# Sun Yat-sen **Sun Yat-sen** (1866–1925) was the revolutionary who helped topple China's last dynasty and is honored as the founding father of the Chinese republic by both of the parties that later fought over his legacy. After the [[Xinhai Revolution]] of 1911 ended Qing rule, Sun briefly served as the first provisional president of the new Republic of China in 1912 before ceding power to a warlord general, an early sign of how fragile the republic would prove. He founded and led the [[Kuomintang]] (Nationalist Party) and articulated the "Three Principles of the People" — nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood — the ideological charter the Nationalists carried into the [[Chinese Civil War]]. Sun is unusual in being claimed by both sides: the [[Kuomintang]] on [[Taiwan]] and the [[Chinese Communist Party]] on the mainland each venerate him as a national founder. He sits at the head of the modern spine in the [[Chinese History Hub]]. > [!note] Stub > Phase 1 spine stub. Expand: the Tongmenghui and the 1911 revolution, the First United Front and Soviet advisers, the unfinished republican project.