The Hidden Epicenter of Revolution At the southern edge of China, where fertile plains meet the restless waves of the South China Sea, lies Wuyi (五邑)—a region that defied its modest size to become the unseen powerhouse behind the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Comprising Xinhui (新会), Taishan (台山), Kaiping (开平), Enping (恩平), and Heshan…
In 1883, I was abruptly withdrawn from my studies at Iolani College in Hawaii and sent back to my ancestral home in Cuiheng Village. My brother, Sun Mei, made this decision after I tore down an image of Guan Yu—a revered deity among Chinese laborers abroad. This act was not merely vandalism but stemmed from…
When I was born on November 12, 1866, the Qing Dynasty had just extinguished the last embers of the Taiping Rebellion . The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) was one of the deadliest civil wars in history, led by Hong Xiuquan , a failed scholar who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. He sought…
In my lifetime, I’ve had over thirty names. In the United States, people called me Sun Yat-sen; in Japan, most referred to me as Sun Wen. After the Xinhai Revolution, my comrades honored me with the name Sun Zhongshan. At home, my family called me Sun Dixiang—a name steeped in superstition, supposedly because a fortune-teller…