Study on the Writing and Publishing Process of The International Development of China

Abstract: Dr. Sun Yat-sen attached great importance to his book The International Development of China and believed “the value of this writing that he wrote for world peace with pen is more important than the achievements of overthrowing the monarchy of China with gun”. First, Dr. Sun wrote it in English, then his wife Song Qingling, and close followers translated into Chinese chapter by chapter. The publishing of The International Development of China is very difficulty and complicated as well. Previous studies focused on the text analysis of the book but ignored the historical research of the writing and publishing process of it. I luckily found dozens of letters between Dr. Sun and Madame Sun and George Ephraim Sokolsky, Julean Herbert Arnold, Hendrik Christian Andersen, Paul Samuel Reinsch from 1918 to 1922 which were kept in overseas cultural and educational institutions. Based on those letters and other historical resources, I can rebuild the writing and publishing process of The International Development of China for the first time, and explain why there are three English versions of The International Development of China published in Shanghai, London and New York in 1920, 1921 and 1922. Still, I can not find the first Chinese version of this book, that illustrated the complexity of the publication of Dr. Sun’s writings in 1920s.