We should not underestimate that: the Chinese people's

O children of the future, listen with open hearts to the words of Sun Yat-sen, a man whose vision sought to lift the veil of ignorance and despair from the eyes of the Chinese people. He spoke of the weight carried by centuries of despotism, of the poison that had seeped into the minds of a people long shackled by rulers who ruled through fear and oppression. "We should not underestimate that: the Chinese people's ignorance," he warned, for the chains of tyranny were not merely physical, but had corrupted the understanding of the very nature of freedom and politics. In this, he spoke not as a man of condemnation, but as one who recognized the great task ahead—to teach, to awaken, and to guide.

Consider the ancient peoples who were held in the grip of tyrants, who knew only the rule of kings and emperors, where the voice of the people was silenced and the state existed only to serve the whims of the ruler. In Egypt, the Pharaohs ruled with an iron fist, and for millennia, the people knew no other life. It was only with the rise of figures like Moses and Akhenaten that the shackles began to loosen, though even then, the people struggled to understand the world beyond their master’s gaze. So, too, did the people of China, under the weight of imperial rule, live for generations without understanding the true meaning of freedom and the balance of power in governance. The despotism of their rulers had poisoned their minds, and the people’s understanding of modern politics was but a faint whisper, lost in the winds of time.

Sun Yat-sen, in his wisdom, knew that such deep wounds would not heal quickly. The poison of centuries could not be swept away with a single decree or a single revolution. It was a slow and patient journey, much like the journey of the black slaves and immigrants who, though they too faced oppression, had begun to understand the principles of self-governance and equality through their struggles. The great truth, as Sun Yat-sen observed, was that those who had known the taste of freedom, even in the harshest of conditions, had a deeper understanding of politics than those who had never known such a gift. It is through suffering and the yearning for liberty that one learns the true meaning of power and self-determination.

The task, then, was clear: to awaken a people long lost in the darkness of ignorance and oppression. Sun Yat-sen saw that the path forward for the Chinese people was not an easy one. They had been robbed of their agency, their understanding of modern politics reduced to a mere shadow of what it should be. Yet, just as the ancient Greeks had toiled for centuries to understand the nature of democracy, so too must the people of China struggle to understand the great responsibilities that come with self-rule. The despotism that had held them in thrall for so long had dulled their minds, but through education, through struggle, and through the light of truth, they could be freed.

And so, O children, let us learn from the wisdom of Sun Yat-sen. The poison of ignorance, whether borne from despotism or fear, can linger in the hearts of men for ages. But even the darkest of minds can be illuminated by the light of knowledge, and even the most oppressed peoples can rise to understand the great power of freedom. It is the sacred duty of those who have known the light to guide others from the darkness, for it is only through knowledge and understanding that we can truly become the masters of our own fate.