Tongmenghui

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Categories: History of the Republic of China | 1905 establishments | Xinhai Revolution

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The Tongmenghui (Chinese: 同盟會; Pinyin: Tóngménghuì; Wade-Giles: T'ung-meng Hui; lit. United Allegiance Society), also known as the Chinese United League or the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, was a secret society and underground resistance movement organized by Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren in Tokyo, Japan, on 20 August 1905. This new alliance was created through the unification of Sun's Xingzhonghui, or Revive China Society, the Guangfuhui, or Restoration Society, and other Chinese revolutionary groups.

Combining republican, nationalist, and socialist objectives, the Tongmenghui's political platform was "to overthrow the Manchu empire and to restore China to the Chinese, to establish a republic, and to distribute land equally among the people." (Chinese: 驅除韃虜，恢復中華，創立民國，平均地權) Among the Allegiance's members was Li Zongren, prominent Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang military commander and Wang Jingwei, who would later serve as the collaborationist President of the Executive Yuan and Chairman of the National Government in Japanese occupied China during World War II.

In 1906, a branch was formed in Singapore, following Sun's visit there; this was called the Nanyang branch and served as headquarters of the organization for Southeast Asia. After the establishment of the Republic of China, the Tongmenghui formed, in August 1912, the nucleus of Sun's new Kuomintang, which translates to Nationalist Party.