Sun Yat-sen
Chinese politician, physician, and revolutionary (1866–1925)

Sun Yat-sen (; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary and political philosopher who founded the Republic of China (ROC) and the Kuomintang (KMT). Sun is credited with leading the 1911 Revolution and overthrowing the Qing dynasty. He served as the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912) and as the inaugural premier of the Kuomintang.
Born to a poor peasant family in Guangdong, Sun was educated in Hawaii before graduating from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1892. In 1894 he submitted a petition to reform the Qing government to Li Hongzhang, which was rejected. Sun subsequently went into exile and led anti-Qing movements overseas, founding the Revive China Society, the Tongmenghui, and the People's News.
Following the 1911 Revolution, Sun proclaimed the establishment of the Republic of China but relinquished the presidency to Beiyang Army leader Yuan Shikai in exchange for securing the Qing court's abdication. After the assassination of Song Jiaoren in 1913, widely attributed to Yuan, Sun led a failed Second Revolution against him, after which Sun fled to Japan. In 1917, Sun established a Constitutional Protection junta in Guangzhou, but before his planned Northern Expedition against the warlords, he was forced to resign due to infighting. Sun assumed the junta leadership in 1921, survived Chen Jiongming's revolt, and collaborated with Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party to form the First United Front.
“Sun Yat-sen” enters the record as chinese politician, physician, and revolutionary (1866–1925). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yat-sen, Chinese and politician can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sun Yat-sen” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yat-sen, Chinese and politician provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8573. VIAF identifies the subject as 39388447. The Library of Congress control number is n79148295. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1866, 1925, 1911 and 1912.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sun Yat-sen”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sun Yat-sen primary sources, Sun Yat-sen archive and Yat-sen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sun Yat-sen”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sun Yat-sen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.