Honorific-prefix	Generalissimo
Name	Sun Yat-sen孫文孫中山孫逸仙
Nationality	Chinese, USA
Order	Provisional President of the Republic of China
Vicepresident	Li Yuanhong
Term start	29 December 1911
Term end	10 March 1912
Successor	Yuan Shikai
Birth date	November 12, 1866
Birth place	Xiangshan, Guangdong, China
Death date	March 12, 1925
Death place	Beijing
Spouse	Lu Muzhen (1885–1915)Kaoru Otsuki (1903-1906)Soong Ching-ling (1915–1925)
Children	Sun FoSun YanSun WanFumiko Miyagawa
Party	Kuomintang
Alma mater	Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
Occupation	PhysicianPoliticianRevolutionaryWriter
Signature	Sun Yat Sen Signature.jpg

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 Founding Father of Republican China, a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Sun played an instrumental role in inspiring the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. Sun was the first provisional president when the Republic of China (ROC) was founded in 1912 and later co-founded the Chinese National People's Party or 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.

Names

The original name of Sun Yat-sen was Sun Wen (孫文) and genealogy name was Sun Deming (孫德明). As a child name his milkname was Dixiang (帝象). While schooling in Hong Kong he earned the name Yat Sen (逸仙; Mandarin: Yixian). Sun Zhong-shan, the most popular of the Chinese name came from (中山樵), a form of the Japanese name given to him by Miyazaki Touten (宮崎滔天). Sun enrolled in Oahu College (now Punahou School) for further studies for one semester.

From here, Sun studied medicine at the Guangzhou Boji Hospital under the Christian missionary John G. Kerr. Notably, he was one of the first two graduates. He had an arranged marriage with fellow villager Lu Muzhen at age twenty; she bore him a son Sun Fo and two daughters, Sun Jin-yan and Sun Jin-wan.

Christian baptism

(from left to right: Yang Heling, Sun Yat-sen, Chen Shaobai and You Lie. The one standing was Guan Jingliang.).]] 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.

Transformation into a revolutionary

During and after the Qing Dynasty rebellion, Sun was a leader within Tiandihui, a secret society that became associated with the rise of triad groups. His activities in Tiandihui brought about much of Sun's back pain. His protégé, Chiang Kai Shek, was also a member of Tiandihui.

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. At first, Sun aligned himself with the reformists Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao who sought to transform China into a Western-style constitutional monarchy. In 1894, Sun wrote a long letter to Li Hongzhang, the governor-general of Zhili and a reformer in the court, with suggestions on how to strengthen China, but he was rebuffed. Since Sun had never been trained in the classics, the gentry did not accept Sun into their circles. From then on, Sun began to call for the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic.

Sun went to Hawaii in October 1894 and founded the Revive China Society to unveil the goal of a prospering China and as the platform for future revolutionary activities. Members were drawn mainly from Chinese expatriates and from the lower social classes.

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. According to Lee Yun-ping, chairman of the Chinese historical society, Sun needed this certificate to enter the United States at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 would have otherwise blocked him. But on his first attempt in enter the US, he was still arrested.

Sun Yatsen praised the Boxers in the Boxer Rebellion for fighting against Western Imperialism. He said the Boxers were courageous and fearless, fighting to the death against the Western armies, Dr. Sun specifically cited the Battle of Yangcun.

From exile to Wuchang Uprising

In 1895 a coup he plotted failed, and some of his supporters were executed. For the next sixteen years Sun was an exile in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan, raising money for his revolutionary party and bankrolling uprisings in China. In 1896 he was detained at the Chinese Legation in London, where diplomats planned to kill him. He was released after twelve days through the efforts of James Cantlie, The Times and the Foreign Office, leaving Sun a hero in Britain. Cantalie, 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 Yat Sen

