evidence: Later on 20 October 1923, at a national conference for youths in Guangzhou, to explain the core idea behind mínguó (民國; 'people's country'), he pithily compared the phrase "Empire of China" (中華帝國; Zhōnghuá Dìguó; 'Chinese Emperor's Country') to "Republic of China" (中華民國; Zhōnghuá Mínguó; 'Chinese People's Country') in the form of a parallelism: an emperor's country is ruled by only one emperor (帝國是以皇帝一人為主), a people's country is ruled by all four hundred million people (民國是以四萬萬人為主).[6] Both the "Beiyang government" (from 1912 to 1928), and the "Nationalist government" (from 1928 to 1949) used the name "Republic of China" as their official name.[7] In Chinese, the official name was often shortened to Zhōngguó (中國; 'Middle Country'), Mínguó (民國; 'People's Country'), or Zhōnghuá (中華; 'Middle Huaxia').[8][9][10] [...] 諸君知中華民國之意義乎？何以不曰「中華共和國」，而必曰「中華民國」？此「民」字之意義，為僕研究十餘年之結果而得之者。歐美之共和國，創建遠在吾國之前。二十世紀之國，當含有創制之精神，不當自謂能效法於十八九世紀成法，而引為自足。共和政體為代表政體，世界各國，隸於此旗幟之下者，如希臘，則有貴族奴隸之堦級，直可稱之曰「專制共和」。如美國則已有十四省，樹直接民權之規模，而瑞士則全乎直接民權制度也。雖吾人今既易專制而成代議政體，然何可故步自封，落於人後。故今後國民當奮振全神於世界，發現一光芒萬丈之奇采，俾更進而底於直接民權之域。代議政體旗幟之下，吾民所享者，祇一種代議權。若底於直接民權，則有創制權、廢止權、退官權。但此種民權，不宜以廣漠之省境施行之，故當以縣為單位。地方財政完全由地方處理之，而分任中央之政費。其餘各種實業，則懲美國托拉斯之弊，而歸諸中央。如是數年，必有一莊嚴燦爛之中華民國發現於東大陸，駕諸世界共和國之上矣。 - ^ a b 黎民. "中華民國國號的來由和意義". 黄花岗杂志. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016.