Sun Yat-sen

Full name: Sun Wen (sun1 wen2 孫文)

Family Name: Sun (sun1 孫)

First Name: Wen (wen2 文)

&#23383: Yi Xian (yi4 xian1 逸仙),

Mostly known as: Sun Zhong Shan (sun1 zhong1 shan1 孫中山)

Sun Yi Xian (Sun1 Yi4 Xian1 孫逸仙), pronounced as Sun Yat Sen (Syu Yet Sin) in Cantonese, was founder of the Kuomintang and first provisional president of the Republic of China. He has been widely renowned as the Father of China (国父 guo3 fu2).

He developed a political philosophy known as the Three People's Principles (san min zu yi)三民主义.

Overview of his life

He was born on November 12, 1866 in Xiangshan County (香山县) of Guangdong Province. The county has been renamed Zhongshan (zhong1 shan1 中山) in his honor.

Since childhood, he witnessed how badly the corrupted Qing court handled massive social strife, economic stagnation, and most important of all, Western forcible penetration and influence. Determined to turn around the adversity of the country and its people, he commenced his revolutionary efforts to overthrow the dynasty. In October 1894 he founded the Xing Zhong Society to unveil the goal of prospering China and as the platform for future revolutionary activities. His Political philosophy known as the Three People's Principles (san min zu yi 三民主义) was proclaimed in August 1905. After ten failed attempts, a military uprising at Wuchang on October 10 1911 finally ended five thousand years of imperial rule in China. On Christmas Day at Nanking, a meeting of representatives from provinces elected Sun as the provisional president of the Republic of China and set the New Year's Day of 1912 as the first day of the First Year of the Republic. After the swearing in, Sun Yat Sen telexed all provinces to elect and send new senators to establish the National Assembly of the Republic of China. Then the provisional government organizational guidelines and the provisional law of the Republic were declared as the basic law of the country by the Assembly. In his (Methods and Strategies of Establishing the Country)? completed in 1919, he suggested using his Three Peoples' Principles to establish ultimate peace, freedom and equality in the country. In 1921, Sun was elected the President of the Republic of China and delivered in 1923 a speech in which he proclaimed his Principles as the foundation of the country and the Five Rights Constitution as the guideline for the political system and bureaucracy. On November 10 1924, Sun traveled north and delivered another speech to suggest gathering a conference for the Chinese (people) and the abolition of all unfair treaties with the Western powers. Two days later, he yet again traveled to Beijing to discuss the future of the country, despite his deteriorating health and the ongoing civil war of the warlords. On March 12, 1925, he passed away at Beijing at the age of 60.

Sun Yat Sen remains unique among 20th century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation both in Mainland China and in Taiwan. In Taiwan, he is seen as the father of the Republic of China and his picture is still found in ceremonial locations such as in front of legislatures. On the Mainland, Sun is also seen as a Chinese nationalist and proto-socialist and is thus highly regarded.