Charlie Soong
|
|
Charles Jones Soong (宋嘉樹 Pinyin: Sòng Jiāshù) (February 1863, 1864 or 1866 - May 3, 1918), courtesy name Yaoru (耀如, hence his alternate name: Soong Yao-ju), was a Hakka Chinese who achieved prominence as a missionary and businessman. His children become some of the most prominent people in the early Republic of China. Originally, he romanized his surname to be Soon.
Soong, born Han Jiaozhun (韓教準) in Hainan as the third son of Han Hongyi (韓鴻翼), changed his surname after a sonless uncle adopted him while he worked in Boston since twelve. He converted to Christianity at fifteen, started studying Christian theology at sixteen or eighteen, and became a Methodist missionary in 1885. He became the first international student at Trinity College (now Duke University) where he was enrolled from 1880-1881 but later transferred to Vanderbilt University where he received his degree. In January 1886, he moved to Shanghai, and married Ni Kwei-tseng (倪桂珍 Guizhen) later that year. Their children, in order of age, were:
- Soong Ai-ling, the eldest of the Soong sisters, wife of the richest man in China who controlled the Bank of China
- Soong Ch'ing-ling, second of the Soong sisters, wife of founding father of the Peoples Republic of China, Sun Yat Sen
- T. V. Soong (Soong Tse-ven, 子文 Zǐwén;)
- Soong May-ling, youngest Soong sister, wife of Chiang Kai Shek, head of Taiwan
- T. L. Soong (Soong Tse-liang, 子良 Zǐliáng), a New York businessman
- T. A. Soong (Soong Tse-an, 子安 Zǐ'ān), the chairman of the Bank of Canton, Hong Kong. He died of apoplexy in Hong Kong on February 25, 1969.
Charlie Soong resigned his missionary position at 26 and started doing business in cigarettes and cotton. He served as an English translator for the Fou Foong Flour Company (福豐麵粉廠), the largest flour mill in Asia, founded by the Sun family of Shouxian, Anhui. He was the owner of a printing firm: Meihua Printing Press (美華印書館), which printed Chinese Bibles.
After meeting and befriending Sun Yat-sen and Lu Hao-tung in summer 1894 in Shanghai, Soong donated over 20,000 dollars to the Tongmenghui led by Sun. (His daughter Ch'ing-ling later married Sun.) He also secretly published anti-Qing revolutionary material along with his Bibles.
Soong died of stomach cancer.