Sun Yat Sen "Father of Modern China"

Sun Yat Sen

"Father of Modern China"

 

Introduction:

The late 1800s and early 1900s were a time of humiliation for China, but rebels such as Sun Yat Sen wanted to end the degrading treatment that China forced to endure. He worked most of his life to do so, and in the end Sun Yat Sen knew that he had achieved his goal. Sun Yat Sen was a very important figure to the Chinese society around the turn of the 18th century. As both a nationalist, and a political leader, he helped China rise out of foreign rule, and gain independence as a Republic. Sun Yat Sen's ideas changed the way of life in China during his time, but his legacy will last forever.

 

Life in China Before Sun Yat Sen:

Two main events happened before Sun Yat Sen was born that would have effect in his life, they were the Opium wars and the Taiping rebellions. Before Sun Yat Sen's time China was a protectorate of Britain, and was under a lot of influence from Britain, and other western powers. A collision between the Chinese state and the expanding western powers was inevitable. The war came in 1839 when China fought Britain in a war over the exporting of Opium. Later known as the Opium Wars, the fighting finally concluded in 1842.

Lin Tse Hsu, Chinese Leader from the Opium Wars

After the Opium wars, the Chinese people were fed up with countries across the world taking advantage of them, and started thinking rebellion. The first serious threat to the Manchus (the existing Chinese rulers) were the rebellions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a group of peasants who had combined only vaguely understood ideas from western missionaries with the elements of the traditional Chinese religion. These rebellions began in the south in 1850, and convulsed China until 1864. It is estimated that up to 40 million people died during these rebellions and even though they did not achieve their ultimate goals, they were taken seriously by the people who lived through them. Also many of the ideas and techniques from these rebellions were used by Sun Yat Sen during his lifetime.

 

Early Life:

Sun Yat Sen was born November 12, 1866 to a peasant family in Guangdong, a small town in Southern China. His early life was much like that of any other peasant Chinese boy, except that he received a western secondary education. He also learned to speak English, and was even baptized as a Christian without the support of his family, who weren't in favor of his break from tradition. His education of English, and the western culture would prove to be very useful to him later in his life.

Even at a young age, Sun Yat Sen was already thinking radical ideas. In 1883, Sun Yat Sen attacked the local temple deity in protest of Chinese tradition. The style of protest that he had already acquired was very similar to that of the Taipings, 40 years earlier. Also in 1885 he was quoted to have said "From the time of our defeat against France, I set myself the task of the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a Chinese republic in its ruins." Authority figures should have paid more attention to him when he had such drastic plans for the rest of his life before he was 20.

 

China's Flag 1893

Sun Yat Sen as a Revolutionary Leader:

From when he was a young boy, Sun Yat Sen starting a revolutionary group was just a matter of time. In 1895 it looked as if the time had come. In that year Sun Yat Sen went to Hawaii in the United States and then England looking for support for his Revive China group centered in Honolulu. This attempt was unsuccessful though when authorities found out about his plans, and he was arrested by the Chinese Embassy in England. He was jailed for a short time, charged with being a revolutionary leader. Being in jail was not a road block, but rather a refueling station. When he got out, he wrote Kidnapped in London, a book that established him even more as a leading Chinese Revolutionary.

When he came back to China after traveling the world looking for support, he got right to work. He started small, getting money by fund raisers in local Chinese communities, and fought together with local leaders in small rebellious acts. By 1900 he had the opportunity to make a difference through his partnership with the French. France occupied a region known as Tonkin which is now part of modern day Vietnam. They were interested in Sun Yat Sen because he could help them get the British out of China without using any of their troops. So France proposed the idea Sun Yat Sen could use the land in Tonkin, and in return he would start a series of uprisings across the southern border which France hoped would ignite a Revolution. Sun Yat Sen agreed with this because he wanted to get the foreign rule out of China at all costs. But by 1906, nothing had worked and the French grew impatient. Though they wanted to establish a base across southern China, they weren't going to wait for Sun Yat Sen and his peasant groups, so they expelled him from Tonkin. Again Sun Yat Sen had failed, but it was his mission to free China, so would never give up.

