In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), Sun Yat-sen and Zhang Jingjiang met in Europe and returned to Tokyo to establish the Alliance. Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing, and Song Jiaoren agreed to put forward the slogan of the League: "Drive out the Tartars, restore China, establish the Republic of China, and equalize land rights." These 16 characters are the program of the association. Sun Yat-sen was elected prime minister. Headquartered in Tokyo, it has chapters and branches in Japan and overseas. Although the League has a program, an organization, and a branch, it enthusiastically calls for the "founding of the Republic of China", and the name of this founding should be attributed to the revolutionary youth Zou Rong.
Alliance Kaiguchi
Before the establishment of the League, in the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), students in Japan gathered to commemorate the 242nd anniversary of the fall of the Ming Dynasty. The students studying in Japan in Tokyo were particularly excited, and organized anti-Russian volunteers to petition for their return to China. At that time, Zou Rong, a revolutionary youth, wrote the book "Revolutionary Army" in popular and sharp writing, and he put forward the revolutionary slogan of creating the "Republic of China" for the first time. Zhang Binglin (Taiyan) published articles in the "Su Bao", especially "Refutation of Kang Youwei's Book on Revolution", which was quite praised by Sun Yat-sen. Because Zhang Jingjiang had lived in France for a long time, he was an early adopter of the idea of democratic enlightenment, and he was an active figure who strongly supported the slogan of "founding a Chinese republic."
Zhang Tai Flame
At that time, the revolutionary enthusiasm at home and abroad was constantly rising, and Sun Yat-sen's 16-character program for founding the League gave people encouragement and calling. Zhang Jingjiang remembered Sun Yat-sen's first speech, and the topic of the speech was: "China Should Build a Republic." At the call of Sun Yat-sen, Zhang Jingjiang hurried from France to Singapore, which was the spring of 1907. In order to rush back to China as soon as possible and join the movement to overthrow the Qing government, Zhang Jingjiang arrived in Hong Kong on July 17, 1907, so that he could go to Shanghai as soon as possible. At that time, Zhang Jingjiang had learned abroad in time that Xu Xilin, a revolutionary from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, had shot and killed Enming, the governor of Anhui.
Zhang Jingjiang
In a letter to Wu Zhihui, Zhang Jingjiang called Xu's action "China's first thoughtful assassination." At that time, this action was reported abroad by various foreign revolutionary organizations. The French newspaper founded by Zhang Jingjiang was the first to carry this news. With the Qing government's strict inspection of the customs, it became increasingly difficult for these propaganda prints that were beneficial to the revolution to enter the country.
However, Zhang Jingjiang wrote a letter to the League at that time, in which he said with high morale: "After my brother arrives, he will do his best to make it endless." At that time, the Qing government was also stepping up the crackdown, sealing and burning down the newspaper office. After Zhang Jingjiang arrived in the metropolis of Shanghai, the first thing he did was to re-establish the organization of the news media, to publish a large number of newspapers and periodicals of all kinds, and to cooperate with the party newspaper of the Tokyo League, Minbao, to vigorously promote Sun Wenxue's theory.
Chen Tianhua
At this time, the country was encountering the darkest historical reality before the dawn, such as the revolutionary aspirants Chen Tianhua and Yao Hongye who died for the revolution. Yu Zhimo, a revolutionary in Changsha, Hunan, was hanged by the Qing government outside the east gate of Jingzhou.
At that time, it was still at the time of the heroic failure of the "Bingwu Pingliliu Battle", and the revolutionary aspirants Gong Chuntai, Jiang Shoudan, Cai Shaonan, Liu Daoyi and others who led the uprising were all generous. More than 90 other major comrades were killed by the Qing court, and more than 10,000 people were killed on the battlefield and indiscriminately killed by the Qing officials, and a vigorous uprising came to an end!
Liu Daoyi
The sacrifice of the revolutionary aspirants and the defeat of the revolutionary uprising all pierced the heart of Zhang Jingjiang, an overseas revolutionary aspirant, with his dedication to the revolution. In order to establish a Chinese Republic, Zhang Jingjiang often rushed back and forth between domestic and foreign revolutionary contact points in the years leading up to the success of the Xinhai Revolution. At that time, the alliance led by Sun Yat-sen operated in a more extensive and secret area abroad, and needed a contact center.
Zhang Jingjiang suggested that the contact center be located within the Paris Express company he founded. Sun Yat-sen considered that the Paris Express Company also had a company in Shanghai, China, and branches in New York, Paris, France, and London, and that it was possible to use the company as a contact point for the revolution, so he adopted Zhang Jingjiang's suggestion.
Sun Yat-sen
In order to make the revolutionary liaison more effective, Zhang Jingjiang also introduced his eldest brother Zhang Benqun, who was the general manager of the Shanghai Express Company, and his uncle Pang Qingcheng, a director of the Bank of China in Shanghai, to Sun Yat-sen, and made them join the League and become members of the League one after another. He also suggested that Sun Yat-sen should stay at Pang Qingcheng's house for the sake of safety when he was active in Shanghai in the future, and that he could be taken care of at any time.
At that time, Zhang Jingjiang's uncle's villa in Shanghai was located at No. 7 Gordon Road (now No. 366 Jiangning Road) in the Public Concession. Pang Qingcheng also hired Belarusian bodyguards to guard the door of the house at that time, and Sun Yat-sen also felt safe. During that time, Sun Yat-sen returned to Shanghai from overseas and lived in Zhang Jingjiang's uncle's villa in Shanghai. At that time, Song Jiaoren, Liao Zhongkai and others also often gathered there.
Zhang Jingjiang's uncle Pang Qingcheng
Sun Yat-sen and Zhang Jingjiang had a deep relationship, and in addition to what has been explained in the above sections, there is another factor that maintains the relationship between them: Zhang Jingjiang has been in Paris, France for a long time, and he first received the influence of the "Freemasonry" ideology, which was the behind-the-scenes promoter of the French Revolution in Paris.
From some letters written by Zhang Jingjiang to Wu Zhihui and Li Shizeng in 1906~1907, it can be seen that the French civilization and democracy and freedom have long influenced him. Sun Yat-sen also joined the French "Freemasonry" in his early years, and also accepted the influence of the French Revolution ideologically. Sun Yat-sen's ideas of freedom, equality, and fraternity during the Xinhai Revolution were like-minded with the French "Freemasonry".
Li Shizeng
In 1906, Sun Yat-sen said in a speech at the anniversary of the founding of the "Minbao": "The French democracy has been established, and after the Chinese Revolution, this form of government is the most suitable." Another example is the program of the League founded by Sun Yat-sen, which includes "expelling the Tartars, restoring China, establishing the Republic of China, and equalizing land rights." The so-called "four programs" of this program are obviously centered on "creating the Republic of China," that is, civil rights. The junta manifesto issued by the association also pointed out: "The people's revolution is now the establishment of a national government, and all citizens are equal to participate in the government." The president is elected by the people.
The Parliament is composed of members elected by the people, and formulates the Constitution of the Republic of China, which everyone abides by. Those who dare to have an imperial system will be attacked by the whole world!" This shows how strongly the ideas of the French Revolution had on the Xinhai Revolution in China at that time. It is no coincidence that Clemenceau, the prime minister of France at the time, the governor of the Chinese Federation of French India, Du Mei, and many French comrades supported and sympathized with Sun Yat-sen's establishment of the political system of the "Chinese Republic."
Clemenceau
Zhang Jingjiang's business career in France was ostensibly to make money, but in fact it was also to convey the revolutionary seeds left by the French Revolution to Sun Yat-sen. He transplanted the seeds of the French democratic revolution to the backward land of China at that time. At the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 20th century, France delivered the democratic nourishment of "the founding of the Republic of China" to China, a land of suffering that was "stormy and obscure". At that time, Zhang Jingjiang could be described as a revolutionary porter who delivered "nourishment" for this! Of course, the ideas of the French Revolution had an impact on the Xinhai Revolution at that time, but it was not all of them. Because the countless revolutions in Chinese history are indeed inseparable from the influence of external factors, but after all, it is internal factors that play a decisive role.