At that time he began to read and to study the Bible. In his home village his religious education had amounted to naught; born a pagan, he remained a pagan until hi sojourn in Honolulu.
Soon his brother grew uneasy] about the foreign education Sun} Yat-sen was absorbing. A Chinese, he reflected, must remain Chinese. A little education might be good; too much education could not be Jotherwise than harmful. By too much study his brother might adobe too many modern ideas; he might become like the foreigners, and he would no longer keep the old Chinese traditions. Hence abruptly decided to put a stop to Sun Yat-sen's studies, and in order to protect him against further fluence, he foreed him to go back to Tsuiheng. Much against his will Sun Yat-sen was forced to give up the western studies he loved so well and to return to China. A sad disappointment indeed Me spent the year 1883-1884 in his native village. In his opinion: that year was a lost year. It might.
re been &0 in regard to his studies, but it was not lost in regard to} of reform, for these grew ince the ae of thirteen, hearing uncle speak of the exploits of the Taiping (1850-1864) and_particularly of their chief, Hung Hsivchuan (DAH), he began to! realize his vocation as a revolutionist. Ever since, his ambition wax to be named "Hung Hsin-chuan He did not waste one chance of speaking against the regulations! which did not suit him, and in presence of an amazed crowd of peacefal country-folk he denounced the Uhings of which he did not approve the likin, the taxes, the government, the mandarins, even the Son of! Heaven.
"Who pockets the money raised by, your taxes?" he inquired.
"The Son of Heaven.
"And what does the Son of Heaven do for you in your village?—Noth-_ ing, It is you who establish the schools; it is you who build bridges and take care of the roads; it you who do everything. The Manchus even neglect your moral development, for they allow you to linger in the ignorance of the Feng. shui (2). 1 do not blame you: thi fault lies with the Son of Heaven.'
Apparently inspired by what he had read in the Gospel, one day be took a coin, and to his hearers who were already disturbed by his revolutionary ideas, he proposed the; question:
Who governs China?"
"The Son of Heaven."
"Is the Son of Heaven a Chines "Of course, only a Chinese can reach the dignity of Son of Heaven."
"Well, look at the characters on this coin, as ordained by the Son lof Heaven. These are not Chinese; they are, Tartar characters. Hence:
China is governed by a foreigner, by a Tartar.
Tt was not enough for him to letiticize the government. Sun Ya! sen, who had read the Bible, wanted to do away with idolatry which he justly considered as the fundamental' cause of ignorance. He grieved to see his parents prostrate them selves before those graven and painted wooden images. He wisely. reflected: "No progress is possible for China as long as the people offer incense to idols. Superstition inspires fear. Ere China can be-comte a progressive nation, it will be necessary to destroy all these paintings and these sculptures, for all superstition stands for fear and ignorance."
Sun Yat-sen did not confine his ideas of reform to the mere denouncing of idol worship. One day he decided to put his now ideas into effect. Accompanied by some of his. friends, he climbed into the village pagoda. A few devotees soon began to prostrate themselves before the idol of the North Emperor ata). By a sign Sun Yat-sen, ordered them to rise. 'Then he took' hold of the idol's finger and began to brag: "Why must we adore wooden images? They. are power less to. protect themselves, how could they aid us? See whether this idol can prevent me from twisting its finger. See whether it will make the least grimace." And pulled cif the idot's finger. Then he held it toward his abashed com-rand added proudly: "Behold wha; kind of a god protects your village! T have just pulled out one of his fingers, and he keeps on grinning. Some great god!
The uproar was great when the account of the incident reached the villagers, and everyone exclaimed: "This is the result of foreign educa-_ ion!" Good mothers warned thei children against associating with the young reprobate, He was unanxiously anathematized, The authorities of the village demanded his bai labment, and he was obliged to leave his home, Sun Yat-sen was sent into exile. After having spent one year in the Medical School at Canton, he went to Hongkong. Already in' Honolulu: American teachers had taught him something about America, Hongkong he was to meet people whose ancestors hud made the greatness of America. When he lurided fon the island, everything was to him source of wonder: the English soldiers and the ships, the good order, the cleanliness, the police, the buildings, the streets. He said to himself; "This is what England, a small country. can do, while China fs impoverished by the rule of the Manchus." From his first contact with European civilization he reaized that the great mistake of China had been to isolate herself for centuries. He was of the opinion that long before his time China should have united herself to the Great family of nation The fact that in Hongkong he would continue his Wester studies consoled him in his banishment. He entered Queen's College.
