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1866        One year old

November 12: Sun is born in Tsuiheng Village, Hsiang-shan County, Guangdong.




1872        Seven years old

Sun enters a traditional elementary school.




1879        14 years old

June: Sun visits Honolulu.

Autumn: Sun registers into lolani School in Honolulu, where English is the language of instruction.




1882        17 years old

July: Sun graduates from lolani School.




1883        18 years old

Spring: Sun transfers to Oahu College in Honolulu.

Summer: Sun is sent back home by his brother, Sun Teh-chang.

Autumn: Sun leaves for Hong Kong and enters the Diocesan Home to continue his education.




1884        19 years old

Spring: Sun switches to the Central School in Hong Kong.

May: Sun is called back home to marry Lu Mu-cheng who is selected in the traditional fashion.




1885        20 years old

Sino-French War erupts. The Ching court, suffering serious defeats, signs the humiliating Tianjin Treaty with France and cedes Vietnam. Sun, realizing the dynasty’s weakness and impotence, makes a revolutionary decision.

Summer: Sun graduates from the Central School.




1886        21 years old

Sun decides to study medicine and registers in the Canton Hospital Medical College, where he meets Chen Shih-liang and where both exchange views on revolution.




1887        22 years old

January: Sun transfers to the College of Medicine for Chinese in Hong Kong.




1888        23 years old

March: Sun’s father, Sun Dah-cheng, dies at 76.




1890        25 years old

Sun develops close comradeship with classmates Yang He-liang, Chen Shao-pai, Wong Lieh, and the four are nicknamed the “Four Desperados.”




1891        26 years old

October: Sun Yat-sen’s wife delivers a son, Sun Fo.(Sun Ke)




1892        27 years old

July: Sun graduates from the College of Medicine for Chinese in Hong Kong with the most outstanding achievements.

December: Sun opens the West-Orient Pharmacy in Macao.




1893        28 years old

Spring: Sun moves his drug store back to Guangzhou as a camouflage for his revolutionary campaign.




1894        29 years old

June: Sun joins his village friend, Lu Hao-tung to travel north, and sends a proposal to Li Hung-chang, calling for reforms. He later travels to Beijing, Wuhan, and other ports along the Yangtze River to understand the Ching court’s military strength.

October: Sun visits Honolulu again.

November 24: Sun and some 20 other revolutionaries establish the Hsing Chung Hui in Honolulu.




1895        30 years old

January: Sun Yat-sen and comrade Deng Yin-nan return to Hong Kong to plot their first military coup.

February 21: The Hsing Chung Hui in Hong Kong is established in a business shop using the camouflage name -- The Tsien.

March 16: Hsing Chung Hui members decide to stage a revolt in Guangzhou and adopt the flag designed by Lu Hao-tung.

October 26: The well-prepared coup is exposed and aborted.

November 7: Lu Hao-tung is executed.

November: Sun Yat-sen joins Chen Shao-pai to leave for Japan and establishes a Hsing Chung Hui branch in Yokohama.




1896        31 years old

January: Sun Yat-sen departs for Honolulu again.

June: Sun Yat-sen journeys to the American continent.

September: Sun Yat-sen visits London.

October 11: Sun Yat-sen is kidnapped by Chinese legation officials in London, but is released on October 23 through the assistance of his teacher James Cantlie and friends. This episode is called Kidnapped in London.




1897 32 years old

Sun Yat-sen spends a lot of time in the British Museum's library, studying European political development and philosophies, developing the framework for his Three Principles of the People.

July: Sun Yat-sen returns to Yokohama via Canada and establishes a military school there.

December: Sun Yat-sen asks Chen Shao-pai to establish a Hsing Chung Hui branch in Taipei.

 

1899 34 years old

December: Sun Yat-sen instructs Chen Shao-pai to establish a newspaper -- the China Daily -- in Hong Kong.

Winter: The Ke Lao Hui (Brotherhood Society), San Ho Hui (Trinity Society), underworld Chinese triads, plan to cooperate with the Hsing Chung Hui in Hong Kong and establish a Hsing Han Hui, with Sun Yat-sen serving the president.




1900        35 years old

Spring: The Boxer Rebellion erupts in some northern provinces in China, resulting in international forces invading China.

June: Sun Yat-sen attempts to join Miyazaki Toten to visit Hong Kong, but is rejected entry.

