In his early years of adulthood, Dr. Sun practiced medicine. He is the first one and the ONLY one who got "A" grade in ALL subjects at Hong Kong Medical College (now become University of Hong Kong). Later on, indignant at the weakness and corruption of the Imperial Manchu government and at foreign encroachment, which had put China in grave danger, Dr. Sun gave up his medical career and devoted himself to the cause of overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and establishing a republic by starting a revolutionary crusade. In October 1894, together with a group of overseas Chinese youths, Dr. Sun set up his first revolutionary organization, the Hsing-chung Hui (Society for Regenerating China), in Honolulu, Hawaii, to embark on his revolutionary career. In August 1905, he formulated the Three Principles of the People -- nationalism, democracy, and social well-being -- which, he believed, were the guidelines for building a modern China. Over the next 16 years, Dr. Sun and his followers launched ten armed attempts to topple the corrupted Manchu government. The last stroke came on 10 October, 1911, when Dr. Sun's supporters took over Wuchang, the capital of Hupei Province, and accordingly encouraged people all over the country to rise against the imperial government, thus putting an end to the Chinese monarchy which had lasted for about five millennia.
On 25 December, 1911, Dr. Sun was elected provisional president of the new republic in Nanking by a revolutionary alliance, which controlled 16 of the country's 22 provinces. He was inaugurated on 1st January, 1912. In 1919 Dr. Sun completed his able work titled Plans for National Reconstruction which was designed to build a peaceful, free and prosperous China in accordance with the Three Principles of the People. In 1921 Dr. Sun was elected president of the Republic of China. In 1923 he declared that the Three Principles of the People was the foundation of the nation and the Five-Power Constitution was the basis of the governmental system.
During the first two decades of the republic, China had been fractured
by rival warlords to the extent that no one authority was able to
subordinate all warlords and create a unified and centralized political
structure. Having witnessed the collapse of the fledging central government
he had worked so hard to create, Dr. Sun went south to his home province of
Kwangtung where he established a military government in 1917. On 20 November,
1924, he issued a manifesto calling for the convocation of a National
Convention and the abolition of unequal treaties. Although he was ill at that
time, two days later Dr. Sun, as head of the southern government, left Canton
for Peking to hold talks with the northern regional leaders on the unification
of China by peaceful means. Unfortunately, Dr. Sun died of liver cancer on
12 March, 1925, at the age of 60 in Peking.
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Last modified date : 11 Feb, 97.