Lu Zhonggui (30 September 1868 – 7 November 1895),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Xianxiang, better known by his

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...

Lu Haodong, was a Chinese revolutionary who lived in the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. He is best known for designing the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag that became the party flag and emblem of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

(KMT; Chinese Nationalist Party), and the canton of the flag of the Republic of China.

Life

Lu was born in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

but his ancestral home was in Xiangshan County (now is Zhongshan),

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. He was a friend of

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

and was involved in activities targeted at overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing a republic in China. In 1895, Lu co-founded the Revive China Society in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

with

. In October 1895, they planned to stage an uprising in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, but the Qing government got wind of their plan. On 26 October, Lu was preparing to escape from Guangzhou, but decided to return to their base of operations in a church in present-day Beijinglu, Yuexiu District to burn a roster containing the names of the revolutionaries and other important documents. He could not escape in time and was arrested along with other revolutionaries by the Qing government. Lu was taken to the yamen in Nanhai County (present-day Nanhai District,

Foshan Foshan (, ; Chinese: 佛山) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the Pearl River Delta m ...

) for interrogation by the county magistrate Li Zhengyong (), who was acting under instructions from Tan Zhonglin (), the Viceroy of Liangguang. When he refused to kneel down before Li during questioning, the magistrate said, "You are a talented young man. Why did you want to get yourself in trouble that would cost you your life? I feel sorry for you that you don't value your life." Lu replied sternly, "China is a vast country and it has the highest population in the world, but it is poor and weak because the Qing government is authoritarian and incompetent in foreign policy. My comrades and I originally planned an uprising with the aim of overthrowing the Qing government and replacing it with a new republican government. I intended to kill one or two persons like you who serve the Qing government. Now that our plan has failed, I can't kill you but you can kill me. What's there to feel sorry about?" The American embassy in Guangzhou attempted to save Lu's life by claiming that he was a translator working at the telegraph office and was not a revolutionary. However, they could not do anything when Li Zhengyong showed them a confession written by Lu himself. Lu, Zhu Guiquan (), Qiu Si () and other captured revolutionaries were executed on 7 November by the order of Tan Zhonglin. Sun Yat-sen called Lu "the first person in Chinese history who sacrificed his life for a democratic revolution". Lu is credited for designing the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag that became the party flag and emblem of the

(KMT; Chinese Nationalist Party), and the canton of the flag of the Republic of China.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Hao-Tung 1868 births 1895 deaths Chinese revolutionaries 19th-century Calvinist and Reformed Christians People from Zhongshan Qing dynasty Christians Flag designers

Life

See also

References