by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/11/20
Zhongguo Tongmenghui 中國同盟會 中国同盟会
Also known as: Chinese United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, United Allegiance Society
Leader(s): Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren
Foundation: 20 August 1905
Dissolved: 25 August 1912
Merger of: Revive China Society, Guangfuhui
Country: Qing dynasty China
Ideology: Republicanism; Mínshēng; Anti-Qing sentiment
Notable attacks: Xinhai Revolution
Size c. 50,000–100,000
Succeeded by: Kuomintang
Tongmenghui
Sun Yat Sen together with the members of the Singapore Branch of Tongmen Hui
The Tongmenghui (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, 中國同盟會) was a secret society and underground resistance movement founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Japan, on 20 August 1905.[1][2] It was formed from the merger of multiple Chinese revolutionary groups in the late Qing dynasty.
Sun Yat-sen (/ˈsʌn ˌjætˈsɛn/; born Sun Wen; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese philosopher, physician, and politician, who served as the provisional first president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). 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 which Han Chinese regained power after 268 years of living under the Manchu Qing dynasty, 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. He did not live to see his party unify the country under his successor, Chiang Kai-shek in the Northern Expedition. He died in Beijing of gallbladder cancer on 12 March 1925.[4]
Sun's chief legacy is his political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People: Mínzú (民族主義, Mínzú Zhǔyì) or nationalism (independence from foreign imperialist domination), Mínquán (民權主義, Mínquán Zhǔyì) or "rights of the people" (sometimes translated as "democracy"), and Mínshēng (民生主義, Mínshēng Zhǔyì) or people's livelihood (sometimes translated as "socialism" or "welfare"; he explained the difference between his concept and Karl Marx's concept of socialism in his book....
-- Sun Yat-sen, by Wikipedia
History
Revolutionary era
Credential of Tongmenghui.
The Tongmenghui was created through the unification of Sun Yat-sen's Xingzhonghui (Revive China Society),...
The Hsing Chung Hui or Xingzhonghui translated as the Revive China Society (興中會), the Society for Regenerating China, or the Proper China Society was founded by Sun Yat-sen on 24 November 1894 to forward the goal of establishing prosperity for China and as a platform for future revolutionary activities. It was formed during the First Sino-Japanese War, after a string of Chinese military defeats exposed corruption and incompetence within the imperial government of the Qing dynasty. Kuomintang recognize the establishment of Revive China Society as the establishment of the party.
Because Sun was in exile from China at the time, the society was founded in Honolulu, Republic of Hawaii. Those admitted to the society swore the following oath:Expel Tatar barbarians [Manchu People], revive Zhonghua [Nation of Han Chinese People], and establish a unified government.
(驅除韃虜,恢復中華,創立合眾政府。)[2]
When Sun Yat-sen returned to Hong Kong in early 1895, he met up again with Yeung Ku-wan, president of the already existing Furen Literary Society, whom he had first met in 1891.Yeung Ku-wan (19 December 1861 – 11 January 1901)[1] was a Chinese revolutionary of the late Qing dynasty. In 1890, Yeung started the Furen Literary Society (輔仁文社) in British colonial Hong Kong to spread ideas of revolution against the Qing Dynasty and to establish a republic in China.The Furen Literary Society, also known as the Chinese Patriotic Mutual Improvement Association, or the 'Furen Cultural Society Restoration Association (Foo Yan Man Ser Kwong Fook Hui)', was founded in Colonial Hong Kong in 1892 to spread ideas of revolution against the Qing dynasty and establishing a republic in China.
It was founded by Yeung Ku-wan, together with Tse Tsan-tai and others, with Yeung as their leader. The guiding principles of the society were: "Open up the people's minds" (開通民智) and "Ducit Amor Patriae" (盡心愛國, "Love your country with all your heart"). Other tenets were:
• To purify the character in the highest possible degree
• To prohibit indulgences in the vices of the world
• To set an example for future young Chinese
• To improve in all possible ways Chinese and foreign knowledge both in a civil and a military point of view
• To obtain a good knowledge of western science and learning: and
• To learn how to be and act as a patriot and how to wipe out the unjust wrong our country has suffered.
