Sun Yat-sen - WikiHQ

Sun Yat-sen (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary and political philosopher who founded the Republic of China (ROC) and the Kuomintang (KMT). Sun is credited with leading the 1911 Revolution and overthrowing the Qing dynasty. He served as the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912) and as the inaugural premier of the Kuomintang.

Names

thumb|250px| [[Silver coin: 1 yuan – Sun Yat Sen, 1927]]

Sun's genealogical name was Sun Deming (Cantonese: ; ). As a child, his milk name was Tai Tseung (Cantonese: ; ). (Cantonese: ; ), which was used by Sun for most of his life.

Sun's courtesy name was Zaizhi (Cantonese: ; ), and his art name was Rixin (; ) before it was changed to Yixian (; ) when he attended school in British Hong Kong. The most common English form of his name derives from the Cantonese romanization of his art names, which differ in Mandarin pronunciation but are identical in Cantonese.

Sun Zhongshan (; , also romanized Chung Shan), his best known name in the Chinese-speaking world, is derived from his Japanese name Kikori Nakayama (; ), the pseudonym given to him by Tōten Miyazaki when he was in hiding in Japan. His birthplace was the village of Cuiheng, Xiangshan County (now Zhongshan City), Canton Province (now Guangdong). and Cantonese. His father owned very little land and worked as a tailor in Macau and as a journeyman and a porter. After finishing primary education and meeting childhood friend Lu Haodong,

Education

left|thumb|Sun Yat-sen (back row, fourth from right) and his family|alt=Sun Yat-sen with his family in 1901

Sun began his education at the age of 10, In 1878, after receiving a few years of local schooling, a 13-year-old Sun went to live with his elder brother Sun Mei, He then attended Oahu College (now known as Punahou School) for one semester. Sun Yat-sen learned American history and political ideas extensively during his schooling in Hawaii, particularly admiring figures like Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton, which profoundly shaped his vision for a democratic China, incorporating concepts of republicanism, self-rule, and economic development inspired by American models. He studied U.S. history and geography, absorbing revolutionary ideals from American schools that influenced his own revolutionary path for China. By 1883, Sun's interest in Christianity had become deeply worrisome for his brother, who, seeing his conversion as inevitable, sent Sun back to China. In November 1883, Sun began attending the Diocesan Home and Orphanage on Eastern Street (now the Diocesan Boys' School), and from 15 April 1884 he attended The Government Central School on Gough Street (now Queen's College), until graduating in 1886.

In 1886, Sun studied medicine at the Guangzhou Boji Hospital under the Christian missionary John Glasgow Kerr. He immediately sought to attend, and went on to obtain a license to practice medicine from the institution in 1892;

Religious views and Christian baptism

Sun was a Christian. It has been argued, e.g. by D. Treadgold, that Sun was not a real Christian; he just portrayed himself as such for political reasons. The evidence is that Sun did not visit the church often nor often celebrate Christian festivals such as Christmas or Easter.

Sun said in San Francisco, "Our greatest hope is to make the Bible and Christian education, as we have known it, the means of conveying to our countrymen what blessings may be in the way of just laws." an American missionary of the Congregational Church of the United States (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), to his brother's disdain. The minister would also develop a friendship with Sun. Sun attended To Tsai Church (), founded by the London Missionary Society in 1888, while he studied medicine in Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. Sun pictured a revolution as similar to the salvation mission of the Christian church. His conversion to Christianity was related to his revolutionary ideals and push for advancement.

From Furen Literary Society to Revive China Society

In 1891, Sun met revolutionary friends in Hong Kong including Yeung Ku-wan who was the leader and founder of the Furen Literary Society. The group was spreading the idea of overthrowing the Qing. In 1894, Sun wrote an 8,000-character petition to Qing Viceroy Li Hongzhang presenting his ideas for modernizing China. He traveled to Tianjin to personally present the petition to Li but was not granted an audience. After that experience, Sun turned irrevocably toward revolution. He left China for Hawaii and founded the Revive China Society, which was committed to revolutionizing China's prosperity. It was the first Chinese nationalist revolutionary society. 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. They disguised their activities in Hong Kong under the running of a business under the name "Kuen Hang Club" (). Sun had members swear an oath to "Expel the Tartar barbarians, restore China."

