SUN YAT-SEN: BIOGRAPHY - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) was a Chinese revolutionary politician, the first president of the ROC, thus becoming the founder of modern China. He created the party called Kuomintang or Guomindang.

A critic of dynastic and supposedly traditional China, he germinated his revolutionary ideas both inside and outside of China. Before being elected president, on two occasions he came to preside over regional governments but without international recognition.

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Biography

Sun Yat-sen was born on November 12, 1866 in a town of humble fishermen. The place where he was born was known as "Xiangshan" and currently bears the name of Cuiheng. This town is located in the south of Guangdong province.

He was born into a low-income family that had dedicated themselves for several generations to working the land. His father changed his profession and became a tailor.

When the Portuguese colony of Macao, to the south-west of Hong Kong, passed into the hands of the Ming dynasty, it began to function as a commercial port of the region in the Pearl River Delta.

Sun Yat-sen's father was forced to return to his old labors as a peasant. At that time, the family's situation was so precarious that his older brother had to emigrate to other latitudes to make a living.

Childhood

In 1872 the school began in his native town. Sun Yat-sen received his first teachings from traditional China. In 1879, at the age of 13, he was sent to Honolulu in Hawaii. His intention was to reunite with his brother, who had resided on that island for several years.

This occurred shortly before the US military forces established their strategic bases on the islands.

While in Honolulu, he continued his studies in the missionary schools of the English language. She was under an environment severely marked by a positive and rationalist guideline, full of Western contrasts and by a strong conviction in scientific and technological progress.

Sun Yat-sen managed to excel in a very special way in English language and literature. In 1881 he had completed his middle studies. A year later he was sent back to the town where he was born.

Back to mainland China

Once there, he was convinced that traditional China was nothing more than superstition. Since then he has openly expressed his contradictory ideas about Chinese traditionalism. Then, he witnessed the violent reactions of certain peasants.

He was harshly criticized and expelled for having broken a religious figure in his town. It was then that in 1883 he managed to arrive in Hong Kong with the firm intention of continuing his studies.

By those years he had already converted to Christianity. He was baptized with the name by which he is known "Sun Yat-sen". In doing so, he was strongly influenced by a missionary from the United States and a Protestant pastor of Chinese nationality.

Later, in 1885 she married Lu Muzhen. His then wife was a young woman chosen by his family in a traditional way according to the marriage system they used at that time.

Despite the fact that their relationship was very scarce due to the long periods of absence from their home, they gave as a result of their marriage three children. Two of them were female and one male. It was their older brother who took care of them.

It was in 1915 that he married for the second time. This time his wife would be the Japanese Song Qingling. Their marriage was totally different from the first nuptial link. The relationship was characterized by being happy, calm and without children.

Political movements

He began studies in the subject that he was passionate about: medicine. He managed to graduate with outstanding marks in Medicine and Surgery in 1892. At the same time, he hired the services of a private tutor to instruct him in the Chinese classics.

He was already showing a character in a certain revolutionary way and with great conviction. Therefore, it clearly stated the need for reforms. To create a modern Republican China, the Manchu government had to be overthrown.

Sun Yat-sen moved to Macau already as a surgeon. However, he was unable to pursue his career because he did not have the corresponding license required by the colony for such a function.

His early inclination for politics was maturing radical ideas contrary to the imperial guidelines that governed China. She then headed to Hawaii. From there she secretly came into contact with some Chinese Anti-Dynastic societies. Then, in 1894, he created the China Renewal Association (Hsing Chung Hui).

He emphasized getting his reformist proposals to various imperial officials, but as expected, they paid him not the slightest attention. This is why he began to have a certain dissenting attitude towards the ordinances of the reigning empire.

Since then he has stood in favor of a modern republican-political reform, which would crystallize and turn China into a remarkable power for the world.

Take power

Between 1894 and 1895 the war was fought between China and Japan. In that contest, it was China that came out with the worst part. Sun Yat-sen returned to Hong Kong then, and the Hsing Chung Hui association made a coup attempt in Canton (the capital of Kuangtung).

As a result of all this, Sun Yat-sen was prohibited from returning to China. Then he undertook a long journey through Central Europe and the United States of America. He was an activist dedicated to the organization of proselytism among Chinese exiles and émigrés.

T'ung-meng Hui (United Revolutionary League), was an organization founded by his hand in 1905 in Tokyo. It based its principles on three main guidelines: Democracy, Nationalism and Social Welfare. It soon became the main Chinese revolutionary party.

The Manchu government was finally overthrown in Wuchang by the revolutionary forces eradicated in the provinces on October 10, 1911. Sun Yat-sen was elected as the provisional president of nascent China.

Resignation and new struggles

He left the post in an attempt to maintain the union between the provinces and just to avoid a possible civil war. Then, Yuan Shikai, who had just been serving as a Manchu minister, took over.

Sun Yat-sen and his followers were somewhat marginalized from high-level positions. In fact they were subjected to violent persecution.

Yuan began to manifest certain ambitions typical of the dynastic and imperialist thought and Sun was forcefully opposed by lowering him from power in 1916. From then on his nationalist political party was known as the Kuomintang or Guomindang.

Sun Yat-sen tried on several occasions to fully rebuild a republican government from the precarious cabinet of 1911. However, it was not until 1920 that he was able to do so.

After many efforts, he again raised a clearly republican government in Canton, but in a certain way somewhat limited in its territorial base. He was elected as president a year later and on that occasion he resumed his already proposed modernization projects for the Republic of China.

In 1923 he returned to Canton, using international coupling, he managed to strengthen the foundations of his government. He made an important political-military advance with the also nascent Bolshevik regime. He obtained and established cooperation with the Communists.

Death

A tireless fighter, Sun Yat-sen worked hard and until his last breath on March 12, 1925, he was revered as the chief executive of the Guomindang government. He died of liver cancer on March 12, 1925 at the age of 58.

References

1. Encyclopedia of World Biography. (2004). Sun Yat-Sen. Recovered at: encyclopedia.com
2. S / D. A loose sheet of sand: Sun Yat Sen. Wealth and Power Recovered at: sites.asiasociety.org
3. JLGC (S / D), Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925). Recovered in: mcnbiografias.com
4. Bergere, Marie Claire (1994) Sun Yat Sen, Stanford University Press. Recovered at: books.google.es
5. Sun Yat Sen Father of the Republic of China Political Reconstruction. Recovered in: historiaybiografias.com