Sun Yat-sen lived in Japan for about ten years while befriending and being financially aided by a democratic revolutionary in Japan, Miyazaki Toten (1871–1922). In Japan, he was known as Nakayama Shō (Kanji: , lit. 'Middle Mountain Woodsman'). Most Japanese who actively worked with Sun were motivated by a pan-Asian fear of encroaching Western imperialism. In 1905 he joined forces with revolutionary Chinese students studying in Japan to form the T’ung-meng Hui (or Tongmeng Hui; Chinese for “Revolutionary Alliance”), which sponsored numerous attempts at uprisings in China and soon became their leader. Nanjing Historical Remains Museum of Chinese Modern History exhibits a bronze statue of Sun and Miyazaki Toten placed alongside each other. Miyazaki wrote a series of articles for newspapers including the nationally circulated Asahi Times about Sun Yat-sen and his revolutionary efforts in China under the title "33-year dream". In Japan, he also met and befriended Mariano Ponce, then a diplomat of the First Philippine Republic. Sun also supported the cause for Philippine Independence and even supplied the Philippine army with guns. Sun Yat-sen eventually left Japan and went to the United States.

announcing to him that he has assumed the Presidency of the Provisional Republican Government of China. Dated 21 January 1912.]]On 10 October 1911, a military uprising at Wuchang in which Sun had no direct involvement (at that moment Sun was still in exile and Huang Xing was in charge of the revolution), began a process that ended over two thousand years of imperial rule in China. When he learned of the successful rebellion against the Qing emperor from press reports, Sun immediately returned to China from the United States. Later, on 29 December 1911 a meeting of representatives from provinces in Nanking elected Sun as the provisional President of the Republic of China and set 1 January 1912 as the first day of the First Year of the Republic. This republic calendar system is still used in Taiwan today.

The official history of the Kuomintang (and for that matter, the Communist Party of China) emphasizes Sun's role as the first provisional President, but many historians now question the importance of Sun's role in the 1911 revolution and point out that he had no direct role in the Wuchang uprising and was in fact out of the country at the time. In this interpretation, his naming as the first provisional President was precisely because he was a respected but rather unimportant figure and therefore served as an ideal compromise candidate between the revolutionaries and the conservative gentry.

However, Sun is credited for the funding of the revolutions and for keeping the spirit of revolution alive, even after a series of failed uprisings. Also, as mentioned, he successfully merged minor revolutionary groups to a single larger party, providing a better base for all those who shared the same ideals.

Sun is highly regarded as the National Father of modern China. His political philosophy, known as the Three Principles of People, was proclaimed in August 1905. In his Methods and Strategies of Establishing the Country completed in 1919, he suggested using his Principles to establish ultimate peace, freedom, and equality in the country. He devoted all efforts throughout his whole lifetime until his death for a strong and prosperous China and the well being of its people.

Republic of China

, 1924]]

After taking the oath of office, Sun Yat-sen sent telegrams to the leaders of all provinces, requesting them to elect and send new senators to establish the National Assembly of the Republic of China. The Assembly then declared the provisional government organizational guidelines and the provisional law of the Republic as the basic law of the nation.

The provisional government was in a very weak position. The southern provinces of China had declared independence from the Qing dynasty, but most of the northern provinces had not. Moreover, the provisional government did not have military forces of its own, and its control over elements of the New Army that had mutinied was limited, and there were still significant forces which had not declared against the Qing.

The major issue before the provisional government was gaining the support of Yuan Shikai, the man in charge of the Beiyang Army, the military of northern China. After Sun promised Yuan the presidency of the new Republic, Yuan sided with the revolution and forced the emperor to abdicate. (Eventually, Yuan proclaimed himself emperor and afterwards opposition snowballed against Yuan's dictatorial methods, leading him to renounce the throne shortly before his death in 1916.) In 1913 Sun led an unsuccessful revolt against Yuan, and he was forced to seek asylum in Japan, where he reorganized the Kuomintang. Sun also supported the bandit leader Bai Lang during the Bai Lang Rebellion. He married Soong Ching-ling, one of the Soong sisters, in Japan on 25 October 1915, without divorcing his first wife Lu Muzhen due to opposition from the Chinese community. Lu pleaded with him to take Soong as a concubine but this was also unacceptable to Sun's Christian ethics.

Sun Yatsen criticized the May Fourth Movement intellectuals for corrupting morals of youth.

Guangzhou militarist government

(on stage in uniform) at the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924.]] In the late 1910s, China was greatly divided by different military leaders without a proper central government. Sun saw the danger of this and returned to China in 1917 to advocate unification. He started a self-proclaimed military government in Guangzhou (Canton), Guangdong Province, southern China, in 1921, and was elected as president and Grand Marshal.

