity to develop their intellectual and moral powers. A higher standard of research will be assured to expedite the development and progress of our science. It is my most earnest hope that our young people will understand and respond to the needs of our times and of the nation. Through science and revolution, they should come to the aid of their country and should accept the responsibility for safeguarding Chinese culture and for preserving the peace and security of the world.
Youths of the nation! We Chinese are possessed of excellent qualities. Ours is the oldest and one of the greatest cultures on earth. You young people of China should always treasure in your hearts the role that each of you has to play in assuring the preservation and continuity of the Chinese nation. Furthermore, you should be proud to be a Chinese who stands for honesty and righteousness. As individuals, you have derived all that you have and all that you are from the heritage of national culture that has been passed down through the generations. All of you therefore have an obligation to your ancestors to exert yourselves to the utmost and utilize the totality of your knowledge and abilities in behalf of China as a nation and the Chinese as a people. You must join in fulfilling our great responsibility to serve the human race and to uphold justice and righteousness throughout the world. In brief, you young people of China today must regard the success or failure of your country as your own, must conceive of the glory or the shame of the Chinese people as your personal glory or shame. You must merge your learning and intelligence into the mainstream of the nation. In this way you will summon up an overwhelming and revolutionary torrent against Mao and in support of national salvation, thereby fulfilling the tasks assumed in the third stage of our National Revolution.
Youths of the nation! The country has an obligation to see to the growth and development of its young people. In turn, youth has the responsibility of serving and building up the country. Together, nation and youth must strive to heighten consciousness of and confidence in the national culture. I bid you to rise courageously and stand firmly in facing the tests of the times. In doing so you will be obeying and fulfilling the will of our Founding Farther and of the 72 Martyrs who died at the Yellow Flower Mound. You will be contributing to national regeneration and cultural renaissance. You will be undertaking the great mission of national restoration and reconstruction and ushering the nation into a new era.
President Chiang Kai-shek's address to youth representatives
March 29, 1968
Youth of the nation!
At a Yellow Flower Mound meeting held on this day in 1924 at Lingnan University, Dr. Sun Yat-sen told the students: "We are here to commemorate the aspirations of the Martyrs in reawakening the people and serving their country. In honoring the Martyrs' memory, we should come to understand these aspirations and enlarge upon them so as to serve the people, society, the nation and the world." Today I want to repeat this instruction of the Founding Father to the youth of the nation. This present Youth Day is the occasion for us to understand the aspirations of the Martyrs who are enshrined at the Yellow Flower Mound and enlarge upon these aspirations in order to serve the people, society, the nation and the world."
I recall that when I was studying abroad and accepted Dr. Sun's leadership and joined the revolutionary ranks of the Tung Men Hui, I swore to devote my life to the implementation of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People (San Min Chu I) and the consummation of the National Revolution. I would not have hesitated to sacrifice my life or anything else so that we might repel the Manchus, overthrow their despotism, establish a republic and restore freedom to our people. I considered that such a death would be one of glory and happiness. Such was my revolutionary aspiration when I was young. Sixty years has elapsed since the start of the revolution. During this time I participated in the 1911 uprising and in the battles to safeguard the Constitution, in the Northward Expedition and in the purification of the Party. I carried out the mission of national reunification in 1928. At that time, I believed that San Min Chu I would be implemented in a matter of days.
Soon after reunification, the government was able to:
- Enforce the 25 per cent rent reduction program and the eight-hour work day, thereby enhancing the welfare of farmers, workers and the community as a whole.
- Convene the Republic's first national congress on education, renovate the nation's educational system and raise the standards of scientific research.
- Support the four social bonds (propriety, righteousness, incorruptibility and honor) and the eight basic virtues (loyalty, filial piety, humanity, love, honesty, justice, peace and harmony) in order to establish democracy and a code of ethics for the self-cultivation of the people.
