Madame Yang

Yang, born in 1828, was the mother of Sun Yat-sen. Her father, Yang Shenghui, made a living through farming and fishing. At the age of 18, she married Sun Dacheng. As a woman with bound feet, she devoted herself to household duties and raising children after marriage. In October 1895, following the failure of Sun Yat-sen’s Guangzhou Uprising, he was forced into exile. Escorted by fellow villager and Xingzhonghui member Lu Can, Yang, together with Lu Muzhen, Sun Ke, and Sun Yan, went to Honolulu to rely on Sun Yat-sen’s elder brother, Sun Mei. Between 1904 and 1905, the Hawaiian government revised its land lease laws, which proved unfavorable to existing tenants. Sun Mei’s appeal through a lawyer failed, and in 1907 he closed his farm on Maui. Yang then moved with him to Kowloon, Hong Kong. In April 1910, Yang fell gravely ill. Sun Yat-sen, then in Honolulu, learned of her condition but could not personally visit. He wrote multiple letters to his nephew Sun Chang and his wife Wang Jinshun in the United States, urging them to return quickly to Hong Kong to see Yang one last time, and remitted 500 yuan to support the trip. In July 1910, while traveling from the Americas to Japan and passing through Hong Kong, Sun Yat-sen was denied landing by the British colonial authorities, and could only have his mother carried aboard the ship for a final meeting. On July 19, 1910, Yang passed away in Kowloon, Hong Kong, at the age of 83. Sun Yat-sen wished to observe mourning for his mother in Hong Kong, but was again barred entry by the British authorities. Her funeral was arranged by Tongmenghui member Luo Yannan and others, and she was buried at Baohualin in Fei Ngo Shan, Sai Kung, New Territories. Her tombstone was inscribed with ‘Grave of Madam Yang, Mother of the Sun Family of Xiangshan.’