# Song Jiaoren

**Song Jiaoren** (宋教仁; 1882–1913), courtesy name Dunchu (遯初) and pen name Yufu (渔父), was a Chinese revolutionary and constitutional politician of the early Republic of China, a native of Taoyuan in Changde, Hunan, the principal organizer of the Nationalist Party (KMT), and [Minister](https://www.edgepedia.org/minister-government) of Agriculture and Forestry in the provisional government's cabinet headed by [Tang Shaoyi](https://www.edgepedia.org/tang-shaoyi) (唐绍仪).<sup>[1](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0079898)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup> He was shot at a [Shanghai railway station](https://www.edgepedia.org/shanghai-railway-station) on 20 March 1913, shortly after the parliamentary elections of 1913, and died two days later.<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/song-jiaoren/9780231223850/)</sup>

| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born – died | 1882 – 1913; CBDB records his death age as 32, while most Chinese sources give 31<sup>[1](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0079898)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup> |
| Names | Courtesy name Dunchu (遯初); pen name Yufu (渔父)<sup>[1](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0079898)</sup> |
| Native place | Taoyuan, Changde, Hunan<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup> |
| Office | Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Tang Shaoyi's provisional cabinet, Republic of China<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup> |
| Party role | Principal organizer of the Nationalist Party, the largest party of the early Republic<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](http://www.hunanzx.gov.cn/hnzx/hxwh/rwls/201310/t20131011_4163080.html)</sup> |
| Major works | *Jiandao Wenti* (《间岛问题》); the *Ezhou Yufa* (《鄂州约法》)<sup>[5](http://www.xhgmw.com/spec/sjryjh/lilun/2017/0418/23604.html)</sup> |
| Death | Shot at Shanghai railway station, 20 March 1913, 22:45; died 22 March, 04:48<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup> |
| Tomb | Zhabei Park, Shanghai; begun June 1913, completed 1914<sup>[6](https://www.shjinganlib.net/JaImpressionHistoryContent.aspx?ColumnNameEn=HISTORICBUILDINGS&id=147)</sup> |

## Origins and family

According to the China Biographical Database, Song Jiaoren's dates are 1882 to 1913, his death at age 32, and his dynasty the Republic of China (中华民国); it lists the courtesy names Yufu (渔父) and Dunchu (遯初, also written 遁初).<sup>[1](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0079898)</sup> Chinese biographical accounts add that he was a native of Taoyuan in Changde, Hunan.<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup>

## Career

Song's documented career falls into three phases: writing, party organization, and brief ministerial office.

**Writing and constitutional thought.** He completed *Jiandao Wenti* (《间岛问题》), a seven-chapter work of more than 60,000 characters citing 92 Chinese, Japanese, and Korean sources.<sup>[5](http://www.xhgmw.com/spec/sjryjh/lilun/2017/0418/23604.html)</sup> A 1911 study of the Shanghai newspaper *Minlibao* (《民立报》) identified four previously uncollected essays he published under the name Yufu between 10 and 19 March 1911, on Yunnan border affairs, China's diplomatic situation, and related topics, filling a fifteen-day gap in the collected editions of his works.<sup>[7](https://www.libraryjournal.com.cn/CN/abstract/abstract3062.shtml)</sup>

**Party organization.** Song merged the Tongmenghui with several small parties to form the Nationalist Party (国民党), making it the largest party of the early Republic.<sup>[4](http://www.hunanzx.gov.cn/hnzx/hxwh/rwls/201310/t20131011_4163080.html)</sup> Along with [Sun Yat-sen](https://www.edgepedia.org/sun-yat-sen) he is counted a founder of the party, which he helped turn from an underground organization into a nationwide force.<sup>[3](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/song-jiaoren/9780231223850/)</sup> After the parliamentary elections of 1913 he was on the verge of becoming prime minister.<sup>[3](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/song-jiaoren/9780231223850/)</sup>

**Office.** He served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (农林部总长) in the provisional government's Tang Shaoyi cabinet.<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup>

## Political influence

Song's influence ran through constitutional design and party politics rather than through military power.

Constitutional drafting is his most concrete institutional legacy. The *Ezhou Yufa* (《鄂州约法》), in seven chapters and 60 articles, is widely described as the first republican constitutional document in Chinese history.<sup>[5](http://www.xhgmw.com/spec/sjryjh/lilun/2017/0418/23604.html)</sup> The historian Chi Yunfei (迟云飞) holds that it was the first modern republican-form constitution in Chinese history.<sup>[8](http://www.rocidea.com/One?id=2595)</sup>

Parliamentary government was his program. He advocated a cabinet responsible to parliament, holding that "the State Council should be formed entirely of a political party" ("国务院宜以完全政党组织之").<sup>[4](http://www.hunanzx.gov.cn/hnzx/hxwh/rwls/201310/t20131011_4163080.html)</sup> Scholarship on him treats his fight over the *Provisional Constitution* and for responsible cabinet government as the core of his political career.<sup>[9](https://www.dushu.com/book/11974747/)</sup> According to Lei Yi (雷颐), in a speech to the KMT's Hubei branch on 1 February 1913 he distinguished a "revolutionary party" from a party operating through elections, a distinction Lei Yi treats as central to his thought.<sup>[10](https://minzhuzhongguo.org/?p=34299)</sup> His earlier writing had already attacked the Qing court's constitutionalism as false: his 1905 essay *Qing Taihou zhi Xianzheng Tan* argued, from the equality of duties, the equality of rights, and the right to supervise public finance, that the Qing government could not achieve genuine constitutional rule.<sup>[10](https://minzhuzhongguo.org/?p=34299)</sup>

