Born in Sichuan province in West China in 1885 to a merchant family, Zou received a classical education but refused to sit for the civil service exams, preferring instead to work as a seal carver while pursuing his idiosyncratic classical studies. He gradually became interested in Western ideas, and went to Japan to study in 1901, where he was exposed to radical revolutionary and anti-Manchu ideas. This tract, published in Shanghai in 1903, is his most important work and one of the most important radial tracts published in China before the 1911 Revolution. Zou was arrested for publishing the tract, and died in prison in 1905. 1

1. Introduction
Sweep away millennia of despotism in all its forms, throw off millennia of slavishness, annihilate the five million and more of the furry and horned Manchu race, cleanse ourselves of 260 years of harsh and unremitting pain, so that the soil of the Chinese subcontinent is made immaculate, and the descendants of the Yellow Emperor will all become Washingtons. Then they will return from the dead to life again, they will emerge from the Eighteen Levels of Hell and rise to the Thirty Three mansions of Heaven, in all their magnificence and richness to arrive at their zenith, the unique and incomparable of goals - revolution. How sublime is revolution, how majestic!
I follow thereupon the line of the Great Wall, scale the Kunlun Mountains, travel the length of the Yangzi, follow to its source the Yellow River. I plant the standard of independence, ring the bell of freedom. My voice re-echos from heaven to earth, I crack my temples and split my throat in crying out to my fellow-countrymen: revolution is inevitable for China today. It is inevitable if the Manchu yoke is to be thrown off; it is inevitable if China is to be independent; it is inevitable is to take its place as a powerful nation on the globe; it is inevitable if China is to survive for long in the new world of the 20th century; it is inevitable if China is to be a great country in the world and play the leading role. Stand up for Revolution! Fellow-countrymen, are there any of you whether old or in middle years, in your prime of life or young, be it man or woman, who is talking of revolution or working actively for revolution? Fellow countrymen, assist each other and live for each other in revolution. I here cry at the top of my voice to spread the principles of revolution throughout the land.
Revolution is the universal principle of evolution. Revolution is the essence of the struggle for survival of destruction in a time of transition. Revolution submits to heaven and responds to men's needs.2 Revolution rejects what is corrupt and keeps the good. Revolution is the advance from barbarism to civilization. Revolution turns slaves into masters

4. For revolution, race must be clearly distinguished
The yellow and white races which are to be found on the globe have been endowed by nature with intelligence and fighting capacity. They are fundamentally incapable of giving way to each other. Hence, glowering and poised for a fight 3 they have engaged in battle in the world of evolution, the great arena where strength and intelligence have clashed since earliest times, the great theater where for so long natural selection and progress have been played out.
When men love their race, solidarity will arise internally, and what is outside will be repelled. Hence, to begin with, clans were united and other clans repelled; next tribes were united and other tribes repelled, finally the people of a country became united and people of other countries were repelled. This is the general principle of the races of the world, and also a major reason why races engender history. I will demonstrate to my countrymen, to allow them to form their own impression, how our yellow race, the yellow race of which the Han race is a part (and I refer you to the history of China) is able to unite itself and repel intruders.