July: Sun Yat-sen visits Hong Kong again and comrades on a ship. Sun and others decide to stage a second revolt -- the Huizhou Uprising.

October 8: Cheng Shin-liang stages a coup in Shan-Shih-tien, Huizhou.

October 22: Without promised supplies and ammunition from the Japanese government, Cheng Chih-liang, commander of the Huizhou Uprising, is forced to retreat and disband the revolutionary forces, resulting in the second failed coup under Sun’s leadership.

October 28: Shih Chieh-ju plots an unsuccessful explosion to kill Tieh Shao, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and is subsequently arrested and executed.




1901        36 years old

January 10: Yang Chu-yun, co-founder of the Hsing Chung Hui in Hong Kong, is murdered.

August 27: Valiant revolutionary Cheng shih-liang, a close friend of Sun’s since school days, dies of an ailment.




1902        37 years old

December: Sun Yat-sen visits Vietnam to see an exhibition and establishes a Hsing Chung Hui branch in Hanoi.




1903        38 years old

January 28: Hung Fu-chung stages an aborted coup in Guangzhou.

July: Sun Yat-sen departs from Hanoi for Yokohama.

August: Sun Yat-sen sets up a military academy near Tokyo.

September: Sun Yat-sen leaves for Honolulu.




1904        39 years old

January: Sun Yat-sen joins the Hung Men society.

Spring: Sun Yat-sen visits Honolulu, reorganizes Hung Meng society, published the Ta Tung Daily, and launches serious debates and a struggle with Pao Huang Tang (Protect the Emperor Society) to break its control of the Hsing Chung Hui.

Autumn: Sun Yat-sen publishes an article in New York, the True Solution of the Chinese Question.

Winter: Sun Yat-sen departs for Britain from the United States.

 

1905        40 years old

Spring: Sun Yat-sen visits Brussels after departing London, wooing students to join the revolutionary camp.

Summer: Sun Yat-sen tours to Paris and Berlin to attract more overseas Chinese students to join under his flag.

June: Sun Yat-sen stops over in Singapore on the way from France to Japan. He returns to Yokohama in July.

August 20: Merging the Hua Hsin Hui [Chinese Restoration Society] and the Kwang Fu Hui [Recovery Society], the Tung Meng Hui [Federal Association of China] is established by Sun Yat-sen . Sun is elected the president.

September 24: Wu Yueh tries to assassinate five high-ranking Ching officials by setting off an explosion in the Beijing railway station, killed on the spot.

November 26: The Tung Meng Hui’s partisan newspaper -- Min Pao [People’s Journal] -- is published in Tokyo. Sun Yat-sen writes an editorial in the first issue of the newspaper, clearly announcing the Three Principles of the People -- Nationalism, People’s rights, and the Livelihood of People.

December 8: Overseas Chinese student Chen Tien-hua commits a suicide by drowning himself at sea in protest against the Tokyo government’s action to crack down on anti-Ching activities under the Chinese government’s pressure.

 

1906        41 years old

April 6: Sun Yat-sen visits Singapore from Europe to establish a branch.

July: Sun Yat-sen visits Kuala Lumpur and Penang to set up branches.

December: Tung Meng Hui members stages a coup in Jiangxi province, and the revolt spreads to Hunan province before being smashed.

Winter: Sun Yat-sen drafts the Strategy and Scheme of Revolution for the Tung Meng Hui.

 

1907        42 years old

March 4: Sun Yat-sen and Hu Han-min departs from Japan for Hanoi via Singapore to establish a revolutionary headquarters there.

May 22: Sun Yat-sen instructs Yu Chou to stage a revolt in Huangkang, Guangdong, which is defeated in six days, in what is the third revolt orchestrated by Sun.

June 2: Sun Yat-sen instructs Teng Tze-yu to stage a revolt in Seven Lady Lake in Huizhou, which fails in 10 days in what is described as the fourth revolt Sun plotted.

July 6: Hsu Hsi-lin, leader of the Kwang Fu Hui (Recovery Society), carries out an aborted assassination and dies in this action in Anching, capital of Anhui.

July 13: Chiu Chin stages a similar assassination in Shaoshing, Zhejiang, and is executed after being arrested.

August 20: The Tung Meng Hui publishes a newspaper in Singapore -- the Chung Hsin Daily.

September 1: Sun Yat-sen orders Wang Ho-shun to stage a coup in Qinzhou, Guangxi, which is crushed after some 10 days in what is the fifth failed coup orchestrated by Sun.

