Sun Yat-sen (; also known by
several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)
Singtao
The ''Sing Tao Daily'' () (also known as ''Sing Tao Jih Pao'') is Hong Kong's oldest and second-largest Chinese language newspaper. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing () is chairman. Its English language sister p ...
daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who served as the first
provisional president of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
and the first leader of the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(Nationalist Party of China). He is called the "
Father of the Nation
The Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a person considered the driving force behind the establishment of a country, state, or nation. (plural ), also seen as , was a Roman honorific meaning the "Father of the Fatherland", best ...
" in the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, and the "Forerunner of the Revolution" in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
for his instrumental role in the overthrow of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
during the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
. Sun is unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for being widely revered in both
Mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
.
Sun is considered to be one of the greatest leaders of modern China, but his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile. After the success of the revolution in 1911, he quickly resigned as president of the newly founded Republic of China and relinquished it to
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...
. He soon went to exile in Japan for safety but returned to found a revolutionary government in the South as a challenge to the
warlords
A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
who controlled much of the nation. In 1923, he invited representatives of the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
to Canton (
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
) to re-organize his party and formed a brittle
alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
with the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
. He did not live to see his party unify the country under his successor,
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, in the
Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...
. He died in Peking (
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
) of
gallbladder cancer
Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer, with an incidence of fewer than 2 cases per 100,000 people per year in the United States. It is particularly common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern Ind ...
on 12 March 1925.
Sun's chief legacy is his political philosophy known as the
Three Principles of the People
The Three Principles of the People (; also translated as the Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism) is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to improve China made during the Republican Era. ...
: Mínzú (民族主義, Mínzúzhǔyì) or
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
(independence from foreign domination), Mínquán (民權主義, Mínquánzhǔyì) or "rights of the people" (sometimes translated as "democracy"), and Mínshēng (民生主義, Mínshēngzhǔyì) or people's livelihood (sometimes translated as "communitarianism" or "welfare").
Names
![1 yuan - Sun Yat Sen - 1927](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/1_yuan_-_Sun_Yat_Sen_-_1927.png)
Sun's
genealogical name was Sun Deming (''Syūn Dāk-mìhng''; ).
As a child, his
pet name
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...
was Tai Tseung (''Dai-jeuhng''; ).
When in school, the teacher gave him the name Sun Wen (
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
: ''Syūn Màhn''; ), which was what Sun called himself for most of his life. Sun's
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
was Zaizhi (''Jai-jī''; ), and his baptized name was Rixin (''Yaht-sān''; ).
While at school in Hong Kong he got the
art name
An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ''ho'' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by East Asian artists, poets and writers. The ...
Yat-sen ().
Sun Zhongshan (;
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
: , romanized ''Chung Shan''), the most popular of his Chinese names in China, is derived from his
Japanese name
in modern times consist of a family name (surname) followed by a given name, in that order. Nevertheless, when a Japanese name is written in the Roman alphabet, ever since the Meiji era, the official policy has been to cater to Western expecta ...
''Kikori Nakayama'' (), the pseudonym given to him by
Tōten Miyazaki
or Torazō Miyazaki (1 January 1871 – 6 December 1922) was a Japanese philosopher who aided and supported Sun Yat-sen during the Xinhai Revolution. While Sun was in Japan, he assisted Sun in his travels as he was wanted by Qing dynasty autho ...
while in hiding in Japan.
His birthplace city was renamed
Zhongshan
Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 i ...
in his honour probably shortly after his death in 1925, using this name. Zhongshan is one of the few
cities named after people in China.
Early years
Birthplace and early life
Sun Te-ming was born on 12 November 1866 to Sun Dacheng and
Madame Yang
Madame Yang, also known as Lady Yang, was the mother of Sun Yat-sen.
Biography
Madame Yang gave birth to Sun Yat-sen in the village of Cuiheng, Xiangshan County (now Zhongshan City), Guangdong, in 1866, when she was 39 years old.
In 1878, whe ...
.
His birthplace was the village of
Cuiheng
Cuiheng () is a village of the town of Nanlang, Zhongshan, Guangdong province. Cuiheng is best known as the birthplace of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the "Father of the Nation" of the Republic of China. Cuiheng is southeast of downtown Zhongshan, and nor ...
,
Xiangshan County (now
Zhongshan
Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 i ...
City),
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
.
He had a cultural background of
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
[ ] and
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
. His father owned very little land and worked as a tailor in
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, and as a journeyman and a porter. After finishing primary education, he moved to
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
in the
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
, where he lived a comfortable life of modest wealth supported by his elder brother Sun Mei.
Education years
At the age of 10, in Hawaii, Sun began seeking schooling,
He obtained secondary schooling in Hawaii. and met his childhood friend
Lu Haodong
Lu Zhonggui (30 September 1868 – 7 November 1895), courtesy name Xianxiang, better known as Lu Haodong, was a Chinese revolutionary who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for designing the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag that beca ...
.
By age 13 in 1878, after receiving a few years of local schooling, Sun went to live with his elder brother,
Sun Mei Sun Mei (孫眉 Dec. 6, 1854 - Feb. 11, 1915) was the older brother of Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Mei financed Sun Yat-sen's early education and was a major financial contributor to the 1911 revolution.
Biography
Sun Mei was born into the Sun family on De ...
() in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
.
Sun Mei financed Sun Yat-sen's education and would later be a major contributor for the overthrow of the Manchus (Qing dynasty).
![Sun Yat Sen's family 1901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Sun_Yat_Sen%27s_family_1901.png)
During his stay in Honolulu, Sun Yat-sen went to
ʻIolani School
Iolani School, located at 563 Kamoku Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a private coeducational college preparatory school serving over 2,020 students with a boarding program for grades 9 - 12 as well as a summer boarding program for middle school gra ...
where he studied English,
British history
The British Isles have witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Ireland, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey and t ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, science, and Christianity.
While he was originally unable to speak English, Sun Yat-sen quickly picked up the language and received a prize for academic achievement from
King David Kalākaua before graduating in 1882.
He then attended
Oahu College
Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. Protestant missionaries establish ...
(now known as
Punahou School
Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...
) for one semester.
In 1883 he was sent home to China as his brother was becoming worried that Sun Yat-sen was beginning to embrace Christianity.
As Hawaii was being annexed by the United States at the time, Sun obtained American citizenship.
When he returned to China in 1883 at age 17, Sun met up with his childhood friend Lu Haodong again at Beijidian (), a temple in Cuiheng Village.
They saw many villagers worshipping the Beiji (literally ''
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
'') Emperor-God in the temple, and were dissatisfied with their ancient healing methods.
They broke the statue, incurring the wrath of fellow villagers, and escaped to Hong Kong.
After arriving in Hong Kong in November 1883, he studied at the Diocesan Home and Orphanage on
Eastern Street
Eastern Street is an early street of Hong Kong, located in the Sai Ying Pun area of Hong Kong Island. Eastern Street North (東邊街北) is an extension of the street leading to the seafront following progressive harbour reclamations.
Ea ...
(now the
Diocesan Boys' School
The Diocesan Boys' School (DBS) is a day and boarding Anglican boys' school in Hong Kong, located at 131 Argyle Street, Hong Kong, Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon near Mong Kok East station. The school's mission is "to provide a liberal educat ...
), and from 15 April 1884 to his graduation in 1886, he was at
The Government Central School
Queen's College () is a sixth form college for boys with a secondary school and the first public secondary school founded in Hong Kong by the British colonial government. It was initially named The Government Central School () in 1862 and lat ...
on
Gough Street
Gough Street ( Chinese: 歌賦街) is a street on Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, just north of the Soho area of Central. It is connected to Shing Wong Street to the west and Aberdeen Street to the east. The street is informally referred to as "NoHo", north ...
(now Queen's College).
In 1886 Sun studied medicine at the
Guangzhou Boji Hospital
The Canton Hospital () or Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, also known as the Canton Pok Tsai Hospital, was founded by Protestant medical missionary Peter Parker (1804-1888) in Canton, China on November 4, 1835. The hospital treated thousands of pat ...
under the Christian missionary
John G. Kerr.
According to his book "Kidnapped in London", Sun in 1887 heard of the opening of the
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tert ...
(the forerunner of
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fir ...
) and immediately decided to benefit from the "advantages it offered."
Ultimately, he earned the license of Christian practice as a
medical doctor
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
from there in 1892.
Notably, of his class of 12 students, Sun was one of only two who graduated.
Singtao
The ''Sing Tao Daily'' () (also known as ''Sing Tao Jih Pao'') is Hong Kong's oldest and second-largest Chinese language newspaper. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing () is chairman. Its English language sister p ...
daily. 28 February 2011. 特別策劃 section A10. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition.[South China morning post. Birth of Sun heralds dawn of revolutionary era for China. 11 November 1999.]
Religious views and Christian baptism
In the early 1880s, Sun Mei had sent his brother to
ʻIolani School
Iolani School, located at 563 Kamoku Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a private coeducational college preparatory school serving over 2,020 students with a boarding program for grades 9 - 12 as well as a summer boarding program for middle school gra ...
