First I would like to say something about the character of Sun Yat-sen.

我想先谈一谈孙中山的性格。

He was a man of broad vision and penetrating foresight. This was why his life was that of a staunch revolutionist. From the beginning, he never had any faith in the monarch. And as the Chinese revolution unfolded itself, he increasingly reposed confidence in the people. He knew how corrupted the officialdom was, how oppressive to the people and subservient to the imperialist the ruling clique was. So he was determined to overthrow the Ching dynasty. By contrast some of his contemporaries, like Kang Yu-wei, Liang Chi-chao and Yen Fu, while fully aware of all the evils of the dynastic power, had no faith in people and dared not make revolution and establish a republic. They were for a constitutional monarchy. Later, Kang Yu-wei even joined a group which attempted to restore the already dethroned Ching monarch.

孙中山是一个有远大目光和深刻预见的人。因此，她的一生是一个顽强的革命者的一生。他一开始就不相信封建王朝，而随着革命的发展，他对人民则产生越来越大的信心。他看到了官场的腐败，统治者对人民作威作福、对帝国主义则俯首帖耳，于是他决心推翻清王朝。同他成为鲜明对照的是一些他的同时代人如康有为、梁启超、严复等，他们虽然充分了解君主政体的种种弊端，但是不信任人民，不敢进行革命和建立共和政体。他们主张的是君主立宪。康有为后来甚至参加了妄图拥戴清帝复辟的小集团。

It was more than sixth years ago, in July 1905, that Sun Yat-sen, in a speech before the Chinese residents and students in Tokyo, refuted the platform for a constitutional monarchy. “In the present world,” he said, “the establishment of a constitution must be achieved through bloodshed, otherwise it cannot be a real and true constitution. Since bloodshed is unavoidable, why not have a republic immediately? Why should we take a constitution that is imperfect and incomplete?” He had the conviction and the courage to declare this thought because he firmly believed that our people could in a relatively short time surpass Japan and even the Western capitalist countries. Reformists like Liang Chi-chao argued that our people would have to imitate and follow the West, and would not have the capacity to surpass it. In the face of the West, Liang Chi-chao and all other reformists were simply cowards.

六十多年前，1905年7月，孙中山在对东京华侨和学生发表的演说中，驳斥了君主立宪的纲领。他说：“且世界立宪，亦必流血得之，方能称为真立宪。同一流血，何不为直截了当之共和，而为此不完不备之立宪乎？”孙中山有信心和勇气宣布这个主张，因为他坚信中国人民能够在较短的时间内超过日本，甚至西方资本主义国家。像梁启超这样的改良主义者却硬说中国人民只能模仿和追随西方，没有能力超过西方。在西方国家面前，梁启超和所有改良主义者简直是懦夫。

The conservatives and reformists, at the time, jeeringly called Sun Yat-sen “the big caliber gun”. It only proved their lack of vision and prevision, their lack of courage and conviction, there lack of sympathy for the people who are always for the progressive and the good. Yet as we know so well, vision and prevision are necessary prerequisites to making a revolution. Where there is no revolutionary theory, there can be no revolution.

当时的保守派和改良派嘲称孙中山为“孙大炮”，这只能说明他们自己鼠目寸光，缺乏勇气和信心，缺乏对永远要求进步的人民的同情。我们知道，理想和远见是干革命的必要前提。没有革命的理论，就不可能有革命。