Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" (國父), a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. Sun played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution. Sun was the first provisional president when the Republic of China was founded in 1912 and later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT) where he served as its first leader. Sun was a uniting figure in post - Imperial China, and remains unique among 20th century Chinese politicians for being widely revered amongst the people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Although Sun is considered one of the greatest leaders of modern China, his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile. After the success of the revolution, he quickly fell out of power in the newly founded Republic of China, and led successive revolutionary governments as a challenge to the warlords who controlled much of the nation. Sun did not live to see his party consolidate its power over the country during the Northern Expedition. His party, which formed a fragile alliance with the Communists, split into two factions after his death. Sun's chief legacy resides in his developing a political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood.

The original name of Sun Yat-sen was Sun Wen (孫文) and his genealogical name was Sun Deming (孫德明). As a child, his "milk name" was Dixiang (帝象). The courtesy name of Sun Yat-sen was Zaizhi (載之), and his baptized name was Rixin (日新). While at school in Hong Kong he got the name Yat Sen (逸仙; Hanyu pinyin: Yìxiān). Sun Zhongshan (孫中山), the most popular of his Chinese names, came from Nakayama (中山樵), a form of the Japanese name given to him by Miyazaki Touten.

Sun Yat-sen was born on 12 November 1866 to a Cantonese Hakka family in the village of Cuiheng, Xiangshan (later Zhongshan county), Guangzhou prefecture, Guangdong province in Qing China. He was the third son born in a family of farmers, and herded cows along with other farming duties at age 6.

At age 10, Sun Yat-sen began seeking schooling. It is also at this point where he met childhood friend Lu Hao-tung. By age 13 in 1878 after receiving a few years of local schooling, Sun went to live with his elder brother, Sun Mei (孫眉) in Honolulu.

Sun Yat-sen then studied at the ʻIolani School where he learned English, UK history, mathematics, science and Christianity. Originally unable to speak the English language, Sun Yat-sen picked up the language so quickly that he received a prize for outstanding achievement from King David Kalākaua. Sun enrolled in Oahu College (now Punahou School) for further studies for one semester. In 1883 he was soon sent home to China as his brother was becoming afraid that Sun Yat-sen would embrace Christianity.

When he returned home in 1883 at age 17, Sun met up with his childhood friend Lu Hao-tung at Beijidian (北極殿), a temple in Cuiheng Village. They saw many villagers worshiping the Beiji (literally North Pole) Emperor - God in the temple, and were dissatisfied with their ancient healing methods. They broke the statue, incurring the wrath of fellow villagers, and escaped to Hong Kong. While in HK in 1883 he studied at the Diocesan Boys' School and from 1884 to 1886 he was at the government Central school.

In 1886 Sun studied medicine at the Guangzhou Boji Hospital under the Christian missionary John G. Kerr. Ultimately, he earned the license of Christian practice as a medical doctor from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (the forerunner of The University of Hong Kong) in 1892. Notably, of his class of 12 students, only two graduated; Sun was one of them.

Sun was later baptized in Hong Kong by an American missionary of the Congregational Church of the United States, to his brother's disdain. The minister would also develop a friendship with Sun. 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. Sun later became the godfather of Paul Linebarger, a science fiction writer.

During and after the Qing Dynasty rebellion around 1888 Sun was in Hong Kong with a group of revolutionary thinkers that were nicknamed the Four Bandits at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. Sun, who had grown increasingly frustrated by the conservative Qing government and its refusal to adopt knowledge from the more technologically advanced Western nations, quit his medical practice in order to devote his time to transforming China.

In 1891 Sun met revolutionary friends in Hong Kong including Yeung Kui-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 and to personally present the petition to Li but was not granted an audience. After this experience, Sun turned irrevocably toward revolution. He left China for Hawaii and founded the Revive China Society, which was committed to revolution to restore China’s prosperity. Members were drawn mainly from Chinese expatriates, especially 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. Sun became the secretary of the newly merged Revive China society, which Yeung Kui-wan headed as president. They disguised their activities in Hong Kong under the running of a "Qianheng Company" (乾亨行).

In 1895 China suffered a serious defeat during the First Sino - Japanese War. There were two types of response. One group of intellectuals contended that the Manchu Qing government could restore its legitimacy by successfully modernizing. They stressed that overthrowing the Manchu would result in chaos leading to China being carved up by imperialists. So intellectuals like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao support responding with something like the Hundred Days' Reform. In another faction, Sun Yat-sen and others like Zou Rong wanted a revolution to replace the dynastic system with a modern nation - state in the form of a republic. The Hundred Day's reform turned out to be a failure by 1898.