, which was under the supervision of the
Church of Hawai'i and directed by an Anglican prelate named
Alfred Willis
Alfred Charles Willis (3 February 1836 – 14 November 1920) was an Anglican missionary bishop and author in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Biography
Born the son of a physician, he was educated at Uppingham and St John's College, Oxfo ...
, with the language of instruction being English. At the school, a young Sun Wen first came in contact with Christianity. In his work, Schriffin speculated that Christianity was to have a great influence on Sun's future political career.
, Sun Yat-sen and Christianity.
Sun was later
Baptism, baptized in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
(on 4 May 1884) by
Rev.
The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...
C. R. Hager an American missionary of the Congregational Church of the United States (
ABCFM
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
) to his brother's disdain. The minister would also develop a friendship with Sun.
[Soong, (1997) p. 151-178] Sun attended To Tsai Church (), founded by the
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...
in 1888,
while he studied Western Medicine in
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tert ...
. Sun pictured a revolution as similar to the salvation mission of the
Christian church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...
. His conversion to Christianity was related to his revolutionary ideals and push for advancement.
Transformation into a revolutionary
The Four Bandits
![Si Da Kou](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Si_Da_Kou.jpg)
During the
Qing-dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
rebellion around 1888, Sun was in Hong Kong with a group of revolutionary thinkers who were nicknamed the
Four Bandits
The Four Bandits, Four Outlaws () or the Four Desperados () was a nickname given to a group of 4 young students in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong who were keen on discussing the current issues in China, and aspired to overthrow the Manchu people, Ma ...
at the
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine or LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed), formerly known as the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, is a medical school which comprises several schools and departments that provide an array of tert ...
.
[Bard, Solomon. ''Voices from the past: Hong Kong, 1842–1918''. ]002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
(2002). HK university press. , . p. 183. Sun, who had grown
increasingly frustrated by the conservative Qing government and its refusal to adopt knowledge from the more technologically advanced Western nations, quit his medical practice in order to devote his time to transforming China.
From The Furen Literary Society to The Revive China Society
In 1891, Sun met revolutionary friends in Hong Kong including
Yeung Ku-wan
Yeung Ku-wan (19 December 1861 – 11 January 1901) was a Chinese revolutionary of the late Qing dynasty. In 1890, Yeung started the Furen Literary Society in British Hong Kong to spread ideas of revolution against the Qing dynasty and to est ...
who was the leader and founder of the
Furen Literary Society
The Furen Literary Society, also known as the Chinese Patriotic Mutual Improvement Association, or the 'Furen Cultural Society Restoration Association (Foo Yan Man Ser Kwong Fook Hui)', was founded in Colonial Hong Kong in 1892.
It was founded b ...
.
[Curthoys, Ann. Lake, Marilyn. ]005
''005'' is a 1981 arcade game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings". It is one of the first examples of a ...
(2005). Connected worlds: history in transnational perspective. ANU publishing. , . pg 101. The group was spreading the idea of overthrowing the Qing. In 1894, Sun wrote an 8,000 character petition to Qing
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...
presenting his ideas for modernizing China.
[Wei, Julie Lee. Myers Ramon Hawley. Gillin, Donald G. ]994
Year 994 ( CMXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* September 15 – Battle of the Orontes: Fatimid forces, under Turkish genera ...
(1994). ''Prescriptions for saving China: selected writings of Sun Yat-sen''. Hoover press. , . He traveled to
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
to personally present the petition to Li but was not granted an audience. After this experience, Sun turned irrevocably toward revolution. He left China for Hawaii and founded the
Revive China Society
The Hsing Chung Hui (Hanyu Pinyin romanization: Xīngzhōnghuì), translated as the Revive China Society (興中會), the Society for Regenerating China, or the Proper China Society was founded by Sun Yat-sen on 24 November 1894 to forward th ...
, which was committed to revolutionizing China's prosperity. Members were drawn mainly from Chinese expatriates, especially from the lower social classes. The same month in 1894 the Furen Literary Society was merged with the Hong Kong chapter of the Revive China Society.
Thereafter, Sun became the secretary of the newly merged Revive China Society, which Yeung Ku-wan headed as president.
[(Chinese) Yang, Bayun; Yang, Xing'an (November 2010). ''Yeung Ku-wan – A Biography Written by a Family Member''. Bookoola. p. 17. ] They disguised their activities in Hong Kong under the running of a business under the name "Kuen Hang Club" ().
Heaven and Earth Society and overseas travels to seek financial support
A "Heaven and Earth Society" sect known as
Tiandihui
The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternal organization and historically a secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the Ming loyalist White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihui's a ...
had been around for a long time.
[João de Pina-Cabral. ]002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
(2002). Between China and Europe: person, culture and emotion in Macao. Berg publishing. , . pg 209. The group has also been referred to as the "three cooperating organizations" as well as the
triads.
Sun Yat-sen mainly used this group to leverage his overseas travels to gain further financial and resource support for his revolution.
First Sino-Japanese War
In 1895, China suffered a serious defeat during the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...
. There were two types of responses. One group of intellectuals contended that the
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
Qing government could restore its legitimacy by successfully modernizing.
[Bevir, Mark. ]010 010 may refer to:
* 10 (number)
* 8 (number) in octal numeral notation
* Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982
* 010, the telephone area code of Beijing
* 010, the Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...
(2010). Encyclopedia of Political Theory. Sage publishing. , . pg 168. Stressing that overthrowing the Manchu would result in chaos and would lead to China being carved up by imperialists, intellectuals like
Kang Youwei
Kang Youwei (; Cantonese: ''Hōng Yáuh-wàih''; 19March 185831March 1927) was a prominent political thinker and reformer in China of the late Qing dynasty. His increasing closeness to and influence over the young Guangxu Emperor spar ...
and
Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade–Giles, Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political act ...
supported responding with initiatives like the
Hundred Days' Reform
The Hundred Days' Reform or Wuxu Reform () was a failed 103-day national, cultural, political, and educational reform movement that occurred from 11 June to 22 September 1898 during the late Qing dynasty. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu E ...
.
In another faction, Sun Yat-sen and others like
Zou Rong
Zou Rong (; 1885 – 1905) was a Han Chinese nationalist and revolutionary martyr of the anti-Manchu movement. He was born in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, his ancestors having moved there from Meizhou, Guangdong area. Zou was sent to Japan a ...
wanted a revolution to replace the dynastic system with a modern nation-state in the form of a republic.
The Hundred Days' reform turned out to be a failure by 1898.
First uprising and exile
The first Guangzhou uprising
![Letter sun yat sen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Letter_sun_yat_sen.PNG)
In the second year of the establishment of the Revive China Society, on 26 October 1895, the group planned and launched the
First Guangzhou uprising
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
against the Qing in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
.
Yeung Ku-wan
Yeung Ku-wan (19 December 1861 – 11 January 1901) was a Chinese revolutionary of the late Qing dynasty. In 1890, Yeung started the Furen Literary Society in British Hong Kong to spread ideas of revolution against the Qing dynasty and to est ...
directed the uprising starting from Hong Kong.
However, plans were leaked out and more than 70 members, including
Lu Haodong
Lu Zhonggui (30 September 1868 – 7 November 1895), courtesy name Xianxiang, better known as Lu Haodong, was a Chinese revolutionary who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for designing the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag that beca ...
, were captured by the Qing government. The uprising was a failure. Sun received financial support mostly from his brother who sold most of his 12,000 acres of ranch and cattle in Hawaii.
Additionally, members of his family and relatives of Sun would take refuge at the home of his brother Sun Mei at Kamaole in
Kula
Kula, which translates as ''Tower'' from Serbo-Croatian, may refer to:
People
*Bob Kula, American football player
*Irwin Kula (born 1957), American rabbi and author
*Karel Kula (born 1963), Czech footballer
Places
* Kula, Bihać, a village in ...
,
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
.
Exile in Japan
While in exile in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) in 1896, Sun raised money for his revolutionary party and to support uprisings in China. While the events leading up to it are unclear, Sun Yat-sen was detained at the
Chinese Legation in London, where the Chinese Imperial secret service planned to smuggle him back to China to execute him for his revolutionary actions. He was released after 12 days through the efforts of
James Cantlie
Sir James Cantlie (17 January 1851 – 28 May 1926) was a British physician. He was a pioneer of first aid, which in 1875 was unknown: even the police had no knowledge of basic techniques such as how to stop serious bleeding and applying splin ...
, ''
The Globe'', ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', and the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
; leaving Sun a hero in the UK. James Cantlie, Sun's former teacher at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, maintained a lifelong friendship with Sun and would later write an early biography of Sun. Sun wrote a book in 1897 about his detention, titled "Kidnapped in London".
Sun traveled by way of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to begin his exile there, he arrived in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
on 16 August 1897 and met with the Japanese politician
Tōten Miyazaki
or Torazō Miyazaki (1 January 1871 – 6 December 1922) was a Japanese philosopher who aided and supported Sun Yat-sen during the Xinhai Revolution. While Sun was in Japan, he assisted Sun in his travels as he was wanted by Qing dynasty autho ...
