Three Principles of the People

The Three Principles of the People (Chinese: 三民主義; pinyin: Sānmín Zhǔyì), which consist of the principles of nationalism, democracy, and people's welfare, are a nationalist, republican political ideology developed by Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, a leader of the 1911 Revolution and founder of the Kuomintang. A highly pragmatic man, Sun drew on an eclectic motley of arguably contradictory influences in putting forth his Principles, such as Marxism, Chinese utopianism, and Georgism. Under Kuomintang rule, Sun's thought achieved canonical status as part of an overall cult of personality.

The Principles were first formulated in 1905 by Sun Yat-sen, with the collaboration of fellow Tongmenghui members. Sun discussed both his principles and his revolutionary objectives in an article published for the first edition of the Tongmenghui periodical Minbao, which were further developed by a number of Tongmenghui intellectuals in subsequent articles. From January to August 1924, Sun delivered a series of weekly lectures on the Principles, which were later collected and published under the title The Three Principles of the People.