6. The purport of Revolutionary Independence
The enormous privileges given the nobles, the harm done to the livelihood of the people, the taxes illegally imposed, the extorted public debt and the twice levied ship tax: such were the reasons why the English Parliament would not submit to King Charles, and why revolution was advocated. The excessive use of patents of nobility leading to the widening of the gulf between noble and base, rich and poor.; the abandonment of the principle of the protection of the people; the levies exacted beyond reason; these were the reasons why French militants and men of high principles did not shrink from the terms of insurrection and sedition; such were the causes of the French Revolution. Heavy tea duties, the forcible imposition of a printing tax without the consent of the legislative assembly, the quartering of troops on civilians: such were the themes of the criticisms leveled at the British. Thereafter, the American flag of revolt floated on Bunker Hill; such were the reasons why revolution was advocated so widely until independence was finally achieved.
I do not begrudge repeating over and over again that internally we are slaves of the Manchus and suffering from their tyranny, externally we are being harassed by the Powers, and we are doubly enslaved. The reason why our sacred Han race, descendants of the Yellow emperor, should support revolutionary independence, arises precisely from the question of whether out race will go under and be exterminated.
With the rapid advances in science, the superstitious doctrine whereby a man becomes an emperor through the gift of heaven and the spirits can be destroyed. With the rapid advance in world civilization, the system whereby the rule of a single man in a despotic form of government can cover the whole country may be overthrown. With the rapid advances in wisdom, everybody will be able to enjoy his or her natural rights. If today our great Han people are to throw off the bonds of the Manchus, to retrieve all the rights we have lost, and is to take its place among world powers (for we wish to preserve in its entirety our natural equality of status and independence), we cannot avoid carrying out a revolution and safeguarding our right to independence. Alas, I am young, ignorant, and brutish, not equal to speaking for the fundamental principles of revolutionary independence. Wary and fearful 4 I have carefully modeled (my proposals) on the principles of American revolutionary independence. I have summarized them under a number of headings, and with the utmost deference I offer to my most revered and beloved 400 million countrymen of the great Han people to prepare them for the path they are to follow.
-China is the China of the Chinese. Countrymen, you must all recognize the China of the Chinese of the Han race.
-Not to allow any alien race to lay their hands on the least rights of our China
-Any obligations subordinating people to the Manchus are one and all annulled
-First, to overthrow the barbaric government set up by the Manchus in Peking
-To expel the Manchus settled in China or kill them in order to revenge ourselves
-To kill the emperor set up by the Manchus as a warning to the myriad generations that despotic government is not to be revived.
-To oppose any intervention directed either by Chinese nationals or from foreign soil against Chinese revolutionary independence
-To set up a central government, which will act as a general body to run affairs.
-In each area and province a deputy to a general assemble is to be elected by vote in public elections. From these deputies, one is to be elected by vote to serve as provisional president to represent the whole country A vice-president is also to be elected, and all chou and hsien are to elect a number of deputies.
-The whole population, whether male or female, are citizens.
-All men have the duty to serve as citizen soldiers
-Everybody has the duty of bearing the burden of taxation.
-The whole country has the duty to show loyalty to the newly established state.
-Everybody in the country, whether male or female, is equal. There is no distinction between upper and lower, base and noble.
-All inalienable rights are bestowed by nature.
-The freedom to live and all other privileges are natural rights.
-Freedoms, such as that of speech, thought, the press, etc. cannot be infringed on.
-All rights must be defended. The government which must be set up by public agreement, must employ all the powers granted purely to defend popular rights.
-If, at any time, the actions of a government lead to an infraction of people's rights, they have the right to carry out a revolution, and overthrow the old government to retrieve their peace and contentment.
-Once these have been obtained, the question of rights must be publicly discussed and a new government set up. This also is to be a right of the people.
...
-To settle the name of the country as the Republic of China * (Qing is the name of a ruling house, Chih-na is a foreign term, authors note)
-The Republic of China is a free and independent country.
-A free and independent state has full rights and equality with other great states in the matter of war and peace, treaties and trade, and all other matters pertaining to an independent state.
-The law of the constitution shall be modeled on the American constitutional law, having regard for Chinese conditions.
-The law of self-government shall be modeled on the American law of self-government.
-Likewise in all matters of a national character, negotiations, the establishment of official departments and the determination of the official duties in the state American practice will remain a criterion.
-Let high heaven and the god of the earth both scrutinize it.

7. Conclusion
You 400 million of the great Han race, my countrymen, whether man or woman, aged or elderly, in the prime of life, young or child, carry out this revolution. It is the bounden duty of one and all. Think of it as the food and drink which is your daily necessity. You should not act rashly or throw your lives away. Your lands occupy two thirds of Asia: countrymen, you are a fifth of the peoples of the globe. Your tea can provide drink for the countless millions of the world and more; your coal could provide fuel for the whole world for two thousand years and not run short. You possess the omen of the Yellow Peril, you possess the might of the sacred race. You possess government, run it yourselves, you have laws, guard them yourselves; you have industries, administer them yourselves; you possess armed forces, order them yourselves; you possess lands, watch over them yourselves.; you possess lands, watch over them yourselves; you have inexhaustible resources, exploit them yourselves. You are qualified in every way to revolutionary independence. Lead the 400 million citizens of your countrymen, intercede for their lives, intercede for your native country. Throw caution to the winds, be prepared to lose your lives in the struggle. Gallop against your hereditary enemies the Manchus, your public enemy the clan of Aisin Gioro through the forest of guns and the rain of bullets, after which sweep away the demons from foreign parts who have infringed on your sovereign rights. The stain on your history may be washed away, the honor of your country may soar. Your flag of independence already streams high among the clouds. Your bell of freedom already rings out in the regions of Yu. Your Hall of Independence already stands a stronghold in your midst. Your stele of commemoration already rises on a lofty peak. Your spirit of freedom has emerged, and already grasps for you heaven with his left hand, earth with his right. The sky is clear, the earth bright; thunder breaks, rousing thousands of sleeping lions into movement. This is in revolution, in independence.
Long live the revolutionary independence of the great Han people
Long live the Republic of China
Long live the freedom of the 400 million fellowcountrymen of the Chinese republic.

The Song of the Baked Cake by Liu Po-wen
    The hand grasps the great sword ninety-nine
    Kill to a man the Tartar, then stay the hand.5