By the turn of the twentieth century, China had lost much of its power as a consequence of deeply rooted economic and political issues. After almost four hundred years of foreign Manchu rule under the Qing dynasty, a corrupt and incompetent government, the people of China lost self-confidence and cultural heritage. As the unstable China struggled to pull itself out of this trench, the appeal of Sun Yat-sen’s three principles: nationalism, democracy, and social welfare, became widespread and increasingly popular. Though his doctrine influenced many people and still inspires many leaders today, Sun Yat-sen’s 1911 Revolution, and the idealized goals of national unity and republicanism following it, ultimately did not achieve for China the results he had hoped for. External threats, economic and social interference from foreign powers, economic crisis due to trade deficit and wars, and deep-set political factionalism prevented the success of Sun Yat-sen’s teachings and revolutionary ideas.

China endured both economic and political control from foreign powers vying for spheres of influence within China during the late 19th and into the 20th century, which created an environment incapable of successful reform based on ideals such as Sun Yat-sen’s. British imperialism in China set the stage for the Century of Humiliation and exploitation by external forces, which in turn brought rise to nationalist sentiments, but still severely weakened the Chinese state and morale. A trade imbalance favoring China led the British to utilize cheap opium from India to pay for Chinese goods, most notably tea. An estimate of 10 percent of the Chinese population during the late 19th century used opium on a regular basis. The addictive drug shifted the balance of trade towards the British, and money gradually flowed out to pay for the opium, costing China’s economy considerably. The first Opium War in 1839 marked a major turning point for China, who had already lost much of its wealth due to the terrible addiction problem widespread across the country. The Treaty of Nanjing, signed following their defeat to the British, opened the ports of China to the West, ceded Hong Kong to British control, and made Chinese citizens subject to British law. The signing of the treaty set a precedent for the next years to come, with unequal treaties that would invite foreign involvement in Chinese affairs. Foreign domination of the Chinese economy greatly restricted the sovereignty of both the people of China and the government, revealing the true weakness of the Qing empire. China, who realized the need to reform, was actively opposed by Western powers who were against China's modernization, and thus their increase in power. Their continuous exploitation, including the demand of concessions and hindering their economic and social development, made the necessary reform following Sun Yat-sen’s 1911 revolution futile. The treaty of Nanjing required, “the Total amount of Twenty‑one Millions of Dollars, described in the three preceding Articles, shall be paid as follows: Six Millions immediately… Six Millions in 1843 … Five Millions in 1844 … Four Millions in 1845”. The prolonged extraction of concessions from China by foreign powers was a major deterrent in China’s path, as focusing resources towards making change became impossible. Article XIV from the Treaty of Tianjin between the United States and China following the second Opium War, one of four unequal treaties China signed with Western powers, opened more ports to the West:

The citizens of the United States are permitted to frequent the ports and cities of Canton and Chau-chau . . . Amoy, Fuh-chau, and Tai-wan . . . . Ningpo . . . and Shanghai . . . and any other port or place hereafter by treaty with other powers or with the United States opened to commerce, and to reside with their families and trade there, and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise from any of these ports to any other of them.

The repeated interference of foreign powers prevented the leaders of China from focusing efforts on reform. Though the unwanted spheres of influence gave rise to nationalist sentiments across China, the Western countries still thwarted their attempts at becoming a more powerful, independent state.

Following the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century, foreign powers continued to scramble for territorial and economic footholds in China until the early 20th century, which heavily contributed to the corruption within China, and allowed for external control over Chinese affairs. Sun Yat-sen’s 1911 revolution, though a product of amassed nationalist feelings in a period of imperialism, failed to fix the underlying problems caused by the exploitation of China. As represented in a political cartoon by Henri Meyer captioned “China -- the cake of kings and... of emperors” (1898), the Qing official is depicted as helpless while the foreign powers carve up and “consume” China. The powers imperializing China “disregarded the treaties, oppressed China, developed ‘the Battle of Concessions’ among  themselves, tried to establish their own sphere of influence according to their arrangement and acquisition of rights and concluded among themselves various treaties concerning the establishment of their respective spheres of influence” (Ueda, 364). These foreign powers each established economic and political systems independent from the Chinese laws, effectively dividing the Chinese people, which contributed to the increase in factionalism and instability in China. The foreign powers were thus also able to extract resources and exert control over the Chinese economy, leading to internal conflicts that undermined China’s ability to reform. Furthermore, external control significantly weakened the Qing government, which created a power vacuum that was not successfully filled. The 1911 revolution aimed to unite the people, but failed to do so as the factionalism and instability that ran across China was deeply rooted in imperialism and the strategic division of China by Western powers and Japan. 