Heaven and Earth Society and overseas travels to seek financial support

A "Heaven and Earth Society" sect known as Tiandihui had been around for a long time. The group has also been referred to as the "three cooperating organizations", as well as the triads. Stressing that overthrowing the Manchu would result in chaos and would lead to China being carved up by imperialists, intellectuals like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao supported responding with initiatives like the Hundred Days' Reform.

First uprising and exile

First Guangzhou Uprising

thumb|Plaque in [[London marking the site of a house at 4 Warwick Court, WC1, in which Sun Yat-sen lived in exile. Text: "Father of the Chinese Republic, lived in a house on this site while a political exile from his country".|alt=The plaque shows the head of Sun Yat-sen.]]

thumb|Letter from Sun Yat-sen to [[James Cantlie announcing to him that he has assumed the Presidency of the Provisional Republican Government of China, dated 21 January 1912]]

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 against the Qing in Guangzhou. He was released after 12 days by the efforts of James Cantlie, The Globe, The Times, and the Foreign Office, which left Sun a hero in the United Kingdom. James Cantlie, Sun's former teacher at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, maintained a lifelong friendship with Sun and later wrote an early biography of him Sun wrote a book in 1897 about his detention, "Kidnapped in London." In Japan, Sun also met Mariano Ponce, a diplomat of the First Philippine Republic.

During the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine–American War, Sun helped Ponce procure weapons that had been salvaged from the Imperial Japanese Army and ship the weapons to the Philippines. By helping the Philippine Republic, Sun hoped that the Filipinos would retain their independence so that he could be sheltered in the country in staging another Chinese revolution. However, as the war ended in July 1902, the United States emerged victorious from a bitter three-year war against the Republic. Therefore, Sun did not have the opportunity to ally with the Philippines in his revolution in China.

In 1897, through an introduction by Tōten, Sun Yat-sen met Tōyama Mitsuru of the political organization Genyosha. Through Tōyama, he received financial support for his activities and living expenses in Tokyo from . Additionally, his residence, a mansion in Waseda-Tsurumaki-cho, was arranged by Inukai Tsuyoshi.

In 1899, the Boxer Rebellion occurred. The following year, Sun Yat-sen attempted another uprising in Huizhou, but it ended in failure. In 1902, despite already having a wife in China, he married the Japanese teenage girl Kaoru Otsuki. Furthermore, he kept as a mistress and frequently had her accompany him.

From failed uprisings to revolution

Huizhou Uprising

On 22 October 1900, Sun ordered the launch of the Huizhou Uprising to attack Huizhou and provincial authorities in Guangdong. That came five years after the failed Guangzhou Uprising. This time, Sun appealed to the triads for help. The uprising was another failure. Miyazaki, who participated in the revolt with Sun, wrote an account of the revolutionary effort under the title "33-Year Dream" () in 1902.

Getting support from Siamese Chinese

In 1903, Sun made a secret trip to Bangkok 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 in Siam (Thailand). In Bangkok, Sun visited Yaowarat Road, in the city's Chinatown. On that street, Sun gave a speech claiming that Overseas Chinese were "the Mother of the Revolution." He also met the local Chinese merchant Seow Houtseng, who sent financial support to him.

Sun's speech on Yaowarat Road was commemorated by the street later being named "Sun Yat Sen Street" or "Soi Sun Yat Sen" () in his honour.

Getting support from American Chinese

According to Lee Yun-ping, chairman of the Chinese historical society, Sun needed a certificate to enter the United States since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 would have otherwise blocked him.

In March 1904, while residing in Kula, Maui, Sun Yat-sen obtained a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth, issued by the Territory of Hawaii, stating that "he was born in the Hawaiian Islands on the 24th day of November, A.D. 1870." 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.

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.

thumb|Wedding photo, Sun's 2nd marriage, to Soong Ching-ling, October 1915, Tokyo.

While in Japan, on 25 October 1915, Sun married Soong Ching-ling, the second daughter of Soong Jiashu, who was also a Hakka like him. The arrangement of their marriage was supported by Umeya Shokichi, a Japanese supporter who provided financial aid.

Fusanosuke Kuhara, a prominent figure in Japan's political and business circles, invited Sun to his villa, the Nihonkan, located where the current restaurant "Kochuan" in Shirokane Happo-en stands. Kuhara offered Sun the newly built "Orchid Room" to encourage and support his friend living in a foreign land.

