page_title: List of national founders
section_title: China
hierarchical_section_title: List of national founders / Asia / China
context_page_description: The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing their nation. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, of the country. They can also be military leaders of a war of independence that led to the existence of the country.
context_section_description: Huangdi is revered as the legendary founder and initiator of Chinese civilization. Yu the Great was a legendary ruler in ancient China famed for inaugurating dynastic rule in China by establishing the legendary Xia Dynasty. In 221 BC, after the then-king of Qin completed the conquest of the various Chinese kingdoms of the Warring States period, he adopted a new title to reflect his prestige as a ruler greater than the rulers before him. He called himself Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China.
  Sun Yat-sen is revered as the founding father ("Father of the Nation"–國父) of the Republic of China and is highly regarded as the "Forerunner of the Democratic Revolution" (革命先行者) in the People's Republic of China. Mao Zedong is reverred as the founder of the people's republic in 1949.
caption: Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China.
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