Whenever great things are done, there must be some expenses, and this is especially true for revolution. For revolutionaries, fundraising was naturally a top priority. But revolution is risky after all, and it is difficult to directly proportionate input to output. Once the uprising fails, the money of the funders will naturally be gone, and they may even be accused of being a "financial enemy". Therefore, for revolutionaries, fundraising is not only a big thing, but also a difficult thingAlthough it is difficult to raise funds, the revolution always has to be carried out, and the revolutionaries have to use their brains and try their best. In this regard, Sun Yat-sen is a well-deserved fundraiser. Specifically, Sun Yat-sen's fundraising methods are mainly as follows:
Membership dues are levied
Revolution is a systematic project, which is generally participated in and planned by revolutionary groups. As far as the Xinhai Revolution is concerned, the Xingzhong Society and the League belong to such groups. According to the usual practice, all members who join the club are required to pay a small membership fee and an annual fee of about one yuan. However, Sun Yat-sen's membership was very limited, with only about 500 members of the Xingzhong Society, which was founded in 1894, and less than 10,000 members before 1911. Therefore, as far as the revolution is concerned, membership fees are naturally a drop in the bucket, and they cannot fundamentally solve the problem of the expenses required for the revolution.
In July 1911, Sun Yat-sen took a group photo with members of the "Hongmen Fundraising Bureau".
Individual donations
Another element of revolutionary funding is personal funding. Generally speaking, there are two types of people who funded Sun Yat-sen's revolution: one is his relatives, who have a natural blood relationship with Sun Yat-sen; On the other hand, there are their close friends, who are enlightened people with revolutionary ideals.
The representative of the former category is his brother Sun Mei. Sun Mei was in business in his early years and had a large industry in Honolulu. During the decade from 1894 to 1904, Sun Mei was a staunch supporter of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause. As for how much money Sun Mei spent on the revolution, we don't know, but the amount is certainly not too small. According to Sun Yat-sen, the Canton Uprising of 1895 and the Huizhou Uprising of 1900 were largely financed by his brother Sun Mei. It was precisely because of the huge cost that Sun Mei was in a state of bankruptcy after 1904.
Sun Mei (1854-1915).
The representative of the latter category is represented by Zhang Jingjiang. Zhang Jingjiang is a wealthy businessman in Zhejiang Province and owns an industry in France. Once, Zhang Jingjiang went to Europe by boat and met Sun Yat-sen on the boat. During the chat, Zhang Jingjiang learned about Sun Yat-sen's career and praised him very much. Zhang Jingjiang decided to vigorously fund his revolutionary cause. The two agreed that when Sun Yat-sen needed money, they could send him a code, such as "A" for 10,000 yuan, "B" for 20,000 yuan, "C" for 30,000 yuan, "D" for 40,000 yuan, "E" for 50,000 yuan, and so on. Once, Sun Yat-sen was short of money, so he tried to send a "C" to Zhang Jingjiang, and a few days later, Sun Yat-sen really got a remittance of 30,000 yuan. Sun Yat-sen called Zhang Jingjiang a "strange man" of the revolution.
Zhang Jingjiang was in business for the revolution.
Although individual donations are also one of the important funds for the revolution, the people who have revolutionary ideals are only a minority after all, and the revolutionary funds they receive are naturally very limited.
Issuance of bonds
Bond issuance was Sun Yat-sen's main way of raising funds. After the establishment of the League, Sun Yat-sen printed a bond in Japan called the "Chinese currency". The face value of this bond is 1,000 yuan, but **250 yuan, and after the success of the revolution, the principal and interest of the purchaser will be doubled. In addition to receiving certain material compensation, those who buy bonds also enjoy certain political and economic rights: for example, those who buy 100 yuan of Chinese currency can obtain citizenship; Those who purchase 1,000 yuan can enjoy the right to give priority to the operation of enterprises and institutions; If the purchase is huge, it can even be molded with statues, and some parks and roads can be named after donors.
Sun Yat-sen issued gold coin coupons in July 1911, there are three kinds of gold coin coupons: 10 yuan, 100 yuan, and 1000 yuan, as long as you donate more than 5 yuan, you can get a gold coin coupon with a face value of twice the amount of donation.
In fact, the vast majority of these purchasers were not revolutionary idealists, but some revolutionary opportunists. They financed the revolution in the same way as they invested in a business, for the purpose of profit. Although the motives of the purchasers were not necessarily pure, this method was the most effective, and Sun Yat-sen obtained a large amount of money to finance the revolutionary cause.
Overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao, and foreign friends supported the Xinhai Revolution.
Actually,Throughout the Xinhai Revolution, the weakness of the financial base was always the weakness of the revolutionaries. When revolutionaries are unable to control their own economic lifeline, the result is that they are controlled by others, let alone lead the course of the revolution.