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Dai Jitao or Tai Chi-t'ao (Chinese: 戴季
Dai Jitao | |
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戴季 | |
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President of the Examination Yuan | |
In office 25 October 1928 – 30 June 1948 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Zhang Boling |
Personal details | |
Born | Dai Liangbi 6 January 1891 Guanghan, Sichuan, Qing Empire |
Died | 21 February 1949 Guangzhou, Republic of China | (aged 58)
Nationality | Republic of China |
Political party | ![]() |
Spouse(s) | Niu Youheng Zhao Wenshu |
Domestic partner(s) | Zhao Lingyi Michiko Tsubuchi Shigematsu Kaneko |
Children | Dai Jiachang Tai An-kuo Chiang Wei-kuo |
Early life and education
editDai was born Dai Liangbi (Chinese: 戴良弼; Wade–Giles: Tai Liang-pi) in Guanghan, Sichuan to a family of potters. He went to Japan in 1905 to study in a normal school and entered Nihon University's law program in 1907. He graduated and returned to China in 1909.
Writings
editDai started to write for the Shanghaiese China Foreign Daily (
Political career
editDai's fluency in Japanese, unusual for a Chinese young man, attracted the attention of Sun Yat-sen. He became Sun's translator and then his confidential secretary. After the Kuomintang failed to overthrow Yuan Shikai, he went to Tokyo to join the Chinese Revolutionary Party in 1914.
He attended the first national congress of the Chinese Kuomintang in 1924, where he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee, then later a member of the Standing Committee, and the Minister of Propaganda. Soon after Sun's death in 1925, he published a controversial book that reinterpreted Sun's legacy. He claimed Sun derived his ideology chiefly from Confucianism instead of Western philosophies and that Sun was a traditionalist. This was praised by the KMT's right-wing but condemned by leftists and communists. After the right's triumph, Dai's interpretation became the dominant one within the KMT. In 1926, he served as principal of the Sun Yat-sen University, and the chief of politics at Whampoa Academy, with Zhou Enlai as his deputy. From 1928 until 1948, he served as head of the Examination Yuan.
From October 1928 to June 1948, his official positions consisted of:
- State Councillor (
國民 政府 國府 委員 ) - Director-General of Sun Yat-sen University (
中山 大學 委員 長 ) - Member of Kuomintang Central Executive Committee (
中央 執行 委員 會 委員 ): 1924- Member of Standing Committee (
常務 委員 ): 1924
- Member of Standing Committee (
- Minister of Information (
宣傳 部長 ): 1924 - President of the Academia Historica (
國史 館 館長 ): unable to attend due to illness
Dai was one of the lyricists of "National Anthem of the Republic of China". He also wrote:
- The Fundamentals of the Principles of Sun Yat-sen (
孫 文 主義 之 哲學 基礎 ) - The People's Revolution and Kuomintang (
國民 革命 與 中國 國民黨 ) - The Complete Book of Sun Yat-sen (
孫 中山 全書 ) - National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China (
中華民國 國旗 歌 )
Later years and death
editAfter Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925, Dai changed his name to Chuanxian, Continuing-Virtue. He jumped into a river and was rescued by a fisherman. After this suicide experience, he converted to Buddhism and was accused by many of being superstitious. His works about Buddhism are published in The Collection of Mr. Dai Jitao's Discussions on Buddhism (戴季
In 1949, with the Kuomintang losing the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party, Dai committed suicide by swallowing over 70 sleeping pills in Guangzhou.
See also
editFurther reading
edit- Lu, Yan; Re-Understanding Japan (University of Hawaii Press, 2004) is an English-language study of Dai Jitao and three other Chinese intellectuals, in context of their contributions to 20th-century Sino-Japanese relations.