Dr Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925) is widely recognised as the modern founder of his country, China. Born at a time when the Manchu Qing Dynasty seemed spent and the humiliation of China and the Chinese people by western powers almost limitless, he led the common people's campaign for revolutionary change. As the leader of the Kuomintang Party, he became de facto leader of China after the fall of the last emperor and struggled with the emergent Communists for prominence.
Born into comparative obscurity in southeast China, Sun Yat Sen moved to Hawaii at the age of 13 and, as a result of this period of his life and future schooling in Hong Kong, he subsequently became a Christian, qualified in medicine and opened a practice in Macau, the Portuguese enclave in the south of the country which is now perhaps most famous for its gambling industry. Here he started his first secret society in the company of like-minded patriots. It might seem contradictory to say that a secret society aimed at creating a revolution against the government should be considered as patriotic but there has been a long tradition in China of righteous peasants rising up against the emperor and his court when it has become obvious (through the appearance of omens or the advent of natural disasters or invasions) that Heaven's Mandate has been lost. Sun Yat Sen was involved in many of the dozens of attempts aimed at bringing down the throne.
However, it was not until 1911 that change finally occurred. The court had decided to nationalize the railways throughout China and this led to armed uprisings from those local and regional officials who feared they would lose one of the more important forms of income they enjoyed. This was the last straw so far as public order was concerned and the Manchu dynasty collapsed.
Sun Yat Sen was named provisional president of the new republic and he set about transforming it into a functioning democracy, scheduling elections for 1913. However, democratisation is a long and painful process and it requires a majority of people, especially the influential power-brokers, to support it and nurture it if it is to succeed. In China in 1913, this was not the case, as too many regional strongmen were determined to hold on to their positions. The government collapsed and Sun was forced into exile in Japan. For the next decade, he forged a Nationalist Part (the Kuomintang) which had a broad base of allies including, crucially, the Moscow-backed Communist Party. The Russians helped supply him with sufficient weapons and supplies to enable him to enforce a new government in 1923. Unfortunately, his time in power was short, for he died in 1925. Eventually, his Kuomintang Party was defeated by the Communists of Mao Tse-Tung and fled to Taiwan to establish a government in exile.
Born into comparative obscurity in southeast China, Sun Yat Sen moved to Hawaii at the age of 13 and, as a result of this period of his life and future schooling in Hong Kong, he subsequently became a Christian, qualified in medicine and opened a practice in Macau, the Portuguese enclave in the south of the country which is now perhaps most famous for its gambling industry. Here he started his first secret society in the company of like-minded patriots. It might seem contradictory to say that a secret society aimed at creating a revolution against the government should be considered as patriotic but there has been a long tradition in China of righteous peasants rising up against the emperor and his court when it has become obvious (through the appearance of omens or the advent of natural disasters or invasions) that Heaven's Mandate has been lost. Sun Yat Sen was involved in many of the dozens of attempts aimed at bringing down the throne.
However, it was not until 1911 that change finally occurred. The court had decided to nationalize the railways throughout China and this led to armed uprisings from those local and regional officials who feared they would lose one of the more important forms of income they enjoyed. This was the last straw so far as public order was concerned and the Manchu dynasty collapsed.
Sun Yat Sen was named provisional president of the new republic and he set about transforming it into a functioning democracy, scheduling elections for 1913. However, democratisation is a long and painful process and it requires a majority of people, especially the influential power-brokers, to support it and nurture it if it is to succeed. In China in 1913, this was not the case, as too many regional strongmen were determined to hold on to their positions. The government collapsed and Sun was forced into exile in Japan. For the next decade, he forged a Nationalist Part (the Kuomintang) which had a broad base of allies including, crucially, the Moscow-backed Communist Party. The Russians helped supply him with sufficient weapons and supplies to enable him to enforce a new government in 1923. Unfortunately, his time in power was short, for he died in 1925. Eventually, his Kuomintang Party was defeated by the Communists of Mao Tse-Tung and fled to Taiwan to establish a government in exile.
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