“Gong”, Evolution Theory and Socialism: A Reexamination of Sun Yat-sen’s Process of Developing His Revolutionary Doctrines

Zhao Yizhou

Published in Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2025, Issue 1.

Abstract: Studies of Sun Yat-sen’s thought have often noted his claim that“the

world is public (Tianxia Wei Gong）” and its rich thought sources that include the theory of evolution and the doctrine of socialism. This article argues that“Gong”（public），evolution and socialism are not only key elements of Sun's ideological doctrine，but that these concepts are intertwined and mutually shaped within the framework of Sun’s thought. Analyzing Sun’s idea of “Gong” from a “long term” perspective，we can see that Sun’s description of the nature of “Gong”in the ideal society led him to incorporate the idea of evolution into the scope of his revolutionary doctrines，which he selectively absorbed from different angles before and after the Republican Revolution. Socialism was also introduced into Sun’s ideological system as a force for the “evolution of moral civilization”to counterbalance the role of evolutionary theory and constituted a key element in his advocation of the principle of Mínsheng (people’s livelihood). This article argues that these three factors not only enable us to locate the meaning of “Gong” in a long term and broader perspective，but also result in a complex and intertwined structure of Sun’s thought，which is characterized by distinctive personal characteristics. The paper also argues that there is an inherent tension between “Gong”，evolutionary theory and socialist doctrine. On the one hand，the combination of the three ideological elements formed a new structure of state-revolutionary party-revolutionaries，which enabled individuals to position themselves in the grand historical mission and inspired young people to devote themselves to the revolution. However，Sun’s emphasis on political leadership since the Constitutional Protection Movement ultimately risked undermining the notion of the “Gong”，and the failure of the new revolutionaries to fully realize their subjectivity as a result of this over-emphasis on the society as a whole became a distant cause of the rupture of the Nationalist-Communist collaboration.

Keywords：Sun Yat-sen，“Gong”，evolution theory，socialism