July 7, 1920
Hunan Self-Government is now the only major issue, a matter bearing on the life and death, honor and disgrace of the people of Hunan. I urge the people of Hunan. I urge my thirty million dear compatriots. Even if your father and mother have died, put off burying them for a while. Let us all first build this seawall of self-government properly, then talk about other things. A great wind and a sea tide are coming. This great wind and sea tide have swept over us many times before. Now they are about to sweep over us again. Our seawall is not yet built, and construction has not even begun. How dangerous, and the road is long; those who are awakened are few, and we cannot complete this embankment work in time. Therefore this responsibility must inevitably fall upon the shoulders of our three hundred thousand citizens of Changsha. If the citizens of Changsha do not now quickly rise up and launch a self-government movement, Hunan Self-Government will ultimately have no hope of being established. Citizens of Changsha! Although the thirty million compatriots have not explicitly entrusted this responsibility to you, they have implicitly entrusted this responsibility to you. If you succeed, thirty million people will be blessed. If you fail, thirty million people will suffer calamity. Your responsibility is truly not light! You should know. The political reforms and social reforms of the Western countries all originated from civic movements. Not only are the great actions now shaking the whole world in countries like Russia and Germany initiated by citizens, but even the free cities of the Middle Ages, which wrested the status of "free men" from the hands of despots, owed this solely to the citizens. The authority of the citizens is truly great! The citizens are truly the favored sons of Heaven! Citizens! Rise up. To create the golden world of the future Hunan lies only in today.
Changsha Dagong Bao, July 7, 1920