December 1: Sun Yat-sen orders Huang Ming-tang to stage a revolt in Chengnankuan, in which Sun visits the battle field and gives commands. The battle lasts for seven days, and Sun’s forces retreat later due to insufficient supplies in what is the sixth revolt under Sun’s direct leadership.

 

1908        43 years old

March: Sun Yat-sen departs for Singapore upon being forced to leave Hanoi after French officials of the colony of Vietnam declare him persona non grata.

March 27: Sun Yat-sen orders Huang Hsin to command troops to attack Qinzhou in Guangxi in what is the seventh failed revolt.

April 29: Sun Yat-sen orders Huang Ming-tang to stage a revolt in Hekou, Yunnan, in what is the eighth failed uprising.

October: Sun Yat-sen leaves for Malaya and Thailand on a fund-raising campaign.

November 19: Hsiung Cheng-chi stages a revolt in Anching, which fails in one day.

December 13: The Tung Meng Hui Burma branch is established.

 

1909        44 years old

May 19: Sun Yat-sen departs Singapore for Europe to raise funds.

October 30: Sun Yat-sen departs from Britain for the United States.

 

1910        45 years old

January 18: The Tung Meng Hui branch in Chicago is established.

February 10: Sun Yat-sen arrives in San Francisco to establish a Tung Meng Hui branch there.

February 12: Ni Ying-tien leads his soldiers of the New Army under the Ching troops in staging a mutiny in Guangzhou, which is crushed due to delayed supplies. Ni is killed in what is the ninth uprising.

March 28: Sun Yat-sen arrives Honolulu and establishes a Tung Meng Hui branch.

May 30: Sun Yat-sen leaves Honolulu, arrives Japan in June and Singapore in July.

July 19: Sun Yat-sen’s mother, Mdm. Yang, dies.

August 20:      Sun Yat-sen publishes the Young Ching Morning Post in San Francisco.

November 13: Sun Yat-sen convenes the Penang Conference and decides to stage a massive uprising in Guangzhou.

December 6: Sun Yat-sen departs from Penang for Europe and later for the United States.

 

1911     46 years old

January: Sun Yat-sen travels to Canada from the United States.

April 27 (March 29 by the Chinese lunar calender): Huang Hsin leads comrades to stage a hasty revolt in Guangzhou with a meager force, which resulted in 86 revolutionaries being killed in the uprising. However, only 72 of them have been identified and enshrined as martyrs who died in the Huang-hua-kang Uprising, the 10th failed coup orchestrated by Sun. Seven months later, the Wuchang Uprising scored a successful revolution.

May 18: Chao Sheng commits suicide after failing to take part in the historical Huang-hua-kang Uprising.

June 17: Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, erupts in opposition movements against the Ching court’s decision to centralize railway construction, and opposition groups are formed. Seizing the opportunity, revolutionary members help orchestrate opposition.

July 21: Kwon Min (Hung Meng) Charity Bureau is established in San Francisco.

July 31: The Tung Meng Hui establishes its branch in Shanghai.

September 7: Ching troops launch a bloody crackdown on opposition people in Sichuan, resulting in a riot.

October 10: The Wuchang Uprising erupts, triggering sweeping revolutionary actions in many provinces.

October 11: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Denver, Colorado, and learns from newspapers about the successful Wuchang Uprising.

October 15: Sun Yat-sen convenes a meeting in Chicago to celebrate the upcoming birth of the Republic of China.

Late October: Sun Yat-sen departs the United States for Britain and France before heading back to China.

 

1912        47 years old

January 1: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Nanking to assume the post of provisional president of the Republic of China and announces the use of the western calendar in place of the century-old lunar calendar.

February 12: Emperor Pu Yi of the Ching court announces his abdication.

February 13: Sun Yat-sen tenders his resignation and recommends Yuan Shih-kai be made the provisional president.

February 14: The Provisional Senate adopts Sun’s resignation and accepts Yuan as Sun’s successor.

February 15: Sun Yat-sen chairs the celebration to mark the birth of the Republic of China, and later leads government officials to pay tribute to a Ming mausoleum near Nanking.

March 10: Yuan Shih-kai assumes the post of the second provisional president of the Republic of China.

March 11: The Provisional Constitution is promulgated.