. Most Japanese who actively worked with Sun were motivated by a
pan-Asian
Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection.
Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asi ...
opposition to
Western imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
. While in Japan, Sun also met and befriended
Mariano Ponce
Mariano Ponce y Collantes (March 22, 1863 – May 23, 1918) was a Filipino physician, writer and active member of the Propaganda Movement. In Spain, he was among the founders of ''La Solidaridad'' and ''Asociación Hispano-Filipino''. Among his ...
, then a diplomat of the
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...
.
During the
Philippine Revolution and the
Filipino-American War
Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New S ...
, Sun helped Ponce procure weapons salvaged from the
Japanese military
The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...
and ship the weapons to the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. By helping the Philippine Republic, Sun hoped that the Filipinos would win their independence so that he could use the archipelago as a staging point of another revolution. However, as the war ended in July 1902, the United States emerged victorious from a bitter 3-year war against the Republic. Therefore, the Filipino dream of independence vanished with Sun's hopes of allying with the Philippines in his revolution in China.
From failed uprisings to the revolution
The Huizhou uprising
On 22 October 1900, Sun ordered the launch of the
Huizhou uprising to attack
Huizhou
Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyua ...
and provincial authorities in Guangdong. This came five years after the failed Guangzhou uprising. This time, Sun appealed to the
triads for help. This uprising was also a failure. Miyazaki, who participated in the revolt with Sun, wrote an account of this revolutionary effort under the title "33-year dream" () in 1902.
Getting support from the Siamese Chinese
In 1903, Sun made a secret trip to
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
in which he sought funds for his cause in Southeast Asia. His loyal followers published newspapers, providing invaluable support to the dissemination of his revolutionary principles and ideals among
Siamese Chinese
Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais), Thais of Chinese origin ( th, ชาวไทยเชื้อสายจีน; ''exonym and also domestically''), endonym Thai people ( th, ชาวไทย), are Chinese descenda ...
in
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...
. In Bangkok, Sun visited
Yaowarat Road
Yaowarat Road ( th, ถนนเยาวราช, ; ) in Samphanthawong District is the main artery of Bangkok's Chinatown. Modern Chinatown now covers a large area around Yaowarat and Charoen Krung Road. It has been the main centre for trading ...
, in
Bangkok's Chinatown
Bangkok's Chinatown is one of the largest Chinatowns in the world. It was founded in 1782 when the city was established as the capital of the Rattanakosin Kingdom, and served as the home of the mainly Teochew immigrant Chinese population, who ...
. It was on this street that Sun gave a speech claiming that overseas Chinese were "the Mother of the Revolution". He also met local Chinese merchants Seow Houtseng, who sent financial support to him.
Sun's speech on Yaowarat Street was commemorated by the street later being named "Sun Yat Sen Street" or "Soi Sun Yat Sen" ( th, ซอยซุนยัตเซ็น) in his honour.
Getting support from the American Chinese
According to Lee Yun-ping, chairman of the Chinese historical society, Sun needed a certificate to enter the United States at a time when the
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...
would have otherwise blocked him.
In March 1904, while residing in
Kula
Kula, which translates as ''Tower'' from Serbo-Croatian, may refer to:
People
*Bob Kula, American football player
*Irwin Kula (born 1957), American rabbi and author
*Karel Kula (born 1963), Czech footballer
Places
* Kula, Bihać, a village in ...
,
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
, Sun Yat-sen obtained a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth, issued by the
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...
, stating that "he was born in the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
on the 24th day of November, A.D. 1870."
He renounced it after it served its purpose to circumvent the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
[Smyser, A.A. (2000)]
''Sun Yat-sen's strong links to Hawaii''
Honolulu Star Bulletin. "Sun renounced it in due course. It did, however, help him circumvent the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which became applicable when Hawaii was annexed to the United States in 1898." Official files of the United States show that Sun had United States nationality, moved to China with his family at age 4, and returned to Hawaii 10 years later.
[ Note that one immigration official recorded that Sun Yat-sen was born in ]Kula
Kula, which translates as ''Tower'' from Serbo-Croatian, may refer to:
People
*Bob Kula, American football player
*Irwin Kula (born 1957), American rabbi and author
*Karel Kula (born 1963), Czech footballer
Places
* Kula, Bihać, a village in ...
, a district of Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
, Hawaii.
On 6 April 1904, on his first attempt to enter the United States, Sun Yat-sen landed in San Francisco. He was detained and faced with possible deportation.
Sun, represented by the law firm of Ralston & Siddons based in Washington D.C., filed an appeal with the Commissioner-General of Immigration on 26 April 1904. On 28 April 1904, the acting secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor, in a four-page decision contained in the case file, set aside the order of deportation and ordered the Commissioner of Immigration in San Francisco to "permit the said Sun Yat-sen to land." Sun was then freed to embark on his fundraising tour in the United States.
Unifying forces in the Tongmenghui in Tokyo
![The document bearing Sun Yat Sen's official seal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/The_document_bearing_Sun_Yat_Sen%27s_official_seal.png)
In 1904, Sun Yat-sen came about with the goal "to expel the
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different barbarians (specifically, the
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
), to revive
Zhonghua, to establish a Republic, and to
distribute land equally among the people" ().
[計秋楓, 朱慶葆. ]001 001, O01, or OO1 may refer to:
*1 (number), a number, a numeral
*001, fictional British agent, see 00 Agent
*001, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian fire brigade (until 1986)
*AM-RB 001, the code-name for the Aston Martin Valkyrie ...
(2001). 中國近代史, Volume 1. Chinese university press. , . pg 468. One of Sun's major legacies was the creation of his political philosophy of the
Three Principles of the People
The Three Principles of the People (; also translated as the Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism) is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to improve China made during the Republican Era. ...
. These Principles included the principle of nationalism (minzu, ), of democracy (minquan, ), and of welfare (minsheng, ).
On 20 August 1905, Sun joined forces with revolutionary Chinese students studying in Tokyo to form the unified group
Tongmenghui
The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...
(United League), which sponsored uprisings in China.
By 1906 the number of Tongmenghui members reached 963.
Getting support from the Malayan Chinese
![Sun Yat-sen Penang Base](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Sun_Yat-sen_Penang_Base.JPG)
Sun's notability and popularity extended beyond the
Greater China
Greater China is an informal geographical area that shares commercial and cultural ties with the Han Chinese people. The notion of "Greater China" refers to the area that usually encompasses Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan in East A ...
region, particularly to
Nanyang
Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to:
Written as 南洋 (Southern Ocean)
* Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea
;China
* Nanyang Fleet, Qing ...
(Southeast Asia), where a large concentration of
overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
resided in
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
(
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and Singapore). While in Singapore, he met local Chinese merchants Teo Eng Hock (), Tan Chor Nam () and Lim Nee Soon (), which mark the commencement of direct support from the Nanyang Chinese. The Singapore chapter of the Tongmenghui was established on 6 April 1906,
[Yan, Qinghuang. ]008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to:
* The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh
*"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6
* '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film
* '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...
(2008). The Chinese in Southeast Asia and beyond: socioeconomic and political dimensions. World Scientific publishing. , . pg 182–187. though some records claim the founding date to be end of 1905.
The
villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
used by Sun was known as
Wan Qing Yuan
The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, also known as Wan Qing Yuan, and formerly as the Sun Yat Sen Villa, is a two-story colonial style villa in Balestier, Singapore. The villa is now a museum commemorating Sun Yat Sen (1866–1925), the f ...
.
At this point Singapore was the headquarters of the Tongmenghui.
Thus, after founding the Tongmenghui, Sun advocated the establishment of The ''
Chong Shing Yit Pao
''Chong Shing Yit Pao'' (, also known as ''Chong Shing Yat Pao'' and ''Restoration Daily''), was a Chinese-language newspaper in Singapore. The newspaper was founded in 1907 by Tongmenghui members in response to the growing influence of '' The Unio ...
'' as the alliance's mouthpiece to promote revolutionary ideas. Later, he initiated the establishment of reading clubs across Singapore and Malaysia, in order to disseminate revolutionary ideas among the lower class through public readings of newspaper stories. The United Chinese Library, founded on 8 August 1910, was one such reading club, first set up at leased property on the second floor of the Wan He Salt Traders in North Boat Quay.
The first actual United Chinese Library building was built between 1908 and 1911 below Fort Canning – 51 Armenian Street, commenced operations in 1912. The library was set up as a part of the 50 reading rooms by the Chinese Republicans to serve as an information station and liaison point for the revolutionaries. In 1987, the library was moved to its present site at Cantonment Road. But the Armenian Street building is still intact with the plaque at its entrance with Sun Yat Sen's words. With an initial membership of over 400, the library has about 180 members today. Although the United Chinese Library, with 102 years of history, was not the only reading club in Singapore during the time, today it is the only one of its kind remaining.
Uprisings
On 1 December 1907, Sun led the
Zhennanguan uprising against the Qing at
Friendship Pass
Friendship Pass (), also commonly known by its older name Ải Nam Quan (), is a pass near the China-Vietnam border, between China's Guangxi and Vietnam's Lạng Sơn Province. The pass itself lies just inside the Chinese side of the border ...
, which is the border between
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
[Khoo, Salma Nasution. ]008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to:
* The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh
*"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6
* '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film
* '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...
(2008). Sun Yat Sen in Penang. Areca publishing. , . The uprising failed after seven days of fighting.
In 1907 there were a total of four uprisings that failed including
Huanggang uprising,
Huizhou seven women lake uprising and
Qinzhou uprising.
In 1908 two more uprisings failed one after another including
Qin-lian uprising and
Hekou uprising.
Anti-Sun factionalism
Because of these failures, Sun's leadership was challenged by elements from within the Tongmenghui who wished to remove him as leader. In Tokyo, members from the recently merged
Restoration society raised doubts about Sun's credentials.
Tao Chengzhang () and
Zhang Binglin
Zhang Binglin (January 12, 1869 – June 14, 1936), also known by his art name Zhang Taiyan, was a Chinese philologist, textual critic, philosopher, and revolutionary.
His philological works include ''Wen Shi'' (文始 "The Origin of Writing"), t ...
publicly denounced Sun with an open leaflet called "A declaration of Sun Yat-sen's criminal acts by the revolutionaries in Southeast Asia".
This was printed and distributed in reformist newspapers like Nanyang Zonghui Bao.
Their goal was to target Sun as a leader leading a revolt for
profiteering gains.
The revolutionaries were polarized and split between pro-Sun and anti-Sun camps.
Sun publicly fought off comments about how he had something to gain financially from the revolution.
However, by 19 July 1910, the Tongmenghui headquarters had to relocate from Singapore to
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
to reduce the anti-Sun activities.
It is also in Penang that Sun and his supporters would launch the first Chinese "daily" newspaper, the
Kwong Wah Yit Poh
''Kwong Wah Yit Poh'' or ''Kwong Wah Daily'' () is a Malaysian Chinese daily that was founded on 20 December 1910 by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
The idea of publishing the ''Kwang Hwa Pao'' or 'Glorious Chinese Newspaper' was originally conceived when Dr ...
in December 1910.
1911 revolution
![Wuchangqiyi paobing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Wuchangqiyi_paobing.JPG)
To sponsor more uprisings, Sun made a personal plea for financial aid at the
Penang conference held on 13 November 1910 in
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
.
Bergère
A bergère is an enclosed upholstered French armchair (''fauteuil'') with an upholstered back and armrests on upholstered frames. The seat frame is over-upholstered, but the rest of the wooden framing is exposed: it may be moulded or carved, and ...
: 188 The high-powered Preparatory Meeting of Sun's supporters was subsequently held in Ipoh, Singapore - at the villa of Teh Lay Seng, chairman of Tungmenghui - to raise funds for the Huanghuagang Uprising, a.k.a. the Yellow Flower Mound Uprising. The Ipoh leaders were Teh Lay Seng, Wong I Ek, Lee Guan Swee and Lee Hau Cheong. The leaders launched a major drive for donations across the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
.
They raised
HK$
The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...
187,000.
On 27 April 1911, revolutionary
Huang Xing
Huang Xing or Huang Hsing (; 25 October 1874 – 31 October 1916) was a Chinese revolutionary leader and politician, and the first commander-in-chief of the Republic of China. As one of the founders of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Republic of ...
led a ''Second Guangzhou Uprising'' known as the
Yellow Flower Mound revolt
The Second Guangzhou (Canton) Uprising, known in Chinese as the Yellow Flower Mound Uprising or the Guangzhou Xinhai Uprising, was a failed uprising took place in China led by Huang Xing and his fellow revolutionaries against the Qing dynasty i ...
against the Qing. The revolt failed and ended in disaster; the bodies of only 72 revolutionaries were identified (86 were found).
[王恆偉. (2005) (2006) 中國歷史講堂 No. 5 清. 中華書局. . p 195-198.] The revolutionaries are remembered as
martyrs
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
.
On 10 October 1911, a military
uprising at Wuchang took place, led again by
Huang Xing
Huang Xing or Huang Hsing (; 25 October 1874 – 31 October 1916) was a Chinese revolutionary leader and politician, and the first commander-in-chief of the Republic of China. As one of the founders of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Republic of ...
. The uprising expanded to the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
, also known as the "Chinese Revolution" to overthrow the last Emperor
Puyi
Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...
. Sun had no direct involvement in it as he was in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
at that time, having spent much of the year in the US in search of support from ethnic Chinese there. So it was Huang who was in charge of the revolution that ended over 2000 years of imperial rule in China. On 12 October 1911 when Sun learned of the successful rebellion against the Qing emperor from press reports, he returned to China from the United States, accompanied by his closest foreign advisor, the American "General"
Homer Lea
Homer Lea (November 17, 1876 – November 1, 1912) was an American adventurer, author and geopolitical strategist. He is today best known for his involvement with Chinese reform and revolutionary movements in the early twentieth century and as ...
, he had met in London, where they unsuccessfully tried to arrange British financing for the future Chinese republic. Sun and Lea sailed for China, arriving there on 21 December 1911.
Republic of China with multiple governments
Provisional government
![李鐵夫孫中山12345](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/%E6%9D%8E%E9%90%B5%E5%A4%AB%E5%AD%AB%E4%B8%AD%E5%B1%B112345.jpg)
On 29 December 1911 a meeting of representatives from provinces in
Nanking (Nanjing) elected Sun Yat-sen as the "
provisional president" (). 1 January 1912 was set as the
first day of the First Year of the Republic.
[Welland, Sasah Su-ling. ]007
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
(2007). A Thousand miles of dreams: The journeys of two Chinese sisters. Rowman littlefield publishing. , . pg 87. Li Yuanhong
Li Yuanhong (; courtesy name Songqing 宋卿) (October 19, 1864 – June 3, 1928) was a Chinese politician during the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. He was the president of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1917, and between 1922 ...
was made provisional vice-president and
Huang Xing
Huang Xing or Huang Hsing (; 25 October 1874 – 31 October 1916) was a Chinese revolutionary leader and politician, and the first commander-in-chief of the Republic of China. As one of the founders of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Republic of ...
became the minister of the army. The new
Provisional Government of the Republic of China was created along with the
Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China
After victory in the Xinhai Revolution, the Nanjing Provisional Government of the Republic of China, led by Sun Yat-sen, framed the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China (, 1912), which was an outline of basic regulations with the qua ...
. Sun is credited for the funding of the revolutions and for keeping the spirit of revolution alive, even after a series of failed uprisings. His successful merger of minor revolutionary groups to a single larger party provided a better base for all those who shared the same ideals. A number of things were introduced such as the
republic calendar system and new fashion like
Zhongshan suits.
Beiyang government
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...
, who controlled the
Beiyang Army
The Beiyang Army (), named after the Beiyang region,Hong Zhang (2019)"Yuan Shikai and the Significance of his Troop Training at Xiaozhan, Tianjin, 1895–1899" ''The Chinese Historical Review'' 26(1) was a large, Western-style Imperial Chinese Ar ...
, the military of northern China, was promised the position of president of the Republic of China if he could get the Qing court to abdicate.
On 12 February 1912 Emperor Puyi did abdicate the throne.
Sun stepped down as president, and Yuan became the new provisional president in Beijing on 10 March 1912.
The provisional government did not have any military forces of its own. Its control over elements of the
New Army
The New Armies (Traditional Chinese: 新軍, Simplified Chinese: 新军; Pinyin: Xīnjūn, Manchu: ''Ice cooha''), more fully called the Newly Created Army ( ''Xinjian Lujun''Also translated as "Newly Established Army" ()), was the modernised ar ...
that had mutinied was limited and there were still significant forces which still had not declared against the Qing.
Sun Yat-sen sent telegrams to the leaders of all provinces requesting them to elect and to establish the
National Assembly of the Republic of China
The National Assembly was the authoritative legislative body of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as Taiwan after 1949, from 1947 to 2005. Along with the Control Yuan (upper house) and the Legislative Yuan (lower house), the National ...
in 1912. In May 1912 the legislative assembly moved from Nanjing to Beijing with its 120 members divided between members of
Tongmenghui
The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...
and a Republican party that supported Yuan Shikai.
[Ch'ien Tuan-sheng. ''The Government and Politics of China 1912–1949''. Harvard University Press, 1950; rpr. Stanford University Press. , . pp. 83–91.] Many revolutionary members were already alarmed by Yuan's ambitions and the northern based
Beiyang government
The Beiyang government (), officially the Republic of China (), sometimes spelled Peiyang Government, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking (Beijing) between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally r ...
.
