Dai Jitao or Tai Chi-t'ao (; January 6, 1891 – February 21, 1949) was a Chinese journalist, an early

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 ...

member, and the first head of the

Examination Yuan The Examination Yuan is the civil service commission branch, in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants, of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a president, a vice president, and seven to nine members, al ...

of the Republic of China. He is often referred to as Dai Chuanxian () or by his other

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 Theob ...

, Dai Xuantang ().

Early life and education

Dai was born Dai Liangbi () in

Guanghan Guanghan ( zh, s=广汉, t=廣漢, p=Guǎnghàn; formerly known as Hanchow) is a county-level city under the administration of Deyang in Sichuan province, southwest China, and only from Chengdu. The predominant industries are tourism, pharmaceut ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

to a family of potters. He went to Japan in 1905 to study in a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

and entered

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

's law program in 1907. He graduated and returned to China in 1909.

Writings

Dai started to write for the Shanghaiese ''China Foreign Daily'' (中外日報) and ''Tianduo Newspaper'' (天鐸報) at 19. At this time, his sobriquet for himself was Dai Tianchou (天仇), or ''Heaven-Revenge Dai'', to signify his dissatisfaction for the Qing Empire. The Qing officials threatened him with imprisonment for his writings, so in 1911 he fled to Japan, and then to Penang, where he joined

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 wrote for its ''Guanghua Newspaper'' (光華報). Later that year, he returned to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

after the

Wuchang Uprising The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan), Hubei, China on 10 October 1911, beginning the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last ...

and founded the ''Democracy Newspaper'' (民權報).

Political career

Dai's fluency in Japanese, unusual for a Chinese young man, attracted the attention of Sun Yat-sen. He became Sun's translator and then his confidential secretary. After the

failed to overthrow

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 went to Tokyo to join the

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 Tai ...

in 1914. He attended the first national congress of the Chinese Kuomintang in 1924, where he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee, then later a member of the Standing Committee, and the Minister of Propaganda. Soon after Sun's death in 1925, he published a controversial book that reinterpreted Sun's legacy. He claimed Sun derived his ideology chiefly from

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

instead of Western philosophies and that Sun was a traditionalist. This was praised by the KMT's right-wing but condemned by leftists and communists. After the right's triumph, Dai's interpretation became the dominant one within the KMT. In 1926, he served as principal of the

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

, and the chief of politics at

Whampoa 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's ...

, with

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...

as his deputy. From 1928 until 1948, he served as head of the

. From October 1928 to June 1948, his official positions consisted of: *State Councillor (國民政府國府委員) *Director-General of

(中山大學委員長) *Member of

Central Executive Committee (中央執行委員會委員): 1924 **Member of Standing Committee (常務委員): 1924 *Minister of Information (宣傳部長): 1924 *Chief of the Embassy (國使館館長): unable to attend due to illness Dai was one of the lyricists of "

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 ...

". He also wrote: *''The Fundamentals of the Principles of Sun Yat-sen'' (孫文主義之哲學基礎) *''The People's Revolution and Kuomintang'' (國民革命與中國國民黨) *''The Complete Book of Sun Yat-sen'' (孫中山全書) *''

National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China The National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China (), also unofficially known as the "National Banner Song", is a patriotic song typically played during the raising and lowering of the flag of the Republic of China. Domestically, the flag ...

'' (中華民國國旗歌)

Later years and death

After Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925, Dai changed his name to Chuanxian, ''Continuing-Virtue''. He jumped into a river and was rescued by a fisherman. After this suicide experience, he converted to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

and was accused by many of being superstitious. His works about Buddhism are published in ''The Collection of Mr. Dai Jitao's Discussions on Buddhism'' (戴季陶先生佛學論集). He was widely known to be the birth father of Chiang Wei-kuo, the adoptive second son of Chiang Kai-shek. According to popular speculation, Dai believed knowledge of his extramarital affairs with the Japanese woman Shigematsu Kaneko would destroy his marriage and his career, so he entrusted Wei-kuo to Chiang Kai-shek, after the Japanese brought the infant to Shanghai. Yao Yecheng (姚冶誠), Chiang's wife at the time, raised Wei-kuo as her own. The boy called Dai his "Dear Uncle" (親伯). Dai had also fathered a son, Anguo (安國), whom Dai later sent to Germany, to be educated at the Technical University of Berlin. Anguo (Ango) and Chiang Wei-kuo (Wego) were half brothers. In 1949, with the Kuomintang losing 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 ...

to the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

, Dai committed suicide by swallowing over 70 sleeping pills 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 ...

Early life and education

Writings

Political career

Later years and death

Further reading