April 1: Sun Yat-sen officially terminates his duties as the provisional         president and begins a lecture tour to various provinces, talking about his political philosophy and blueprint to construct a modern China.

August 24: At the invitation of Yuan Shih-kai, Sun Yat-sen arrives in Beijing.

August 25: The Tung Meng Hui is reorganized into the KMT in a plan primarily developed by Sung Chiao-jen. Sun Yat-sen is elected the director. Sun subsequently names Sung his delegate in official duties.

September 11: Sun Yat-sen accepts Yuan Shih-kai’s appointment to plan and construct a national railway system.

September 25: Sun Yat-sen, Huang Hsin, Yuan Shih-kai, and Li Yuan-hung decide on the eight-point agreement on party operations in what is called the “Sun-Huang-Yuan-Li” agreement.

October 3: Sun Yat-sen visits existing railway systems in Shansi, Hopeh, Shantung, and Jiangsu provinces.

October 10: Sun Yat-sen publishes an article on railway construction and his principle on the people’s livelihood.

October 14: Sun Yat-sen establishes the Chinese General Railway Corporation in Shanghai, unleashing his ambitious railway construction plans and wooing foreign investors.

December: Sun Yat-sen sends his proposal to Yuan Shih-kai, monetary reforms.

1913        48 years old

February 11: Sun Yat-sen departs for Japan to inspect railway construction there and to seek Japanese capital.

 

1913        48 years old

March 20: Acting director of KMT, Sung Chiao-jen, is gunned down at the Shanghai Railway Station, and dies two days later. Yuan Shih-kai is believed to be the man behind the assassination.

March 23: Sun Yat-sen cuts short his stay in Japan and returns to Shanghai two days later to join in an emergency meeting with comrades. Sun supports an immediate military action against Yuan Shih-kai, who has been implicated in the murder of Sung Chiao-jen.

April 27: The Yuan Shih-kai government approves huge loans from the Five-Power Banking Consortium without an endorsement from Parliament.

June: Yuan Shih-kai fires Li Lieh-chun, military governor of Jiangxi, Hu Han-min, military governor of Guangdong, and Po Wen-wei, military governor of Anhui -- all three are KMT members.

July 12: Sun Yat-sen orders Li Lieh-chun to launch a revolt in Hukow, Jiangxi, against Yuan Shih-kai unveiling a sweeping military revolt against Yuan in what is called the “Second Revolution.” Responding actions erupt in Nanking, Shanghai, Anching, Guangzhou, Chungching, and other cities in Fukien and Hunan provinces. The revolution is barely sustained for two months before being put down by Yuan’s forces in September.

August 18: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Tokyo via Taipei.

September 27: Sun Yat-sen prepares organizing the Chinese Revolutionary Party.

October 15: Yuan Shih-kai announces Sun Yat-sen and other KMT members are wanted for their roles in the Second Revolution.

November 4: Yuan Shih-kai orders the KMT disbanded.

 

1914        49 years old

January 10: Yuan Shih-kai orders Parliament to dissolve, and later he orders all provincial assemblies to dissolve on February 28.

June 23: The Chinese Revolutionary Party convenes Tokyo, and Sun Yat-sen is elected the chairman.

July 8: Chinese Revolutionary Party is established in Tokyo, and makes the overthrow of Yuan Shih-kai’s autocracy a top priority.

July 28: World War I erupts on the European continent.

September 1: Chinese Revolutionary Party Manifesto is published and adopted.

September 20: The Chinese Revolutionary Party revolutionary strategies are discussed of the Tokyo convention, adopts the flag for the Republic of China, with a red background and its flag for revolutionary Hsing Chung Hui (a white sun at the center of a deep blue background) on the left upper hand.

September: Japan declares war on Germany, invading China’s Shantung province, which was leased to Germany at that time.

 

1915        50 years old

January: Japan puts forth the audacious Twenty-one Demands to the Yuan Shih-kai government, seeking political, military, economical, and trading privileges.

May 9: The Yuan Shih-kai government accepts Japan’s Twenty-one Demands, triggering strong protests nationwide.

August: Yang Tu and other Yuan Shih-kai followers organize an association to make Yuan emperor.

September 18: Sun Yat-sen issues a public letter condemning Yuan Shih-kai.

October: Sun Yat-sen marries Rosamonde Soong in Tokyo.

December 5: Chen Chi-mei orchestrates soldiers on the S.S. Chao Ho to stage a mutiny against Yuan Shih-kai.

