【Forum】Gao Xiang: Revisiting History, Continuing to Struggle, and Protecting the Common Spiritual Home of the Chinese Nation

Relive history and continue to struggle to protect the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation

Gao Xiang

The opening meeting of the academic seminar between Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy on June 6, 2024 (Source: "Unity Daily Unity Network" WeChat public account)

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Mr. Sun Yat-sen is a great national hero, a great patriot, and a great pioneer of China's democratic revolution. From the end of the Qing Dynasty, when Mr. Sun Yat-sen led the Xinhai Revolution and overthrew the feudal imperial system that lasted for more than 2,000 years, to the establishment of the Republic of China, he led the "Second Revolution", "National Defense Movement" and "Law Protection Movement". Despite setbacks, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was never overwhelmed by defeat and always worked hard to find a way to save the country and the people. With the help of the Communist Party of China and the Comintern, Dr. Sun Yat-sen followed the trend of history in his later years, developed the old Three People's Principles into the new Three People's Principles, put forward the three major policies of "uniting with Russia, uniting with the Communist Party, and supporting peasants and workers", reorganized the Kuomintang, and promoted the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

The Whampoa Military Academy is a new type of revolutionary military school in China founded in 1924 in Huangpu, Guangzhou, under the leadership of Mr. Sun Yat-sen and the unity and cooperation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. At the opening ceremony, Mr. Sun Yat-sen pointed out that revolutionary soldiers first need to establish revolutionary aspirations and set up a revolutionary will, "all their lives, they do not have the mentality of being promoted to an official position and making a fortune, but only know how to do the cause of saving the country and the people." It was precisely by relying on its firm revolutionary ideas and patriotic spirit that the Whampoa Military Academy trained a large number of military generals and revolutionary cadres for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and for the subsequent Chinese revolutionary cause.

Soon after the establishment of the military academy, in the military struggles such as quelling the rebellion of the Guangzhou merchant group, the rebellion of the warlord Liu Yang, and the two Eastern Crusades, the young students of the Whampoa Military Academy emerged and were invincible, showing the tremendous power of the revolutionary army. In the Northern Expedition, the teachers and students of the Whampoa Military Academy fought bravely to kill the enemy and made indelible contributions to the overthrow of the rule of the Beiyang warlords. In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in the face of the invasion of a strong enemy, the Whampoa soldiers joined hands and fought the enemy together with their flesh and blood, writing a magnificent chapter of saving the Chinese nation from danger without fear of difficulties and sacrifices, and made immortal contributions to the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation. The teachers and students of Huangpu also formed an anti-Japanese expeditionary force, went abroad, and made important contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) is the staunchest supporter, most loyal collaborator, and most faithful successor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause. During the period of the establishment of the Huangpu Military Academy, the Communist Party of China devoted a great deal of effort to the enrollment of students, the running of the school, and the revolutionary education of the Huangpu Military Academy on the basis of the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and a large number of Chinese Communists, such as Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, Nie Rongzhen, and Chen Geng, made major contributions to the establishment and development of the Huangpu Military Academy and played a key role. After the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese Communists continued to fight to defeat imperialism, overthrow the reactionary rule of the warlords, and push the revolutionary movement of Chinese workers and peasants to a climax. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country to forge ahead and fight bloodily to continuously realize and develop the great aspirations of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the pioneers of the Xinhai Revolution, won the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution, established the People's Republic of China with the people as the masters of the country, achieved national independence and people's liberation, and opened a new historical era of development and progress of the Chinese nation.

The purpose and revolutionary spirit of the Whampoa Military Academy are the precious spiritual wealth left to us by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and the core connotation of this spirit is to devote itself to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the reunification of the country. In the more than 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in the more than 40 years since the reform and opening up, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country have forged ahead on the road of socialist construction, not only realizing the blueprint drawn up by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy in those years, but also creating many achievements that far exceed Mr. Sun Yat-sen's vision, and have won widespread respect and praise from the international community. Historical facts show that in the journey of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait need all the more to deeply cherish the memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's arduous revolutionary course, to revisit the history of the unity and struggle of the teachers and students of the Whampoa Military Academy, to remember the historical years that the two sides of the strait have walked together, and to work together to create and continue to struggle, firmly safeguard the common spiritual homeland of the Chinese nation, jointly pursue a beautiful future of cross-strait reunification, and firmly hold the destiny of the Chinese nation in the hands of the Chinese themselves.

Learn from the past to know the present, and learn from history wisely. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that attaching importance to history, studying history, and learning from history are the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. The establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy by Dr. Sun Yat-sen is an important event in China's modern history and even in the history of the world, an important topic of academic research on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and a historical topic of concern to the international academic circles. It is of special significance to hold this academic seminar on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Huangpu Military Academy. It is hoped that experts and scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will carry out more comprehensive and in-depth academic discussions on the theme of Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy, enhance friendship, build consensus, and help the study of modern Chinese history continue to deepen and deepen through exchanges and mutual learning. It is hoped that experts and scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will focus on the main line of the patriotic revolutionary spirit of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy, take the integration of multiple disciplines as the path, carry out multi-angle and multi-level comprehensive research, systematically excavate and scientifically explain their historical origins, ideological roots and cultural heritage, explain clearly the internal mechanism of the patriotic revolutionary spirit of Mr. Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy, thoroughly explain the value of the times of the patriotic revolutionary spirit of Mr. Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy, and strive to make it a common spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation; It is hoped that experts and scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will inherit and carry forward the fine traditions of Chinese academics, do studies with thought, soul, and character, and on the basis of looking back at the history of Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy, take China as a mirror and the times as a mirror, shoulder the responsibility of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and contribute wisdom and strength to promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and realizing the cause of national reunification.

(This article is the author's speech at the opening ceremony of the academic seminar between Sun Yat-sen and the Whampoa Military Academy on June 6, 2024, slightly abridged, and the title is intended by the editor)

Source: Chinese Academy of History (originally published in Unity, Issue 3, 2024)

Author: Gao Xiang (President and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, President and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Chinese Academy of History)

Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan