We have to record the death of Sun Yat-sen, the
head of the Republican Revolutionary Party in China, which had its headquarters in Canton. After the Chinese revolution in 1912 Sun was chosen as provisional President of the new Republic. He had the reputation of being an idealist, a deep thinker and an honest man. So he may have been. But in that case he lost a good deal of his character subsequently. He had lived in America during the determining years of his life and he did not really know very much about his countrymen. He never exercised his office as President of the Chinese Republic as he instantly retired—and was no doubt wise in doing so—to make room for Yuan Shih-kai. In 1917 he definitely broke with Yuan and was elected President of the so-called Southern Chinese Republic at Canton.
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