In the second year of the establishment of the Revive China society on October 26, 1895, the group planned and launched the First Guangzhou uprising against the Qing in Guangzhou. Yeung Kui-wan directed the uprising starting from Hong Kong. However, plans were leaked out and more than 70 members, including Lu Hao-tung, were captured by the Qing government. The uprising was a failure.

Sun Yat-sen spent time living in Japan while in exile. He befriended and was financially aided by a democratic revolutionary named Miyazaki Toten. Most Japanese who actively worked with Sun were motivated by a pan - Asian fear of encroaching Western imperialism. While in Japan, Sun also met and befriended Mariano Ponce, then a diplomat of the First Philippine Republic.

On October 22, 1900 Sun launched the Huizhou uprising to attack Huizhou and provincial authorities in Guangdong. This came five years after the failed Guangzhou uprising. This time Sun appealed to the triads for help. This uprising was also a failure. Miyazaki who participated in the revolt with Sun wrote an account of this revolutionary effort under the title "33 year dream" (三十三年之夢) in 1902.

Sun was an exile not only in Japan, but in Europe, the United States, and Canada. He raised money for his revolutionary party and to support uprisings in China. In 1896 he was detained at the Chinese Legation in London, where the Chinese Imperial secret service planned to kill him. He was released after 12 days through the efforts of James Cantlie, The Times and the Foreign Office, leaving Sun a hero in Britain. James Cantlie, Sun's former teacher at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, maintained a lifelong friendship with Sun and would later write an early biography of Sun.

A "Heaven and Earth Society" sect known as Tiandihui has been around for a long time. The group has also been referred to as the "three cooperating organizations" as well as the triads. Sun Yat-sen mainly used this group to leverage his overseas travels to gain further financial and resource support for his revolution.

According to Lee Yun-ping, chairman of the Chinese historical society, Sun needed a certificate to enter the United States at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 would have otherwise blocked him. But on Sun's first attempt to enter the US, he was still arrested. He was later bailed out after 17 days. In March 1904, Sun Yat-sen obtained a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth, issued by the Territory of Hawaii, stating he was born on November 24, 1870 in Kula, Maui. 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.

In 1904 Sun Yat-sen came about with the goal "to expel the Tatar barbarians, to revive Zhonghua, to establish a Republic, and to distribute land equally among the people." (驅除韃虜, 恢復中華, 創立民國, 平均地權). 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, 民族), of democracy (minquan, 民權), and of welfare (minsheng, 民生).

On August 20, 1905 Sun joined forces with revolutionary Chinese students studying in Tokyo, Japan, to form the unified group Tongmenghui (United League), which sponsored uprisings in China. By 1906 the number of Tongmenghui members reached 963 people.

Sun's notability and popularity extends beyond the Greater China region, particularly to Nanyang (Southeast Asia) where a large concentration of overseas Chinese reside in Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore). While in Singapore he met 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 April 6, 1906. Though some records claim the founding date to be end of 1905. The villa used by Sun was known as Wan Qing Yuan. At this point Singapore was the headquarter of the Tongmenghui.

On December 1, 1907 Sun led the Zhennanguan uprising against the Qing at Friendship Pass, which is the border between Guangxi and Vietnam. The uprising failed after seven days of fighting. In 1907 there were a total of four uprisings that failed including Huanggang uprising, Huizhou seven women lake uprising and Qinzhou uprising. In 1908 two more uprisings failed one after another including Qin-lian uprising and Hekou uprising.

Because of these failures Sun's leadership was beginning to be challenged by elements from within the Tongmenghui who wished to remove him as leader. In Tokyo 1907 - 1908 members from the recently merged Restoration society raised doubts about Sun's credentials. Tao Chengzhang (陶成章) and Zhang Binglin publicly denounced Sun with an open leaflet called "A declaration of Sun Yat-sen's criminal acts by the revolutionaries in Southeast Asia". This was printed and distributed in reformist newspapers like Nanyang Zonghui Bao. Their goal was to target Sun as a leader leading a revolt for profiteering gains.

The revolutionaries were polarized and split between pro-Sun and anti-Sun camps. Sun publicly fought off comments about how he had something to gain financially from the revolution. In 1910 Sun took the time to establish the United Chinese Library in Singapore. But by July 19, 1910 the Tongmenghui headquarter had to relocate from Singapore to Penang to reduce the anti - Sun activities. It is also in Penang that Sun and his supporters would launch the first Chinese "daily" newspaper, the Kwong Wah Yit Poh on December 1910.

To sponsor more uprisings, Sun made a personal plea for financial aid at the Penang conference held on November 13, 1910 in Malaya. The leaders launched a major drive for donations across the Malay Peninsula. They raised HK$187,000.

On April 27, 1911 revolutionary Huang Xing led a second Guangzhou uprising known as the Yellow Flower Mound revolt against the Qing. The revolt failed and ended in disaster; only the bodies of 72 revolutionaries were found. The revolutionaries are remembered as martyrs.