The society met in Pak Tsz Lane, Central, Hong Kong, and released books and papers discussing the future of China and advocating the overthrow of the Qing dynasty government and establishment of a republic in China.[/b]
In November 1894, Sun Yat-sen founded the Revive China Society in Honolulu, Hawaii, and, in 1895, the Furen Literary Society was merged into the Hong Kong chapter of the Revive China Society, with help from Yau Lit. Yeung Kui-wan and Sun became respectively President and Secretary of the Revive China Society.
-- Furen Literary Society, by Wikipedia
He became the first President of the Hong Kong Chapter of the Revive China Society in 1894 and was, with Sun Yat-sen, in charge of planning an uprising in Canton (now Guangzhou) in 1895 and in Huizhou in 1900.[/b] Yeung was assassinated in 1901 in Hong Kong by an agent sent by the Qing government.
-- Yeung Ku-wan, by Wikipedia
As they both wanted to take advantage of the uneasy political situation due to the First Sino-Japanese War, on 18 February 1895, the Furen Literary Society was merged into the Revive China Society, with help from Yau Lit, a close friend of Sun and member of Furen. Yeung and Sun became the President and Secretary of the Society respectively. They disguised their activities in Hong Kong under the guise of running a business called "Kuen Hang Club" (乾亨行).
In October 1895, the Revive China Society planned to launch an uprising in Guangzhou, with Yeung directing the uprising in Hong Kong where funds and training location were provided by Li Ki-tong.Li Ki-tong (1873-6 October 1943) (Chinese: 李紀堂; Sidney Lau: Lei5 Gei2 Tong4) (formerly Li Po-lun) was a Hong Kong publisher and key financial backer of the revolutionary movement leading to the 1911 Revolution which overthrew the Qing dynasty in China...
Li's father was considered among Hong Kong's wealthiest Chinese, with vast landholdings. Consequently, Li became a substantial landholder, particularly in the New Territories, holding hundreds of acres in Castle Peak, Ha Pak Nai and Long Valley.
Li was the primary financier for the China Daily, founded to promote the revolution, published in Hong Kong from 1900 to 1911.
He spent his entire fortune in support of the revolution and ultimately spent time in debtors' prison and was bankrupted.
-- Li Ki-tong, by Wikipedia
However, plans were leaked out and more than 70 members, including Lu Haodong, a schoolboy friend of Sun Yat-sen, were captured by the Qing government.
Under pressure from the Qing government in mainland China, the British colonial authorities in Hong Kong forced Yeung and Sun Yat-sen to leave, barring them from entering Hong Kong over the next five years. Yeung travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa, via Singapore and later to Japan, where he stayed from 1896–1899, to expand the Revive China Society and spread its ideas.
The group lost its vigour after the failed uprisings in 1895 and 1900, according to the Concise History of Hong Kong.
It was later merged into the Tongmenghui, which in turn became the Kuomintang.
-- Revive China Society, by Wikipedia
the Guangfuhui (Restoration Society) ...
Guāngfùhuì (光復會 "Revive the Light Society"), or the Restoration Society, was an anti-Qing organization established by Cai Yuanpei in 1904. Many members were from Zhejiang.
Members included:
• Qiu Jin
Qiu Jin (Chinese: 秋瑾; pinyin: Qiū Jǐn; Wade–Giles: Ch'iu Chin; November 8, 1875 – July 15, 1907) was a Chinese revolutionary, feminist, and writer. Her courtesy names are Xuanqing (Chinese: 璿卿; pinyin: Xuánqīng) and Jingxiong (simplified Chinese: 竞雄; traditional Chinese: 競雄; pinyin: Jìngxióng). Her sobriquet name is Jianhu Nüxia (simplified Chinese: 鉴湖女侠; traditional Chinese: 鑑湖女俠; pinyin: Jiànhú Nǚxiá) which, when translated literally into English, means "Woman Knight of Mirror Lake". Qiu was executed after a failed uprising against the Qing dynasty, and she is considered a national heroine in China; a martyr of republicanism and feminism.
Born in Xiamen, Fujian, China, Qiu spent her childhood in her ancestral home, Shaoxing, Zhejiang. While in an unhappy marriage, Qiu came into contact with new ideas. She became a member of the Tongmenghui secret society who at the time advocated the overthrow of the Qing and restoration of Han Chinese governance.
