Sun Zhongshan and the Toppling of the Qing

Perhaps one of the most controversial figures of his time, Sun Zhongshan (孙中山) is a very colorful individual who lived through some of the most tumultuous times of Chinese history. Often referred to as the “Father of Modern China” (国夫), he played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Qing Dynasty (清朝) in 1911 and was a co-founder of the Kuomintang (国民党, KMT). His unfortunate sudden death in 1925 marked a major turning point in the post-Dynastic history of China.

Sun Zhongshan was born on November 12, 1866 to a family of peasants in the village of Cuiheng (翠亨村) in the county of Xiangshan (香山县), Guangzhou prefecture (广州), Guangdong Province (广东省). At the age of seven, he entered into a private school to receive a traditional Confucian education. He frequently listened to the stories told by former soldiers of the Taiping rebellion with admiration. After some local schooling, he moved to Hawaii to live with his elder brother, fifteen years his elder, Sun Mei (孫眉). Sun Zhongshan studied at the Iolani School where he learned English, mathematics and science. His quick mastery of English was rewarded by recognition for outstanding achievement in English by the Hawaiian King, David Kalakaua. By 1882, he became an American citizen, although it is unclear if he renounced his citizenship to the Qing Dynasty. After graduating from Iolani in 1882, Sun Zhongshan enrolled at Oahu College (now Punahou School). Only studying there for one semester, his brother sent him back home to China after it was found he was dabbling with Christianity.

Sun Zhongshan returned to China in 1883, finding himself increasingly disturbed by the backward society of his homeland. Armed with a Western education, he disdained the Chinese school system that emphasized ancient methods, squashing all expression and opinion. After an incident in which he intentionally broke the hand of a god worshipped by the people of his village, Sun Zhongshan was chased out and fled to Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, Sun Zhongshan continued to study English at the Anglican Diocesan Home and Orphanage (known today as the Diocesan Boys' School). Because of a prolonged absence brought about by the death of grandfather, he was ultimately expelled. In April 1884, Sun Zhongshan enrolled at Central School of Hong Kong (known today as Queen’s College). On the conclusion of his studies in 1887, he studied medicine at the Guangzhou Boji Hospital under the medical missionary John G. Kerr, eventually earning his license in 1892 from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (known today as the University of Hong Kong) as one of its first two graduates.

Sun Zhongshan was married in an arranged ceremony in 1887. His wife, Lu Muzhen (卢慕贞), bore him three children, a son and two girls. Due to her bound feet, she rarely accompanied him on his revolutionary campaigns. Ultimately, she was abandoned in 1915 by Sun Zhongshan when he married Song Qingling.

In 1894, increasingly troubled by the conservative Qing government and its refusal to adapt to the increasingly technological world of the West, Sun Zhongshan gave up his medical practice, devoting his time to saving China. At first he aligned closely with reformers such as Kang Youwei (康有为) and Liang Qichao (梁啟超) who were trying to transform the Qing into a Western-styled constitutional monarchy. In 1894, Sun Zhongshan addressed a letter to the leading Qing statesman, Li Hongzhang (李鴻章). Because of his lack of full schooling in the Confucian traditions, Sun Zhongshan’s letter was ignored. So rebuffed, Sun Zhongshan became more revolutionary in his mindset, calling for the abolition of the Qing monarchy and the establishment of a republic.

After a failed coup attempt in 1895, Sun Zhongshan was forced to go into exile in Europe, America, and Japan. He would not return to China for another sixteen years until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. While he was abroad, he raised money for his revolutionary party and bankrolled at least nine unsuccessful uprisings in China—the Huizhou Uprising (惠州起义) in October of 1901, the Chaozhou Huanggang Uprising (潮州黄冈起义) in May of 1907, the Seven Woman Lake Uprising (七女湖起义) in September of 1907, the Fangcheng Uprising (防城起义) in September of 1907, the Zhennan Pass Uprising (镇南关起义) in December of 1907, the Qinzhou and Lianzhou Uprisings (钦州廉州起义) in late March of 1908, the Hekou Uprising (河口起义) in April of 1908, the Guangzhou New Army Uprising (广州新军起义) in February of 1910, and the Huanghuagang Uprising (黃花冈起义) in April of 1911).

In the ten years that spent off and on in Japan, he would join and then eventually lead a group of dissident Chinese emigrants that would become the Tongmenghui (同盟会), befriending many distinguished Japanese luminaries, including the incorruptible politician, Miyazaki Toten. After leaving Japan due to unwarranted fears of his revolutionary activities, which had tremendous support amongst the populace, Sun Zhongshan moved to the United States, befriending the Filipinio rebel, Mariano Ponce.

When the October 10, 1911 Wuchang Uprising (武昌起义) began, kickstarting the Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命), Sun Zhongshan was still in the United States. By chance, he read about the uprising while in Denver. Instigated by newly formed units (a last ditch effort by the Qing to modernize), many of the soldiers and officers of the Wuchang Uprising were members of the various revolutionary groups. Begun as a result of investigations into a series of bombings within the Russian concessions, loyalists discovered a significant number of revolutionaries within the units based at Wuchang. In order to prevent their arrest and execution, the revolutionaries led by Huang Xing (黄兴) staged a coup and seized control. Within six weeks, fifteen provinces had seceded. By the time the uprising had come to a close, the last Emperor, Puyi (溥仪) abdicated the throne on February 12, 1912.

Sun Zhongshan immediately returned back to China. In a meeting of the representatives of the various revolutionary groups that was held in Nanjing (南京) on December 29, 1911, Sun Zhongshan was elected provisionally as the President of the Republic of China (中华民国). Although his role in the overthrow of the Qing has been long lauded by both the Guomindang (Kuomintang, KMT, 国民党) and the Communist Party of China (CPC, 中国共产党), in reality Sun Zhongshan played a minor role. The fact that he was elected as the provisional president was more due to the fact that he was a respected figure who could serve as the ideal compromise between the revolutionaries and the conservative gentry.

Although the Republic of China had been formed, it was weak, with only control over the southern parts of the country. Although it controlled significant portions of the modernized armies built belatedly by the Qing, the government control was far from absolute. At the time, the only option to reunify China and fully topple the Qing was to gain the support of Yuan Shikai (袁世凯), then the Prime Minister of the Qing court, as well as the commander of the formidable Western-styled force known as the Beiyang Army (北洋軍). In order to gain this devious individual’s support, Sun Zhongshan agreed to surrender the presidency to him. As a result of the promise, Yuan Shikai forced Puyi to abdicate on February 12, 1912, ending the Qing Dynasty.