Fundamentals of National Reconstruction

by Sun Yat-sen

1. The National Government shall reconstruct the Republic of China on the basis of the revolutionary the Three People's Principles and the Quintuple-Power Constitution.

2. The primary task of reconstruction is the people's livelihood. Consequently, concerning the four great necessities of the people--food, clothing, shelter and of travel--the Government should, in cooperation with the people strive together to develop agriculture to feed them; to develop the textile industry to meet their clothing demands; to workout a large-scale housing project to furnish them with better living quarters; to improve and construct roads and canals to facilitate their traveling.

3. Second in importance is the people's sovereignty. The government should train and direct the people in their acquisition of political knowledge and ability, thereby enabling them to exercise the powers of election, recall, initiative and referendum.

4. Third comes nationalism. The government should help and guide the weak and small racial groups within its national boundaries toward self-determination and self-government. It should offer resistance to foreign aggression, and simultaneously it should revise foreign treaties in order to restore our equality and independence among the nations.

5. The program of national reconstruction shall be divided into three periods:- First the military period; second, the period of political tutelage; third, the constitutional period.

6. In the military period, the whole administrative system shall be placed under military rule. The government on the one hand should employ its armed force to eradicate all internal obstacles and, on the other, disseminate its doctrines to enlighten the people as well as to promote national unity.

7. As soon as a province is completely restored to order, the period of political tutelage will commence and the military period will come to an end.

8. In the period of political tutelage the government should send persons, qualified through training and examination, to various counties to assist the people in the preparation of self-government. A county may elect a magistrate for the execution of its administrative affairs and elect representatives for the deliberation and making of its laws in order to become a completely self-governed county, when a census of the whole county has been properly taken; a survey of its land has been completed; its police and local defense forces have been satisfactorily maintained; road building and repairing within its boundaries have been successfully carried out; and its people have received training in the exercise of the four powers, fulfilled their duties as citizens, and pledged themselves to carry out the revolutionary principles.

9. Citizens in a completely self-governed county shall directly have the power of election, the power of recall, the power of initiative, and the power of referendum.

10. Every county, at the commencement of self-government, shall first assess the value of private land in the whole county, which value is to be declared by the landowner. The local government shall tax private land on the basis of the value assessed, and at any time may buy it on the same basis. If, after this assessment the land increases in value as a result of political advancement or social progress, such unearned increment should be shared by the people in the whole county, and should not be kept by the landowners as private benefit.

11. Annual receipts from land tax, unearned increment, products of public land, yields from mountains, forests, rivers and lakes, proceeds from mineral deposits and water belong to the local government, and shall be used for the operation of local public enterprises of the people, for the care of the young and the aged, the poor and the sick, for famine relief, as well as to meet various public demands.

12. In various counties, natural resources and large-scale industrial and commercial enterprises, the opening and development of which lie beyond the means of these county and require external capital,should be opened and developed with the help of the Central Government. Net profits so realized shall be divided equally between the Central and the local governments.

13. With regard to its obligation to the Central Government every county shall give a certain percentage of its annual revenue towards the Central Government's annual expenditure. Such percentage shall be determined each year by citizens' delegates, but it shall not be lower than 10 per cent or more than 50 per cent of the county revenue.

14. Every county, upon its adoption of self-government, may elect one delegate for the formation of a representative body to participate in political affairs of the Central Government.

15. All candidates and appointed officials,whether belonging to the Central or the local government, shall be persons found qualified in the examinations held by the Central Government or adjudged qualified by the personnel registration organ of the Central Government.

16. The constitutional period will commence in a province when all the counties of the province have attained complete self-government. The body of citizens' delegates may elect a Governor to supervise self-government of the province. In matters involving national administration the Governor shall be subject to the direction of the Central Government.

17. In this period the authority of the Central Government and that of the provincial government shall be kept in equilibrium. Matters which by nature require uniform action on the part of the nation shall be assigned to the Central Government; matters which by nature should be dealt with locally shall be assigned to the local government. There is no tendency either to the centralization or to the decentralization of power.

18. The county is a unit of local self-government. The province stands between the Central Government and the county to bring about closer relationship between them.

19. As soon as the constitutional period begins, the Central Government should complete the formation of the five Yuan to experiment on a quintuple-power government. The five Yuan are named in the following order:-- the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan.

20. The Executive Yuan shall tentatively have the following ministries; (1) The Ministry of the Interior; (2) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs; (3) The Ministry of Military Affairs; (4) The Ministry of Finance; (5) The Ministry of Agriculture and Mining; (6) The Ministry of Labor and Commerce; (7) The Ministry of Education; (8) The Ministry of Communications.

21. Before the promulgation of a Constitution, the presidents of the five Yuan shall be appointed or removed and directed by the President (of the National Government).

22. The draft of the Constitution should be prepared by the Legislative Yuan in accordance with the Fundamentals of National Reconstruction and the achievements in the period of political tutelage and the constitutional period. It should, from time to time, be made public to the people in order to facilitate its adoption when the proper time comes.

23. When more than one half of the province shall have reached the constitutional period, that is when they have completely adopted local self-government, the People's Congress shall be convened to decide on and promulgate the Constitution.

24. After the promulgation of the Constitution the governing power of the Central Government shall be returned to the People's Congress for execution. That is, the People's Congress shall exercise the powers of election and recall in regard to officials of the Central Government, as well as the powers of initiative and referendum in regard to the laws of the Central Government.

25. The day of the promulgation of the Constitution marks the culmination of constitutional government. All citizens of the nation shall, in accordance with the Constitution, hold a general election. The National Government shall be dissolved within three months after the completion of the election and shall be succeeded by the new popularly-elected government. Whereupon the great task of national reconstruction will be regarded as accomplished.