Charlie Soong - From Missionary To Revolutionary

From Missionary To Revolutionary

Soong's career as a missionary proved to be a short one. In the late 1880s, Charlie had begun to tire of the mission and felt that he could do more for his people if he was not bound to the restrictions and methods that came with working for the church. When he founded his first business—a small printing establishment—he seemingly found it appropriate to resign from preaching. Instead, another society required his time and loyalty. Around this time, Charlie had secretly been initiated into Shanghai’s thriving anti-Manchu resistance movement, more specifically an organization that went by the name of Hung P’ang, or the Red Gang. This organization had its roots in the movements to reinstate the Ming dynasty in the latter part of the 17th century, but had since transformed into a republican revolutionary force.

In 1894, Charlie Soong made the arguably most important connection in his life when he met Sun Yat-Sen at a Sunday service in a Methodist church in Shanghai. The two men were kindred spirits of sorts, sharing their Western education, region of birth, dialect, the Christian faith and a burning ambition and craving for change in China. Perhaps most importantly, they were both members of entwined anti-Manchu triads. They quickly became good friends and Charlie started funding Sun’s campaigns. A political body was set up, and the plan was to connect the triads into a network of opposition. When their first attempt at uprising failed in 1895, Sun fled China, and would not come back until sixteen years later. Charlie had remained incognito during the resistance and deemed it safe to remain in Shanghai, as his name had not yet been connected to the failed coup. In the coming years, Charlie Soong funded Sun Yat-Sen’s travels in search of support and major financial backing.