Sun Yat-sen, Japanese pseudonym Nakayama Sho and popularly referred to as Chong-Shan (the Chinese pronunciation of his Japanese alias), came from a family of farmers, although his father worked for some years as a tailor in Macau. At age six, Sun was taught the Chinese classics at a village school, but in 1879 he was sent to join his brother in Hawaii, where he studied at Iolani College in Honolulu, run by the Church of England. He returned to China after his graduation in 1882 but was expelled from his native village because he broke a finger off one of the village temple idols.
He went to Hong Kong in 1883 and enrolled at the Queen's College in 1884. He was baptized by Charles R. Hager, an American Methodist missionary, and returned to his native village for an arranged marriage to Lu Mu-chen (b. 1867; d. 1952). They had two daughters and a son. He married a second wife, Soong Ching-ling, in Tokyo on 25 Oct 1914, giving rise to controversy and adverse comment, especially among the Christian community.
In 1886 Sun studied at a medical school in Canton that was attached to the Pok Chai Hospital, the oldest Western hospital in China. It was run by John G. Kerr. In 1887 Sun enrolled at the newly established medical school of the Alice Memorial Hospital in Hong Kong, where he was supervised by the dean, James Cantlie. He graduated in 1892 and set up practice in Hong Kong in 1893.
While studying in Canton and Hong Kong, Sun came into contact with young radicals and anti-imperialists. In 1894 Sun presented a proposal for reform to the governor of Hebei, but it was ignored. Disappointed, Sun went to Hawaii and started the Hsing-chung-hui (Revive China Society, RCS). In Jan 1895 he joined forces with the Fu-jen Society in Hong Kong organized by Yang Chu-yun in 1892. Sun then went to Canton to recruit soldiers for a revolt in that city, but the plot was discovered one day before its planned occurrence. Sun escaped, taking refuge in Japan for the next 16 years. In 1896 Sun went to England to visit the retired Dr. Cantlie and was arrested by the Chinese legation at Portland Place on 11 Oct. His release was secured with the help of Cantlie, who prevailed on the British authorities. The incident boosted Sun to international fame. He wrote about this experience in Kidnapped in London (1897).
Sun returned to Japan in 1897 and plotted new revolts against the Manchus. An attempted revolt in Huichow, 150 miles east of Canton, failed for lack of ammunition. Between 1903 and 1905, Sun attempted to increase the membership of the RCS by recruiting in Southeast Asia, England, and Europe. He returned to Tokyo in 1905 and was elected director of Tung-meng-hui, and amalgamation of his RCS and the Hua-hsing-hui, and association of Chinese political refugees and the radical student organizations in Japan. The propaganda organ of the Tung-meng-hui was the Min Pao. After several failed uprisings and the banning of the Min Pao by Japan, Sun decided to go to the United States, where he was able to raise considerable support for the Tung-meng-hui.
While traveling by train in the USA from Denver to Kansas City, Sun read about the revolution in Wuchang, Hubei, on 10 Oct 1911. He returned to China and was elected president of the provisional government of the Republic of China in Nanjing in Dec 1911. In Mar 1912 he relinquished the presidency to Yuan Shih-kai, who in return appointed Sun director of railway development in September. Yuan dismissed him in Jul 1913 when Sun publicly denounced him.
In Aug 1912 Sun was elected director of the Kuomintang, a federation of the Tung-meng-hui and four smaller parties: the United Republican Party, the People's Progressive Party, the Progressive Republican Party, and the People's Public Party. The acrimonious tension between Yuan Shih-kai and the Kuomintang led to the assassination of Sung Chiao-jen, a Kuomintang activist. Sun again sought asylum in Tokyo after a failed attempt to overthrow Yuan. He reorganized the Kuomintang and returned to China in Apr 1916, when Yuan's defeat seemed imminent. After Yuan's death on 16 Jun, Sun spent much time writing and trying to protect the Republican Constitution of 1912. He reorganized the Kuomintang in 1923 with the aim of uniting China under his revolutionary program. Sun's "Three People's Principles" of nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood formed the party manifesto. Disappointed when the Western powers and Japan refused to help, Sun aligned the Kuomintang with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party. In 1923 Sun invited the Comintern to help him reorganize the Kuomintang. After the completion of the reorganization in 1924, the Kuomintang became a more disciplined pyramidal organization with a structure similar to the Russian Communist Party. Opposition to the inclusion of Communists led to friction within the Kuomintang leadership.
Sun died of liver cancer in Beijing while negotiating with leaders of the northern government on 12 Mar 1925. He was given a private Christian funeral service on 19 Mar at the chapel next to the Beijing Union Medical College. He was then given a state funeral, and his body was laid to rest at a temple in the Western Hills. In 1929, Sun's coffin was transferred to a marble mausoleum on Tzu-chin-shan, near the tomb of the first Ming emperor. He was declared the kuo-fu (father of the republic) by the national government on 1 Apr 1940.
Sun received the nickname Sun Ta-pao (Big Gun Sun) because of his exaggerated announcements of military expeditions and the many abortive military attempts. Sun was nevertheless respected as a man of honesty, sincerity, integrity, and selfless devotion to his country.