Even Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who led the 1911 revolution that overturned the imperial system and founded Republican China, owed a debt to Zhu Xi. He once said that his own ideas came from three sources: the great tradition of the sages, the West, and his own inspirations.
推翻滿清、創建中國的國父曾說自己的思想來自三層面：道統、西方、自創，他所標舉「堯舜禹湯文武周公」道統的來源，正是朱熹考訂而出。