Tai Chi-tao
Tai Chi-tao (戴季陶;
pinyin: Dài Jìtáo;
1890-
February 21,
1949) was an early
Kuomintang member and an a head of the
Examination Yuan of the
Republic of China. He is often referred to as
Dài Chúanxían (戴傳賢;
Wade-Giles: Tai Ch'uan-hsien) or by his other courtesy name,
Dài Xŭantáng (戴選堂;
Wade-Giles: Tai Hsüan-t'ang).
With an ancestry in Wuxing, Zhejiang, he was born Dài Líangbì (戴良弼) in Guanghan, Sichuan. He went to Japan in 1905 to study in a normal school and entered Nihon University's law program in 1907. He returned to China in 1909 to write for the Shanghaiese China Foreign Daily (中外日報) and Tianduo Newspaper (天鐸報) at 19, and is therefore considered one of the forefathers of modern Chinese journalism. His sobriquet for himself was Dai Tianchou (天仇), or Haven-Revenge Dai, at this time, to signify his dissatisfaction for the Qing Empire.
He was threatened to be imprisoned for his writings by the Manchus, so he fled to Japan in 1911, then to Penang, where he joined Tongmeng Hui and wrote for its Guanghua Newspaper (光華報). Later that year, he returned to Shanghai after the Wuchang Uprising, founding the Democracy Newspaper (民權報) and became a confidential secretary of Sun Yat-sen. After failing to overthrow Yuan Shikai, he went to Tokyo to join the Chinese Revolutionary Party in 1914.
From October 1928 to June 1948, his official positions consisted of:
- (國民政府國府委員)
- (中山大學委員長)
- (中央執政委員會委員): 1924
- (常務委員): 1924
- Minister of Information (宣傳部長): 1924
- Chief of the Embassy (國使館館長): unable to attend due to illness
His changed his name to Dai Chuanxian,
Continuing-Virtue Dai, after
Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925. He jumped into a river and was rescued by a fisherman. After this suicide experience, he converted to
Buddhism and was accused by many to be superstitious. His works about Buddhism are published in
The Collection of Mr. Dai Jitao's Discussions on Buddhism (戴季陶先生佛學論集). After many more failed attempts at suicide, he succeeded in 1949 in
Guangzhou by taking over 70 pills. He is reputed to be the birth father of
Chiang Wei-kuo, the second son of Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek.
He was one of the lyricists of "Three Principles of the People", the 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)
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