COURTING THE OVERSEAS CHINESE FOR THE 1911 REVOLUTION: WANG JINGWEI AND THE TONGMENGHUI IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYA, 1905-1911

Abstract

This thesis argues Wang Jingwei played a leading role in sustaining the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) revolutionary movement in the six years leading to China's 1911 Revolution by seeking the support of the Overseas Chinese in Singapore and Malaya. Being one of China's top revolutionary leaders and propagandists, Wang's actions and ideas had a profound impact on the republican-revolutionary movement at home and abroad. Besides providing a background to Wang's early life and his participation in the Tongmenghui, which was founded and led by Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian; Sun Zhongshan), in Japan (1883 - 1906), this thesis will analyse his subsequent revolutionary activities in Singapore and Malaya (1907 - 1909). These activities included Wang's establishment of Tongmenghui branches and reading clubs, his well known and successful propaganda activities, and his fund-raising efforts to support uprisings in southern China. Wang's failed assassination of the Qing Prince Regent in Beijing and the consequent impact of his imprisonment on the revolutionary movement in Singapore and Malaya (1909 - 1911) shall be discussed in the final part of this thesis. His revolutionary writings, public speeches, and poems, as well as, his relationships with his female companion from Penang, Chen Bijun, Sun and other Tongmenghui leaders from China, Singapore, and Malaya will also be examined.