Chen Jiongming Chen Jiongming ( , HKGCR : Chan Kwing Ming , Postal : Chen Kiung - Ming , Wade – Giles : Chen Chiung - Ming ) was a revolutionary figure in the early periods of the Republic of China . Chen Jiongming was born in 1878 at Haifeng , Guangdong , China . He was by training a lawyer and became a Qing legislator , a republican revolutionary , a military leader , a civil administrator and a federalist who sought to reconstruct China as a democratic republic . He joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in 1909 and obtained the post of commander - in - chief of the Guangdong Army . He became the Military governor of Guangdong three times ( 1911 – 12 , 1913 , 1920 – 23 ) and civil governor of Guangdong from 1920 to 1922 and military governor of Guangxi from 1921 to 1922 . Chen was instrumental in backing Sun Yat - sen ' s Constitutional Protection Movement . He also restored Sun to power after the Guangdong - Guangxi War . Chen disagreed with Sun about the direction that reform should take . Sun wanted to unite the country by force and institute change through a centralized government based on a one - party system . Chen advocated a multiparty federalism with Guangdong becoming the model province and the peaceful unification of China . Sun became suspicious that the federalist movement was being exploited by the warlord s to justify their military fiefdoms . Relations deteriorated further when Sun became " extraordinary president " , a move not condoned by the Provisional Constitution . It was Chen who first invited the Chinese Communist Party to Guangdong against Sun ' s objection that the Communists might dilute the movement . After the First Zhili - Fengtian War in 1922 , there was a strong movement to reunite the northern and southern governments by having both Sun and Xu Shichang resign their rival presidencies in favor of restoring Li Yuanhong as president of a united republic . Chen was enthusiastic but Sun felt the new government would be a powerless puppet of the Zhili clique . Sun Yat - sen and Chen Jiongming soon split over the continuation of the Northern Expedition . Sun conceived it to have begun with the occupation of Guangxi . From there he wished Chen to push into Hunan . After Wu Peifu of the Zhili clique in Beijing recognized his power in the south , Chen abandoned Sun . Unexpectedly revolting against the Kuomintang militarily in 1922 , Chen led his forces to attack Sun ' s residence as well as office . Chen forced Sun to escape on a ship and delay his Northern Expedition . With the help of Tang Jiyao , the KMT retook Guangzhou in 1923 . Chen fled to Huizhou in eastern Guangdong after Sun ' s army defeated him . From 1923 to 1925 , the Guangdong government organized two eastern campaigns against him and he fled to Hong Kong as his remaining forces were completely wiped out in 1925 . He became an ally of Tang Jiyao , after Tang was expelled from the KMT following the Yunnan - Guangxi War . He was elected premier of the China Public Interest Party with Tang as his deputy . From Hong Kong , he criticized the Nationalists ' single - party system and continued to advocate multiparty federalism . After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria , he attacked Chiang Kai - shek ' s regime for its refusal to confront Japan and he organized boycotts of Japanese products . He died of typhus on September 22 , 1933 . Legacy . Chen is considered a traitor and reactionary warlord by both the Kuomintang and the CCP for his rebellion against Sun in 1922 . Sun ' s party quickly began to publish literature about Chen to discredit him . The Communists , who had entered into an alliance with Sun and who still regard him as the founding hero of the Chinese Revolution have continued to characterize Chen as a counter - revolutionary . His party defended him as a true revolutionary and democrat by pointing out the tragedies , misgovernance , and corruption caused by centralized , one party dictatorship . After the China Public Interest Party formed a united front with the Communists in 1947 , Chen ' s role has been obscured to the point of invisibility in the party ' s official history . Other than his family , his most vocal apologist is Chinese writer Li Ao .