There religious education which had merely been started in Honolulu was continued in the Protestant School. The incident of the pagoda, which had raised an impassible barrier between tke old China represented by his compatriots and, the China of the future of which he was the only representative at that time, helped him to break away from the religion of his forefathers and to turn toward Christianity. What he mostly admired in that latter religion was the outward manifestation such as he saw it exied by Anglo-Saxon culture, we may use that term—in Christ because His tea chirgs were the starting point of Western civilization. One of most intimate friends, speaking of his religious attitude writes: "I be lieve that Sun in his heart is a Christian, but his is the sort of Christianity that makes all good men brothers, whether they have heard of the message of the great arena of unconsciously follow it in their search for better things.
He is a Christian of the whole bro~ ther hood of man!
Equipped with a rather scanty knowledge of Christian doctrine, he received Baptism from the hand of the Protestant minister, Hager, at the age of eighteen. He then became a member of the London Missionary Society.
The Franco-Chinese War (1881-
1885) revealed to him the weakness of China and of the Manchu government. To those who, infatuated with the supposed greatness of China, proclaimed her probable victory, Sun Yat-sen replied: "The French have iron ships, whereas we have only junks. How can we fight against France when we do not even know the location - of that country? We should have prepared beforehand to conduct warfare according to modern methods." Then would come asa refrain his delenda Carthono! Were Carthaco meant the Manchu dynasty which was, in yes; responsible for all the ill-fortunes and humiliations of China.
At about that time he married Mise Lu (If), whose birthplace was a few miles distant from Tsulhong. "Three children were born from, that union. The son, Sun-f0 (GRAY) later took his degree at the Universities of Berkeley and [Columbia in the United States, then he became Mayor of Canton, and, afler the death of his father, con: tinued the Nationalist propaganda. At present he is Minister of the Railways. One of the daughters, Anne Sun (44%), died in 1913, the other, Grace Sun (44.59) stud ied in the United States and with drew to Macao with her mother when this latter obtained a divorce from-Sun Yatsen, {In the year 1885 he was suddenly called to Honolulu. by. his. brother to settle some financial "question. When he arrived there Sun Yat-sen noticed that the island had. progeessed more in two years than China had done in. 2,000 years, Having attended to the Yusiviess matters of his brother, he quickly returned to Honszkong to prepare for the future.
From that tim rot from an earlier date—Sun Yat-sen began to feel conscious of his rile. Ho felt within himself the powers of leader.
At any cost it was nec to overthrow the Mancha ud to establish a republic He wished to attend a itary school, but none existed in China. Me had planned to enter at least the naval school of Foochow.
the only school of that kind in China—but that was just destroyed. by French guns. As a last resource he had recourse to medical studien a5 a blind, His aim was to prepare the revelation while posing as a After he had taken his degree at the Academic College of Hongkong, Sun Yateron in 1866" entered Medical School of Canton (94 8 %) whose President was Dr, Jhoa Kerr, un-American Presbyterian Missionary, "Ile felt leas al easy there than he had done at Honge kong. After one year he returned to the island and entered the Hong-Honk Me hoot (Alice Bes morial Hospital). which is-at bree fent a part of the University. Ho Femained there from 1887 to 180%. Two. of his professors were Sie Jamies Cantho and Dr. Manson, who a fow years laier saved his lite in London.
While he id not forget his revol= plans. Frequent visits to on, to Anioy, and tod in touch with three other friends whom he gained for his cause. They were Chen Shao-pat (HUPA). Vu Shao-huan (Rdg) and) Yang Uao-ling (44 gO) They formed the "quadrumvirat of the great bandits" (INC 9f). What interested them was not so. much the study of medicine as the history lutions. Any meeting where talk of revolution was failure. Soon they had a device and followers, Their device. wa "The mandates of heaven are nob eternal." In plain Engtisl meant: "the days of the dynasty ara numbered." Their followers united into the Dare-to-die."
1802 he obtained the degree of "Bachelor of Medicine and. Sur~ ery." Henceforth he was known ae Dr. Sun. He began acting as 4 doctor in 'Macao and in' Yang-cheng (ab). But, as stated above, the practice of medicine was for him but a blind: what he want was to start the revolution.
From that time on he began to set afoot active preparations. sent his emissaries abroad. {1 order to have definite proofs of the weakness of the Manchus he travelled to Tientsin, Peking, Hankow, Hanyang, and Wuchang. In Tientvin he waived a good position as a physician, Later on he returned to Tientsin in order to ascertain the views of the famous Li Hung-chang in gard to the reforms to be introduced China. He wanted to present hhioy "his famous Tract. of Tone thousand Characters (IS 77Up) im Which he and his followers nad expressed all their dexiderato. For EImost six months he waited to be admitted in "audience with the famous viceroy, Int failed the received. He departed from Tien tsin thoroughly disgusted with the Manchu government sand resolved:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.