The Orchid Room was equipped with a secret escape route known as "Sun Yat-sen's Escape Passage." This precautionary measure included a hidden door behind the fireplace, which led to an underground tunnel, providing an escape route in case of emergencies.

Unifying forces of Tongmenghui in Tokyo

thumb|A letter with Sun's seal commencing the [[Tongmenghui in Hong Kong]]

In 1904, Sun Yat-sen came about with the goal "to expel the Tatar barbarians (specifically, the Manchu), to revive Zhonghua, to establish a Republic, and to distribute land equally among the people" (). One of Sun's major legacies was the creation of his political philosophy of the Three Principles of the People. These Principles included the principle of nationalism (minzu, ), of democracy (minquan, ), and of welfare (minsheng, ). By 1906 the number of Tongmenghui members reached 963.]]

Sun's notability and popularity extended beyond the Greater China region, particularly to Nanyang (Southeast Asia), where a large concentration of overseas Chinese resided in Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore). In Singapore, he met the 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, but some records claim the founding date to be end of 1905. Singapore then was the headquarters of the Tongmenghui.

The establishment of United Chinese Library () was encouraged by Sun since 1907. In 1910, the library was rented on the second floor of Wanhe () Salt Godown, in North Boat Quay. In November 1911, the library moved to 51 Armenian Street. Sun missed the ceremony of new address due to delay of ship transportation service.

The registration was approved on 8 August 1911. The library provided over 50,000 books and many of them were destroyed during Japanese occupation of Singapore. The uprising failed after seven days of fighting. In 1907, there were a total of four failed uprisings, including Huanggang uprising, Huizhou seven women lake uprising and Qinzhou uprising. The goal was to target Sun as a leader leading a revolt only for profiteering. The high-powered preparatory meeting of Sun's supporters was subsequently held in Ipoh, Singapore, at the villa of Teh Lay Seng, the chairman of the Tungmenghui, to raise funds for the Huanghuagang Uprising, also known as 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 revolutionaries are remembered as martyrs.

On 10 October 1911, the military Wuchang Uprising took place and was led again by Huang Xing. The uprising expanded to the Xinhai Revolution, also known as the "Chinese Revolution", to overthrow the last emperor, Puyi. Sun had no direct involvement in it, as he was in Denver, Colorado, and had spent much of the year in the United States in search of support from Chinese Americans. That put Huang in charge of the revolution that ended over 2000 years of imperial rule in China. On 12 October, when Sun learned of the successful rebellion against the Qing emperor from press reports, he returned to China from the United States and was accompanied by his closest foreign advisor, the American "General" Homer Lea, an adventurer whom Sun had met in London when they attempted to arrange British financing for the future Chinese republic. Both sailed for China, arriving there on 21 December 1911.

Republic of China with multiple governments

Provisional government

thumb|Portrait of Sun Yat-sen (1921) by [[Li Tiefu]]

On 29 December 1911, a meeting of representatives from provinces in Nanjing elected Sun as the provisional president. 1 January 1912 was set as the epoch of the new republican calendar. Li Yuanhong was made provisional vice-president, and Huang Xing became the minister of the army. It was argued Sun was a 'compromise candidate' to end an impasse and power struggle between Li Yuanhong and Huang Xing over the role of the Generalissimo. A new provisional government for the Republic of China was created, along with a provisional constitution. Sun is credited for funding the revolutions and for keeping revolutionary spirit alive, even after a series of false starts. His successful merger of smaller revolutionary groups into a single coherent party provided a better base for those who shared revolutionary ideals. Under Sun's provisional government, several innovations were introduced, such as the aforementioned calendar system, and fashionable Zhongshan suits.

Beiyang government

Yuan Shikai, who was in control of the Beiyang Army, had been promised the position of president of the Republic of China if he could get the Qing court to abdicate. In May 1912, the legislative assembly moved from Nanjing to Beijing, with its 120 members divided between members of the Tongmenghui and a republican party that supported Yuan Shikai. Many revolutionary members were already alarmed by Yuan's ambitions and the northern-based Beiyang government.

New Nationalist party in 1912, failed Second Revolution and new exile

The Tongmenghui member Song Jiaoren quickly tried to control the assembly. He mobilized the old Tongmenghui at the core with the mergers of a number of new small parties to form a new political party, the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, commonly abbreviated as "KMT") on 25 August 1912 at Huguang Guild Hall, Beijing. The revolt against Yuan was unsuccessful. In August 1913, Sun fled to Japan, where he later enlisted financial aid by the politician and industrialist Fusanosuke Kuhara.