Revolutionary and socialist leader Vladimir Lenin praised Dr. Sun Yatsen and the Kuomintang for their ideology and principles. Lenin praised Dr. Sun, his attempts on social reformation and congragulated him for fighting foreign Imperialism. Dr. Sun also returned the praise, calling him a "great man", and sent his congratulations on the revolution in Russia.

In a February 1923 speech presented to the Students' Union in Hong Kong University, he 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.

To develop the military power needed for the Northern Expedition against the militarists at Beijing, he established the Whampoa Military Academy near Guangzhou, with Chiang Kai-shek as its commandant and with such party leaders as Wang Ching-wei and Hu Han-min as political instructors. The Academy was the most eminent military school of the Republic of China and trained graduates who fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War and on both sides of the Chinese Civil War.

However, as soon as he established his government in Guangzhou, Sun Yat-sen came into conflict with entrenched local power. Sun's militarist government was not based on the Provisional Constitution of 1912, which the anti-Beiyang forces vowed to defend in the Constitutional Protection War. In addition, Sun was elected president by a parliament that did not meet quorum following its move from Beijing. Thus, many politicians and warlords alike challenged the legitimacy of Sun's militarist government. Sun's use of heavy taxes to fund the Northern Expedition to militarily unify China also came at odds with reformers such as Chen Jiongming, who advocated establishing Guangdong as a “model province” before launching a costly military campaign. In sum, Sun's military government was opposed by the internationally recognized Beiyang government in the north, Chen's Guangdong provincial government in the south, and other provincial powers that shifted alliance according to their own benefit.

Path to Northern Expedition

He again became premier of the Kuomintang from 10 October 1919 – 12 March 1925. In the early 1920s Sun received help from the Comintern for his acceptance of Chinese Communist Party members into his Kuomintang. In 1924, in order to hasten the conquest of China, he began a policy of active cooperation with the Chinese Communists.

By this time, Sun was 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. Consequently, until his death, Sun prepared for the later Northern Expedition (with help from foreign powers).

On 10 November 1924, Sun traveled north and delivered another speech to suggest gathering a conference for the Chinese people 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. Although ill at the time, he was still head of the southern government. On 28 November 1924 Sun traveled to Japan and gave a at Kobe, Japan. He left Guangzhou to hold peace talks with the northern regional leaders on the unification of China. Sun died of liver cancer on 12 March 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.

Legacy

, 2005.]] One of Sun's major legacies was his political philosophy, the Three Principles of the People (sanmin zhuyi, 三民主義). These Principles included the principle of democracy (minchuan, 民權), nationalism (minzu, 民族) and welfare (minsheng, 民生). The Principles retained a place in the rhetoric of both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party with completely different interpretations. This difference in interpretation is due partly to the fact that Sun seemed to hold an ambiguous attitude to both capitalist and communist methods of development, as well as due to his untimely death, in 1925, before he had finished his now-famous lecture series on the Three Principles of the People. In addition, Sun is also one of the primary saints of the Vietnamese religion Cao Dai.

Power struggle

, Zhang Zuobao, Chen Diaoyuan, Chiang Kai-shek, Woo Tsin-hang, Wen Xishan, Ma Fuxiang, Ma Sida, and Bai Chongxi.]] 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.

The official veneration of Sun's memory, especially in the Kuomintang, was a virtual cult, which centered around his tomb in Nanking. 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.

Father of the Nation

Sun Yat-sen remains unique among twentieth-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: , 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.

Cult of Personality

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 Dr. 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.

Forerunner of the Revolution

in Nanjing]] in Nanjing at 1st May of 2011]] in Nanjingat 1st May of 2011]] flag on the ceiling]] 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 mentioned by name in the preamble to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. In most major Chinese cities one of the main streets is named Zhongshanlu () to memorialize him, a name even more commonly found than other popular street names such as Renminlu ( The People's Road) and Jiefanglu ( Liberation Road). There are also numerous parks, schools, and geographical features named after him. Xiangshan, his 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.

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 trips to mainland China in 2005. A massive portrait of Sun continues to appear in Tiananmen Square for May Day and National Day.

Sun and the overseas Chinese

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 Singapore and Malaysia. Sun recognised the contributions that the large number of overseas Chinese could make, beyond the sending of remittances to their ancestral homeland. He therefore made multiple visits to spread his revolutionary message to these communities around the world.

