Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-13-11 20:09
(003)
The youth of Charles Soong (宋耀如 Song Yaoru)
alias Charles Jones Soong (1863 to 1918)
http://yn.chung.id.au/CharlesSoong.jpg
Charles was the father of the famous Three Soong Sisters, Soong Eling, Soong
Qingling and Soong Mayling, of China before Liberation.
The year was 1851, the month January, the date the eleventh, the place,
a village called Jiantian (金田村) in Guiping county (桂平縣) of Guangxi
province (廣西省) in China. Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全), the leader of an armed
band of Hakka Chinese, staged an uprising against the Qing Government (清
朝). The motto of their cause was [天下一家, 共享太平 One family under heaven,
enjoy the great peace together.] The Hakka Chinese named the uprising Taiping
Revolution (太平革命). They marched eastward along Changjiang (長江 the
Yangtze River) and captured Nanjing (南京) in 1853. The Hakka Chinese proclaimed
the formation of Taiping Tianguo (太平天國 the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom).
Nanjing was renamed Tianjing (天京 Heveanly Capital) which was to become
the capital of the Heavenly Kingdom (1851AD to 1864AD).
Immediately after the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan
dispatched Li Kaifang (李開芳) to led a Northern Expedition Force with the
intention of capturing Beijing (北京), the capital of the Qing Government.
The Taiping Forces marched through the provinces of Anhui (安徽省), Jiangsu
(江蘇省), Henan (河南省), Shanxi (山西省) and Hebei (河北省) to Tianjin
city (天津市).
A Hakka Chinese family by the surname of Soong (宋 Song) from Shanxi province,
fled the turmoil to the south and ended up settling down in Meixian (梅
縣) of Guangdong province (廣東省). Finding Meixian was not safe for them
the Soong family trekked along the coast on foot to Luichow Peninsula (雷
州半島) opposite the island of Hainan (海南島). By junk the Soong family
crossed the 30 kilometers Kiungchow Strait to Haikou (海口), the capital
of the island. The Soong family finally settled down in a town called Wenchang
(文昌), about 40 kilometers southeast of Haikou. (According to Rewi Alley,
a good friend of Rosamond Soong or Soong Qing-Ling 宋慶齡, Madam Dr Sun
Yat-Sen, in his essay "My memory of Soong Qing-Ling", in the magazine "China
Reconstruct", [the founder of this magazine was Soong Qing-Ling] stating
"Very often I went to Hainan Island to spent my winter there. I often passed
through Wenchang, the birth place of Soong Qing-ling's father. I noticed
there were many Hakka families in Wenchang and majority of them were relocated
from Meixian county in the east of Guandong province during the Qing Dynasty"
).
In 1860, a few years after the Soong family had established themselves well
in Wenchang, Mrs Soong gave birth to a baby boy who was named Soong Yao-ju
(宋耀如 Soong Yaoru in Hanyu Pinyin).
From Meixian a younger brother of Mrs Soong did not follow the Soong family
to Hainan Island; instead he migrated to USA. He opened a tea and silk shop
in the city of Boston, the first of its kind in America.
In 1872 this prosperous American Chinese businessman returned to the Old
Mountain of the Ancestors to visit Mrs Soong, his only relative. The younger
brother of Mrs Soong adopted Yao-Ju as his heir and successor, as he was
unmarried and without any male children. He took Yao-Ju back to America
wanting the child to learn the intricacies of trade.
Soong Yao-Ju had been learning how to become a small businessman for three
years. He lived a Chinese life in a Chinese house in the heart of Boston.
He was twelve years old and already not happy working in his maternal uncle's
shop.
One day, two Chinese boys, both fourteen years old, dropped into the shop
and began to talk to Yao-Ju because Yao-Ju was their compatriot. The two
boys, one called Wan Bing-Zhong (I lost my Chinese version of the story)
and the other Niu Shan-Zhou, were to change his life forever. In later life
the three of them were to become brothers-in-law. His new friends were from
Shanghai and they were two of the students from the Chinese Education Mission
in Boston, organized by Dr Yang Yong a graduate of Yale University.
The two new friends visited the shop frequently. They told him about their
life at school and also about the fun they had during the school picnic
camping, and also the advantages of getting a good education. They urged
him to ask his uncle for permission to attend school like them. Yao-Ju was
already attending night classes but, from what his friends told him it was
useless to go to night school.
One day, Yao-Ju approached his uncle about attending day school like other
ordinary kids did. His uncle was furious and stopped him from seeing his
friends who had influenced Yao-Ju to go against his wishes. Yao-Ju was thirteen
years old then and decided to run away from his uncle's shop.
Soong Yao-Ju visited Boston Harbour and decided to stow away in a ship.
In 1876 an opportunity arise and he secretly boarded a ship called S.S.
Schuyer Colfax which headed for the South.
Soong Yao-Ju was caught by a sailor and was brought before the ship captain,
Charles Jones, who was fortunately a kind man. Captain Jones did not put
him ashore at the next port but wondered how and why a Chinese boy wanted
to stow away on board his ship. Yao-Ju told him about his desire to attend
school and his uncle's refusal to let him. Yao-Ju begged the captain to
allow him to work in the ship. Charles Jones gave his permission and Soong
Yao-Ju became a cabin boy.