On October 10, 1911 a military uprising at Wuchang took place led again by Huang Xing. At the time Sun had no direct involvement as he was still in exile. Huang was in charge of the revolution that ended over 2000 years of imperial rule in China. When Sun learned of the successful rebellion against the Qing emperor from press reports, he immediately returned to China from the United States accompanied by General Homer Lea on December 21, 1911. The uprising expanded to the Xinhai Revolution also known as the "Chinese Revolution" to overthrow the last Emperor Puyi. After this event October 10 became known as the commemoration of Double Ten Day.

On December 29, 1911 a meeting of representatives from provinces in Nanking elected Sun Yat-sen as the "provisional president" (臨時大總統). January 1, 1912 was set as the first day of the First Year of the Republic. Li Yuanhong was made provisional vice - president and Huang Xing became the minister of the army. The new Provisional Government of the Republic of China was created along with the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. Sun is credited for the funding of the revolutions and for keeping the spirit of revolution alive, even after a series of failed uprisings. His successful merger of minor revolutionary groups to a single larger party provided a better base for all those who shared the same ideals. A number of things were introduced such as the republic calendar system and new fashion like Zhongshan suits.

Yuan Shikai was in charge of the Beiyang Army, the military of northern China. He was promised the position of President of the Republic of China if he could get the Qing court to abdicate. On February 12, 1912 Emperor Puyi did abdicate the throne. Sun Yat-sen stepped down as President, and Yuan became the new provisional president in Beijing on March 10, 1912. The provisional government did not have any military forces of its own, its control over elements of the New Army that had mutinied was limited and there were still significant forces which still had not declared against the Qing.

Sun Yat-sen sent telegrams to the leaders of all provinces, requesting them to elect and to establish the National Assembly of the Republic of China in 1912. In May 1912 the legislative assembly moved from Nanjing to Beijing with its 120 members divided between members of 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.

Tongmenghui member Song Jiaoren quickly tried to control the parliament. He mobilized the old Tungmenghui at the core with the merger of a number of new small parties to form a new political party called the Kuomintang (KMT) on August 25, 1912 at Huguang Guild Hall Beijing. The 1912 - 1913 National assembly election was considered a huge success for the KMT winning 269 of the 596 seats in the lower house and 123 of the 274 senate seats. The Second Revolution took place where Sun and KMT military forces tried to overthrow Yuan's forces of about 80,000 men in an armed conflict in July 1913. The revolt against Yuan was unsuccessful. Sun was forced to seek asylum in Japan. In retaliation KMT party leader Song Jiaoren was assassinated under the secret order of Yuan Shikai on March 20, 1913.

In 1915 Yuan Shikai proclaimed the Empire of China (1915 – 1916) with himself as Emperor of China. Sun took part in the Anti - Monarchy war of the Constitutional Protection Movement, while also supporting bandit leaders like Bai Lang during the Bai Lang Rebellion. This marked the beginning of the Warlord Era. In 1915 Sun wrote to the Second International, an organization of socialist based in Paris, asking it to send a team of specialists to help China set up the world's first socialist republic. At the time there were many theories and proposals of what China could be. In the political mess, even when Sun Yat-sen was announced as President, Xu Shichang was also announced as President of the Republic of China.

China had become divided between different military leaders without a proper central government. Sun saw the danger of this and returned to China in 1917 to advocate Chinese reunification. In 1921 he started a self - proclaimed military government in Guangzhou and was elected Grand Marshal. Between 1912 and 1927 three governments had been set up in South China: the Provisional government in Nanjing (1912), the Military government in Guangzhou (1921 – 1925), and the National government in Guangzhou and later Wuhan (1925 – 1927). The southern separatist government in the South was established to rival the Beiyang government in the north. Yuan Shikai had banned the KMT. The short lived Chinese Revolutionary Party was a temporary replacement for the KMT. On October 10, 1919 Sun resurrected the KMT with the new name Chung-kuo Kuomintang, basically "Chinese Nationalist party".

By this time Sun had become convinced that the only hope for a unified China lay in a military conquest from his base in the south, followed by a period of political tutelage that would culminate in the transition to democracy. In order to hasten the conquest of China, he began a policy of active cooperation with the Communist Party of China (CPC). Sun and the Soviet Union's Adolph Joffe signed the Sun - Joffe Manifesto in January 1923. Sun received help from the Comintern for his acceptance of communist members into his KMT. Revolutionary and socialist leader Vladimir Lenin praised Sun and the KMT for their ideology and principles. Lenin praised Sun and his attempts at social reformation, and also congratulated him for fighting foreign Imperialism. Sun also returned the praise, calling him a "great man", and sent his congratulations on the revolution in Russia.

