Charlie Soong

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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.

Early life

Charlie Soong was born as Han Chiao-Shun sometime between 1863 and 1866 in the Hainan region of China. At the age of 15 he sailed with his uncle to Boston in the United States and became a migrant worker. After working for his uncle for some time, he left on his own and was soon taken in by a group of Methodist missionaries. He quickly after this converted to the Christian faith and was baptized Charlie Jones Soon - Charlie Soon was probably an Anglicized version of the first character of his given name Chiao-Shun, but there is more confusion towards from where he got his middle name Jones. It was not until years later that he added the extra letter to his surname, spelling it Soong.

The Methodists arranged for Charlie Soong to live with the industrialist and philanthropist Julian Carr in North Carolina. Carr had been a great contributor to Trinity College (now Duke University) and was subsequently able to get his Chinese protégé into the school even though he met none of the qualifications for entry to university. The prospect of having a native Chinese as a missionary in China thrilled some of the pastors around him, and thus the focus of his studies were mastering the English language and study of the bible. Soong later studied at Vanderbilt University, from which he received a degree in theology. In 1886 he was sent to Shanghai on a mission after spending almost half of his life to that point abroad.

Children

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.

See also

Further reading

  • Seagrave, Sterling. The Soong Dynasty: 1996, Corgi Books, ISBN 0-552-14108-9
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