Warlords chaos

In 1915, Yuan proclaimed the Empire of China with himself as Emperor of China. Sun took part in the National Protection War of the Constitutional Protection Movement and also supported bandit leaders like Bai Lang during the Bai Lang Rebellion, which marked the beginning of the Warlord Era. In 1915, Sun wrote to the Second International, a socialist-based organization in Paris, and asked it to send a team of specialists to help China set up the world's first socialist republic. The same year, Sun received the Indian communist M.N. Roy as a guest. There were then many theories and proposals of what China could be. In the political mess, both Sun Yat-sen and Xu Shichang were announced as president of the Republic of China.

Alliance with Communist Party and Northern Expedition

Guangzhou militarist government

thumb|(L-R): [[Liao Zhongkai, Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling at the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924]]

China had become divided among regional military leaders. Sun saw the danger and returned to China in 1916 to advocate Chinese reunification. In 1921, he started a self-proclaimed military government in Guangzhou and was elected Grand Marshal. According to historian William C. Kirby, between 1912 and 1927, three governments were set up in South China: the Provisional government in Nanjing (1912), the Military government in Guangzhou (1923–1925), and the National government in Guangzhou and later Wuhan (1925–1927). The governments in the south were established to rival the Beiyang government in the north. He called for the four major warlord factions to stay in their respective territories, decrease their troops, and avoid interfering in each other's affairs. Sun received help from the Comintern for his acceptance of communist members into his KMT. Sun received assistance from Soviet advisor Mikhail Borodin, whom Sun described as his "Lafayette". The Russian revolutionary and socialist leader Vladimir Lenin praised Sun and his KMT for its ideology, principles, attempts at social reformation, and fight against foreign imperialism. Sun also returned the praise by calling Lenin a "great man" and indicated that he wished to follow the same path as Lenin. 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 against the military at the north. He established the Whampoa Military Academy near Guangzhou with Chiang Kai-shek as the commandant of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA). Other Whampoa leaders include Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin as political instructors. This full collaboration was called the First United Front.

On his deathbed, Sun reiterated his loyalty and friendship with the Soviet Union in one of his three last wills which was written by himself. He stated the need to cooperate in order to defeat imperialism in Asia, hailing the Soviets as the bulwark of anti-imperialism.

Financial concerns

In 1924 Sun appointed his brother-in-law T. V. Soong to set up the first Chinese central bank, the Canton Central Bank. To establish national capitalism and a banking system was a major objective for the KMT. However, Sun met opposition by the Canton Merchant Volunteers Corps Uprising against him.

Final years

Sun's 1924 Outline of the Foundation of the Nationalist State aimed to reclaim control of transportation and trade from foreign entities.

Final speeches

thumb|Sun (seated, right) and his wife [[Soong Ching-ling (seated next to him) in Kobe, Japan in 1924]]

In February 1923, Sun made a presentation to the Students' Union in Hong Kong University and declared that the corruption of China and the peace, order, and good government of Hong Kong had turned him into a revolutionary. The same year, he delivered a speech in which he proclaimed his Three Principles of the People 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.

On 10 November 1924, Sun traveled north to Tianjin and delivered a speech to suggest a gathering for a "national conference" for the Chinese people. He called for the end of warlord rules and the abolition of all unequal treaties 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 whom he met was the Muslim warlord General Ma Fuxiang, who informed Sun that he would welcome Sun's leadership. On 28 November 1924 Sun traveled to Japan and gave a speech on Pan-Asianism at Kobe, Japan.

Illness and death

For many years, it was popularly believed that Sun died of liver cancer. On 26 January 1925, Sun underwent an exploratory laparotomy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) to investigate a long-term illness. It 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" and that Sun had only about ten days to live. Sun was hospitalized, and his condition was treated with radium. 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. That was also unsuccessful, and he died on 12 March, at the age of 58. Contemporary reports in The New York Times, and the Chinese newspaper Qun Qiang Bao all reported the cause of death as liver cancer, based on Taylor's observation, despite an autopsy stating the cause of death was gall bladder cancer, which had spread to the liver. The third was dictated by Sun himself.

thumb|Sun Yat-sen on his death bed. Picture at The Museum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in [[Cuiheng]]

Sun's body was preserved in mineral oil and taken to the Temple of Azure Clouds, a Buddhist shrine in the Western Hills a few miles outside Beijing. A glass-covered steel coffin was sent by the Soviet Union to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall at Temple of Azure Clouds as a permanent repository for the body but was ultimately declined by the family as unsuitable. The body was embalmed for preservation by Peking Union Medical College who reportedly guaranteed its preservation for 150 years.

