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Sun
Yat-sen was born in Cui-heng Village, Zhongshan, Guangdong Province,
China on November 12, 1866. He was brought up in a culture of
a Guangdong peasant village where he acquired only a rudimentary
education. Before the age of thirteen, he was taken to join
his emigrant elder brother, Sun Mei, in Hawaii, where he attended
missionary schools and developed interests in both government
and medicine, and most importantly, his feeling for Christianity.
Four years later, when he returned to his hometown, he shocked
his family and the entire village by deliberately desecrating
the wooden image of the local deity.
In 1883, when he was seventeen, he went to Hong Kong to continue
his education in English, and his feeling for Christianity grew
even stronger. In 1884 at the age of eighteen, he decided to
formally embrace Christianity. He was baptized in Hong Kong
by Dr Charles Hager, an American Congregationalist missionary.
In 1883, when he was seventeen, he went to Hong Kong to continue
his education in English, and his feeling for Christianity grew
even stronger. In 1884 at the age of eighteen, he decided to
formally embrace Christianity. He was baptized in Hong Kong
by Dr Charles Hager, an American Congregationalist missionary.
During 1894 to 1896, he organized the Hsing Chun Hui in Honolulu,
attempted his first revolutionary uprising in Guangdong, and,
as a consequence of these activities, became a fugitive on three
continents. However, he gained international notoriety from
the attempt by the Chinese legation in London to kidnap him.
In the dramatic kidnapping episode in London, Sun reported praying
constantly for God's help. In his letter to Pastor Chu he wrote,
"I was saved by GodÉNow I believe in
God more than everÉI am like the prodigal son and the lost sheep:
I owe everything to the great favor of God. Through the Way
of God I hope to enter into the Political Way. I hope you will
not cease to write to me about the Way of God."
Most importantly, the kidnapping episode and the twelve-day
imprisonment strengthened Sun Yat-sen's self-confidence and
sense of dedication. It convinced him that God has forestalled
his enemies to preserve him for some high purpose. He was thus
transformed from a comparatively insignificant Cantonese rebel
into a well publicized and extremely confident enemy of the
Manchu regime. |
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