Sun made a total of eight visits to Singapore between 1900 and 1911. The first, on 7 September 1900, was to rescue Miyazaki Toten, an ardent Japanese supporter and friend of Sun's, who was arrested there, an act which resulted in his own arrest and a ban from visiting the island for five years. Upon his next visit in June 1905, he met local Chinese merchants Teo Eng Hock, Tan Chor Nam and Lim Nee Soon in a meeting which was to mark the commencement of direct support from the Nanyang Chinese. Upon hearing their reports on overseas Chinese revolutionists organising themselves in Europe and Japan, he urged them to establish the Singapore chapter of the Tongmenghui, which came officially into being on 6 April the following year upon his next visit.

to his wife Soong Ching-ling.]] The chapter was housed in a villa known as Wan Qing Yuan () and donated for the use of revolutionalists by Teo. In 1906, the chapter grew in membership to 400, and in 1908, when Sun was in Singapore to escape the Qing government in the wake of the failed Zhennanguan Uprising, the chapter had become the regional headquarters for Tongmenghui branches in Southeast Asia. Sun and his followers travelled from Singapore to Malaya and Indonesia to spread their revolutionary message, by which time the alliance already had over twenty branches with over 3,000 spread round the world.

Sun also took time to establish the United Chinese Library in Singapore, to spread the political philosophy and ideas of Three Principles of the People. It also later disseminated revolutionary ideas and generated support for the 1911 Chinese Revolution against the Manchu rulers. At the height of its existence, the Library served as the de facto headquarters for loyal followers of Sun in Malaya and Singapore. The original site of the United Chinese Library is now gazetted as Heritage Site in Singapore. The present United Chinese Library is now located at Cantonment Road; strategically located opposite the Singapore Police Force's Police Cantonment Complex.

Sun's foresight in tapping the help and resources of the overseas Chinese population was to bear fruit on his subsequent revolutionary efforts. In one particular instance, his personal plea for financial aid at the Penang Conference held on 13 November 1910 in Malaya, helped launch a major drive for donations across the Malay Peninsula, an effort which helped finance the Second Guangzhou Uprising (also commonly known as the Yellow Flower Mound revolt) in 1911.

The role that overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia played during the 1911 Revolution was so significant that Sun himself recognized "Overseas Chinese as the Mother of the Revolution".

Today, Sun's legacy is remembered in Nanyang at Wan Qing Yuan,

Memorial colleges

Sun Yat-sen University

National Sun Yat-sen University

Moscow Sun Yat-sen University

Popular culture

The life of Dr Sun is portrayed in various films, mainly The Soong Sisters (Chinese 宋家皇朝) and Road to Dawn (Chinese 夜。明). The assassination attempt on Dr. Sun's life was featured in Bodyguards and Assassins (Chinese 十月圍城).

See also

History of the Republic of China

Politics of the Republic of China

Warlord era

Communist Party of China

Chinese Nationalism

Chinese Anarchism

Sun Yat-sen stamps

Locations:

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, in Nanjing

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, in Hong Kong

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, in Taipei

Chung-Shan Building, in Taipei

Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall

Sun Yat-sen House (Nanjing)

Zhongshan Park

Zhongshan Memorial Middle School

Sun Yat-sen University, one of the top twenty universities in Mainland China; and National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, in Vancouver, the largest classical Chinese gardens outside of Asia

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park in Chinatown, Honolulu

He was portrayed by Winston Chao in the 2009 movie The Founding of a Republic.

References

Further reading

Sun Yat-sen's vision for China / Martin, Bernard, 1966.

Sun Yat-sen, Yang Chu-yun, and the early revolutionary movement in China / Hsueh, Chun-tu

Sun Yat-sen / Bergere, Marie-Claire. c. 1998.

Sun Yat-sen 1866-1925 / The Millennium Biographies / Hong Kong, 1999

Sun Yat-sen and the origins of the Chinese revolution Schiffrin, Harold Z. /1968.

Sun Yat-sen; his life and its meaning; a critical biography. Sharman, Lyon, / 1968, c. 1934

The Man Who Changed China / Buck, Pearl, 1953.

External links

ROC Government Biography

Sun Yat-sen in Hong Kong University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives

Contemporary views of Sun among overseas Chinese

Yokohama Overseas Chinese School established by Dr. Sun Yat-sen

National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Official Website

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School 131, New York City

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum, Penang, Malaysia

Was Yung Wing Dr. Sun's supporter? The Red Dragon scheme reveals the truth!