With the Soviet's 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.

In 1924 Sun appointed TV Soong to set up the first Chinese Central bank called the Canton Central Bank. To establish national capitalism and a banking system was a major objective for the KMT. However Sun was not without some opposition as there was the Canton volunteers corps uprising against him.

In February 1923 Sun made a presentation to the Students' Union in Hong Kong University and declared that it was the corruption of China and the peace, order and good government of Hong Kong that turned him into a revolutionary. This 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 November 10, 1924, Sun traveled north to Tianjin and delivered a speech to suggest a gathering for a "National conference" for the Chinese people. It 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. On November 28, 1924 Sun traveled to Japan and gave a speech on Pan - Asianism at Kobe, Japan.

Sun died of liver cancer on March 12, 1925 at the age of 58 at the Rockefeller Hospital in Beijing. In keeping with common Chinese practice, his remains were placed in the Green Cloud Monastery, a Buddhist shrine in the Western Hills a few miles outside of Beijing.

After Sun's death, a power struggle between his young protégé Chiang Kai-shek and his old revolutionary comrade Wang Jingwei split the KMT. At stake in this struggle was the right to lay claim to Sun's ambiguous legacy. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek married Soong May-ling, a sister of Sun's widow Soong Ching-ling, and subsequently he could claim to be a brother - in - law of Sun. When the Communists and the Kuomintang split in 1927, marking the start of the Chinese Civil War, each group claimed to be his true heirs, a conflict that continued through World War II. His widow, Soong Ching-ling, sided with the Communists during the Chinese Civil War and served from 1949 to 1981 as Vice President (or Vice Chairwoman) of the People's Republic of China and as Honorary President shortly before her death in 1981.

A personality cult in the Republic of China was centered on Sun and his successor,Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Chinese Muslim Generals and Imams participated in this cult of personality and 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 Quran and Hadith were used by Muslims to justify Chiang Kai-shek's rule over China.

Sun Yat-sen remains unique among 20th century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation both in mainland China and in 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 (Chinese: 國父　孫中山先生, where the one - character space is a traditional homage symbol). His likeness is still almost always found in ceremonial locations such as in front of legislatures and classrooms of public schools, from elementary to senior high school, and he continues to appear in new coinage and currency.

On the mainland, Sun is also seen as a Chinese nationalist and proto - socialist, and is highly regarded as the Forerunner of the Revolution (革命先行者). He is even mentioned by name in the preamble to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. In recent years, the leadership of the Communist Party of China has increasingly invoked Sun, partly as a way of bolstering Chinese nationalism in light of Chinese economic reform and partly to increase connections with supporters of the Kuomintang on Taiwan which the PRC sees as allies against Taiwan independence. Sun's tomb was one of the first stops made by the leaders of both the Kuomintang and the People First Party on their pan-blue visit to mainland China in 2005. A massive portrait of Sun continues to appear in Tiananmen Square for May Day and National Day.

Sun Yat-sen was born to father Sun Da-cheng (孫達成) and mother lady Yang (楊氏) on November 12, 1866. At the time his father was age 53, while his mother was 38 years old. By the time he was born, he already had an older brother Sun De-zhang (孫德彰), an older sister Sun Jin-xing (孫金星) who died at the early age of 4. Another older brother Sun Dak-you (孫德祐) also died at the age of 6. He had two other sisters Sun Miao-xi (孫妙茜), who was older and Sun Qiu-qi (孫秋綺) who was younger.

Sun had an arranged marriage with fellow villager Lu Muzhen at the age of 20. She bore him a son Sun Fo and two daughters, Sun Jin-yuan (孫金媛) and Sun Jin-wan (孫金婉). Sun subsequently married Soong Ching-ling, one of the Soong sisters. They were married in Japan on October 25, 1915, though he did not divorce his first wife, Lu Muzhen, due to opposition from the Chinese community. The relation with the sisters' father Charles Soong would play a role in political affairs.

In most major Chinese cities one of the main streets is named Zhongshan Lu (中山路) to celebrate his memory. There are also numerous parks, schools, and geographical features named after him. Xiangshan, Sun's hometown in Guangdong, was re-named 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 reference 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 subway station, Sun Yat-sen house in Nanjing, Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum in Hong Kong, Chung-Shan Building in the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. Zhongshan Memorial Middle Schoolhas 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 Chinese cruiser Yat Sen. The old Chinatown in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), India, has a prominent street by the name of Sun Yat-sen street. In Penang, Malaysia, the Penang Philomatic Union had its premises at 120 Armenian Street during the time when Sun spent more than four months in Penang; this house which has been preserved as the Sun Yat Sen Penang Base museum 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 also preserved as another Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum in Penang.