December 12: Yuan Shih-kai declares himself emperor.

December 25: Tang Chi-yao, Tsai Eh, and Li Lieh-chun stage a military coup in Yunnan, calling themselves the “Protect the Nation Army.”

December 31: Emperor Yuan Shih-kai announces that 1916 will be “the First Year of the Hung Hsien Calender under his imperial system.

 

1916        51 years old

March 13: Sun Yat-sen appoints Chu Cheng as the commander -- in chief of the northern army of the Chinese Revolutionary Army, and issues orders to comrades in Hopeh, Shantung and Shansi provinces to launch anti- Yuan Shih-kai revolts.

March 22: Facing strong and sweeping protests, Yuan Shih-kai revokes the imperial system.

March 23: Yuan Shih-kai revokes his Hung Hsien calendar under the abandoned imperial system.

April 27: Sun Yat-sen returns from Japan and arrives in Shanghai to lead the anti-Yuan campaign.

May 9: Sun Yat-sen issues the second anti-Yuan manifesto.

May 18: Chen Chi-mei is murdered by assassins on Yuan Shih-kai’s order.

June 6: Yuan Shih-kai dies in humiliation.

June 9: Sun Yat-sen issues an announcement to uphold the Provisional Constitution.

June 13: Sun Yat-sen orders an all-out cease-fire in the fighting against Yuan Shih-kai’s troops.

June 29: Vice President Li Yuan-hung succeeds as president of the Republic of China and adopts Sun Yat-sen’s suggestion to restore the Provisional Constitution, which was previously scrapped by Yuan Shih-kai. Li later also revives parliamentary meetings.

 

1917        52 years old

February 21: Sun Yat-sen publishes Min Chuan Chu Pu (Preliminary Steps of People’s Rights, which he later translates a Parliamentary Law.)

May 10: Tuan Chi-jui, under the influence of Japan, declares war on Germany, and forces Parliament to endorse the declaration.

June 6: Sun Yat-sen cables revolutionary forces in southwestern provinces to stage revolts against the Beijing government.

June 13: President Li Yuan-hung, forced by warlord Chang Hsun, orders Parliament to dissolve.

July 1: Chang Hsun restores the Manchu court.

July 4: Sun Yat-sen issues a declaration to attack the Beijing government.

July 17: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Guangzhou to urge the upholding of the Provisional Constitution.

August 25: An extraordinary session of Parliament convenes in Guangzhou.

September 1: Sun Yat-sen is elected grand marshal by Parliament’s extraordinary session.

September 10: Sun Yat-sen assumes post as grand marshal, issues declaration to protect constitutionalism.

October 7: Sun Yat-sen orders Northern Expedition to attack the Beijing government.

 

1918        53 years old

April: Parliament’s extraordinary session, under the influences of the Guangxi clique, reorganizes the directorate of the military government in Guangzhou.

May 4: Sun Yat-sen announces his resignation as grand marshal, and issues a declaration.

May 20: The Parliament extraordinary session elects a seven-member directorate to replace the grand marshal, with Sun Yat-sen and Tsen Chun-hsuan included.

May 21: Sun Yat-sen resigns and departs for Shanghai to concentrate on writing.

August 30: Sun Yat-sen writes an open letter to revolutionary comrades, calling for a revision in the party charter and platform.

October 24: Hsu Shih-chang assumes post as president of the Beijing government, calling for negotiations with the Guangzhou government. The Guangzhou government reacts favorably.

 

1919        54 years old

February 20: Negotiations between the Beijing and the Guangzhou governments open in Shanghai.

May 4: Students stage massive demonstrations in Beijing to protest the decisions at the Paris Peace Conference to award Germany’s privilege in Shantung province to Japan instead of returning it to China in what was called the May Fourth Movement.

May 13: The South-North Negotiation between the Guangzhou and the Beijing governments breaks down.

May 20: Sun Wen Hsueh Shuo (Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary) is published.

August 1: Chien-she Tsa-chih (Reconstruction Magazine) is published, and carries translations of Sun Yat-sen's English articles in a book titled the International Development of China published in 1921.

August 7: Viewing the growing control of the Guangxi clique over the Guangzhou military government, Sun Yat-sen resigns the seven-member directorate, and begins to criticize the Guangxi clique.

October 10: Sun Yat-sen reorganizes the Chinese Revolutionary Party into the (China) Kuomintang, and makes public the KMT general chapter.

