Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t5.6

v1.c7.s9.t5.6

After graduating in Honolulu, he returned to his native village in 1882 briefly to be married which was arranged by his family. He later shifted to Hong Kong to pursue his education in medicine. After completing his medical training Sun Yat-sen went to Macau to practice medicine but unfortunately, was denied permission to stay there by the Portuguese authorities. Thus he returned to Hong Kong where he was witness to the treachery, tyranny and rampant corruption of the Qing government. By this time his interest in politics overshadowed his interest in medicine which led him to begin his crusade against the corrupt Qing government and to formulate a bourgeoisie political programme which would completely transform Chinese political thought. This was the beginning of his political career where he often aired his anti-government views in speeches and had intellectual exchanges with other reform leaders of those times such as He Qi, Zheng Guanying, etc., forming liaisons with anti-Qing secret societies and preparing to form revolutionary groups. In 1894 he wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang, the Governor of Zhili, a high official in the Beiyang government, in which is urged for reforms. Sadly Sun’s appeal fell on deaf ears. In 1894, he returned to Honolulu to organise the “Revive China Society” which promised to “expelling the Manchus and restoring China and forming a unified government. In February of the following year, the local patriotic intellectuals of Hong Kong organised the “Fu Ren Literary Society” which symbolised the Hong Kong branch of the Revive China Society. A secret uprising which was to be organised by the society on October 10 of that year was leaked to authorities and thus failed. Sun Yat-sen was forced to flee abroad. This set the pattern of his life which was punctuated with unorganised plots, failures, execution of coconspirators, overseas wanderings and financial backing for further coups (hostile takeovers). Sun grew a moustache, donned Western-style clothes, and, posing as a Japanese man, set out once again, first to Hawaii, then to San Francisco, and finally to England to visit a former school instructor. Before leaving England, he often visited the reading room of the British Museum, where he became acquainted with the writings of Karl Marx. While in exile in London, he minutely studied the economic and political conditions of Europe and USA, the various schools of thought in political theory and got in touch with several Europeans and Americans who were progressive in their thought. During this period he formulated his distinctive "theory of people's livelihood" and "the three principles of the people". In 1897, Sun reached Japan where he spent the next 16 years in exile like several other leaders of that time. After the Reform Movement, which was led by prominent leaders such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, there were some attempts made by Sun Yat-sen's group to work in conjunction with the reformists. But because the reformists continued their support for the monarchy and were against the revolution, Sun Yat-sen's alliance with them could not bear fruit.