Legacy

Power struggle

thumb|Chinese generals at the [[Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in 1928 after the Northern Expedition. From right: Cheng Jin (), Zhang Zuobao (), Chen Diaoyuan (), Chiang Kai-shek, Woo Tsin-hang, Yan Xishan, Ma Fuxiang, Ma Sida (), and Bai Chongxi.]]

After Sun's death, Wang Jingwei became the first president of the Nationalist government, which soon fragmented into three competing factions: the center-right Nanjing government led by Chiang Kai-shek, the leftist Wuhan government led by Wang Jingwei, and the far-right Western Hills Group, originally convened in Beijing, which maintained its own Central Executive Committee in Shanghai. Each rival power center controlled its own provincial military.

Personality cult

A personality cult in the Republic of China was centered on Sun and his successor, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The cult was created after Sun Yat-sen died. Chinese Muslim generals and imams participated in the personality cult and the one-party state, with Muslim General Ma Bufang making people bow to Sun's portrait and listen to the national anthem during a Tibetan and Mongol religious ceremony for the Qinghai Lake god. Quotes from the Qur'an and the Hadith were used by Hui Muslims to justify Chiang's rule over China.

The Kuomintang's constitution designated Sun as the 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), who discharge the functions of the president.

Though he took a stance against idolatry in life, Sun sometimes became worshiped as a god among people. For example, a KMT committee member Hsieh Kun-hong controversially referred to Sun as having "become immortal" after death under the posthumous name of "Great Merciful True Monarch" () in 2021. Sun is already worshipped in the syncretic Vietnamese religion of Caodaism.

Father of the Nation

thumb|upright|Statue of Sun at his Mausoleum in Nanjing, with a [[Kuomintang flag on the ceiling]]

Sun Yat-sen remains unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation in both Mainland China and Taiwan. In Taiwan, he is seen as the Father of the Republic of China and is known by the posthumous name Father of the Nation, Mr. Sun Zhongshan (, and the one-character space is a traditional homage symbol). A massive portrait of Sun continues to appear in Tiananmen Square 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."

Xi Jinping incorporates Sun's legacy into his discourse on national rejuvenation. Xi describes Sun as the first person to propose a method for Chinese revival, including adopting the first blueprint for China's modernization. Proponents of the New Three Principles of the People claim that Sun's book Three Principles of the People acknowledges that the principles of welfare is inherently socialistic and communistic.

During the 90th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution in 2001, former CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin claimed that Sun supposedly advocated for the "New Three Principles of the People." In 2001, Sun's granddaughter Lily Sun said that the Chinese Communists were distorting Sun's legacy. She again voiced her displeasure in 2002 in a private letter to Jiang about the distortion of history.

Sun visited Taiwan briefly on only three occasions (in 1900, 1913, and 1918) or four by counting 1924, when his boat had stopped in Keelung Harbor, but he did not disembark. Taiwanese Education Minister Tu Cheng-sheng and the 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 retired soldier of the Republic of China committed suicide on Sun's birthday, 12 November, to protest the ministry's proposal. and saw it as the best way to develop the Chinese nation. He went on foreign trips to gather support and resources of Western and Christian nations. He was highly critical of anything from ancient Chinese which did not conform to Western standards and ideals. This led him and his group to break idols and denounce Chinese medicine amongst other things.

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 that he saw there. He used the Kingdom of Hawaii as a model to develop his vision of a technologically modern, politically independent, actively anti-imperialist China. Sun, an important pioneer of international development, proposed 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." He also said, "It is my idea to make capitalism create socialism in China."

Sun promoted the ideas of the economist Henry George and was influenced by Georgist ideas on land ownership and a land value tax.

Culture

Sun supported natalism and had eugenic ideals. He favored premarital health examinations, sterilization of those perceived as unfit, and other programs for socially engineering China's population. For Sun, "Pan-Asianism is based on the principle of the Rule of Right, and justifies the avenging of wrongs done to others." He advocated overthrowing the Western "Rule of Might" and "seeking a civilisation of peace and equality and the emancipation of all races."