Every Sunday, on the ship, Captain Charles Jones would talk to Yao-Ju about
Christianity. It seemed that Yao-Ju was quite interested in the stories
about Christ.
When the Colfix arrived at Wilmington, North Carolina, Captain Jones went
to talk about Yao-Ju to his friends, Colonel Roger Moore and Mrs Chadwick,
who were workers in the Southern Methodist Church. Later Mrs Chadwick presented
Yao-Ju's case to Reverend T. Page Ricaud, the pastor of the Fifth Street
Methodist Episcopal Church of South Carolina. Dr Ricaud baptized Soong Yao-Ju
as Charles Jones Soong. Soong Yao-Ju chose this name as a compliment to
his benefactor Captain Charles Jones.
Several months later Dr Ricaud took Charlie Soong to see a rich textile
manufacturer, a Confederate General and a philanthropist, General Julian
S. Carr. Dr Ricaud told General Carr that Charlie Soong wanted to attend
school. General Carr also agreed that Charlie Soong should have a good education.
Charlie Soong was arranged and admitted to the Methodist Trinity College
in Randolph county.
Charlie Soong lived with Professor W.T. Gannaway and studied with Dr Braxton,
the president of the college, while Mrs Craven helped him with his English.
Charlie Soong was taken into the church; his benefactors were preparing
him to go back to China to preach Christianity.
During school holidays Charlie Soong would sell books and cord hammocks
that were made by him.
After two years at Trinity College, Charlie Soong was transferred to study
at Vanderbit University in Nashville, Tennessee. He studied religion at
Vanderbit from 1882 to 1885.
In 1886, Charlie Soong returned to China. He was twenty three years old.
He did not immediately return to his parents but when to Shanghai to report
for duty as a preacher to Dr Young J. Allen, who was in charge of all the
Chinese mission of the Methodist Church in China.
Charlie asked for permission to visit his parents in Hainan Island and his
request was refused by Dr Allen on the ground that he could only allow him
to travel there on the coming Chinese New Year and not before that. Charlie
was not happy with Dr Allen and he applied for a transfer to Japan. His
application was rejected and he had to work under the supervision of Dr
Allen.
Charlie Soong was posted to a town called Wusong (吳淞) which was at the
mouth of Huangpu Jiang (黃浦江) which emptied into Changjiang (長江 or the
Yangtze River). His job was to preach to a small congregation of converted
Methodist Chinese and to teach their children at the denomination school.
As the students in the school could not understand Hakka dialect he had
to teach them in English. One of his student later was to become a well
known educationist and he was Dr Hu Shih (胡適).
Several months later after he had mastered the Shanghaiese dialect Charlie
was posted hinterland to Kunshan (昆山) which was about 70 kilometers west
of Shanghai. Charlie was a total stranger in his own country as the people
in Kunshan disliked him. They called him a "Jia Yang Gui Zi 假洋鬼子 or
a fake foreign devil", without a pigtail. Charlie was very unhappy working
in Kunshan.
One day, while on leave and walking in the streets of Shanghai, he met his
old friend Niu Shan-Zhou who was one of the two boys frequented his uncle's
shop in Boston. Charlie told Niu Shan-Zhou about his miserable life in China
and that he was lonely and needed a wife. Niu introduced his 19 years old
sister-in-law to Charlie.
In July 1887, Charlie Soong got married to Miss Ni Hui-Xian who was a Christian
and a descendant of Su Kuang-Ki who was one of the earlier converted Christian
in China in the early 1600s. Su Kuang-Ki was a friend of Jesuit Matteo Ricci
who arrived in China at the end of the Ming Dynasty (明朝 1368AD to 1644AD).
After their marriage they lived at Kunshan. Charlie's salary was only $15
per month. However, he received a large dowry as his father-in-law was very
wealthy. Charlie and Mrs Soong had six children, three boys and three girls.
Soong Zi-Wen (宋子文Paul T.V. Soong), Soong Ai-Ling (宋藹齡 Madam H.H. Kung
孔祥熙 an directed offspring of Confucius), Soong Qing-Ling Rosamond (宋
慶齡 Madam Dr Sun Yat-Sen 孫逸仙), Soong Mei-Ling (宋美齡 Madam Chiang Kai-Shik
蔣介石), Soong Zi-Liang (宋子良) and Soong Zi-An (宋子安).
In 1892, Charlie Soong quit his job as a preacher. He became an agent for
foreign machinery company in Shanghai. Charlie learned how to install the
equipment for flour and cotton mills. He partnered with a Mr Sun and established
a flour mill. Later he founded a publishing house which was to become the
famous Shang Wu (商務) Publishing Company in Shanghai. The company was also
printing the bibles in Chinese and English. He made his fortune by printing
bibles. .......................................
Source:
(1) The Soong Sisters
by Emily Hahn first published in May 1942.
(2) 馬來西亞客家鄉賢錄
Published by the Federated Hakka Associations of Malaysia
Posted to asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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