New Nationalist party in 1912, failed Second Revolution and new exile
Tongmenghui member
Song Jiaoren
Song Jiaoren (, ; Given name at birth: Liàn 鍊; Courtesy name: Dùnchū 鈍初) (5 April 1882 – 22 March 1913) was a Chinese republican revolutionary, political leader and a founder of the Kuomintang (KMT). Song Jiaoren led the KMT to elec ...
quickly tried to control the parliament. He mobilized the old Tongmenghui at the core with the mergers of a number of new small parties to form a new political party called the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(Chinese nationalist party, commonly abbreviated as "KMT") on 25 August 1912 at
Huguang Guild Hall
The Huguang Guild Hall () in Beijing is one of Beijing's most renowned Beijing opera (Peking opera) theaters.
History
Built in 1807, and at the height of its glory, the Huguang Guild Hall, along with the Zhengyici Peking Opera Theater was know ...
Beijing.
The
1912–1913 National assembly election was considered a huge success for the KMT winning 269 of the 596 seats in the lower house and 123 of the 274 senate seats.
[Fu, Zhengyuan. (1993). ''Autocratic tradition and Chinese politics''(Cambridge University Press. , ). pp. 153–154.] In retaliation the national party leader Song Jiaoren was assassinated, almost certainly by a secret order of Yuan, on 20 March 1913.
The
Second Revolution took place where Sun and KMT military forces tried to overthrow Yuan's forces of about 80,000 men in an armed conflict in July 1913. The revolt against Yuan was unsuccessful. In August 1913, Sun Yat-sen fled to Japan, where he later enlisted financial aid via politician and industrialist
Fusanosuke Kuhara
was an entrepreneur, politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war Empire of Japan.
Biography
Kuhara was born in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture into a family of ''sake'' brewers. His brother was the founder of Nippon Suisan Kaisha and his uncle Fu ...
.
Warlords chaos
In 1915 Yuan Shikai proclaimed the
Empire of China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
with himself as
Emperor of China
''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...
. Sun took part in the
Anti-Monarchy war of the
Constitutional Protection Movement
The Constitutional Protection Movement () was a series of movements led by Sun Yat-sen to resist the Beiyang government between 1917 and 1922, in which Sun established another government in Guangzhou as a result. It was known as the Third Revolut ...
, while also supporting bandit leaders like
Bai Lang during the
Bai Lang Rebellion
The Bai Lang Rebellion was a Chinese "bandit" rebellion lasting from mid 1913 to late 1914. Launched against the Republican government of Yuan Shikai, the rebellion was led by Bai Lang. His rebel army was an eclectic mix of anti-Yuan Shikai troops ...
. This marked the beginning of the
Warlord Era. In 1915 Sun wrote to the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...
, a socialist-based organization in Paris, asking it to send a team of specialists to help China set up the world's first socialist republic and in the same year received Indian communist
M.N. Roy
Manabendra Nath Roy (born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya, better known as M. N. Roy; 21 March 1887 – 25 January 1954) was an Indian revolutionary, radical activist and political theorist, as well as a noted philosopher in the 20th century. Roy ...
as a guest. At the time there were
many theories and proposals of what China could be. In the political mess, both Sun Yat-sen and
Xu Shichang
Xu Shichang (Hsu Shih-chang; ; courtesy name: Juren (Chu-jen; 菊人); October 20, 1855 – June 5, 1939) was the President of the Republic of China, in Beijing, from 10 October 1918 to 2 June 1922. The only permanent president of the Beiyang ...
were announced as president of the Republic of China.
The alliance with the Communist Party and the set up of the Northern Expedition
Guangzhou militarist government
![Whampoa3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Whampoa3.jpg)
China had become divided among regional military leaders. Sun saw the danger of this and returned to China in 1916 to advocate
Chinese reunification
Chinese unification, also known as the Cross-Strait unification or Chinese reunification, is the potential unification of territories currently controlled, or claimed, by the People's Republic of China ("China" or "Mainland China") and the ...
. In 1921 he started a self-proclaimed military government in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
and was elected
Grand Marshal
Grand marshal is a ceremonial, military rank, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "marshal" with the first usage of the term "grand marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders. ...
.
[ Bergère & Lloyd: 273] Between 1912 and 1927 three governments were set up in South China: the
Provisional government in Nanjing (1912), the Military government in Guangzhou (1921–1925), and the National government in Guangzhou and later
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
(1925–1927). These governments in the South were established to rival the Beiyang government in the North.
Yuan Shikai had banned the KMT. The short lived
Chinese Revolutionary Party
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...
was a temporary replacement for the KMT. On 10 October 1919 Sun resurrected the KMT with the new name
Chung-kuo Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
, or "Nationalist Party of China".
KMT–CCP cooperation
![Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Sun_Yat-sen_and_Chiang_Kai-shek.jpg)
By this time Sun had become convinced that the only hope for a unified China lay in a military conquest from his base in the south, followed by a period of political tutelage that would culminate in the transition to democracy. In order to hasten the conquest of China, he began a policy of active cooperation with the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP). Sun and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's
Adolph Joffe
Adolph Abramovich Joffe (russian: Адо́льф Абра́мович Ио́ффе, alternative transliterations Adol'f Ioffe or, rarely, Yoffe) (10 October 1883 in Simferopol – 16 November 1927 in Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary, a Bo ...
signed the
Sun-Joffe Manifesto in January 1923.
[Tung, William L. ]968
Year 968 ( CMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* Emperor Nikephoros II receives a Bulgarian embassy led by Prince Boris (the ...
(1968). The political institutions of modern China. Springer publishing. . p 92. P106. Sun received help from the
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
for his acceptance of communist members into his KMT. Revolutionary and socialist leader
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
praised Sun and the KMT for their ideology and principles. Lenin praised Sun and his attempts at social reformation, and also congratulated him for fighting foreign imperialism. Sun also returned the praise, calling Lenin a "great man", and indicated he wished to follow the same path that Lenin had. In 1923, after having been in contact with Lenin and other Moscow communists, Sun sent representatives to study the Red Army and in turn the Soviets sent representatives to help reorganize the KMT at Sun's request.
With the Soviets' help, Sun was able to develop the military power needed for the
Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...
against the military at the north. He established the
Whampoa Military Academy
The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...
near Guangzhou with
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
as the
commandant
Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...
of the
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...
(NRA). Other Whampoa leaders include
Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...
and
Hu Hanmin
Hu Hanmin (; born in Panyu, Guangdong, Qing dynasty, China, 9 December 1879 – Kwangtung, Republic of China, 12 May 1936) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was one of the early conservative right factional leaders in the Kuomintang ...
as political instructors. This full collaboration was called the
First United Front
The First United Front (; alternatively ), also known as the KMT–CCP Alliance, of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was formed in 1924 as an alliance to end warlordism in China. Together they formed the National Revo ...
.
Finance concerns
In 1924 Sun appointed his brother-in-law
T. V. Soong
Soong Tse-vung, more commonly romanized as Soong Tse-ven or Soong Tzu-wen (; 4 December 1894 – 25 April 1971), was a prominent businessman and politician in the early 20th-century Republic of China, who served as Premier. His father was Charl ...
to set up the first Chinese Central bank called the
Canton Central Bank. To establish national capitalism and a banking system was a major objective for the KMT. However Sun was not without some opposition as there was the
Canton volunteers corps uprising against him.
Final speeches
![Sun and Soong in Kobe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Sun_and_Soong_in_Kobe.jpg)
In February 1923 Sun made a presentation to the
Students' Union
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
in
Hong Kong University
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fir ...
and declared that it was the corruption of China and the
peace, order and good government
In many Commonwealth jurisdictions, the phrase "peace, order, and good government" (POGG) is an expression used in law to express the legitimate objects of legislative powers conferred by statute. The phrase appears in many Imperial Acts of Pa ...
of Hong Kong that turned him into a revolutionary. This same year, he delivered a speech in which he proclaimed his
Three Principles of the People
The Three Principles of the People (; also translated as the Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism) is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to improve China made during the Republican Era. ...
as the foundation of the country and the
Five-Yuan Constitution as the guideline for the political system and bureaucracy. Part of the speech was made into the
National Anthem of the Republic of China
The "Three Principles of the People" is the national anthem of the Republic of China as well as the party anthem of the Kuomintang. It was adopted in 1930 as China's national anthem and was used as such in mainland China until 1949, when the R ...
.
On 10 November 1924, Sun traveled north to
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
and delivered a speech to suggest a gathering for a "national conference" for the Chinese people. It called for the end of warlord rules and the abolition of all
unequal treaties
Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...
with the Western powers. Two days later, he traveled to Beijing to discuss the future of the country, despite his deteriorating health and the ongoing civil war of the warlords. Among the people he met was the Muslim warlord General
Ma Fuxiang
Ma Fuxiang (, Xiao'erjing: , French romanization: Ma-Fou-hiang or Ma Fou-siang; 4 February 1876 – 19 August 1932) was a Chinese military and political leader spanning the Qing Dynasty through the early Republic of China and illustrated the po ...