Miyazaki Toten He devoted his life and energy to the Chinese people.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall A place to commemorate Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou

MY GRANDFATHER, DR. SUN YAT-SEN - By Lily Sui-fong Sun

浓浓乡情系中原—访孙中山先生孙女孙穗芳博士 - 我的祖父是客家人

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Foundation of Hawaii A virtual library on Dr. Sun in Hawaii including sources for six visits

Who is Homer Lea? Sun's best friend. He trained Chinese soldiers and prepared the frame work for the 1911 Chinese Revolution.

Category:1866 births Category:1925 deaths Category:Presidents of the Republic of China Category:Chinese revolutionaries Category:Chinese Christians Category:Chinese philosophers Category:19th-century philosophers Category:20th-century philosophers Category:Cao Dai saints Category:Chinese Congregationalists Category:Deaths from liver cancer Category:Cancer deaths in China Category:People from Zhongshan Category:People of the Xinhai Revolution Category:Family of Sun Yat-sen Category:Georgists Category:Democratic socialists Category:Iolani School alumni Category:Punahou School alumni Category:Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Category:National anthem writers Category:Republic of China politicians from Guangdong Category:Chinese Hakka people Category:Generalissimos Category:Chinese Nationalist heads of state Category:Triad members Category:American people of Chinese descent Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Chinese socialists Category:Marshals of China

Yat-Sen Chang Oliva (born 1970 in Matanzas, Cuba) is a Cuban principal dancer in the English National Ballet.

Yat-Sen Chang is a Chinese Cuban born in Matanzas, Cuba. Yat-Sen Chang studied dance at the Cuban National Ballet School, beginning his studies at the age of nine. In 1989 he graduated as a dancer and teacher and joined the Cuban National Ballet under Alicia Alonso.

In 1992 he was invited to the International Dance Festival of La Baule and joined Jeune Ballet de France, in the same year and performed in many different countries around the world. He joined the English National Ballet in 1993 as principal dancer.

He has a daughter named Olivia with fellow ENB principal dancer and ex-girlfriend Simone Clarke.

See also

List of Cubans

External links

Official page at the ENB site

Ballet Magazine article, October 2006

Interview in Havana Times, May 2011

Category:English National Ballet Category:Cuban ballet dancers Category:Danseurs Category:Living people Category:Cuban people of Chinese descent Category:Immigrants to the United Kingdom Category:British people of Chinese descent Category:British people of Cuban descent Category:Cuban emigrants Category:1970 births

Name	Nanjing
Official name	南京市
Native name	南京
Settlement type	Sub-provincial city
Nickname	金陵 (Gold Mausoleum), 石城 or 石头城 (Stone City)
Map caption	Nanjing's location within Jiangsu province
Dot x	|dot_y =
Pushpin map	China
Pushpin label position
Pushpin map caption	Location in China
Coordinates region	CN
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	People's Republic of China
Subdivision type1	Province
Subdivision name1	Jiangsu
Subdivision type2	County-level divisions
Subdivision name2	13
Subdivision type3	Township divisions
Subdivision name3	129
Leader title	CPC Nanjing
Leader name	Yang WeizeCommittee Secretary
Leader title1	Mayor
Leader name1	Ji Jianye
Established title	Settled
Established date	495 BC
Established title2
Established title3
Unit pref
Area footnotes	(ranked 29th)
Area total km2	6598
Area land km2
Population as of	2010
Population total	8004680|population_density_km2 = 1213.2
Population demonym	Nanjinger
Timezone	China Standard Time
Utc offset	+8
Elevation footnotes
Elevation ft	50|postal_code_type = Postal code
Postal code	210000 - 211300
Area code	25
Blank name	Licence plate prefixes
Blank info	苏A
Blank1 name	GDP (2010)(nominal)
Blank1 info	$77.1 billion
Blank2 name	GDP per capita(nominal)
Blank2 info	$9,929
Blank3 name	GDP (2010)(PPP)
Blank3 info	$135.3 billion
Blank4 name	GDP per capita(PPP)
Blank4 info	$17,429
Website	City of Nanjing
Footnotes	City trees Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara)City flowers Méi (Prunus mume)

Nanjing (; ; Romanizations: Nánjīng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling)) is the capital of Jiangsu province, China, and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. The city's name (南京) means "Southern Capital", and was widely romanised in English as 'Nanking' until the Pinyin language reform, after which 'Nanjing' was gradually adopted as the standard spelling of the city's name in several languages that use the Roman alphabet.

Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing has always been one of China's most important cities. It served as the capital of China during several historical periods and is recognised as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Nanjing was the capital of the Republic of China before the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Nanjing is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province. Nanjing has long been a national center of education, research, transport networks, and tourism. The city will host the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.

With an urban population of over five million (2006), Nanjing is the second largest commercial center in the East China region, after Shanghai. It has been ranked fourth by Forbes magazine in its listing of "2008 Top 100 Business Cities in Mainland China", seventh in the evaluation of "Cities with Strongest Comprehensive Strength" issued by the National Statistics Bureau, and second in the evaluation of cities with most sustainable development potential in the Yangtze River Delta. It has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honor of China, Special Award of UN Habitat Scroll of Honor and National Civilized City.

History

Early history

sculpture at Xiao Xiu's tomb (AD 518)]]

Nanjing was one of the earliest established cities in what is now China. Fu Chai, Lord of the State of Wu, founded a fort named Yecheng (冶城) in today's Nanjing area in 495 BCE according to the legend. Later in 473 BCE, the State of Yue conquered Wu and constructed the fort of Yuecheng (越城) on the outskirts of the present-day Zhonghua Gate. In 333 BCE, after eliminating the State of Yue, the State of Chu built Jinling Yi (金陵邑) in the western part of present-day Nanjing. Under the Qin and Han dynasties, it was called Moling (秣陵). Since then, the city has experienced destruction and renewal many times.

Capital of the Six Dynasties

Nanjing first became a capital in 229 CE, where Sun Quan of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period relocated its capital to Jianye (建業), a city he extended on the basis of Jinling Yi in 211 CE. Although conquered by the West Jin Dynasty in 280, Nanjing and its neighboring areas had been well cultivated and developed into one of the commercial, cultural, and political centers of China during the rule of East Wu. This city would soon play a vital role in the following centuries.

Shortly after the unification of the region, the West Jin state collapsed in wars. It was at first rebels of eight Jin princes for the throne and later rebels and invasion from Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples that destroyed the rule of Jin in the north. In 317, remnants of the Jin court, as well as nobles and wealthy families, fled from the north to the south and reestablished the Jin court in Nanjing, which was then called Jiankang (建康).

Nanjing remained the capital of the North-South Division period for more than two and a half centuries. During this time, Nanjing was the international hub of the East Asia and one of the largest city in the world. Based on historical documents, the city had 280,000 registered households.

A number of sculptural ensembles of that era, erected at the tombs of royals and other dignitaries, have survived (in various degrees of preservation) in Nanjing's northeastern and eastern suburbs, primarily in Qixia District. Possibly the best preserved of them is the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu (475–518), a brother of Emperor Wu of Liang. The period of division ended when the Sui Dynasty reunified China and destroyed almost the entire city, turning it into a small town.

Medieval period

pagoda in Qixia Temple. It was built in 601 and rebuilt in the 10th century.]]

The city of Nanjing was razed after Sui took it. It was reconstructed during late Tang Dynasty. It was again named capital (then known as Jinling (金陵) during the short-lived Southern Tang (937–975), who succeeded the Wu. Jiankang's textile industry burgeoned and thrived during Song Dynasty despite the constant threat from the northern foreign invasions. The Mongolians, the occupiers of China, further consolidated the city's status as a hub of the textile industry under the Yuan Dynasty.

Capital of Ming

was built in the 14th century and is the longest in the world.]]

The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor) who overthrew the Yuan Dynasty rebuilt this city and made it the dynastic capital in 1368. He constructed what was the longest city wall in the world at that time. It took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the project. The present-day city wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time, and it is the longest surviving city wall in the world.

Nanjing remained the capital of the Ming Empire until 1421, when the third emperor of the dynasty, Zhu Di, relocated the capital to Beijing. It is believed that Nanjing was the largest city in the world from 1358 to 1425 with a population of 487,000 in 1400.

Besides the city wall, other famous Ming-era structures in the city included the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (still one of the most famous sites of the region) and the Porcelain Tower (destroyed by the Taipings in the 19th century).