With Japanese expansionism beginning in the late 19th century, internal conflict became more common, as the people of China were furious about the continuous foreign invasion. In a weakened state from Western control, the Japanese occupation of China further raised the need for nationalist movements against foreign control. George Yu described the influence of these events on Sun: “In addition to foreign aggression, Sun was also concerned of the extinction of the Chinese race…who were being overcome by the Japanese” (Yu 898). The presence of Japanese influence, in addition to that of the Western, accelerated the spread of nationalism in addition to the fear of being overpowered by the imperialist countries. However, China did not see the depth of the economic and political trench they were in, as Barton Hacker notes: “Corruption, oppressive taxation, unrest in the countryside, and all the other ills that Confucian scholars had long regarded as the symptoms of dynastic decay loomed on every hand. The presence of the West, its mounting pressure in the 1820s and 1830s, seemed to the Chinese eyes more irritant than threat, for danger to the Middle Kingdom was something that came from the inner frontiers of Asia, not from the sea” (Hacker 46). The inability to counter the increasing spheres of influence within China caused the people to rise against the control of foreign powers. The most notable conflict, the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the century, exemplifies the built up anger against external control and the internal strife that followed it. The Boxer Rebellion, initially a peasant uprising against both foreign and Christian peoples within China, also showcased the disparities between the elite and peasant classes. The wealth gap, worsened by the increase in opium consumption, also contributed to the disunion of the Chinese population. The economic and political division within China proved to be too extreme to fix through reform following the revolution. 

While foreign involvement in Chinese affairs deteriorated their economy, poverty and inequality across China became more apparent as the gap between rich and poor increased, which in turn made it difficult to implement reforms that would benefit the majority of society. China faced many internal problems caused by significant population growth, including land shortages, famine, and poverty running through rural areas. Taxes and inflation, the government’s attempt at pulling themselves out of the economic trench from fighting wars, worsened the situations of the largely agrarian population. The truly desperate conditions of the peasants can be seen through a Chinese woman’s account of famine in the late 19th century: 

I did not know enough even to beg. So I sat at home and starved. I was so hungry one day that I took a brick, pounded it to bits, and ate it. It made me feel better…He took the coat and sold it for grain. When he came home for food he drank only two bowls of millet gruel. I wondered why he ate so little. I looked and found that the hat was gone, and knew that he had sold it for opium. Those who take opium care not for food.

The revolutionaries’ ideals, including Sun Yat-sen’s, focused on the urban middle class, when in reality most of the Chinese population at this time were among the rural poor. The reform attempts made by the revolutionaries were unable to address the needs of the vast majority of the people. Furthermore, the people in poverty held a sense of hopelessness from their situation, which made it difficult for the leaders of the revolution to gain mobile support for reform. The poor often surrendered to their impoverished lives and lacked the will to demand change, as poverty was their only reality. Opium consumption worsened their situations, as addiction drained the lives and resources of the people. With a focus on nationalism and democracy, Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries also failed to resolve the issue of land distribution, a major source of inequality. The priorities of the 1911 revolution overlooked the basic needs of the overwhelming majority, the rural poor, and failed to achieve their support.

Following the revolution, China lacked a strong government to lead the people during a time of reform. Though his ideals were strong, Sun Yat-sen lacked the skills to be an effective leader, which forced him to resign the presidency to the previous Qing commander Yuan Shikai in hopes of uniting China. Yuan also held the military power that Sun lacked. However, after the resignation, many accused Yuan of betraying the original ideals of the 1898 reformers by acting on selfish motives, abandoning the republic to make himself emperor. Without Sun Yat-sen in power, the period following the revolution veered away from his initial goals and three principles. The real change and reform Sun had hoped for failed to be achieved when Yuan became the president of the republic. Yuan later assassinated Song Jiaoren, head of the Guomindang, or the nationalist party of China of which Sun was a part of, after the party criticized the actions of Yuan’s government. Yuan eventually established himself as dictator, declared martial law, closed down newspapers, arrested or killed his opponents, and banned the Guomindang. China under Yuan drifted further and further from the ideals of Sun Yat-sen and the three principles that the revolution was built on. Political factionalism became increasingly apparent in the tense political environment following the revolution and transfer of power. While dealing with the polarized opinions of their leaders, China was unable to successfully reform with the principles of nationalism, democracy, social welfare in mind. Even after Yuan’s death, the political vacuum left behind proved hard to fill, as China’s power became decentralized with the deep-set division of the people. In a poem about the conditions of China in the 1920s, poet Wen Yiduo wrote:

This is a ditch of hopelessly dead water.

No clear breeze can raise half a ripple on it.

Why not throw in some rusty metal scraps,

Or even some of your leftover food and soup?

Like “dead water”, China was an unorganized mess, both politically and economically unstable. The political instability in the period following the fall of the imperial system led to different factions vying for power as the government structure became unclear, which brought China further from the visions of Sun Yat-sen for a democratic China.

Despite the failure to reform and implement Sun Yat-sen’s ideas in the years following the 1911 revolution, Sun is still regarded as a “national hero” by the people of China today, including president Xi Jinping, for revitalizing and uniting the Chinese people during the Century of Humiliation. The national embarrassment during this long period of Western and Japanese imperialism is used by the current strict Chinese government to legitimize their rule, in hopes of maintaining unity and a positive outward image. The foreign control of China, both economically and politically, lack of consideration of social inequality, and deeply rooted political factionalism ultimately caused the 1911 Revolution to fall from its initial intended reform based on Sun Yat-sen’s ideas, which even so inspire nationalism in China today.

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