Sun Chuanfang () (April 17, 1885 – November 13, 1935) was a Chinese warlord in the Zhili clique and protégé of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu.

Early life and education

Sun Chuanfang was born in Licheng,

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

Province.

Wang Yingkai Wang Yingkai (; 1861–1908), whose courtesy name was Shaochen (), was a Chinese general in the Beiyang Army and Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty, first rank official of the Qing dynasty, late Qing dynasty, who served as the vice preside ...

, a rising officer in the

Beiyang Army The Beiyang Army (), named after the Beiyang region, was a Western-style Imperial Chinese Army established by the Qing dynasty in the early 20th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of the Qing military system in the wake ...

and protégé of

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

, the commander of the Beiyang Army, married Sun's sister, and Sun took advantage of his brother-in-law's position and joined a training camp in 1902. Wang later recommended Sun to Tianjin Military Academy because of the latter's outstanding capabilities; in 1904 he also sent Sun abroad to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for more education at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko, a military preparatory school. Sun eventually graduated from the sixth class of the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

and returned to China in 1908. Upon his return from Japan, Wang and his political ally, Tie Liang, happened to be the ones presiding over the examination aimed at testing fresh graduates’ ability. Sun passed the tests and became an officer of the

and later was recruited by

Wang Zhanyuan Wang Zhanyuan () (February 20, 1861 – September 14, 1934) was a Chinese general of the Warlord Era of China's Republican period, whose power base was in Hubei province. Biography In October 1911, during the Xinhai Revolution, he was a ...

to join the Zhili clique following the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...

, rising quickly through the ranks.

Career

Sun became the military governor of

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

on 20 March 1923. He was based in

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

Province, and fought in the Zhili–Anhui War of 1920. In 1924, at the beginning of the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War, Sun commanded the 4th Army in

Province. One of his first acts was to support his ally Qi Xieyuan, moving up from the south in a move that was responsible for the defeat of rival warlord Lu Yongxiang and the capture of

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 ...

. He also subsequently became the director-general of the Shanghai- Woosung port. He was subsequently rewarded with the military governorship of

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

(20 September 1924-19 December 1926). However, his Zhili allies in the north were defeated during the Second Zhili–Fengtian War, ending with the Zhili clique losing all of its northern provinces to

Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...

and

Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a Chinese warlord and later general in the National Revolutionary Army. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. A ...

Guominjun The Guominjun (), also known as the Kuominchun, abbreviated as GMJ and KMC, was a military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. The KMC had control of much of Northwest China, including Shaanxi ...

. In 1925 the Guominjun launched a joint Anhui-Fengtian expedition under Zhang Zongchang, briefly retaking Jiangsu and Shanghai in January. Lacking support from Sun Chuanfang, Qi Xieyuan was forced to resign and fled to Japan, but not before transferring what remained of his demoralized and severely diminished army to Sun Chuanfang's command. Zhang Zongchang and Sun Chuanfang were now staring at each other over a battle line delineated only by Shanghai proper. For the remainder of the year the two opposing generals bided their time. Then, in the fall of 1925, the chance came: Sun launched a counterattack that drove Zhang Zongchang and his forces out of the Chinese districts of Shanghai. For the next two years Sun expanded his rule to include all of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian,

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

and

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

. He established his headquarters in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

as military governor of Jiangsu on 25 November 1925.Arthur Waldro
From War to Nationalism, Cambridge University Press, 1995
/ref> At the height of his power he held an army which numbered over 200,000 men. The

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...

ended his rule. His forces were decisively defeated twice and then were routed in the Battle of Lungtan, resulting in the collapse of his rule. Shanghai was captured by

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

labor unions allied with the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...

in March 1927 and Sun was forced to flee

. He briefly sought the support of

Zhang Xueliang Zhang Xueliang ( zh, t=張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also commonly known by his nickname "the Young Marshal", was a Chinese general who in 1928 succeeded his father Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Northeastern Army. He is bes ...

but, distrusting Zhang's motives, then fled to

Dalian Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...

in the Japanese

Kwantung Leased Territory The Kwantung Leased Territory () was a Concessions in China, leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945. Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Tre ...

. He participated in the

Fengtian clique The Fengtian clique () was the faction that supported warlord Zhang Zuolin during Republic of China (1912–1949), China's Warlord Era. It took its name from Fengtian Province, which served as its original base of support. However, the clique quic ...

's Peking government until 1930, when he went into retirement after the Manchurian Incident of 1931.

Death

Sun relocated to the British concession of Tianjin, where he took the tonsure and announced his retirement from worldly affairs in favor of becoming a Buddhist monk. However, on 13 November 1935 Sun was assassinated in Tianjin by Shi Jianqiao, the daughter of Shi Congbin, who ten years earlier had been commander of units in Shandong. In October 1925, during the second war between the Zhili and Fengtian cliques, Shi Congbin had been captured by Sun Chuanfang, who had had him summarily decapitated and his head mounted on a pike. She was later pardoned by 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 ...

government.

Notes

Sources

Rulers: Chinese Administrative divisions, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Chuanfang 20th-century Buddhist monks Assassinated Chinese military personnel Chinese Buddhist monks Politicians from Jinan Baoding Military Academy cadets Republic of China warlords from Shandong 1885 births 1935 deaths Governors of Jiangsu Burials in Beijing People of the Northern Expedition Military history of Nanjing Chinese politicians assassinated in the 20th century 20th-century Chinese politicians Politicians assassinated in the 1930s

Early life and education

Career

Death

See also

Notes

Sources