December: Sun Yat-sen writes to military governors to urge them to attack the Guangxi clique.

 

1920        55 years old

March: Sun Yat-sen’s Local Autonomy Law is published.

June 3: Sun Yat-sen joins Tang Shao-yi, Wu Ting-fang, and Tang Chi-yao in a declaration reprimanding the Guangxi clique.

August 16: Chen Chiung-ming, acting on Sun Yat-sen’s order , launches a military action in Changchow, Fukien, to attack the Guangxi clique.

September 21: Chu Chih-hsin is killed in military action against the Guangxi clique in Humeng, Guangdong.

October 29: Guangzhou is recovered by Sun Yat-sen’s forces.

November: KMT principles are revised into a KMT platform.

December 29: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Guangzhou to lead the military government and restore Parliament.

 

1921        56 years old

April 2: The extraordinary session of Parliament decides to terminate the military government.

April 7: The extraordinary session of Parliament adopts the organization guidelines for the Republic of China and elects Sun Yat-sen as president.

May 5: Sun Yat-sen is sworn in as President of the Republic of China and establishes the Republic of China government.

May 28: Sun Yat-sen calls for attacks against the Guangxi clique and recovers Guangxi in September.

October 8: Sun Yat-sen proposes to Parliament the launching of Northern Expedition.

October 10: The Chinese edition International Development of China is published as a book.

December 4: Sun Yat-sen establishes general headquarters in Kweilin, Guangxi.

December 10: Sun Yat-sen delivers a speech to troops in Guangxi on psychological education.

December 23: Sun Yat-sen meets H.J.F.M. Sneevliet, representative of Comintern, whose pseudonym is G. Maring.

 

 

1922        57 years old

January: The Sun Yat-sen government moves the general headquarters from Kweilin to Shaokuan.

February 3: Sun Yat-sen orders the Northern Expedition, instructs Li Lieh-chun to attack Jiangxi, and Hsu Chung-chin to attack Hunan.

February 27: Sun Yat-sen chairs an oath-taking ceremony for the Northern Expedition.

March: Sun Yat-sen’s army is called back to Kweilin because of Chen Chiung-ming’s opposition to the Northern Expedition. The army returns to Guangdong in April.

May 6: Sun Yat-sen leaves Guangzhou for Shaokuan for a military review. Northern Expedition troops advance into Jiangxi

June 1: Sun Yat-sen returns to Guangzhou in view of the insurgence plotted by Chen Chiung-ming.

June 11: Fights break out between warlords in northern provinces. President Hsu Shih-chang of the Beijing government resigns on June 2, and Li Yuan-hung succeeds as president.

June 16: Chen Chiung-ming stages a revolt in Guangzhou. Sun Yat-sen leaves presidential office and flees to the navy headquarters of his troops.

June 23: Sun Yat-sen embarks on Warship Yung Feng. On June 29, Chiang Kai-shek goes on board to stay with Sun.

July 10: Sun Yat-sen orders the bombardment of Guangzhou from the Warship Yung Feng, and later moves to Paier-tan.

August 9: Northern Expedition troops retreat in defeat. Sun Yat-sen departs Guangdong to Shanghai. Sun arrives for Shanghai on June 14, and issues an order attack Chen Chiung-ming the next day.

August 25: Adolf Joffe, representative of Soviet Russia, meets Sun Yat-sen.

September: Sun Yat-sen convenes a meeting to discuss KMT reforms.

October: Sun Yat-sen orders Hsu Chung-chin to attack Chen Chiung-ming from the east, and Tsao Lu to take a flanking action from the west.

December: Sun Yat-sen sends troops in Yunnan and Guangxi to attack Chen Chiung-ming and recover Chuanchow and Wuchow.

 

1923        58 years old

January 1: The KMT makes an announcement on reforms and policies in line with the Three Principles of the People.

January 2: Sun Yat-sen convenes a KMT reform meeting in Shanghai.

January: Sun Yat-sen’s troops score victories against Chen Chiung-ming’s forces; Chen flees to Huizhou.

January 26: Sun Yat-sen and Aldof Joffe issue a joint statement.

January 26: Sun Yat-sen issues a declaration for peaceful reunification, calling for a truce among the forces in northern, central, and southwest provinces.

January 29: Sun Yat-sen publishes a book on the revolutionary history of China.

