About Me

After a career of over 40 years as an academic psychologist, I started a new career as a public historian of Chinese American history that led to five Yin & Yang Press books and over 100 book talks about the lives of early Chinese immigrants and their families operating laundries, restaurants, and grocery stores. This blog contains more research of interest to supplement my books.

8/10/12

Sun Yat-Sen and Madame Sun Yat-Sen in Georgia?

     The three most powerful women in China in the first half of the 20th century, the  Soong sisters, Ai-Ling, Ching-Ling, and May-Ling were in Macon, Georgia around 1910-1913 where the 2 oldest attended Wesleyan College for Women.  Ching-Ling would later marry revolutionary leader, Sun Yat-Sen,  May-Ling would marry Chiang Kai-Shek, President of Nationalist China, and Ai-Ling would marry H. Kung, Finance Minister.
     From the wording of the caption below the photograph from the Georgia Archives one might think it was taken in Macon, but the dates, 1920s-1930s, are incorrect (as is the spelling of her name). I question whether the photograph was taken in Macon even if it is in the Georgia Archives as I have never seen evidence that Sun Yat-Sen ever came to Macon.

In any case, note the caption urges the viewer to "Note their clothing" although it is not clear if this is a positive or negative comment.


"Macon, 1920s-1930s. Sun Yat-Sen and Madame Sun Yat-Sen. She was the former Chungling Soong, one of three sisters to attend Wesleyan College. She received her degree in 1913. Her husband became the first president of Nationalist China. Note their clothing."

The postcard shows Wesleyan College atop Washington Park.  It is the site of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's visit to Macon to receive an honorary doctorate in 1943 during her historic visit to the U. S. to raise funds for the war effort against Japan. (There is some irony in this honor because when she was an adolescent in Macon, she was denied admission to a white school on the grounds that she was an "Alien.")
  The buildings burned down sometime later, probably in the 1970s, and the college is now located further from the city center.










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