As the center of the empire, early-Ming Nanjing had worldwide connections: it was home of admiral Zheng He, who went to sail the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and it was visited by foreign dignitaries, such as the sultan of Brunei Abdul Majid Hassan, who died during his visit to China in 1408. The sultan's grave, with a suitably royal bixi stone tortoise monument, was discovered in Yuhuatai District south of the city in 1958.

Qing period

Over two centuries after the removal of the capital to Beijing, Nanjing was destined to become the capital of a Ming emperor one more time. After the fall of Beijing to the Li Zicheng's rebels and then to Manchu Qing invaders, and the suicide of the last "real" Ming emperor Zhu Youjian (the Chongzhen Emperor) in the spring 1644, the Ming prince Zhu Yousong was enthroned in Nanjing in June 1644 as the Hongguang Emperor. His short reign was described by later historians as the first reign of the so-called Southern Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yousong, however, fared a lot worse than his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang three centuries earlier. Beset by factional conflicts, his regime could not offer effective resistance to Manchu troops, when the Manchu army, led by Prince Dodo approached Jiangnan the next spring. Days after Yangzhou fell to the Manchus in late May 1645, the Hongguang Emperor fled Nanjing, and the imperial palace was looted by local residents. On June 6, Dodo's troops approached Nanjing, and the commander of the city's garrison, Zhao the Earl of Xincheng, promptly surrendered the city to them. The Manchus soon ordered all male residents of the city to shave their heads in the Manchu way, requisitioned a large section of the city for the bannermen's cantonment, and destroyed the former imperial palace, but otherwise the city was spared the mass murders and destruction that befell Yangzhou.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), the Nanjing area was known as Jiangning (江寧) and served as the seat of government for the Liangjiang Viceroy. It had been visited by the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors a number of times on their tours of the southern provinces.

Nanjing was invaded by British troops during the First Opium War, which was ended by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842.

Nanjing was the capital of the Taiping Kingdom in the mid-19th century, being renamed as Tianjing (天京) (lit. Heaven's Capital).

Both the Qing Viceroy and the Taiping king resided in buildings that would later be known as the Presidential Palace. As Qing general Zeng Guofan retook the city in 1864, massive slaughter occurred in the city with over 100,000 committing suicide or fighting to the death.

Capital of the Republic

The Xinhai Revolution led to the founding of the Republic of China in January 1912 with Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional president, and Nanjing was selected as its new capital. However, the Qing Dynasty still controlled the northern provinces, so revolutionaries asked Yuan Shikai to replace Sun as president in exchange for the emperor's abdication. Yuan demanded the capital be at Beijing (closer to his power base).

In 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT) under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek again established Nanjing as the capital of the Republic of China, and this became internationally recognized once KMT forces took Beijing in 1928. The following decade is known as the Nanjing decade, as they used the Presidential Palace in Nanjing as their headquarters.

In 1937, Japan started the Second Sino-Japanese War. Their troops occupied Nanjing in December, and carried out the systematic and brutal Nanking massacre (the Rape of Nanking). The total death toll, including those made by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, put the number of dead between 300,000 and 350,000. The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall was built in 1985 to commemorate this event.

A few days before the fall of the city, the National Government of China was relocated to the southwestern city Chungking (now Chongqing) and resumed Chinese resistance. In 1940，a Japanese-collaborationist government known as the "Nanjing Regime" or "Nanjing Nationalist Government" led by Wang Jingwei was established in Nanjing as a rival to Chiang Kai-Shek's government in Chongqing. In 1946, after the Surrender of Japan, the KMT relocated its central government back to Nanjing.

People's Republic

On April 23, 1949, The People's Liberation Army conquered Nanjing. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing was initially a province-level municipality, but very soon became, and today remains, the provincial capital of Jiangsu.

Geography and climate

External links

Nanjing Government website

Nanjing English guide with open directory

NanjingExpat.com: Nanjing's largest English news network with city guide and classifieds

HelloNanjing.net: Nanjing's most active social news and event network

List of Nanjing Government Departments

Jiangsu Official Travel and Tourism Website

Historic US Army map of Nanjing, 1945

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Category:Cities in Jiangsu * Category:Sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China Category:Provincial capitals in China Category:Treaty of Nanking Category:Yangtze River Delta