, who informed Sun that he would welcome his leadership. On 28 November 1924 Sun traveled to Japan and gave a
speech on Pan-Asianism at
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, Japan.
Illness and death
For many years, it was popularly believed that Sun died of
liver cancer
Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...
. On 26 January 1925, Sun underwent an
exploratory laparotomy
An exploratory laparotomy is a general surgical operation where the abdomen is opened and the abdominal organs are examined for injury or disease. It is the standard of care in various blunt and penetrating trauma situations in which there may be ...
at
Peking Union Medical College
Peking Union Medical College (), founded in 1906, is a selective public medical college based in Dongcheng, Beijing, China. It is a Chinese Ministry of Education Double First Class University Plan
The World First Class University and First ...
Hospital (PUMCH) to investigate a long-term illness. This was performed by the head of the Department of Surgery, Adrian S. Taylor, who stated that the procedure "revealed extensive involvement of the liver by
carcinoma
Carcinoma is a malignancy that develops from epithelial cells. Specifically, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that arises from cells originating in the endodermal, mesodermal ...
" and that Sun only had about ten days to live. Sun was hospitalized and his condition was treated with
radium
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...
.
Sun survived the initial ten-day period and on 18 February, against the advice of doctors, he was transferred to the KMT headquarters and treated with
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
. This too was unsuccessful and he died on 12 March at the age of 58.
Contemporary reports in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'',
and the Chinese newspaper ''Qun Qiang Bao'' all reported the cause of death as liver cancer, based on Taylor's observation.
Following this the body then was preserved in mineral oil
and taken to the
Temple of Azure Clouds
The Temple of Azure Clouds (), or Biyun Temple, is a Buddhist temple located in the eastern part of the Western Hills, just outside the north gate of Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) Park, in Haidian District, Beijing, China, approximately 20 ...
, a Buddhist shrine in the Western Hills a few miles outside of Beijing.
He also left a
short political will () penned by
Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...
, which had a widespread influence in the subsequent development of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
.
In 1926, construction began on a majestic mausoleum at the foot of
Purple Mountain Purple Mountain may refer to:
China
* Purple Mountain (Nanjing), a mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu
Ireland
* Purple Mountain (Kerry), a mountain in County Kerry
United States
* Purple Mountain (Alaska), a mountain in Alaska
* Purple Peak (Col ...
in Nanjing, and this was completed in the spring of 1929. On 1 June 1929, Sun's remains were moved from Beijing and interred in the
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum () is situated at the foot of the second peak of Purple Mountain in Nanjing, China. Construction of the tomb started in January 1926, and was finished in spring of 1929. The architect was Lü Yanzhi, who died shortl ...
.
By pure chance, in May 2016, an American pathologist named Rolf F. Barth was visiting the
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall () is located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is a memorial to the Republic of China's National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was completed in 1972. The total building area covers in an open space ...
in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
when he noticed a faded copy of the original autopsy report on display. The autopsy was performed immediately after Sun's death by James Cash, a pathologist at PUMCH. Based on a
tissue sample
In medicine, sampling is gathering of matter from the body to aid in the process of a medical diagnosis and/or evaluation of an indication for treatment, further medical tests or other procedures. In this sense, the sample is the gathered matter ...
, Cash concluded that the cause of death was an
adenocarcinoma
Adenocarcinoma (; plural adenocarcinomas or adenocarcinomata ) (AC) is a type of cancerous tumor that can occur in several parts of the body. It is defined as neoplasia of epithelial tissue that has glandular origin, glandular characteristics, or ...
in the
gallbladder
In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath the liver, although ...
that had
metastasized
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
to the liver. In modern China, liver cancer is far more common than gallbladder cancer and although the incidence rates of either in 1925 are not known, if one assumes that they were similar at that time, then the original diagnosis by Taylor was a logical conclusion. From the time of Sun's death until the appearance of Barth's report
in the ''
Chinese Journal of Cancer'' in September 2016, the true cause of death of Sun Yat-sen was not reported in any English-language publication. Even in Chinese-language sources, it only appeared in one non-medical online report in 2013.
Legacy
Power struggle
![NRA Generals Northern Expedition](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/NRA_Generals_Northern_Expedition.jpg)
After Sun's death, a power struggle between his young protégé
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
and his old revolutionary comrade
Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...
split the KMT. At stake in this struggle was the right to lay claim to Sun's ambiguous legacy. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek married
Soong Mei-ling
Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling, ; March 5, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang, was a Chinese political figure who was First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of Generalissimo and ...
, a sister of Sun's widow
Soong Ching-ling
Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 189329 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. ...
, and subsequently he could claim to be a brother-in-law of Sun. When the
Communists and the Kuomintang split in 1927, marking the start of the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
, each group claimed to be his true heirs, a conflict that continued through World War II. Sun's widow,
Soong Ching-ling
Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 189329 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. ...
, sided with the Communists during the Chinese Civil War and served from 1949 to 1981 as vice-president (or vice-chairwoman) of the People's Republic of China and as honorary president shortly before her death in 1981.
Cult of personality
A
personality cult
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
in the Republic of China was centered on Sun and his successor,
Generalissimo
''Generalissimo'' ( ) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used.
Usage
The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of ('general') thus me ...
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
. Chinese Muslim Generals and Imams participated in this cult of personality and
one party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
, with Muslim General
Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general.
General Ma started an industrialization pro ...
making people bow to Sun's portrait and listen to the national anthem during a
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
and
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
religious ceremony for the
Qinghai Lake
Qinghai Lake or Ch'inghai Lake, also known by other names, is the largest lake in China. Located in an endorheic basin in Qinghai Province, to which it gave its name, Qinghai Lake is classified as an alkaline salt lake. The lake has fluctuat ...
God. Quotes from the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
and
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
were used among
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
Muslims to justify Chiang Kai-shek's rule over China.
The Kuomintang's constitution designated Sun as party president. After his death, the Kuomintang opted to keep that language in its constitution to honor his memory forever. The party has since been headed by a director-general (1927–1975) and a chairman (since 1975), which discharge the functions of the president.
Father of the Nation
![Sun-jat-sen nanjing 140883](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Sun-jat-sen_nanjing_140883.jpg)
Sun Yat-sen remains unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation both in
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. In Taiwan, he is seen as the Father of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, and is known by the
posthumous name
A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or ...
''
Father of the Nation
The Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a person considered the driving force behind the establishment of a country, state, or nation. (plural ), also seen as , was a Roman honorific meaning the "Father of the Fatherland", best ...
, Mr. Sun Zhongshan'' (, where the
one-character space is a traditional homage symbol).
His likeness is still almost always found in ceremonial locations such as in front of legislatures and classrooms of public
schools
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
, from elementary to senior high school, and he continues to appear in new
coinage and currency.
Forerunner of the revolution
On the
mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
, Sun is seen as a Chinese nationalist, proto-socialist, first president of a Republican China and is highly regarded as the Forerunner of the Revolution ().
He is even mentioned by name in the
preamble
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...
to the
Constitution of the People's Republic of China
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fo ...
. In recent years, the leadership of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
has increasingly invoked Sun, partly as a way of bolstering
Chinese nationalism
Chinese nationalism () is a form of nationalism in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China) and the Republic of China on Taiwan which asserts that the Chinese people are a nation and promotes the cultural and national unity of all Chi ...
in light of
Chinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of C ...
and partly to increase connections with supporters of the Kuomintang on Taiwan which the
PRC
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
sees as allies against
Taiwan independence
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
.
Sun's tomb was one of the first stops made by the leaders of both the Kuomintang and the
People First Party on their
pan-blue visit to mainland China in 2005. A massive portrait of Sun continues to appear in
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (" ...
for May Day and
National Day.
In 1956 Mao Zedong said "Let us pay tribute to our great revolutionary forerunner, Dr. Sun Yat-sen!...he bequeathed to us much that is useful in the sphere of political thought."
Economic development
Sun Yat-sen spent years in Hawaii as a student in the late 1870s and early 1880s, and was highly impressed with the economic development he saw there. He used the independent Kingdom of Hawaii as a model to develop his vision of a technologically modern and politically independent and actively
anti-imperialist
Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
China. Sun Yat-sen was an important pioneer of international development, proposing in the 1920s international institutions of the sort that appeared after World War II. He focused on China, with its vast potential and weak base of mostly local entrepreneurs.
His key proposal was socialism. He proposed:
:The State will take over all the large enterprises; we shall encourage and protect enterprises which may reasonably be entrusted to the people; the nation will possess equality with other nations; every Chinese will be equal to every other Chinese both politically and in his opportunities of economic advancement.
He also proposed "If we use existing foreign capital to build up a future communist society in China, half the work will bring double the results." and "It is my idea to make capitalism create socialism in China".
Family
![Miyagawa Fumiko 0](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Miyagawa_Fumiko_0.jpg)
Sun Yat-sen was born to Sun Dacheng () and his wife,
Lady Yang () on 12 November 1866.
