The "

Three Principles of the People The Three Principles of the People (; also translated as the Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism) is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to improve China made during the Republican Era. ...

" is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

as well as the party anthem of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

. It was adopted in 1930 as

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

's national anthem and was used as such in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

until 1949, when the Republic of China central government relocated to Taiwan following its defeat by the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

. It replaced the " Song to the Auspicious Cloud", which had been used as the Chinese national anthem before. The national anthem was adopted in Taiwan on October 25, 1945 after the

surrender of Imperial Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

. Mainland China, being governed by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

today, discontinued this national anthem for "

March of the Volunteers The "March of the Volunteers" (), originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it wa ...

". The national anthem's words are adapted from a 1924 speech by

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

in 1937. The lyrics relate to how the vision and hopes of a new nation and its people can be achieved and maintained. Informally, the song is sometimes known as "San Min Chu-i" from its opening line, which references the

(''Sanmin Zhuyi''), but this name is never used in formal or official occasions. During flag-raising ceremonies, the national anthem is played at the start prior to flag-raising followed by the

National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China The National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China (), also unofficially known as the "National Banner Song", is a patriotic song typically played during the raising and lowering of the flag of the Republic of China. Domestically, the flag a ...

during actual flag-raising.

History

The text was a collaboration between several

(KMT) party members: Hu Hanmin, Tai Chi-tao,

Liao Zhongkai Liao Zhongkai (April 23, 1877 – August 20, 1925) was a Chinese-American Kuomintang leader and financier. He was the principal architect of the first Kuomintang–Chinese Communist Party (KMT–CCP) United Front in the 1920s. He was assassina ...

, and

Shao Yuanchong Shao Yuanchong (; 1890 – 14 December 1936) was a founding member of the Xinhai Revolution and a politician of the Republic of China. He served as the vice president of the Legislative Yuan and the mayor of Hangchow and was one of the authors o ...

. The text debuted on 16 June 1924, as the opening of a speech by

at the opening ceremony of the Whampoa Military Academy. After the success of the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

, the Kuomintang party chose the text to be its

party anthem Many political parties and other political movements have adopted a song or anthem to represent their beliefs and principles. This party song or party anthem is often sung or performed at party conferences. Algeria * National Liberation Front � ...

and publicly solicited for accompanying music. Cheng Maoyun won in a contest of 139 participants. On 24 March 1930, numerous Kuomintang party members proposed to use the speech by Sun as the lyrics to the national anthem. At the time, the national anthem of the republic was the " Song to the Auspicious Cloud". Due to opposition over using a symbol of a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

to represent the entire nation, the National Anthem Editing and Research Committee () was set up, which endorsed the KMT party song. On 3 June 1937, the Central Standing Committee () approved the proposal, and in the 1940s, the song formally became the official national anthem of the Republic of China. For many Taiwanese, the anthem carries a number of meanings, often conflicting. Some Taiwanese reject the anthem outright as an anachronistic symbol of the vanquished KMT dictatorship.

Tune

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Lyrics

The lyrics are in classical literary Chinese. For example: * () is a literary equivalent of both singular and plural "you" (which are differentiated in

modern Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standar ...

) depending on the context. In this case, it is plural "you". * () is a classical synonym of "not" ( fēi). * () is a classical, archaic

interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...

, and is not used in this sense in the modern

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

language. In this respect, the national anthem of the

stands in contrast to the

's "

", which was written a few years later entirely in modern

vernacular Chinese Written vernacular Chinese, also known as Baihua () or Huawen (), is the forms of written Chinese based on the varieties of Chinese spoken throughout China, in contrast to Classical Chinese, the written standard used during imperial China up ...

. As well as being written in

classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

, the national anthem follows classical poetic conventions. The ancient '' Fu'' style follows that of a four-

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

poem, where the last character of each line rhymes in or , which are equivalent.

English translations

The official translation by Du Tingxiu (Theodore B. Tu) appears in English-language guides to the ROC published by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

Transcriptions in other Chinese and similar languages

Notes

References

External links

The National Anthem of the ROC (4 Versions)
* {{Authority control National symbols of Taiwan Political party songs Three Principles of the People China, Republic of Chinese patriotic songs National anthem compositions in C major National symbols of the Republic of China (1912–1949)