Just as these programs were being actively implemented, the dead ashes of Communist rebellion burst into flame once more. The Communists obstructed various programs and incited conflict and struggle between tenants and landlords and workers and management. At middle schools and colleges, they sought to dominate student government and other organizations so as to manipulate the management of school affairs, to boycott classes, to incite struggle among the students, to pit groups of teachers against one another and to encourage students to oppose teachers. Consequently, faculty and students broke up into various factions, obstructed the attainment of the objectives of San Min Chu I and became sounding boards for Communist illusion. The educational ideals of San Min Chu I were thoroughly destroyed. Measures formulated on the basis of San Min Chu I were obstructed through rumor, deception and slander of the most sinister nature.
During the period of the War of Resistance and suppression of the Communist rebellion, the Chinese Communists sought to deceive the people of the world by distorting facts and resorting to false and ridiculous propaganda. On the home front, they induced students to boycott classes and workers to go on strike. They opposed the drafting of soldiers and taxation in kind. Their objectives were to strangle the economy, to obstruct transportation, to jeopardize social security and to paralyze education. Their reactionary, rebellious influence was brought to bear on all fronts - political, economic, military and educational.
Under these circumstances, the government's determination to carry out plans to modernize China on the basis of San Min Chu I was frustrated and the reconstruction of China was retarded by at least 30 years. Today the people of the mainland are still leading a primitive life inappropriate for mankind. Knowing all this, bow can people of courage fail to rise up to punish and suppress the Communists?
The Chinese Communists had resorted to all their old tricks of infiltration, subversion and division on this island bastion of national recovery during the period between the government's removal to Taipei in 1950 and the Red bombardment of Kinmen in 1958. They retreated and disappeared only after they had been defeated in the Kinmen artillery battle. Peiping's spies in Taiwan have been eradicated one by one. This hard, unending struggle on the part of the government and people, military and civilian alike, has brought peace, prosperity and development to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu during the last decade. Without success in this common struggle, the soil of Taiwan cannot be kept undefiled, we cannot make Taiwan a model province of San Min Chu I, and the nine-year program of free education and the 10-year science research and development program will be unattainable.
Youth of the nation! The government faces many difficulties in its endeavors to develop culture and science and to see to the welfare of young people. If you understand this, you will realize that the environment and the opportunities of modern education are not easily made available. As the old saying goes: "The heyday of youth will not come again and a day of the past will not return. We must work hard in time, because time will wait for no one." There are sharp contrasts between this bastion of national recovery and the mainland in education, society, politics, economics, welfare and freedom. We are on the side of brightness and the mainland is in darkness. How, then, can you fail to concentrate on study, on moral cultivation and on the strengthening of your perseverance in living up to your heritage and your potential? In succeeding you will fulfill the expectations of your parents and emulate the personality and spirit of sacrifice demonstrated by our revolutionary Martyrs.
Today it is my earnest hope that you will fix and harden your will, select your own course, put away suspicion and indecision, and stand firmly on the side of righteousness. In this regard, I should like to add three points to my message to the youth of the nation, hoping that you will be guided in the way of wise discrimination and devoted practice.
First, democracy and a code of morality. - We know that the democracy of today was fathered by the democratic revolution of two centuries ago. In the early days of the revolutionary movement, the concepts of democracy, humanism and international justice generated great strength and impelled the people to move ahead toward the goal of democracy because these concepts had penetrated deeply into the hearts of the people. This trend declined after democracy was established. As a result, the democratic movement broke up into several segments. Communist totalitarianism seized upon this opportunity to obstruct liberty by taking advantage of freedom and to defeat democracy by borrowing the strength of democracy. The Communists have made young people their special target of allurement and instigation. Youths have become radicals or their morals have degenerated. A single wrong move has led them into a trap where they became pawns of infiltration and subversion. This is the cause of the unprecedented catastrophe that has befallen the people of the mainland, and especially the young men and young women.
The Chinese Communists are now making war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia to jeopardize the security of Asia and threaten world peace. At the same time, they are promoting a world anti-war movement and seeking to incite the appeasers and pacifists of the United States. Their goal is to undermine the people's will to fight and to accelerate the drift of youths into radicalism and moral degeneration. Victories on the military front cannot compensate for defeat of the anti-Communist movement on the political front. These developments have deepened the crisis of the free world.