At the time his father was age 53, while his mother was 38 years old. He had an older brother, Sun Dezhang (), and an older sister, Sun Jinxing (), who died at the early age of 4. Another older brother, Sun Deyou (), died at the age of 6. He also had an older sister, Sun Miaoqian (), and a younger sister, Sun Qiuqi ().
At age 20, Sun had an
arranged marriage
Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...
with fellow villager
Lu Muzhen
Lu Muzhen (; 30 July 1867 – 7 September 1952) was the first wife of Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen.
Background
Lu Muzhen was born on 30 July 1867. She married Sun in 1885 and bore him a son, Sun Fo, and two daughters, Sun Yan () and Sun W ...
. She bore a son,
Sun Fo
Sun Fo or Sun Ke (; 21 October 1891 – 13 September 1973), courtesy name Zhesheng (), was a high-ranking official in the government of the Republic of China. He was the son of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, and his fir ...
, and two daughters, Sun Jinyuan () and Sun Jinwan ().
Sun Fo was the grandfather of Leland Sun, who spent 37 years working in Hollywood as an actor and
stuntman
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...
. Sun Yat-sen was also the godfather of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, American author and poet who wrote under the name
Cordwainer Smith
Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913 – August 6, 1966), better known by his pen-name Cordwainer Smith, was an American author known for his science fiction works. Linebarger was a US Army officer, a noted East Asia scholar, and a ...
.
Sun's first
concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
, the Hong Kong-born
Chen Cuifen
Chen Cuifen (; 1873–1960) was a longtime romantic partner of Sun Yat-sen, the founder and first president of the Republic of China. She was regarded as the "forgotten revolutionary female" and "the first revolution partner" of Sun Yat-sen. Befor ...
, lived in
Taiping, Perak
Taiping (, Jawi: ; zh, t=太平, , Hokkien: Thài-pêng; ta, தைப்பிங்) is a town located in Larut, Matang and Selama District, Perak, Malaysia. It is located approximately northwest of Ipoh, the capital of Perak, and ...
(now in
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
) for 17 years. The couple adopted a local girl as their daughter. Cuifen subsequently relocated to China, where she died.
During Sun's exile in Japan, he had relationships with two Japanese women: 15-year-old
Haru Asada
was the Japanese concubine of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China.《辛亥革命史資料新編》第六卷翻譯自日本外務省檔案:「明治33年9月21日,兵庫縣知事向外務大臣報告,『孫逸仙(三十四 ...
, whom he took as a concubine up to her death in 1902; and another 15-year-old school-girl
Kaoru Otsuki
Kaoru Otsuki ( ja, 大月 薰, Ōtsuki Kaoru; 6 August 1888 – 21 December 1970) was the second wife of Sun Yat-sen, the founder and first president of the Republic of China.
Biography
Kaoru was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, ...
, whom Sun married in 1905 and abandoned the next year while she was pregnant.
Otsuki later had their daughter Fumiko adopted by the Miyagawa family in Yokohama, who did not discover her parentage until 1951,
26 years after Sun's death.
On 25 October 1915 in Japan, Sun married
Soong Ching-ling
Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 189329 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. ...
, one of the
Soong sisters
The Soong sisters () were Soong Ai-ling, Soong Ching-ling, and Soong Mei-ling, three Shanghainese people, Shanghainese (of Hakka people, Hakka descent) Christian Chinese women who were, along with their husbands, amongst China's most significant ...
.
Soong Ching-ling's father was the American-educated
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
minister Charles Soong, who made a fortune in banking and in printing of Bibles. Although Charles had been a personal friend of Sun, he was enraged when Sun announced his intention to marry Ching-ling because while Sun was a Christian he Bigamy, kept two wives, Lu Muzhen and Kaoru Otsuki. Soong viewed Sun's actions as running directly against their shared religion.
Soong Ching-Ling's sister,
Soong Mei-ling
Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling, ; March 5, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang, was a Chinese political figure who was First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of Generalissimo and ...
, later married
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
.
Cultural references
Memorials and structures in Asia
![Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Sun_Yat_Sen_Nanyang_Memorial_Hall.jpg)
In most major Chinese cities one of the main streets is named ''List of streets named after Sun Yat-sen, Zhongshan Lu'' () to celebrate his memory. There are also numerous parks, schools, and geographical features named after him. Xiangshan, Sun's hometown in Guangdong, was renamed
Zhongshan
Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 i ...
in his honor, and there is a hall dedicated to his memory at the
Temple of Azure Clouds
The Temple of Azure Clouds (), or Biyun Temple, is a Buddhist temple located in the eastern part of the Western Hills, just outside the north gate of Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) Park, in Haidian District, Beijing, China, approximately 20 ...
in Beijing. There are also a series of Sun Yat-sen stamps.
Other references to Sun include the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung. Other structures include
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum () is situated at the foot of the second peak of Purple Mountain in Nanjing, China. Construction of the tomb started in January 1926, and was finished in spring of 1929. The architect was Lü Yanzhi, who died shortl ...
, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station (Guangzhou), Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall subway station, Sun Yat-sen House (Nanjing), Sun Yat-sen house in Nanjing, Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum in Hong Kong, Chung-Shan Building,
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall () is located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is a memorial to the Republic of China's National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was completed in 1972. The total building area covers in an open space ...
in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei and Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in Singapore. Zhongshan Memorial Middle School has also been a name used by many schools. Zhongshan Park is also a common name used for a number of places named after him. The first highway in Taiwan is called the National Highway No. 1 (Taiwan), Sun Yat-sen expressway. Two ships are also named after him, the Chinese gunboat Chung Shan and Chinese cruiser Yat Sen. The old Chinatown in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), India has a prominent street by the name of Sun Yat-sen street.
In Russia, a village in Mikhaylovsky District, Primorsky Krai, Mikhaylovsky District of Primorsky Krai was named :ru:Сунятсенское сельское поселение, Sunyatsenskoe in honor of him. There are streets named after him in Astrakhan, Ufa and Aldan, Russia, Aldan. There was a street that was named after Sun in the Russian city of Omsk until 2005 when it was renamed in honor of the recipient of the title Hero of Soviet Union Mikhail Ivanovich Leonov.
In George Town, Penang, George Town, Penang,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, the Penang Philomatic Union had its premises at 120 Armenian Street, George Town, Armenian Street in 1910, during the time when Sun spent more than four months in
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
, convened the historic "Penang Conference" to launch the fundraising campaign for the Huanghuagang Uprising and founded the ''Kwong Wah Yit Poh''; this house, which has been preserved as the Sun Yat-sen Museum Penang, Sun Yat-sen Museum (formerly called the Sun Yat Sen Penang Base), was visited by president-designate Hu Jintao in 2002. The Penang Philomatic Union subsequently moved to a bungalow at 65 Macalister Road, George Town, Macalister Road which has been preserved as the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Centre Penang.
As dedication, the 1966 Chinese Cultural Renaissance was launched on Sun's birthday on 12 November.
The Nanyang (region), Nanyang Wan Qing Yuan in Singapore have since been preserved and renamed as the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.
A Sun Yat-sen heritage trail was also launched on 20 November 2010 in Penang.
Sun's US citizen Hawaii birth certificate that show he was not born in the ROC, but instead born in the US was on public display at the American Institute in Taiwan on United States Independence Day, US Independence day 4 July 2011.
A street in Medan, Indonesia is named "Jalan Sun Yat-Sen" in honour of him.
A street named "Tôn Dật Tiên" (Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary, Sino-Vietnamese name for Sun Yat-Sen) is located in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
A street named Sun Yat Sen in Kolkata (Calcutta) at Tiretti Bazar
The "Trail of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and His Comrades in Ipoh" was established in 2019, based on the book "Road to Revolution: Dr. Sun Yat Sen and His Comrades in Ipoh".
Gallery
File:sun yatse mausoleum.jpg, Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, Nanjing.
File:Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall.jpg, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall () is located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is a memorial to the Republic of China's National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was completed in 1972. The total building area covers in an open space ...
, Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
.
File:Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.jpg, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei
File:Sun Yat-sen Centre.JPG, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Centre, George Town, Penang, George Town, Penang, Malaysia
File:HK Central Gage Street Pak Tsz Lane Sun Yat Sen Historical Trail 2.JPG, A marker on the Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail on Hong Kong Island
Memorials and structures outside of Asia
![La-chinatown-sunyatsen2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/La-chinatown-sunyatsen2.jpg)
St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University in New York City has a facility built in 1973, the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, built to resemble a traditional Chinese building in honor of Sun. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is located in Vancouver, the largest classical Chinese gardens outside of Asia. There is the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park in Chinatown, Honolulu. On the island of
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
, there is the little Sun Yat-sen Park at Kamaole. It is located near to where his older brother had a ranch on the slopes of Haleakala in the
Kula
Kula, which translates as ''Tower'' from Serbo-Croatian, may refer to:
People
*Bob Kula, American football player
*Irwin Kula (born 1957), American rabbi and author
*Karel Kula (born 1963), Czech footballer
Places
* Kula, Bihać, a village in ...
region.
In Chinatown, Chinatown, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, there is a seated statue of him in Central Plaza.
