Three Principles of the People

The Three Principles of the People, also known as the San-min Doctrine, were the fundamentals of government established by Doctor Sun Yat-sen to produce a stronger and prosperous Chinese state and people. These Three Principles were Nationalism, Democracy, and the People's Livelihood. It is the basis of the Kuomintang Party and the Republic of China government, being a center-right philosophy.

Principle of Nationalism
The First Principle of Nationalism was based on the Chinese people uniting as a nation, rather than being subjugated and looked down upon as they had been by the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty and their extortionists in Europe who had claimed foreign concessions. Eventually, this principle would be premier in defeating the genocidal invasion launched by the Imperial Japanese Army.

The belief was all of the Five Nationalities of China; Han, Manchu, Hui, Tibetan, and Mongol, would unite into a unified state without the sectionalism or ethnic clashes seen throughout Chinese history or what would be seen again in the Warlord Era.

Principle of Democracy
The Second Principle of Democracy was that the Chinese would no longer be subservient to monarchy or tyrannical regimes, and that China should be ruled by a democratic and republican form of government similar to models like the United States of America.

Essentially, the undoing of the castes and hierarchy established in imperial systems like that of the Qing Dynasty, with instead people choosing their own destinies politically and economically.

Principle of People's Livelihood
The Third Principle of the People's Livelihood, despite speculation, was not as revisionists like Mao Zedong claimed to be a principle of Socialism. It instead pointed towards the fact that there were basic and inalienable rights of the people, rights which throughout Chinese history had often been trampled upon by warring nations, armies and bandits.

The principle believed strongly in the educating of the people as a whole, a long with developing and industrializing China to bring about a new standard of living and new and more modern jobs throughout the nation. The principle in and of itself is similar to those established and described in documents like the English Magna Carta and American Constitution.