Dr.  Sun Yatsen elected first Chinese President
Channel: The Chinese Revolution
Date: 2024-04-08

This is the third part of a look at Dr. Sun Yatsen's rise from Revolutionary to China's first President.  Sun Yat-sen's comeback from failed revolutionary is examined.  

He goes on the offensive against the reformers in Hawaii and in the world's Chinatowns.  He builds on contacts with the French to gain weapons and workers for uprisings near the French Indochina border.  He helps found the Revolutionary Alliance and becomes its President.  

More and more revolts are planned and the Wuchang Uprising finally succeeds.  A garrison takes control.  Organizers from the Revolutionary Alliance then take the revolution to Shanghai.  Provinces there secede from the Qing and 14 provinces are soon outside of the Qing Empire.  

Sun Yat-sen argues with foreign bankers to cut off the Qing and receives permission to return through British ports.  He returns to China to a warm welcome.  He refuses to head a separatist government in Guangdong and travels to Shanghai and Nanjing, where he is elected as the first President of the Republic of China.  Tensions and internal struggles are immediate.  The baby emperor abdicates.  Sun decides for the greater good, to step down as President and to hand it over to General Yuan Shikai, He wants a united China and hopes for the best. 

This is the biography of Sun Yat Sen, also known as Sun Wen.  This is episode 28 of the Chinese Revolution series.