February 21: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Guangzhou to establish a general headquarters, and keeps his title as grand marshal. Three days later, Sun calls for disarmament.

March 2: The General Headquarters is officially established; Sun Yat-sen appoints Chiang Kai-shek chief of general staff.

May 9: Chen Chiung-ming stages a revolt again in eastern Guangdong. Sun Yat-sen and Chiang kai-shek lead forces to quell the revolt.

June 13: A coup d’etat erupts in Beijing, and President Li Yuan-hung is ousted. Two days later, Sun telegrams Parliamentarians in Beijing to call for justice.

August 16: Chiang Kai-shek visits Soviet Russia on Sun Yat-sen’s order.

August 25: Chen Chiung-ming, supported by northern warlords, launches another attack. Sun Yat-sen leads the army to fight back.

October 6: Michael Borodin, the representative of Soviet Russia, arrives in Guangzhou, to serve as an advisor to the KMT regarding party reforms.

October 9: Tsao Kun is elected president after bribing parliamentarians, and Sun Yat-sen issues an order to condemn Tsao.

November 11: Chen Chiung-ming’s troops seize Shihlung, threatening Guangzhou. Sun Yat-sen’s forces score victory against Chen’s on November 19.

November: Sun Yat-sen announces the KMT reform declaration.

November 26: The KMT decides to establish a military academy.

 

1924        59 years old

January 20: Sun Yat-sen convenes the first KMT National Party Congress in Guangzhou.

January: Sun Yat-sen begins to deliver a series of speeches at Guangzhou Normal High School on his Three Principles of the People, with the last one delivered in August.

April 12: Sun Yat-sen makes public the Fundamentals for National Reconstruction.

June 16: The commencement of the Whampoa Military Academy is held.

June: Teng Tse-ju, Wu Ching-heng, and senior KMT members on the Advisory Board, propose to discipline communist members within the KMT.

July 7: The KMT reaffirms its line under the Three Principles of the People to dispel challenges from a disciplinary action on communist members.

August 2: The Central Bank of China is established in Guangzhou.

August: Chiang Kai-shek leads students from the Whampoa Military Academy to subdue forces under several businessman groups which obtained supplies from the British government in Hong Kong.

September: Sun Yat-sen visits Shaokuan for a military review and reconfirms his determination to carry out the Northern Expedition.

October 23: Warlord Feng Yu-hsiang stages a coup d’etat and forces Tsao Kun to step down.

November 13: At the invitation of warlord Feng Yu-hsiang to visit Beijing, Sun Yat-sen issues a declaration, calling for the convening a national affairs meeting and the abolishment of all unequal treaties.

November 21: Sun Yat-sen departs for a trip north from Shanghai. While making a stopover in Kobe, Japan, Sun delivers a speech on Pan-Asianism.

December 4: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Tianjin and receives a warm welcome. Through years of toil and a long journey, Sun begins to feel weakening health.

December 31: Sun Yat-sen arrives in Beijing and issues a declaration.

 

1925        60 years old

January: Sun Yat-sen proposes a quick convening of a national affairs meeting, but Tung Chih-jui makes a different proposal.

January 26: Sun Yat-sen checks into Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

February 1: Chen Chiung-ming stages another revolt in Guangzhou, and Chiang Kai-shek leads a counterattack.

February 18: Sun Yat-sen checks out of the hospital after doctors declare him in the terminal stage of liver cancer and moves to the residence of Willington V.K. Koo.

March 7: Chiang Kai-shek scores victories in eastern Guangdong.

March 11: Sun Yat-sen signs his final testament.

March 12: Sun Yat-sen dies at 9:30 a.m.

March 15: Sun Yat-sen’s remains are put to the morgue.

March 19: Sun Yat-sen’s remains are moved to the Central Park, Beijing, for mourners to pay tribute.

April 2: Sun Yat-sen’s remains are moved to a mausoleum in Pi Yuan Temple, near Beijing.

April 16: The Guangzhou government renames Sun Yat-sen’s hometown, Hsiang-shan County, Chung-shan County, and the Warship Yung Feng is renamed Warship Chung-shan.

May 16: The KMT’s first plenary meeting adopts Sun Yat-sen’s final testament.

1929       

June 1: Sun Yat-sen’s remains are buried on Tze Chin Mountain, near Nanking, in accordance with his wishes.

1940       

The Nationalist Government decides to canonize Sun Yat-sen as the founding father of the Republic of China.