Sun Yat-sen

Born to a poor peasant family in Guangdong in 1866, Sun studied medicine in Hawaii and Hong Kong, graduating in 1892. When his 1894 petition to reform the Qing government was rejected, he went into exile and built revolutionary networks overseas, founding the Revive China Society and the Tongmenghui. The 1911 Revolution toppled the Qing, and Sun became the first president of the Provisional Government - then stepped aside for warlord Yuan Shikai to secure the dynasty's abdication. After Yuan had rival Song Jiaoren assassinated in 1913, Sun led a failed uprising, fled to Japan, and spent years fighting warlords and internal rivals. He aligned with the Soviets and Chinese Communists in the First United Front, and in late 1924 traveled north from his Guangdong base to push for a national assembly and the end of unequal treaties. He died in Beijing in March 1925, leaving behind the Three Principles of the People - nationalism, democracy, people's livelihood - and the title both rivals still use: Father of the Nation on one shore, Forerunner of the Revolution on the other.