Sun Yat-sen Quotes
When we undertake a task, we should not falter from first to last until the task is accomplished; if we fail, we should not begrudge our lives as a sacrifice-this is what we mean by loyalty. The ancient teaching of loyalty meant sometimes death.
Sun, Yat-sen. San Min Chu I: The Three Principles of the People. Translated by Frank W. Price, China Committee, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1927, p. 131.
The city was besieged by the Ottoman Turks. The Emperor stayed and died in the siege. Ironically, if he had escaped earlier and allowed the city to surrender to the Sultan and his troops, very few of the city residents would have died, and the rapine and pillaging never would have occurred. The negative result is that the Muslims would have controlled what was regarded by many Christians as a holy Christian city. But that is exactly what occurred.
He always appeared in a military uniform after that.
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese statesman, physician, and political philosopher, 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, and as the "Forerunner of the Revolution" in the People's 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.