Sun Yatsen:The Unlikely Father of a

Nation

Roderick WilsonDepartment of History

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

1949 Communist Revolution

Sun Yatsen (1866-1925)

“Father of the revolution”

“Father of the Republic”

People’s Republic of China

Republic of China (Taiwan)

• 1644-1911 Qing Empire

• 1911 Xinhai Revolution

• 1916-1927 Era of warlordism

1931-1945 War with Japan

• 1927-1949 Civil war

• 1949 Communist Revolution

The Ubiquitous Father of the Nation ( 国父 )

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Nanjing (PRC)

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, Hong Kong

Sun Yatsen University, Guangzhou (Canton)National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taiwan

Sun Yatsen as an Overseas Chinese1866: Born in Guangzhou (Canton)

1879-83: Kingdom of Hawaii

1884-95: Hong Kong (British colony)

1895-1910: Britain, Japan, Canada, and the United States

Sun with family

Sun at Hong Kong College of Medicine

Sun as an Overseas Revolutionary, 1895-1911

• Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)– Most powerful and prosperous

dynasty in Chinese history– Ruled by foreign Manchus– Governing ideology was

Confucianism (looked to the past for guidance in governing)

• Western Imperialism– Began with 1839-42 Opium

War– Treaty ports, spheres of

influence

• Sun Yatsen– 1895-1911: 10 attempted coup

d'états– 1905: Formed Revolutionary

Alliance in Tokyo, Japan– Issues his Three Principles of

the People• Nationalism• Democracy• Livelihood Empress Dowager Cixi

• 10/10/1911Uprising in

Wuhan• 11/13/1911

Yuan Shikai becomes prime minister

• 1/1/1912Sun Yatsen

became president of new republic

• 2/12/1912Manchu

abdicate• 3/10/1912

Yuan becomes president

Yuan Shikai (1859-1916)

Sun Yatsen (1866-1925)

Sun as President(for a few months)

Sun as Leader of Nationalist Party (Goumindang

GMD)• China needs national unity– Need a strong political party– Need a strong national army

• Two enemies of China– Regional warlords– Western and Japanese imperialists

• 1917 Russian Revolution– Sun transformed Nationalist Party

into a centrally controlled Leninist party

– Formed National Revolutionary Army

“Europeans rebelled and fought for liberty because they had had too little liberty. But we, because we have had too much liberty without any unity and resisting power, because we have become a sheet of loose sand and so have been invaded by foreign imperialism and oppressed by the economic control and trade wars of the Powers, without being able to resist, must break down individual liberty and become pressed together into an unyielding body like the firm rock …” –Sun Yatsen, 1924

Whampoa MilitaryAcademy, 1924

Sun as Father of the Nation

Portrait of Sun Yatsen at Tiananmen Square

Portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square