Sun Yat-sen was born in 1866 in Xiangshan
county (today's Zhongshan city), Guangdong province. In his childhood he heard stories
about Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and developed an admiration for Taiping leader Hong
Xiuquan, who tried to overthrow Qing government and set up a new system. At the
age of 12, Sun went to Hawaii, where he studied Western sciences and culture. Among
his favorite readings were biographies of George Washington and Abraham lincoln,
which planted in him a resolve to strive for his country and people.
In 1894, Sun Yat-sen organized an anti-Qing revolutionary organization, the "Society
for the Revival of China", among patriotic Chinese residing in Honolulu. In 1905,
he set up a united revolutionary party, the "China Revolutionary League" by allying
some Chinese revolutionary group members all over Japan. He was determined to put
an end to Qing Dynasty, to rejuvenate China and establish a capitalist democratic
republic. Sun summarized his revolutionary ideas into "Three People's Principles"
viz, the Principle of Nationalism, the Principle of Democracy and the Principle
of the People's Livelihood.
Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries secretly organized many armed uprisings, but
all of them failed with the sacrifice of lives of many revolutionaries.
On October 10th 1911, the revolutionary organizations in Hubei province, known as
the "Literary Assorciation" and the "Society for Mutual Progress", which had been
developing revolutionary activities in the army, started Wuchang Uprising. This
triggered nationwide revolts against Qing Dynasty. Within on month, a dozen province
from Qing government, which resulted in sudden collapse of Qing Dynasty. The year
1911 was year of xin-hai by Chinese lunar calendar, so this revolution which
overthrew Qing Dynasty is also called Xin-hai Revolution.
In December 1911, Sun Yat-sen returned to China. Because of the enormous contributions
he had made to the revolution and his prestige among the revolutionaries, he was
elected Interim President of the Republic of China. His inauguration on January
1st, 1912 in Nanjing marked the installment of the interim government of the Republic
of China.
Not long after founding of the Republic of China, with the support of imperialist
powers, Yuan Shikai managed to get himself elected President. Political power then
fell into the hands of Northern Warlords. As a counter to warlord rule, National
Party (Kuominatang, KMT) was founded in Beijing in August 1912 by the China Revolutionary
League together with five other political parties. Sun Yat-sen was electe Chief
Councilor of the new party.
Reference data
72 Martyrs of Huanghuagang
In April 1911, a revolt against Qing government broke out in Guangzhou. Patriotic
overseas Chinese donated substantially to this event. Some overseas Chinese even
went back to Guangzhou to form a suicide squad together with revolutionaries there.
The revolt was crushed and 72 sacrificed their lives. The remains of these martyrs
were buried together at Huanghuagang in Guangzhou, hence the name of Huanghuagang
Revolt. The spirit of the 72 martyrs impelled patriots at home and abroad to go
on fighting against Qing government.
Qiu Jin
Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, she is the most famous heroine in modern Chinese
history. She joined China Revolutionary League when she was studying in Japan. Qiu
Jin liked to wear Men's clothes and praticed horsemanship and fencing. People call
her Jianhu Knight. In 1907, she was arrested and executed for preparing an uprising
in Zhejiang.
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