295 There are three excellent discussions of the _min shêng_ programs. Wou, cited, gives a clear precis of the doctrine. Hung Jair, _Les idées économiques de Sun Yat Sen_, Toulouse, 1934, and Tsiang Kuen, _Les origines économiques et politiques du socialisme de Sun Yat Sen_, Paris, 1933, cover essentially the same ground, although they are both doctoral dissertations submitted to French universities. The former deals primarily with the theory of Sun’s economic ideas, contrasting them with the economic thought of Adam Smith and of the Marxians. The latter gives a rather extensive historical and statistical background to Sun’s _min shêng_, and traces the Chinese economic system, whence _min shêng_ was derived in part, quite fully. These authors have covered the field so widely that the present work need not enter into the discussion of the precise immediate policies to be advocated under _min shêng_. Enough will be given to describe the relations of _min shêng_ with the more formally political principles of nationalism and democracy, and to afford the reader an opportunity to assess its scope and significance for himself. The works of Hung Jair, Tsiang Kuen, Wou Saofong, and Li Ti-tsun all measure _min shêng_ in terms of classical Western _laissez-faire_ economics and then in terms of Marxism; they all proceed in considerable detail to recapitulate the various concrete plans that Sun projected. The present author will not enter into the minutiae of the problems of clothing, of transport, of communications, etc., inasmuch as they have already been dealt with and because they are not directly relevant to the political or ideological features of Sun’s thought. 296 Tsui, cited, p. 378, n. 125. _ 297 The International Development of China_ was welcomed as an interesting fantasy in a world which had not yet heard of the Five Year Plans and the programs of the New Deal. The fact that Sun Yat-sen was a few years ahead of his contemporaries gave him the air of a dreamer, which was scarcely deserved. 298 Hsü translation, “The Outline of National Reconstruction,” p. 85. Two points of detail may be noted here. In the first place, _min shêng_ has been emphasized by being placed first, although Sun Yat-sen generally arranged his principles in their logical order: nationalism, democracy, _min shêng_. Secondly, _min shêng_, although emphasized, is dealt with in one single paragraph in this vitally important document. The question of the _hsien_ is given eight paragraphs to the one on _min shêng_. This is indicative of the point stressed above, namely, that Sun Yat-sen, while he was sure of the importance of _min shêng_, did not believe in hard and fast rules concerning its development. 299 Work cited, p. 232.