Relationship with Japan

Meiji Restoration and Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Views

According to , one of the reasons why figures like Miyazaki Toten, , and supported Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement was because the ideals of the Meiji Restoration or the Freedom and People's Rights Movement could not be realized in Japan, and they sought to compensate for that failure.

However, Sun Yat-sen himself stated the following in 1919:

:The Chinese Nationalist Party is, after all, the revolutionaries of Japan from 50 years ago. Japan, a weak country in the East, was fortunate to have revolutionaries from the Meiji Restoration, who, for the first time, rallied and transformed Japan from a weak country to a strong one. Our revolutionaries also followed the path of Japan's revolutionaries, seeking to transform China.

In 1923, he also said:

:Japan's Meiji Restoration was the cause of the Chinese revolution, and the Chinese revolution was the result of Japan's Meiji Restoration. Both are originally connected and work together to achieve the revival of East Asia.

Based on his empathy for the Meiji Restoration, Sun Yat-sen sought collaboration between Japan and China. For him, Japan's Twenty-One Demands on China represented a betrayal of the "revolutionary aspirations" of the Meiji patriots and advanced Japan's policy of aggression against China.

Relationship with the Japanese

During his lifetime, Sun Yat-sen had a wide range of relationships with Japanese people. His second wife, Kaoru Otsuki, was Japanese. Through the mediation of Inukai Tsuyoshi, he became acquainted with Miyazaki Toten, Tōyama Mitsuru, and Uchida Ryōhei, with whom he also had ideological exchanges and received financial support. In addition, he received financial aid from businessmen such as Matsukata Kōjirō, , stock trader , and Umeya Shōkichi.

Great Asianism Lecture

The Great Asianism Lecture refers to the speech given by Sun Yat-sen on November 29, 1924, the day after his meeting with Tōyama Mitsuru in Kobe. It was delivered at the auditorium of the Kobe Prefectural Girls' High School, located where the current Hyogo Prefectural Government Office is, to five organizations, including the Kobe Chamber of Commerce. This speech distinguished between the "kingly way" of the East and the "hegemonic way" of the West, praising the kingly way of the East, and condemning Japan's tilt towards hegemonic ways due to excess, while also praising Japan's modernization as a leader in this regard.

:You Japanese people have adopted the hegemonic cultural ways of the West, while also possessing the essence of the kingly way of Asian culture. However, as you look toward the future of world culture, the question remains: will you ultimately become the tools of the Western hegemonic ways, or will you stand as a barrier to the Eastern kingly way? This depends on your careful consideration and deliberate choices.

This speech criticized Western colonialism while praising Japan's modernization and civilization. It also criticized Japan for becoming a follower of Western colonialism and advocated for cooperation among Asians.

Family

Sun Yat-sen was born to Sun Dacheng () and his wife, Lady Yang () on 12 November 1866. At the time, his father was 53, and 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 (). Sun Yat-sen was also the godfather of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, an American author and poet who wrote under the name Cordwainer Smith.

Sun's first concubine, the Hong Kong–born Chen Cuifen, lived in Taiping, Perak (now in Malaysia) 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: the 15-year-old Haru Asada, whom he took as a concubine up to her death in 1902, and another 15-year-old schoolgirl, Kaoru Otsuki, 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, Soong Ching-ling's father was the American-educated Methodist 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 by Sun announcing his intention to marry Ching-ling because while Sun was a Christian, he 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, later married Chiang Kai-shek.

Cultural references

Memorials and structures in Asia

thumb|Aerial perspective of Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, in central Singapore, taken in 2016

In most major Chinese cities, one of the main streets is Zhongshan Lu () to celebrate Sun's memory. There are also numerous parks, schools, and geographical features named after him. Xiangshan, Sun's hometown in Guangdong, was renamed Zhongshan in his honor, and there is a hall dedicated to his memory at the Temple of Azure Clouds 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, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall subway station, Sun Yat-sen house in Nanjing, Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum in Hong Kong, Chung-Shan Building, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou, 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 Sun Yat-sen expressway. Two ships are also named after him; the Chinese gunboat Chung Shan and the Chinese cruiser Yat Sen. The old Chinatown in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), India, has the prominent Sun Yat-sen Street.

