Sun Yat-sen: The Father of The Chinese Republic

            China has an ancient history, as its civilization stretches across more than seven millennia. From prehistory to the tyrannical dynastic rule, China’s history is rich with information, art, culture, learning, and philosophy. The tyranny ended with the ideas and work of one person-Sun Yat-Sen. He transformed China’s feudal society to one of a republic, and worked to keep it that way. He kept the peace between the nationalists and communists, which broke apart after his death. Sun wasn’t afraid of questioning leaders that became dictators. He gave the very spirit of the New Chinese republic. From his early life to his death, Sun was a great leader and revolutionary.

            Sun was born in 1866 in the village of Cuiheng. As an adolescent, he “listened to many stories about the Taiping Rebellion from an old Taiping soldier named Lai Han-Ying.”

 Sun then moved to Hawaii at the age of thirteen. He learned English there, and he continued his studies in mathematics, science, and religion. Sun then departed for Hong Kong. At the age of twenty, Sun married Muzhen Lu. After this, he trained in the medical field, and was baptized to his brother’s disdain. After the completion of his degree in medicine, Sun founded the “Revive China Society.” When the Sino-Japanese War threatened the defeat of the Manchu, Sun organized an uprising in Canton. After the plot was discovered, Sun escaped to Japan.

            Yat-Sen spent the next fifteen years in exile, fundraising for his activist party in many western nations. In 1896, he was detained by the Chinese Legation in England, where authorities planned to kill him.” After an uprising in Wuchang in October 1911, Sun came back to China, and helped rebel against the Qing Dynasty. On January 1st, 1912, Yat-Sen was elected the first leader of the Republic of China. The activists, however, did not have the influence to depose of the Manchu ruler in Nanjing. Yuan Shih-Kai, the general of the Beiyang Army, was the only person capable of this feat. Sun, in his first and last act office, agreed to abdicate his office and have Yuan elected as leader if he ousted the Manchurian Kingdom. Shih-Kai agreed and became the president of China. When Yuan’s agents assassinated Sung, a friend of Sun, and Yuan took military and political steps against the Kuomintang (KMT), Sun denounced Yuan. Sun was again a political migrant in Japan, and began to work for the dethroning of Yuan.