In 1903, she decided to travel overseas and study in Japan, leaving her two children behind. She initially entered a Japanese language school in Surugadai, but later transferred to the Girls' Practical School in Kōjimachi, run by Shimoda Utako. Qiu was fond of martial arts, and she was known by her acquaintances for wearing Western male dress and for her nationalist, anti-Manchu ideology. She joined the anti-Qing society Guangfuhui, led by Cai Yuanpei, which in 1905 joined together with a variety of overseas Chinese revolutionary groups to form the Tongmenghui, led by Sun Yat-sen.
Within this Revolutionary Alliance, Qiu was responsible for the Zhejiang Province. Because the Chinese overseas students were divided between those who wanted an immediate return to China to join the ongoing revolution and those who wanted to stay in Japan to prepare for the future, a meeting of Zhejiang students was held to debate the issue. At the meeting, Qiu allied unquestioningly with the former group and thrust a dagger into the podium, declaring, "If I return to the motherland, surrender to the Manchu barbarians, and deceive the Han people, stab me with this dagger!" She subsequently returned to China in 1906 along with about 2,000 students.
Whilst still based in Tokyo, Qiu single-handedly edited a journal, Vernacular Journal (Baihua Bao). A number of issues were published using vernacular Chinese as a medium of revolutionary propaganda. In one issue, Qiu wrote A Respectful Proclamation to China's 200 Million Women Comrades, a manifesto within which she lamented the problems caused by bound feet and oppressive marriages. Having suffered from both ordeals herself, Qiu explained her experience in the manifesto and received an overwhelmingly sympathetic response from her readers. Also outlined in the manifesto was Qiu's belief that a better future for women lay under a Western-type government instead of the Qing government that was in power at the time. She joined forces with her cousin Xu Xilin and together they worked to unite many secret revolutionary societies to work together for the overthrow of the Qing dynasty.
She was known as an eloquent orator who spoke out for women's rights, such as the freedom to marry, freedom of education, and abolishment of the practice of foot binding. In 1906 she founded China Women's News (Zhongguo nü bao), a radical women's journal with another female poet, Xu Zihua. They published only two issues before it was closed by the authorities. In 1907 she became head of the Datong school in Shaoxing, ostensibly a school for sport teachers, but really intended for the military training of revolutionaries.
On July 6, 1907 Xu Xilin was caught by the authorities before a scheduled uprising in Anqing. He confessed his involvement under torture and was executed. On July 12, the authorities arrested Qiu at the school for girls where she was the principal. She was tortured as well but refused to admit her involvement in the plot. Instead the authorities used her own writings as incrimination against her and, a few days later, she was publicly beheaded in her home village, Shanyin, at the age of 31. Her last written words, her death poem, uses the literal meaning of her name, Autumn Gem, to lament of the failed revolution that she would never see take place:
"秋風秋雨愁煞人" ("Autumn wind, autumn rain — they make one die of sorrow")
-- Qiu Jin, by Wikipedia
• Tao Chengzhang
Tao Chengzhang (January 24, 1878 – January 14, 1912) was a Chinese political leader during the Xinhai Revolution period. He was one of the founders of the Restoration Society, along with Cai Yuanpei and others. In 1905 he founded the Datong Normal School to educate the revolutionaries. In 1908, he founded the Revolutionary Association, willing to build a society without classes. Tao was a long time opposer of Sun Yat-sen, finally he was assassinated by Chiang Kai-shek under the order of Chen Qimei.
-- Tao Chengzhang, by Wikipedia
• Woo Tsin-hang
Wu Zhihui (Woo Chih-hui, Chinese: 吳稚暉; 25 March 1865 – 30 October 1953), also known as Woo Tsin-hang or Wu Shi-Fee, was a Chinese linguist and philosopher who was the chairman of the 1912–13 Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation that created Zhuyin (based on Zhang Binglin's work) and standardized Guoyu pronunciation.
Wu became an Anarchist during his stay in France in the first decade of the 20th century, along with Li Shizeng, Zhang Renjie, and Cai Yuanpei. With them, he was known as one of the strongly anti-communist "Four Elders" of the Nationalist Party in the 1920s.