In Russia, a village in Mikhaylovsky District of Primorsky Krai was named Sunyatsenskoe in honor of him. There are streets named after him in Astrakhan, Ufa and 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, Malaysia, the Penang Philomatic Union had its premises at 120 Armenian Street in 1910, while Sun spent more than four months in Penang and convened the historic "Penang Conference" to launch the fundraising campaign for the Huanghuagang Uprising and founded the Kwong Wah Yit Poh. The house, which has been preserved as the 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, which has been preserved as the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Centre Penang.

As a dedication, the 1966 Chinese Cultural Renaissance was launched on Sun's birthday on 12 November.

The Nanyang Wan Qing Yuan in Singapore have since been preserved and renamed as the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.

Sun's Hawaiian birth certificate, which claimed that he was not born in China but in the United States, was on public display at the American Institute in Taiwan on US Independence Day on 4 July 2011.

A street in Medan, Indonesia, is named "Jalan Sun Yat-Sen" in honor of him.

A street named "Tôn Dật Tiên" (the Sino-Vietnamese name for Sun Yat-Sen) is located in Phú Mỹ Hưng Urban Area, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

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 Yat-sen Mausoleum - 54400562695.jpg|Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, Nanjing

File:Guangzhou Yuexiu Zhongshan Jinian Tang 2024-09-19 14.56.53.jpg|Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Guangzhou

File:Taipei, November 23-24, 2024 - 078.jpg|Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei

File:Sun Yat-sen Centre.JPG|Sun Yat-sen Memorial Centre, George Town, Penang, Malaysia

File:HK SunYatSenHistoricalTrail KuiInFong.JPG|A marker on the Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail, Hong Kong

20240621 Site of the Wuchang Uprising Military Government 02.jpg|Statue of Sun Yat-sen before the site of Provisional Military Government of Wuchang Uprising, Wuhan

北京香山碧云寺普明妙觉殿2023.3.jpg|Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall at Temple of Azure Clouds, Beijing

SYSU Zhuhai 20211016 03.jpg| Bronze statue in the campus of Sun Yat-sen University, originally made and given by Umeya Shokichi

File:Sun Yat-sen Museum 2.jpg| The Museum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Cuiheng, Guangdong

Ijokaku 20190817.jpg|Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Ijokaku), Kobe, Japan

</gallery>

Memorials and structures outside Asia

left|thumb|Sun Yat-Sen monument in [[LA Chinatown|Chinatown of Los Angeles, California]]

right|thumb|upright|Sun Yat-Sen sculpture by [[Joe Rosenthal at Riverdale Park in Toronto, Ontario]]

St. John's University, in New York City, has a facility built in 1973, the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, which built to resemble a traditional Chinese building in honor of Sun. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, located in Vancouver, is the largest classical Chinese gardens outside Asia. The Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park is in Chinatown, Honolulu. On the island of Maui, the little Sun Yat-sen Park at Kamaole is near where his older brother had a ranch on the slopes of Haleakala in the Kula region.

In 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, by Joe Rosenthal, can be found at Riverdale Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and there is another statue in Toronto's downtown Chinatown. There is also the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University. In Chinatown, San Francisco is a 12-foot statue of Sun on Saint Mary's Square.

In late 2011, the Chinese Youth Society of Melbourne, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China, unveiled in a lion dance blessing ceremony a memorial statue of Sun outside the Chinese Museum in the city's Chinatown on the spot that its traditional Chinese New Year lion dance always ends.

thumb|Sun Yat-Sen plaza in the Chinese Quarter of [[Montreal, Quebec]]

In 1993, Lily Sun, one of Sun Yat-sen's granddaughters, donated books, photographs, artwork and other memorabilia to the Kapiʻolani Community College library as part of the Sun Yat-sen Asian Collection. During October and November every year the entire collection is shown.

In 2019, a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen by Lu Chun-Hsiung and Michael Kang was permanently installed in the northern plaza of Manhattan's Columbus Park.

In popular culture

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 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 America premiere on 26 July 2014 at the Santa Fe Opera.

Television series and films

Sun Yat-sen's life is portrayed in various films, mainly 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 television series Towards the Republic features Ma Shaohua as Sun. In 1911, a film commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, 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, the theatrical play Yellow Flower on Slopes () was created and performed.

In 2011, the Mandopop group Zhongsan Road 100 () was known for singing the song "Our Father of the Nation" ().