## Assassination

Song was shot at the Shanghai railway station at 22:45 on 20 March 1913 and died at 04:48 on 22 March; official Chinese accounts name the gunman Wu Shiying (武士英) as the shooter, with the plot traced through Ying Guixin (应夔丞) and Hong Shuzu (洪述祖), secretary to the Interior Ministry.<sup>[14](http://lawyeryw.com/article/ywwh/2023_08_28_1681.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[11](http://www.mod.gov.cn/gfbw/zt/gfbwzt/2018_213791/mhyxlsp/4810074.html)</sup>

His age at death is also reported inconsistently: the CBDB row gives 32,<sup>[1](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0079898)</sup> while the official Xinhua-based account and a biographer's page give 31.<sup>[2](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[12](https://www.dushu.com/book/12741476/)</sup>

## Assessment

Sun Yat-sen's elegy read: "作民权保障，谁非后死者；为宪法流血，公真第一人" ("In protecting civil rights, who of us is not a survivor; for shedding blood for the constitution, you were truly the first").<sup>[5](http://www.xhgmw.com/spec/sjryjh/lilun/2017/0418/23604.html)</sup> Don C. Price calls him early-twentieth-century China's greatest champion of constitutional democracy.<sup>[3](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/song-jiaoren/9780231223850/)</sup> Chi Yunfei argues that the KMT's true original organizer was Song rather than Sun Yat-sen, and describes Song as a lonely pioneer.<sup>[8](http://www.rocidea.com/One?id=2595)</sup>

## Legacy

Song's tomb stands in the western part of Zhabei Park (闸北公园) at 1555 Gonghe New Road, Shanghai. It was begun in June 1913 by [Wang Yiting](https://www.edgepedia.org/wang-yiting) (王一亭), Tan Renfeng (谭人凤), and others and completed in 1914, when the grounds covered about 6,000 square meters.<sup>[6](https://www.shjinganlib.net/JaImpressionHistoryContent.aspx?ColumnNameEn=HISTORICBUILDINGS&id=147)</sup> According to one contemporary account, there was a plan to buy about 90 mu near Xujiahui with about 40,000 silver taels; the grave occupies about 0.5 hectares and was finished in June 1914, with, per that account, tens of thousands following the funeral procession.<sup>[13](https://www.aisixiang.com/data/7844.html)</sup> The seated statue is 4.4 meters tall; the characters "渔夫" on its base are in the hand of [Zhang Binglin](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhang-binglin) (章炳麟), the inscription on the reverse is by [Yu Youren](https://www.edgepedia.org/yu-youren) (于右任), and the tombstone's words "宋教仁先生之墓" are assembled from Sun Yat-sen's calligraphy.<sup>[6](https://www.shjinganlib.net/JaImpressionHistoryContent.aspx?ColumnNameEn=HISTORICBUILDINGS&id=147)</sup>

In his native Taoyuan, his home village was renamed Yufu Village (渔父村); in 2011 three villages were merged as Jiaoren Village (教仁村).<sup>[11](http://www.mod.gov.cn/gfbw/zt/gfbwzt/2018_213791/mhyxlsp/4810074.html)</sup>

## References

1. [China Biographical Database (CBDB), person 79898 宋教仁](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0079898)
2. [为国捐躯宋教仁（文史广东，据新华社）](https://www.gdwsw.gov.cn/rwcq/content/post_22173.html)
3. [Song Jiaoren, Columbia University Press (Don C. Price)](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/song-jiaoren/9780231223850/)
4. [政治家宋教仁的一生（湖南政协网）](http://www.hunanzx.gov.cn/hnzx/hxwh/rwls/201310/t20131011_4163080.html)
5. [宋教仁的历史贡献与历史地位（辛亥革命网）](http://www.xhgmw.com/spec/sjryjh/lilun/2017/0418/23604.html)
6. [宋教仁墓（静安区图书馆）](https://www.shjinganlib.net/JaImpressionHistoryContent.aspx?ColumnNameEn=HISTORICBUILDINGS&id=147)
7. [“遭难中之民立报”所载宋教仁佚文四篇考论](https://www.libraryjournal.com.cn/CN/abstract/abstract3062.shtml)
8. [宋教仁是一個孤獨的民主先驅者（遲云飛訪談）](http://www.rocidea.com/One?id=2595)
9. [《宋教仁与中国民主宪政》书目页（读书网）](https://www.dushu.com/book/11974747/)
10. [雷颐：宋教仁的政治思想](https://minzhuzhongguo.org/?p=34299)
11. [英雄烈士谱丨为国捐躯宋教仁（中华人民共和国国防部）](http://www.mod.gov.cn/gfbw/zt/gfbwzt/2018_213791/mhyxlsp/4810074.html)
12. [《宋教仁传》书目页（读书网）](https://www.dushu.com/book/12741476/)
13. [秦耕：宪政英魂草没了, , 谒宋教仁墓（爱思想）](https://www.aisixiang.com/data/7844.html)
14. [lawyeryw.com](http://lawyeryw.com/article/ywwh/2023_08_28_1681.html)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › China › Republic of China (1912 to 1949) › Political and military figures*

*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*

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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license