First President

Dr. Sun Yatsen (1866-1925) is hailed as the father of modern China, and his courageous life story is reported in many books. This profile will not try to summarize that life but instead will focus on three episodes that portray his longtime faith in Jesus Christ.

His Conversion. Sun was born in a small village in Guangdong and given the name Dixiang (he who serves the god) to signify his mothers reverence for the village deity. In 1879 his older brother brought him to Hawaii and enrolled him in a Christian school, where he developed a love for singing hymns and the habit of reading the Bible. He was sent him back to China in 1882 after he asked him for permission to be baptized. During a festival Sun defaced the village deitys idol to demonstrate its impotence. For his shocking action, he was expelled from the village and went to Hong Kong. Sun enrolled in a Christian school that required mastery of both English and Chinese. He studied the Chinese classics under Ou Fengchi, a Chinese pastor. He also became friends with an American missionary, Dr. Charles R. Hager. Sun told Hager that he believed in Christ but had not been baptized. Hager discipled him for a time, and baptized him in 1884. Hager wrote that Sun immediately began to witness for Christ, and such was his earnestness that in a short time two of his friends accepted Christ. This was at time when few converts were made and when many feared to identify themselves with Christians. Sun also accompanied Hager on a missionary journey to Macau and even took him to the home village from which he had recently been expelled.

His Consecration. Following in Dr. Hagers steps, Sun became a medical doctor, but he was drawn into political activities after the shocking defeat of China in the 1894-95 war with Japan. While in London in 1896, Dr. Sun was kidnapped by the Qing Government and faced deportation and certain execution. God used this prison experience in a mighty way in Suns life, and he wrote to both of his Hong Kong mentors in the faith, Rev. Ou and Dr. Hager. To Rev. Ou he wrote, While in prison I thought I should surely meet death and that I could never hope to live again...In those days of suffering I only beat my heart and repented and earnestly prayed. For six or seven days I prayed incessantly day and night. The more I prayed the more earnest I was in my payer. On the seventh day I felt suddenly comforted. I was absolutely without fear. The state of being comforted and feeling brave came to me unconsciously. This was the result of prayer. How fortunate I was to have received the Grace of God. To Dr. Hager, Sun to Dr. Hager: I was saved by GodNow I believe in God more than everI owe everything to the great favor of God.

His Commemoration. Dr. Sun died of liver cancer at age 58 in Beijing on March 12, 1925. Just before his death, he told his only son, "As a Christian I have wrestled with the devil for forty years. You should do likewise and believe in God." At his familys insistence, a Christian funeral was first held before the massive state funeral. H.H. Kung, later Minister of Finance and Dr. Suns brother-in-law, recounted in his eulogy that the dying Dr. Sun had seized his hand and exclaimed, You are a Christian and so am I. I wish to tell you something I have always felt which you will understand. Just as Christ was sent by God to the world, so also did God send me.

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