In Sacramento, California there is a bronze statue of Sun in front of the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento. Another statue of Sun Yat-sen by Joe Rosenthal (sculptor), Joe Rosenthal can be found at Riverdale Park (Toronto), Riverdale Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and there is another statue in Toronto's downtown Chinatown, Toronto, Chinatown. There is also the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University. In Chinatown, San Francisco, there is a 12-foot Statue of Sun Yat-sen (San Francisco), statue of him on Saint Mary's Square.
In late 2011, the Chinese Youth Society of Melbourne, in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of China, 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China, unveiled, in a Lion Dance Blessing ceremony, a Statue of Sun Yat-sen (Melbourne), memorial statue of Sun outside the Chinese Museum, Melbourne, Chinese Museum in Chinatown, Melbourne, Melbourne's Chinatown, on the spot where their traditional Chinese New Year Lion Dance always ends.
![Place Sun Yat-Sen - Montreal - 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Place_Sun_Yat-Sen_-_Montreal_-_01.jpg)
In 1993 Family tree of Sun Yat-sen, Lily Sun, one of Sun Yat-sen's granddaughters, donated books, photographs, artwork and other memorabilia to the Kapiolani Community College, Kapi'olani Community College library as part of the "Sun Yat-sen Asian collection".
During October and November every year the entire collection is shown.
In 1997 the "Dr Sun Yat-sen Hawaii foundation" was formed online as a virtual library.
In 2006 the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Rover, Spirit labeled one of the hills explored "Zhongshan".
The plaque shown earlier in this article is by Dora Gordine, and is situated on the site of Sun's lodgings in London in 1896, 8 Grays Inn Place. There is also a blue plaque commemorating Sun at The Kennels, Cottered, Hertfordshire, the country home of the Cantlies where Sun came to recuperate after his rescue from the legation in 1896.
A street named Sun Yat-Sen Avenue is located in Markham, Ontario. This is the first such street name outside of Asia.
In popular culture
Opera
''Dr. Sun Yat-sen (opera), Dr. Sun Yat-sen'' () is a 2011 Chinese-language western-style opera in three acts by the New York-based American composer Huang Ruo who was born in China and is a graduate of Oberlin College's Conservatory as well as the Juilliard School. The libretto was written by Candace Chong Mui Ngam, Candace Mui-ngam Chong, a recent collaborator with playwright David Henry Hwang. It was performed in Hong Kong in October 2011 and was given its North American premiere on 26 July 2014 at Santa Fe Opera, The Santa Fe Opera.
TV series and films
The life of Sun is portrayed in various films, mainly ''The Soong Sisters (film), The Soong Sisters'' and ''Road to Dawn''. A fictionalized assassination attempt on his life was featured in ''Bodyguards and Assassins''. He is also portrayed during his struggle to overthrow the Qing dynasty in ''Once Upon a Time in China II''. The TV series ''Towards the Republic'' features Ma Shaohua as Sun Yat-sen. In the 100th anniversary tribute of the film ''1911 (film), 1911'', Winston Chao played Sun. In Space: Above and Beyond, one of the starships of the China Navy is named the ''Sun Yat-sen''.
Performances
In 2010, a theatrical play ''Yellow Flower on Slopes'' () was created and performed.
In 2011, there is also a Mandopop group called "Zhongsan Road 100" () known for singing the song "Our Father of the Nation" ().
Controversy
New Three Principles of the People
At one time CCP general secretary and PRC president Jiang Zemin claimed that Sun Yat-sen advocated a movement known as the "New Three Principles of the People" () which consisted of "working with the soviets, working with the communists and helping the farmers" ().
In 2001 Lily Sun said that the CCP was distorting Sun's legacy. She then voiced her displeasure in 2002 in a private letter to Jiang about the distortion of history.
In 2008 Jiang Zemin was willing to offer US$10 million to sponsor a Xinhai Revolution anniversary celebration event. According to ''Ming Pao'' she could not take the money because she would no longer have the freedom to communicate about the revolution.
KMT emblem removal case
In 1981, Lily Sun took a trip to Sun Yat-sen mausoleum in Nanjing, People's Republic of China. The emblem of the KMT had been removed from the top of his sacrificial hall at the time of her visit, but was later restored. On another visit in May 2011, she was surprised to find the four characters "General Rules of Meetings" (), a document that Sun wrote in reference to Robert's Rules of Order had been removed from a stone carving.
Founding father of the nation debate
In 1940, the Republic of China (ROC) government had bestowed the title of ''"father of the nation"'' on Sun. However, after 1949, as a result of the Chiang regime's arrival in Taiwan with two million soldiers and martial law, his ''"father of the nation"'' designation only continued on in Taiwan.
Sun had visited Taiwan briefly on only three occasions - in 1900, 1913 and 1918 - or four, if counting 1924 when his boat had stopped in Keelung Harbor, but he had not disembarked.
In November 2004, the Ministry of Education (Taiwan), ROC Ministry of Education proposed that Sun Yat-sen was not the father of Taiwan. Instead, Sun was a foreigner from mainland China.
Taiwanese Education minister Tu Cheng-sheng and Examination Yuan member , both of whom supported the proposal, had their portraits pelted with eggs in protest.
At a Sun Yat-sen statue in Kaohsiung, a 70-year-old ROC retired soldier committed suicide as a way to protest the ministry proposal on the anniversary of Sun's birthday 12 November.
Works
* ''Kidnapped in London'' (1897)
* ''The Outline of National Reconstruction/Chien Kuo Ta Kang'' (1918)
* ''The Fundamentals of National Reconstruction/Jianguo fanglue'' (1924)
* ''The Principle of Nationalism'' (1953)
See also
*
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
*History of the Republic of China
*Politics of the Republic of China
*Sun Yat-sen Museum Penang
*United States Constitution and worldwide influence
*Zhongshan suit
*
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
*
Three Principles of the People
The Three Principles of the People (; also translated as the Three People's Principles, San-min Doctrine, or Tridemism) is a political philosophy developed by Sun Yat-sen as part of a philosophy to improve China made during the Republican Era. ...
Notes
References
Further reading
online free to borrow*Pearl S. Buck, Buck, Pearl S., ''The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen'' (1953
online popular biography by famous writer
* Chen, Stephen, and Robert Payne. ''Sun Yat Sen A Portrait'' (1946
online* Cheng, Chu-yuan ed. ''Sun Yat-sen's Doctrine In The Modern World'' (1989)
* D'Elia, Paschal M. ''Sun Yat-sen. His Life and Its Meaning, a Critical Biography'' (1936)
* Du, Yue. "Sun Yat-sen as Guofu: Competition over Nationalist Party Orthodoxy in the Second Sino-Japanese War." ''Modern China'' 45.2 (2019): 201–235.
* Jansen, Marius B. ''The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen'' (1967
online* Kayloe, Tjio. ''The Unfinished Revolution: Sun Yat-Sen and the Struggle for Modern China'' (2017)
excerpt* Khoo, Salma Nasution. ''Sun Yat Sen in Penang'' (Areca Books, 2008).
*
* Linebarger, Paul M.A. ''Political Doctrines Of Sun Yat-sen'' (1937
online free*Martin, Bernard. ''Sun Yat-sen's vision for China'' (1966)
*Restarick, Henry B., ''Sun Yat-sen, Liberator of China.'' (Yale UP, 1931)
*Schiffrin, Harold Z. "The Enigma of Sun Yat-sen" in Mary Wright, ed., ''China in Revolution: The First Phase 1900-1913'' (1968) pp 443–476.
*Schiffrin, Harold Z. ''Sun Yat-sen: Reluctant Revolutionary'' (1980)
*Schiffrin, Harold Z. ''Sun Yat-sen and the origins of the Chinese revolution'' (1968).
* Shen, Stephen and Robert Payne. ''Sun Yat-Sen: A Portrait'' (1946
online free* Soong, Irma Tam. "Sun Yat-sen's Christian Schooling in Hawai'i." ''The Hawaiian Journal of History,'' vol. 31 (1997
online
* Wilbur, Clarence Martin. ''Sun Yat-sen, frustrated patriot'' (Columbia University Press, 1976), a major scholarly biograph
online* Yu, George T. "The 1911 Revolution: Past, Present, and Future," ''Asian Survey'', 31#10 (1991), pp. 895–904
onlinehistoriography
External links
*
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Sun Yat-sen in Hong KongUniversity of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives
Yokohama Overseas Chinese School established by Sun Yat-senNational Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Official WebsiteHomer Lea Research CenterDr. Sun Yat-Sen Foundation of HawaiiA virtual library on Sun in Hawaii including sources for six visits
Sun's best friend. He trained Chinese soldiers and prepared the frame work for the 1911 Chinese Revolution.
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Funeral procession for Sun Yat-sen in Chinatown, Los Angelesat the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Yat-Sen
Sun Yat-sen,
Three Principles of the People,
1866 births
1925 deaths
20th-century Chinese heads of government
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Asian Christian socialists
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