page_title: Sun Yat-sen
section_title: Power struggle
hierarchical_section_title: Sun Yat-sen / Legacy / Power struggle
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 1928年7月6日，国民党领袖在北京西山碧云寺孙中山陵寝安置处举行孙中山的祭祀典礼，以北伐完成告中山先生在天之灵。前排右至左为何成浚、张作宝、陈调元、蒋介石、吴稚晖、阎锡山、马福祥、马四达、白崇禧。 English: July 6, 1928, the Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Beijing Xishan Temple of Azure Clouds placed at the sacrificial ceremony held to Sun Yat-sen, to report completion of the Northern Expedition to Dr. Sun's soul. From right to left is Cheng Jun, Zhang Zuobao, Chen Diaoyuan, w:Chiang Kaishek, Wu Chih-hui, w:Yen Hsi-shan, w:Ma Fuxiang, Ma Sida, w:Bai Chongxi.
context_page_description: Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese politician, physician, and political philosopher, who served as the provisional first president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang. He is referred as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China for his instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution. Sun is unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan.
  Sun is considered to be one of the greatest leaders of modern China, but his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile. After the success of the revolution in 1911, he quickly resigned as President of the newly founded Republic of China and relinquished it to Yuan Shikai. He soon went to exile in Japan for safety but returned to found a revolutionary government in the South as a challenge to the warlords who controlled much of the nation. In 1923, he invited representatives of the Communist International to Canton to re-organize his party and formed a brittle alliance with the Chinese Communist Party.
context_section_description: After Sun's death, a power struggle between his young protégé Chiang Kai-shek and his old revolutionary comrade Wang Jingwei split the KMT. At stake in this struggle was the right to lay claim to Sun's ambiguous legacy. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek married Soong Mei-ling, a sister of Sun's widow Soong Ching-ling, and subsequently he could claim to be a brother-in-law of Sun. When the Communists and the Kuomintang split in 1927, marking the start of the Chinese Civil War, each group claimed to be his true heirs, a conflict that continued through World War II.  Sun's widow, Soong Ching-ling, sided with the Communists during the Chinese Civil War and served from 1949 to 1981 as Vice-President (or Vice-Chairwoman) of the People's Republic of China and as Honorary President shortly before her death in 1981.
caption: Chinese generals at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in 1928 after the Northern Expedition. From right: Cheng Jin (何成浚), Zhang Zuobao (張作寶), Chen Diaoyuan (陳調元), Chiang Kai-shek, Woo Tsin-hang, Yan Xishan, Ma Fuxiang, Ma Sida (馬四達), and Bai Chongxi.
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