He served at the Nanyang College Preparatory School Hall (now the Shanghai Nanyang Model High School). In 1903 in the Subao newspaper, Wu criticized the Qing government and derided then ruling Empress Dowager Cixi as a "withered old hag" and a "whore."
After this incident, Wu fled by way of Hong Kong to London. His official status enabled him to travel and live in Scotland and France. He attended university lectures in Edinburgh. In 1903, he went to Paris, where he renewed his friendship with Li Shizeng, the son of a high official he had met in Beijing, and with Zhang Renjie, well-connected son of a prosperous merchant. Although Wu was their elder by more than a decade, the three young scholars, although well-versed in the Confucian philosophy which dominated Chinese thought, were impressed by the doctrines of anarchism which flourished in France. Together with Li and Zhang, he formed the Shijie She (World Society), which became a center of anarchist thought and recruitment for several decades.
Together they joined the Tongmenghui, the precursor to the Chinese Nationalist Party (GMD), in 1905. Wu declared himself an anarchist the next year. He later founded influential revolutionary organizations like the Society to Advance Morality and supervised radical journals like New Era and Labor, China's first syndicalist magazine. He promoted science, rationalism, language reform, and the abolition of marriage. His ideas were revolutionary, but he estimated that it would take 3,000 years to achieve his vision of a utopian society. Wu was instrumental in the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement in France. Among his students were a large group of anarchists – and future communists...
In the 1920s, along with Li Shizeng, Zhan Renjie, and Cai Yuanpei, was one of the so-called "Four Elders" of the GMD and led the anti-communist campaign which drove leftists and communists from the party and supported Chiang Kai-shek. In accordance with his anarchist principles, Wu Zhihui declined any government office.[9]
In 1943, National Government Chairman Lin Sen died in provisional wartime capital of Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek inviting Wu to be the new President, but Wu declined, citing "three no's":
• I usually wear very casual clothes, but the heads of state wear tuxedos. I would feel uncomfortable.
• My ugly face, like a big shock.
• My people love to laugh. To see something funny makes me laugh, When foreign diplomats deliver credentials, I could not help but laugh. This would not be decent.
In 1946, Wu was elected to the National Assembly, which drew up a new constitution. He administered the oath of office to Chiang Kai-shek in May 1948, shortly before the government left the mainland for Taiwan.
He moved to Taiwan and was the teacher of Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo. He died in Taipei at the age of 88. Chiang Ching-kuo carried out Wu's directive that his ashes be lowered into the sea off the island of Quemoy.
-- Wu Zhihui, by Wikipedia
• Xu Xilin
• Zhang Binglin
• Liu Shipei
The organization was merged into Tongmenghui one year later.
-- Guangfuhui, by Wikipedia
and many other Chinese revolutionary groups. Among the Tongmenghui's members were Huang Xing, Li Zongren, Zhang Binglin, Chen Tianhua, Wang Jingwei, Hu Hanmin, Tao Chengzhang, Cai Yuanpei, Li Shizeng, Zhang Renjie, and Qiu Jin.
In 1906, a branch of the Tongmenghui was formed in Singapore, following Sun's visit there; this was called the Nanyang branch and served as headquarters of the organization for Southeast Asia. The members of the branch included Wong Hong-kui (黃康衢; Huang Kangqu),[3][4][5] Tan Chor Lam (陳楚楠; Chen Chu'nan; 1884-1971)[6] and Teo Eng Hock (張永福; Zhang Yongfu; originally a rubber shoe manufacturer).[7] Tan Chor Lam, Teo Eng Hock and Chan Po-yin (陳步賢; Chen Buxian; 1883-1965) started the revolution-related Chong Shing Chinese Daily Newspaper (中興日報, 中興 meaning China revival),[8] with the inaugural issue on 20 August 1907 and a daily distribution of 1,000 copies. The newspaper ended in 1910, presumably due to the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. Working with other Cantonese people, Tan, Teo and Chan opened the revolution-related Kai Ming Bookstore (開明書報社, 開明 meaning open wisdom)[9] in Singapore. For the revolution, Chan Po-yin raised over 30,000 yuan for the purchase and shipment (from Singapore to China) of military equipment and for the support of the expenses of people travelling from Singapore to China for revolutionary work.[10][11]
In 1909, the headquarters of the Nanyang Tongmenghui was transferred to Penang. Sun Yat-Sen himself was based in Penang from July to December 1910. During this time, the 1910 Penang Conference was held to plan the Second Guangzhou Uprising. The Tongmenghui also started a newspaper, the Kwong Wah Jit Poh, with the first issue published in December 1910 from 120 Armenian Street, Penang.
