Photos by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Items donated by Lily Sui-Fong Sun are on display
in the Hawaii Pacific University library.
Safeguarding
a legacy
Sun Yat-sen's granddaughter
By Burl Burlingame
makes artifacts available
for public viewing
Star-BulletinDR. Lily Sui-Fong Sun has three circles burned into her forearm, shiny emblems of scar tissue, the result of an incense-burning accident many years ago. But she's not shy about showing them to you, because they remind her daily of the three principles of human harmony espoused by her grandfather, the legendary Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen.
"The 'Three Principles of the People' were inspired by Abraham Lincoln, and they helped create a modern China," said Sun. "They are, basically, nationalism, democracy and the people's livelihood. Or, even more basically -- happiness, friendliness and getting enough to eat."
Sun was sitting in Meador Library of Hawaii Pacific University downtown. The college not only has approximately 300 students from Taiwan, Sun is an alumnus and trustee of the school. She has been donating books and family heirlooms to the campus to inspire more scholarship about her famous grandfather.
Last week, the school dedicated a collection of Sun Yat-sen art pieces donated by Sun. They sit in a modern round display case in the library, reminding patrons that Sun Yat-sen was a real human being, not a mythological figure.
Many of Sun's ideas germinated in Hawaii, where he spent his teen and young adult years. Combining the principles of democracy and nationalism, and driving a wedge into the vacuum created by departing Western colonial powers, Sun's Kuomintang political party became the government of choice in China's successful 1912 revolution. The Kuomintang became the dominant political organization in China until it was ousted by the Communists in the late '40s.
It's a measure of the internecine nature of Chinese politics that Soong Ching-ling, Sun Yat-sen's second wife and Sun's grandmother, became a Communist official. The Kuomintang, now generally known as the Nationalist party, have occupied Taiwan, while the Communists control the mainland. Both groups claim to be the rightful political parties of modern China.
Photos by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Lily Sui-Fong Sun also donated two books about her
grandfather, Sun Yat-sen.
Both groups also revere Sun Yat-sen as the founder of modern China, without whom neither party would have gained a foothold. Sun is careful to be politic when discussing the governments of both nations; her goal is to keep alive the creeds and ideals of her grandfather."It is delicate. On the surface the Communists praise grandfather, but deep down, many hate him because he was an advocate of democracy."
She never knew him except through these ideals. Sun Yat-sen died of cancer in 1925 -- while attending a political conference -- and Lily Sui-Fong Sun was born in Shanghai in 1936. As a girl she suffered from whooping cough, and the family moved her to a place they thought would be healthier, Hong Kong, in November 1941.
Her young memories of the war include blackouts, bombing attacks, "crying every day and covering my eyes so no one would see," a craving for sugar. After the war came revolution, and National and Communist forces, now flush with weapons abandoned by the Americans, scrambled for control. As she went to high school, Sun moved between worlds, living in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shanghai.
In the mid-'50s, she studied architecture in Shanghai, and had trouble being accepted. "Because of my family, they thought I was a reactionary. Even though I was an honored student in high school, they would not admit me. Grandmother (Soong Ching-ling) wrote a letter to Tongchi University and they admitted me a year later."
Graduating in 1959, and unable to find work -- "No one would help me" -- Sun moved to Hong Kong, married and became an interior designer. A decade later, with the Cultural Revolution ramping up on the horizon like a thunderstorm, Sun and her husband moved to Hawaii.
"This is my home," said Sun, indicating everything around her.
Later divorced, she threw herself into Chinese studies and preserving Sun Yat-sen's legacy, "the national hero of modern China -- everything he did was for the nation." China today tolerates symposia of hundreds of scholars gathering together to discuss Sun Yat-sen's teachings, as if he were a modern Confucius.
"For a while, I was on a black list, then in 1997, Chairman Jiang Zemin called grandfather one the three great men of modern China, and things turned around. For that I thank him."
As for the Communists' hard-to-break habit of rewriting national history to suit current political whims, Sun says "It is a sword aimed at my heart. But I believe in karma. What you harvest grows from what you sow."
Leader’s roots
By Nadine Kam
in Hawaii make
for a fascinating
historical tale
Features editorTHE history of a nation is naturally focused on events within its borders. But countries are shaped as much by outside forces as from those inside. In many cases, it is the outside forces that prove most unstoppable.
In China's case, it was partially a series of 10 uprisings, with roots in Honolulu, that helped bring down the 2,000-year-old Manchu dynasty and set a path of self-governance for the powerful nation we know today.
"Sun Yat-sen in Hawaii: Activities and Supporters," a new book by Yansheng Ma Lum and Raymond Monkong Lum, traces the grassroots movement led by the man who would become known as the father of modern China.
It was in Hawaii that Sun Wen, known here as Sun Yat-sen, was educated in Western thought and the Democratic ideal during his teen years. He attended Iolani School between 1879 and 1882, enrolled under the name Tai Cheong. At Punahou School in 1883, he was enrolled as Tai Chu.
Later in the slim, straightforward volume, readers find he made such name changes throughout his life to mask his identity as he traveled from country to country trying to avoid capture. At one point in Japan he identified himself as "Mr. Aloha from Hawaii."
After going back to China to complete his medical education, he returned to Hawaii to found the first revolutionary organization, Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society), which developed into Tung Meng Hui (Alliance Society).
Hawaii was a natural place for Sun to start his revolution. Many of the Chinese he knew were successful merchants eager to assist the charismatic young leader with large monetary contributions. Those of lesser means purchased war bonds, which would repay them after the revolution was won. But many who contributed never intended to cash in. Many bonds were burned to eliminate evidence of ties to the rebels.
Co-author Raymond Lum's father, Lum Chee, was among Sun's followers and kept a collection of letters, military bonds and other memorabilia of the revolution. Lum's interest was piqued, knowing that each of the papers had a story to tell.
The book tells of Sun's early life on his brother Sun Mei's Kula farm, his fund-raising trips to Hilo and a journey to London where he was captured by the Manchu ambassador, who intended to smuggle Sun to China for execution.
Sun was able to smuggle a note out to a friend, Dr. James Cantlie, who contacted The Globe. A resulting story and public outcry led to Sun's release.
Some of the information is speculative and anecdotal. For instance, Sun Mei went bankrupt supporting his brother's cause, but it is reported that his contribution was $700,000, unbelievably high even by today's standards. It is sometimes unclear whether dollar amounts reported are calculated in American or Chinese currency.
But it is the overall story that is amazing, the way Sun Yat-sen managed to travel the globe in the days before air travel and after the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese people from entering the country.
Sun Mei had managed to secure for his brother a Territory of Hawaii birth certificate, but Sun, by all descriptions a man of honor, tried to correct the situation by also carrying a letter waiving his right to American citizenship, which led to his detainment in some ports.
While tracing Sun's footsteps via paper trails, the authors do not trespass into his personal life. That would take another volume ... or maybe not. The authors mention Sun's two marriages, but it is clear the revolution was the No. 1 priority for the idealistic man who became the first president of the Republic of China in 1912. During his struggles, the book indicates that he often left his family in the care of his brother and other supporters.
The book offers a fascinating, if brief account of a moment in history when Hawaii's small Chinese community could threaten a budding superpower.
REVIEW
Sun Yat-sen in Hawaii: Activities and Supporters
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