The Life of Sun Yat-sen
In 1866, Sun Yat-sen was born in a small village
outside Canton. When Yat-sen was
about ten years old his brother, Ah-mei, came home from Hawaii for a
visit. He
explained that he was going to open a store, and wanted Sun Yat-sen to
go back with him. When his parents refused, Ah-mei arranged for Sun to
run away. When Sun reached Hawii his brother put him in a missionary
school, where he stayed for six years. There he learned English, and
became a christian. Ah-mei did not like Sun being a christian, so he
sent him home to get him away from the missionaries. When he came home
he was abhored by the stuperstition that his family lived in. One day,
during a religious festival, he told the town's people that their gods
were no gods and
to show them so, he slapped one in the face and broke off the fingers
of another. Of course the gods did nothing, but his family did. They
sent him to Hong Kong to study at an English school. Then his father
died. After the funeral Yat-sen went back and began studying at Queens
College. Once again he was distracted from his studies, this time his
mother wanted him to come home and get
married to a woman she had picked for him. He got married and returned
to school leaving his wife at home. Then his brother, who was paying
for his
schooling began to cause trouble. He said that Sun must give up his
foreign religion, this Yat-sen would not do. So Yat-sen was left alone
with no money. He continued to go to school with money that he
made himself. In 1882, he graduated as a medical doctor. He went to
north China and tried to get a job in a hospital, but was turned down.
In 1894 Japan attacked China, and the Chinese began to see the
desperate need for reform. Yat-sen returned to Hawaii, there he
started his first secret society, the Prosper China Society. His
brother, Ah-mei joined for he too believed China needed reform. Sun
Yat-sen returned to China an active revolutionist.
At this time there
were two concepts of how China should be reformed. The first, was Sun
Yat-sen's view that China should and could be a democracy. The other
idea was led by Yuan Shih-kai, the Manchu Premier. He believed that the
monarcy should
remain, because the Chinese were not educated enough to vote on things
such as foreign policy.
One year later in 1895, a shipment of pistols, to be
delivered to Yat-sen's headquarters, was discovered. Almost immediately
his headquarters was raided, forcing Sun to flee to Japan in disguise.
His family also had to flee, they went to Hawii. He then went to
America, and on to Britian, trying to raise funds for his cause. After
a short stay in England he was captured, by Scotland Yard, for return
to the Chinese government. After quite an ordeal he was released and
returned to Japan. Then he moved his headquarters from Japan to Hanoi,
in French Indo-China. The French were very helpful to him. However, Sun
Yat-sen pushed their kindness too far. He began going across the French
border to fight the Manchu soldiers and then would flee to the
protection of the border. The French deported all of Yat-sen's men. Sun
returned to America, and there found that a revolution had broken out
while he was gone, not only that, he was also elected president of this
new goverment in his absense. On New Years Day 1912, he was sworn in as
the President of the Republic. He planned to slowly teach the Chinese
their new form of government in three steps.
1. Mititary Goverment ( to subdue bandits and bring Yuan Shih-kai, the
Premier of the Manchus, under control )
2. Then village and provincial government
3. Then a national government and a constitution ratified by the
provinces
The northern warlords, however, would not accept his new
government. They wanted Yuan Shih-kai to be president. To prevent a
divided China, Sun Yat-sen resigned and Yuan Shih-kai became
president. The Manchu ruling house abdicated, leaving China united. And
united the Republic fell. For Yuan Shih-kai still thought monarchy was
the
right form of goverment. He assasininated the leader of Yat-sen's
Nationalist Party. Sun asked Yuan to resign and of course he would not.
So Yat-sen decided to start another revolt. Four provinces seceded and
joined Yat-sen, but revolt was quelled by Yuan Shih-kai's
powerful army.
This was the hardest time in Sun Yat-sen's
life for two reasons:
1. He had united China and began a republic only to have his dream
shattered. He now had to start all over again, once again in exile,
against a much stronger opponent than the Manchus.
2. Second of all he had met a girl named Ching-Ling Soong, his
secretary. They fell in love but could not get married for Sun Yat-sen
was already married; though his wife was in Hawaii, and he hadn't seen
her for years. He could not divorce his other wife for she had loved
him all along though he rarely saw her. It was a hard decision for Sun
Yat-sen, but in the end he married Ching-ling as a second wife that
would go with him on his extensive travels.
In 1914, the First World War broke out and Japan
developed a deep interest in conquering China. Yuan continued placing
his men in all the high
places in the country, ignoring Japan's aggression. Then
when everything was ready he declared
himself Emperor of a new Chinese Dynasty. Immediately the southern
provinces revolted. Yuan Shih-kai realized his mistake and
resigned letting his vice-president handle the country. Yuan's
vice-president and Sun Yat-sen then reunited the country and drew up a
constitution to be ratified by the provinces. During ratification, a
quarrel broke out and
once again the northern provinces seceded from the republic. As a
result, Sun
Yat-sen dedicated himself to writing a book called, The Three Principles of the People:
Nationalism, Democracy, and the People's
Livelihood. He consolidated his control over southern China and
built schools, as two factions of the northern warlords fought each
other. Then one of his generals Chen Chung-ming betrayed him and took
Sun's capital, Canton. Sun and his wife barely escaped. His
remaining general, Chiang Kia-shek, successfully retook Canton
in 1923. When Chen Chung-ming attacked Canton again he was
fought off in a bitter two month battle.
Meawhile in the north, a christian
warlord named Feng Yu-hsiang had taken control and offered to unite the
country. Sun Yat-sen, however, was dying of liver cancer and influenza.
He was able to turn down Feng's offer for it would have allowed the
Europeans to continue with the so called "unequal treaties." Sun on his
death bed said, "You who live, strive for the People's Convention, try
to
put into practice the Three Principles, and the Constitution. Then I
can rest. I have tried to be a messenger of God. - To help my people to
get equality and freedom." He died
that night and was buried outside Nanking. Chiang Kia-shek took over
and soon united the country in a military campaign against the north.
The Nationalist goverment Sun Yat-sen strove so hard to create lasted
only a
short while, it was replaced by the Communist regime. Regardless of the
condition of freedom in China today, the Chinese have never forgotten
Sun Yat-sen, his republic, or his last
words
to them.
References:
The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen, Pearl Buck, 1953
The Corner
ONWAR.com