Youth of the nation! Crises are to be found in all four directions of this changing world. The strength of self cultivation, self-salvation and national culture on which we depend have become more effective than national military forces. The treacherous Chinese Communists, seeking to destroy democracy, will strike first at our "ethical philosophy" and "moral code". In Mao suppression and national salvation, our compelling task is to single out and absorb the essence of our ethical philosophy and seek the regeneration of our national morality so we can take advantage of the built-in strength of democracy and rely on the practical functioning of its political system. Only after we have defeated the Mao regime on the political front can we achieve military victory.
Second, democracy and the functions of science. -We know that the development of modern science began with the industrial revolution. The invention of the steam engine opened up one new era and the current development of nuclear energy is opening up another. Development of the era of steam depended on the inventions of many individual scientists. The nuclear era now calls for the joint effort of young people. Science born of freedom of thought and invention calls for cooperation. These developments can be nurtured only in a democracy. Science may develop irregularly under the whiplash of totalitarianism, but scientists eventually will become reluctant to serve as the pawns of authoritarianism. They will lean toward democracy and seek freedom. The frequent uprisings behind the iron curtain are spearheaded by young intellectuals. This fact substantiates our basic conviction that despotic totalitarian rule is intolerable in this period of science and the people, and that the dogmatism of the Peiping regime eventually will be engulfed in the torrent of this great era.
The Communist bloc's crisis centers on the Peiping regime. Mao Tse-tung has dreamed of "training the successors of the proletarian revolution" and of "red and expert workers in science". He could not trust the Communist Youth Corps and organized the "Red Guards". Now that he has lost control of the "Red Guards", he is trying to press them into the armed forces to serve as pawns of aggressive war. The educational bankruptcy and political chaos of the mainland are interrelated and the effects of each is thereby multiplied. The result is the infliction of unimaginable catastrophe in the lives and cultural heritage of the Chinese people. We are compelled to struggle to move ahead and quickly catch up with others in culture and science so we can modernize the Republic politically and militarily and survive in this world.
Third, the function of science and the value of life. - I raised the question of science and life early in World War II. I said: "We must eradicate the aggressive policy of imperialism after World War II and make sure that science is a tool in the service of human life and not the scourge of mankind. This is the only way to eliminate the possibility of World War III." Twenty years have elapsed. The eradication of the forces of violence and aggression remains our compelling task. Additionally, we must destroy the poison wrought by Peiping's nuclear proliferation in order to maintain the security of East Asia. In the course of Chinese cultural renaissance, we must see to it that the intelligence of the Chinese people is not misused for nuclear war but is employed in peaceful reconstruction, for the development of our natural resources and in the utilization of our potential. In this way we can contribute to the security and the happiness of the people of the world.
Youth of the nation! In my message to youth, I have already pointed out that our Chinese culture has these characteristics: first, nationalism based on the concepts of loyalty, filial piety, humanity and love; second, democracy based on the concepts of equality and liberty; and third, the people's livelihood based on the concepts of peace and prosperity for all the people. Our Chinese race has a cultural heritage of cultivating ourselves and assisting others; it also has a remarkable historical record of saving itself and the world.
After studying the mainstreams of human thought for the last hundred generations and taking into consideration the great changes of our times, Dr. Sun Yat-sen advocated San Min Chu I as the guiding principles of our National Revolution. From the beginning of the revolution through the establishment of the Republic and the Northward Expedition and the Sino-Japanese War, the young men and young women of China rallied and struggled to serve their country, their people, their society and their world. Our young men and women are proud of this. This sacrificial service of revolutionary youth is urgently needed in today's time of drastic change. All of you, young men and women of China, should accomplish the missions of the third stage of our National Revolution - deliverance of the enslaved mainland compatriots and suppression of Mao in the cause of national salvation. This should be done in accordance with the characteristics of Chinese culture based on ethics, democracy and science; in accordance with the ideology and belief in San Min Chu I; and in accordance with the spirit of sacrifice exemplified in the lives of the 72 Martyrs of the Yellow Flower Mound. The spirit of the Martyrs is that of cultivating ourselves in response to the aspiration of saving ourselves and the world.