 

Flag of The Kuomintang Party 

 

Sun Yat Sen as The President of the Republic of China:

When most people lost faith in Sun Yat Sen, he never let down. Finally in 1911 his opportunity came. A long awaited mutiny occurred in Wuhan, the most modernized city on the Yangtze river. Sun Yat Sen was not directly involved, but the uprising's leaders were members of the Tung Meng Hui, which he had help found. After the mutiny, a rebel meeting was held with the goal of forming a National Government, or Kuomintang Party. Sun Yat Sen attended this meeting in hopes of involvement with this new rebel group, but when he got there, he was more important than he thought. He was the only well known leader, and because of his popularity among his peers, he was elected provisional president of the Republic of China, promising only substantial foreign aid.

Sun Yat Sen did enjoy his time as President, but in less than a year, problems for Sun Yat Sen already arose. The Manchus who were the former leaders of China didn't like that not only did Sun Yat Sen and the rebel group just come in and take over the government, but they also took over the role of emperor or president. The Manchus wanted their General Yuan Shikai to be leader, and if he wasn't, a civil war was certain to break out. Sun Yat Sen had to step down for the good of his people. This resignation proved to be disastrous for Sun Yat Sen and the Republic of China, even after the death of Yuan Shikai. During his life, Sun Yat Sen never really saw a lasting government in China that he had fought for since he was a child.

 Gruesome Photos of WWI

The Rest of the World During Sun Yat Sen's Life:

During his years as leader in China, the most important international event that was going on was WWI, and the Russian revolution in 1917 and 1918 the same year the world war ended. Sun Yat Sen used the new Russian order into his favor. Russia was the only European power that would offer to treat China as equals. Also the Russians wanted to find a way to lash out at the British, and the cheapest and easiest way for them to do that was with the help of the Chinese. Russia was looking for Chinese Nationalists who would threaten British power and prestige in China, and of course they turned to Sun Yat Sen.

Sun Yat Sen liked the Russians very much. They were the only country to offer China assistance, and Sun Yat Sen felt that a lot of the Soviet ideas were much like his own. He believed in a form of Chinese Socialism which would stem from reform, but not through class conflict as in the Russian model.

 

The Three People's Principles:

Sun Yat Sen's model of government was famous for the "Three People's Principles." His idea of government involved three principles, democracy, nationalism, and equalization. His form of Democracy included five republican branches in which the members were voted in democratically. The five branches included a legislative, executive, judicial, the censorate, and the civil service system, though the last two are mainly used to check-up on the other three. This form of democracy is extremely similar to western concepts because of Sun Yat Sen's strong western influence.

The second principle is Nationalism. Sun Yat Sen created this principle to keep China under their own power rather than a foreign imperialistic rule. Nationalism was also used in ownership of land. He believed that land ownership gives too+ much power to the landlords. In his government, there was no land ownership, but people could have rights regarding land and land ownership with permission from the state.

Finally the third principle is the equalization of wealth. This means that quarrels over land ownership should be equalized among the people. Also wealth of the common Chinese community would be more evenly distributed, with the help of the government in the means of diminishing the effects of capitalism on the Chinese society. Even though these Principles may seem vague by modern standards they have become an enduring element of 20th century Chinese political thought.

 

Aftermath:

Sun Yat Sen died in 1925 as the chief executive of the Kuomintang. During the last years of his life he tried to persuade the leaders of northern rebellions to abandon their personal ambitions to achieve national reunification but he died before he could achieve that goal. China had to wait for Chiang Kai-shek, one of Sun Yat Sen's successors to achieve unification during the 1930's and 40's. Chiang Kai-shek formed the central unified central government that Sun Yat Sen had sought to create for so long.

In 1929, Sun's body was transferred to a mausoleum erected in his honor in Nanjing. Politically, he may have been more effective after his death. His principles became the slogans of his followers, even though they were not easily accepted into Chinese culture during his time.

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