Three Principles of the People

Three Principles of the People
Sun Yat-sen, who developed the Three Principles of the People
Traditional Chinese	三民主義
Simplified Chinese	三民主义
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sān Mín Zhǔyì Bopomofo ㄙㄢ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄓㄨˇ ㄧˋ Wade–Giles San-min Chu-i other Mandarin Xiao'erjing صً مٍ ﺟُﻮْ ىِ Wu Romanization sae平 min平 tsy上 nyi去 Hakka Romanization sam24 min11 zu31 ngi55 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping saam1 man4 zyu2 ji6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Sam-bîn Chú-gī

The Three Principles of the People, also translated as Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to make China a free, prosperous, and powerful nation. The three principles are often translated into and summarized as nationalism, democracy, and the livelihood of the people. He believed that the economic livelihood of the people depended on adopting the teachings of the American economist Henry George, writing that "The teachings of your single-taxer, Henry George, will be the basis of our program of reform."

Its influence and legacy of implementation is most apparent in the governmental organization of the Republic of China (ROC), which currently administers Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, and Matsu Islands. This philosophy has been claimed as the cornerstone of the Republic of China's policy as carried by the Kuomintang (KMT). The principles also appear in the first line of the National Anthem of the Republic of China.

In 1894 when the Revive China Society was formed, Sun only had two principles: nationalism and democracy. He did not pick up the third idea, welfare, until his three years trip to Europe (1896–1898). He did not announce these ideas until spring of 1905 when he was in Europe again. Sun was in Brussels, and made the first speech of his life on the "Three Principles of the People". In many cities he was able to organize the Revive China Society. There were about 30 members in the branch at the time in Brussels, and 20 in Berlin, 10 in Paris. After the Tongmenghui was formed, Sun published an editorial in Min Bao (民報). This was the first time the ideas were expressed. Later on, in the anniversary issue of Min Bao, his long speech of the Three Principles was printed, and the editors of the newspaper discussed the problem of people's livelihood.