Three Principles of the People

The Three Principles of the People (Traditional Chinese: 三民主義 ; Pinyin: Sān Mín Zhǔyì ; Wade-Giles: San-min Chu-i), also translated as Three People's Principles, or collectively Sanmin Doctrine, is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a program to make China a free, prosperous, and powerful nation. Its legacy of implementation is most apparent in the governmental organization of the Republic of China, which currently administers Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, and Matsu Islands. The priniciples also appear in the first line of the National Anthem of the Republic of China.

Enumeration of the principles

• The Principle of Mínzú (Min²-tsu², 民族主義 "The People's Relation/Connection" or "Government of the People"): Nationalism. By this, Sun meant freedom from imperialist domination.
• The Principle of Mínquán (Min²-ch'üan², 民權主義 "The People's Power" or "Government by the People"): Democracy. To Sun, it represented a Western constitutional government. First, he divided political life of his ideal for China into two 'powers':
• The power of politics (zhèngquán): This is the power of the people to express their political wishes, similar to a parliament in other countries, and is represented by the National Assembly.
• The power of governance (zhìquán): this is the power of administration. Here he expanded the European-American constitutional theory of a three-branch government and a system of checks and balances by incorporating traditional Chinese administrative tradition to create a government of five branches (each of which is called a yuàn or 'court'). The Legislative Yuan, the Executive Yuan, and the Judicial Yuan came from Montesquieuan thought; the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan came from Chinese tradition. (Note that the Legislative Yuan was first intended as a branch of governance, not strictly equivalent to a national parliament.)
• The Principle of Mínshēng (Min²-sheng¹, 民生主義 "The People's Welfare/Livelihood" or "Government for the People"): this is sometimes translated as socialism, although the government of Chiang Kai-Shek shied away from translating it as such. Sun understood it as an industrial economy and equality of land holdings for the Chinese peasant farmers. Here he was influenced by the American thinker Henry George (see Georgism); the land value tax in Taiwan is a legacy thereof. He divided livelihood into four areas: food, clothing, housing, and transportation; and planned out how an ideal (Chinese) government can take care of these for its people.