Sun Yat-sen’s heir and Kuomintang left leader who ended as head of the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing regime
In 1927 he led the left-wing Wuhan government, then purged the Communists that July; in 1940 he headed the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing regime. Arrested in 1910, he wrote: “With heroic abandon I sing in the market of Yan…”
A Tongmenghui revolutionary famous for a failed attempt on the Qing regent, and the confidant who took down Sun Yat-sen’s political testament. He led the Wuhan Nationalist government in 1927 and briefly kept the alliance with the Communists before breaking with them that July. After years of rivalry and cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek he left Chongqing in 1938 to advocate “peace” with Japan, and in 1940 became head of the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing government. He died of illness in Nagoya in 1944 and is remembered in China as the archetypal collaborator.
Career Timeline
- 1927Chairman of the Wuhan Nationalist government
- 1932–1935President of the Executive Yuan
- 1940–1944Head of the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing government
Related historical events
- 1911–1916The 1911 Revolution and the birth of the RepublicYoung Tongmenghui revolutionaryImprisoned after the 1910 attempt on the regent, freed by the revolution and became Sun’s confidant.
- 1924–1927The first united front, the Northern Expedition and the catastrophe of 1927Leader of the Wuhan Kuomintang leftStalin’s hoped-for “centre of the revolution”, who broke with the Communists in July 1927.
- 1937–1945The war with Japan and the second united frontHead of the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing governmentLeft Chongqing in 1938 and led the Japanese-installed government from 1940.