In Henan, some Chinese Muslims were members of the Tongmenghui.[12]
Republican era
After Shanghai was occupied by the revolutionaries in November 1911, the Tongmenghui moved its headquarters to Shanghai. After the Nanjing Provisional Government was established, the headquarters was moved to Nanjing. A general meeting was held in Nanking on 20 January 1912, with thousands of members attending. Hu Hanmin, who represented the Provisional President Sun Yat-sen, moved that the Tongmenghui oath be changed to "overthrow the Manchu government, consolidate the Republic of China, and implement the Min Sheng Chu I". Wang Jingwei was elected as Chairman, succeeding Sun. Wang resigned the following month, and Sun resumed the chairmanship.[13]
After the establishment of the Republic of China, the Tongmenghui transformed itself into a political party on 3 March 1912, in preparation for participation in constitutional and parliamentary activities. It issued a Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, which consisted of 34 articles, meaning it had 10 more than the constitutional proposal made when the Tongmenghui was a secret society. The leadership election was held on the same day, with Sun Yat-sen elected as Chairman, Huang Xing and Li Yuanhung as Vice-Chairmen. In May 1912, the Tongmenghui moved its headquarters to Beijing. At that time, the Tongmenghui was the largest party in China, with branches in Guangdong, Szechuan, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Anqing, Fuzhou and Tianjin. It had a membership of about 550,000.[13] In August 1912, the Tongmenghui formed the nucleus of the Kuomintang, the governing political party of the republic.
Slogan and motto
In 1904, by combining republican, nationalist, and socialist objectives, the Tongmenghui came up with their political goal: to expel the Manchu people, to revive Zhonghua, to establish a Republic, and to distribute land equally among the people. (驅除韃虜, 恢復中華, 創立民國, 平均地權 Qūchú dálǔ, huīfù Zhōnghuá, chuànglì mínguó, píngjūn dì quán).[2] The Three Principles of the People were created around the time of the merging of Revive China Society and the Tongmenghui.[14][15]
See also
• China portal
• Revive China Society
• Gelaohui
• Kuomintang
• History of the Republic of China
• Huaxinghui
References
1. "The Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), Internal Threats". Countries Quest. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
2. 計秋楓; 朱慶葆 (2001). 中國近代史. 1. Chinese University Press. p. 468. ISBN 9789622019874.
3. http://www.cnac.org/rebeccachan_piloted_to_serve_01.pdf
4. http://davidtkwong.net
5. 尤列事略补述一. ifeng.com (in Chinese). Phoenix New Media.
6. 陈楚楠 [Chen Chu'nan]. Baidu Baike (in Chinese). 3 December 2011.
7. 张永福 [Zhang Yongfu]. Baidu Baike (in Chinese). Baidu. 6 May 2012.
8. 中兴日报 [ZTE Daily]. Baidu Baike (in Chinese). Baidu. 8 December 2011.
9. 张冬冬 (21 October 2011). (辛亥百年)探寻同德书报社百年坚守的"秘诀" [Xinhai Century: exploring the Tongmenhui publisher's hundred-year secret]. China News (in Chinese). Singapore. China News Service.
10. Chan Chung, Rebecca; Chung, Deborah; Ng Wong, Cecilia (2012). Piloted to Serve.
11. "Piloted to Serve". Facebook.
12. Allès, Elisabeth (September–October 2003). "Notes on some joking relationships between Hui and Han villages in Henan". China Perspectives. 2003 (49).
13. Zhang, Yufa (1985). Minguo chu nian de zheng dang 民國初年的政黨. Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica.
14. Sharman, Lyon (1968). Sun Yat-sen: His life and its meaning, a critical biography. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 94, 271.
15. Li Chien-Nung; Li Jiannong; Teng, Ssu-yu; Ingalls, Jeremy (1956). The political history of China, 1840-1928. Stanford University Press. pp. 203–206. ISBN 9780804706025.
External links
• Tongmenhui activities in the US