Everything costs money, especially in a revolution. Of course, for revolutionaries, raising money was the most important thing. However, change always comes with danger, and the effort and reward are often difficult to equalize. And if the plan fails, the sponsor's funds will be beaten back to their original shape, and if they don't do well, they will be labeled as "financial enemies". Therefore, raising funds is both a major and a difficult problem for revolutionaries. Although it was difficult to raise funds, the revolution had to continue, so they had to rack their brains, rack their brains. From this point of view, Sun Yat-sen was indeed a master of fundraising. Sun Yat-sen's specific methods of raising funds can be roughly summarized as follows:
Collection of assessed contributions. Revolution is a systematic project, usually with the participation and planning of revolutionary groups. Taking the Xinhai Revolution as an example, the "Xingzhong Society" and the "Alliance Society" are one of them. In general, there is a small fee and a dollar fee to join the club. However, the number of members developed by Sun Yat-sen was very limited, and the "Xingzhong Society" founded in 14 years absorbed only about 500 members, and by 1911, the "Xingzhong Society" had less than 10,000 members. Therefore, for a revolution, these donations are only a drop in the bucket and cannot fundamentally solve the needs of the revolution.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen and members of the Hongmen Fundraising Association.
Private donations. In addition, private donations financed the revolution. On the whole, the main supporters of Sun Yat-sen can be divided into two types: one is relatives who have a natural kinship with Sun Yat-sen; The second is his close friend, that is, people with revolutionary ideas.
The former is exemplified by his elder brother Sun Mei. Sun Mei started his business at a young age and ran a large business in Honolulu. During the 10 years from 1894 to 1904, Sun Mei vigorously supported Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideals. We don't know how much money Sun Mei spent on this uprising, but it's a lot of money. According to Sun Yat-sen, a large part of the funds for the "Guangzhou" in 15 years and the "two riots" in Huizhou in 19 years were sponsored by his brother Sun Mei. Because of this, Sun Mei fell into a situation of bankruptcy after 1904.
Sun Mei (1854-1915).
The typical representative of the latter is Zhang Jingjiang. Zhang Jingjiang was a big businessman in Zhejiang who opened a company in France. One day, Zhang Jingjiang took a boat to Europe and met Sun Yat-sen on a steamer. In the chat, Zhang Jingjiang learned about Sun Yat-sen's life and deeds and admired him very much. Zhang Jingjiang was determined to provide financial help for his revolutionary cause. The two agreed to telegraph Sun Yat-sen if he was short of money, such as "A" for 10,000, "B" for 20,000, "C" for 30,000, "D" for 40,000, "E" for 50,000, and so on. Once Sun Yat-sen's uprising was in urgent need of funds, he called Zhang Jingjiang a "C" number, and it didn't take long for Sun Yat-sen to receive 30,000 yuan. Sun Yat-sen even called Zhang Jingjiang a "strange man", and in his life, he spent his whole life fighting for it.
Zhang Jingjiang devoted himself to the revolutionary cause.
Although private donations are also a major form of funding**, only a small proportion of people with this mindset make up a very small percentage of them, so the funds available are very limited.
Issuance of public bonds. Sun Yat-sen's means of raising funds were mainly public bonds. After the establishment of the alliance, Sun Yat-sen issued a banknote called "China Currency" in Japan, which was later called "China Banknote" and later "Zhonghua ** Banknote". The ** piece is 1,000 yuan, and it is only sold for 250 yuan, and when the revolution is victorious, the person who buys it will pay it back with interest. In addition to certain financial compensation, those who subscribe to public bonds also have some political and economic benefits: for example, if they buy 100 yuan of Chinese money, they can obtain Chinese nationality; If the purchase is more than 1,000 yuan, it can be given priority to handle enterprise business; If you have a large donation, you can also make sculptures with sculptures, and some parks or roads are named after the donors.
Created by Sun Yat-sen in July 1911, there are three types, one is ten dollars, one is one hundred dollars, and one is one thousand dollars.
In fact, the vast majority of buyers were not really revolutionaries, only some were revolutionary speculators. They financed the revolution, like investment companies, for profit. Although the buyer's purpose was not pure, Sun Yat-sen's approach was the most effective, and he used the money to support the revolution.
Overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao and foreign friends expressed their support for the Xinhai Revolution.
In fact, throughout the course of the revolution, the fragility of the financial base has always been the weakness of the revolutionaries. If revolutionaries can't control their own economy, then they will be controlled, let alone lead the revolution.