Who is yat sen

In , he married Song Qingling. He returned to China after Yuan's death in He struggled hard to reunite and develop the revolutionary movement and establish his authority over the various warlords on whose support he depended. At last, he changed tactics. With help from Comintern, he reorganized the Guomindang, and extended his Three Principles by the Three Policies: alliances with the Communist Party, the Soviet Union, and the workers and peasants. In , he was elected president for life of the Guomindang.

His significance also came from his posthumous importance, when his legacy was fashioned in opposite directions to legitimize both Communists and Nationalists. Subjects: Social sciences — Politics. View all reference entries ». View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'Sun Yat-sen' in Oxford Reference ». All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.

This event made his name known amongst Chinese all around the world, and during the following years Sun received financial and organizational support from many sides. Sun set up and organized secret revolutionary cells of Chinese students and intellectuals in Europe. Sun's revolutionary activities were not overly successful but caused the host governments some discomfort.

In the Japanese government asked Sun to leave the country and gave him a substantial sum of money on his way. Sun went on a tour of the United States and Canada, raising more funds and preparing another uprising for Canton.

The attempt in March failed again, and Sun had to flee the contry. But the ongoing unrest had weakened the ruling Ch'ing dynasty, who since had tried to control the situation by introducing piecemeal reform.

In October Sun learned from the newspapers in Denver, USA, that a revolutionary group in Wu-han had been successful in overthrowing the provincial government. He immediately returned to China and was elected provisional president of the Republic. After the success of the Russian revolution the Soviet government established contact with the Kuomintang. Sun later returned to Hong Kong, where he enrolled in medical school and married a girl chosen for him by his parents.

Their union eventually produced three children. He graduated in and set up a medical practice in Canton. The traditional lifestyle didn't hold his interest for long.

By he had abandoned medicine for politics. Some years later he scandalized many of his followers by marrying his secretary, Soong Ch'ing-ling, who was 27 years his junior, without divorcing his first wife. Like many activists, Sun was troubled by the Qing court's resistance to reform and its lack of resistance to the Western powers. In he helped plot an uprising in Canton. When the scheme failed, he embarked on what would become a year exile abroad. He went to London, then to Japan, where he spent time courting potential backers.

In he emerged as head of a revolutionary coalition, the United League, based in Tokyo. The group was loosely organized and unwieldy, but Sun used its mouthpiece, "The People's Journal," to disseminate propaganda. His ideas gained credence with many overseas Chinese students. Sun's philosophy, honed over many decades, boiled down to "Three Principles of the People": nationalism, democracy and people's livelihood. After a fund-raising tour through Europe and the United States in , Sun made one more attempt to spark a rebellion in Canton, but it fared no better than his earlier plots.

The Revolution of , however, gave Sun a golden opportunity. As the spontaneous uprising spread rapidly from Wuhan through the rest of the country, he returned to China and was elected provisional president of a self-proclaimed republic in Perhaps hoping to head off a civil war, Sun made a strategic alliance with Yuan Shikai, commander-in-chief of the imperial army, who had seized power from the child emperor Pu Yi in Beijing.