The Great Unity (Chinese:
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History
editThe notion of the "Great Unity" appeared in the "Lǐyùn" (
The concept was used by Kang Youwei in his visionary utopian treatise, The Book of Great Unity (Chinese:
The Great Unity is also often mentioned in the writings of Sun Yat-sen and is included in his lyrics of the National Anthem of the Republic of China, currently in official use in Taiwan.
This ideology can be reflected in the following examples, each from a national anthem of the Republic of China:
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三 民主 義 ,吾 黨 所 宗 ,以建民 國 ,以進大同 。」 (literal translation: "Three Principles of the People, the aim of us (The Kuomintang), to build the Republic, to advance into Great Unity.") - National Anthem of the Republic of China - 「毋
自暴自棄 ,毋故步 自 封 ,光 我 民族 ,促進 大同 。」(literal translation: "Never abandon in desperation, nor being complacent with achievement; Glorify our nation and work promoting Great Unity.") - National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China
The concept was invoked in prominent occasions several times by Mao Zedong, including in his address "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" in 1949, as the Communist Party prepared to assume control throughout mainland China.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Wang, Ralph (September 12, 2017). "Great Unity". Kid Spirit. Vol. 10, no. 1. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021.
- ^ Pearce 2001, 169.
- ^ Cheng 2009, 19.
- ^ Book of Rites, Li Yun chapter, paragraph 1.
- ^ Chen, Albert H. Y., The Concept of 'Datong' in Chinese Philosophy as an Expression of the Idea of the Common Good (November 11, 2011). University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2011/020. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1957955 "In the early twentieth century, the great Chinese thinker and reformer Kang Youwei wrote a book entitled Datong shu (Book on the Great Community) in which he put forward an original and radical interpretation of 'datong'."
Bibliography
edit- Cheng, Chung-ying (2009). "On harmony as transformation: Paradigms from the Yijing". Philosophy of the Yi: Unity and dialectics. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781444334111.
- Pearce, Scott (2001). "Form and matter: Archaizing reform in sixth-century China". Culture and power in the reconstitution of the Chinese realm, 200-600. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674005235.