Portal:China/Selected article/2006/August

Sun Yat-sen (Chinese: 孫逸仙) (November 12, 1866 – March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader who is often referred to as the "father of modern China". Sun played an instrumental and leadership role in the eventual overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. He was the first provisional president when the Republic of China was founded in 1912. He later co-founded the 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 in both mainland China and Taiwan. On both sides of the Straits he is frequently seen as the father to republican China. In Taiwan, he is known by the title officially given to him in the Republic of China, Father of the Nation (國父), as in his posthumous name Father of the Nation, Mr Sun Yat-sen (國父, 孫中山先生). On the mainland, Sun is also seen as a Chinese nationalist, the "Forerunner of the Revolution" (革命先行者) and "the Father of Modern China". (Read more...)