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Sun Yat-Sen's Fund-Raising Activities in Hawai'i

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Sun Yat-Sen's Fund-Raising Activities in Hawai'i YANSHENG MA LUM RAYMOND MUN KONG LUM Sun Yat-sen's Fund-Raising Activities in Hawai'i SUN YAT-SEN (SUN WEN), the founding father of modern China, is one of the most respected and revered statesman in the world. At the turn of the twentieth century, he led the Chinese people in a rev- olutionary movement that overthrew the Manchu dynasty, ending more than four thousand years of imperial rule in China. The Republic of China was established in 1911, and Sun Yat-sen was elected the first provisional president. Hawai'i and its people played an important role in Sun's life and revolutionary activities. For one thing, Hawai'i was known as Sun's second home because he spent his teenage years here and had rela- tives and many friends in the Islands. From 1878 to 1910, Sun visited Hawai'i six times, totaling more than seven years. During his years of exile, he was not allowed to land in some countries, for example, the Dutch Indies. Even in Japan, where he spent more than six years and which he adopted as a base for his operations, he occasionally found himself not so welcome. But he never had any difficulty returning to Hawai'i.The Chinese in Hawai'i wholeheartedly supported him and the revolution by donating time and money, sometimes sacrificing Yansheng Ma Lum is a graduate of St. John's University of Shanghai and has worked for the Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China, the All China Women's Federation, and the United Nations Children's Fund. A Hawai'i resident since 1986, she has published articles on the Chinese in Hawai % in magazines in China. Raymond Man Kong Lum was born in Hilo, was graduated from the University of Hawai'i, and worked as a printer, commercial artist, and manager of Lum and Feher Ltd. The Hawaiian Journal ofHistory, vol. 32 (1998) 175 176 THE HAWAIIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY their lives and their sons' lives. Sun once called the overseas Chinese "the mother of revolution." Hawai'i is also known as the cradle of the Chinese revolution because it was here that Sun founded the first revolutionary organi- zation, the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society). This organiza- tion later developed into a strong political party, the Tung Meng Hui (Alliance Society), which overthrew the Manchu regime. It was reor- ganized and became the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). It was in Hawai'i that Sun and more than a hundred people first vowed to destroy the Manchus, and this little spark ignited the fire that burned down the decaying regime. HAWAI'I'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TEN UPRISINGS Sun organized ten uprisings before the October 10, 1911, uprising that finally overthrew the Manchu regime. In order to purchase weapons and ammunition and to pay the soldiers, Sun went abroad to raise funds from the overseas Chinese. The first place he went was Hawai'i, and his first attempt to raise money started with the Hsing Chung Hui in Honolulu. The first Canton uprising he instigated was mainly funded by the Chinese in Hawai'i. In the beginning, when Sun first advocated revolution, he found that the task was most difficult. He wrote in his autobiography: When the war with Japan ended, I thought it was time to act. ... I went to Hawaii and America, established the Hsing Chung Hui in order to rally the overseas Chinese to help the revolution. However, people had not awakened to join in the revolution. I advocated for many months, and very few people responded. The only two men that helped with all they possessed were Dang Yun-nam and my brother, plus scores of rel- atives and friends who supported the cause.1 To raise funds, every Hsing Chung Hui member paid five dollars as a membership fee, and the organization issued stock at ten dollars a share, to be paid back tenfold after the revolution succeeded.2 Sun collected $288 in membership dues and $1,100 in stock, but that was not enough to funding an uprising. Then, Sun's close friend Dang Yun-nam liquidated his personal assets and donated a large sum of SUN YAT-SEN S FUND-RAISING ACTIVITIES 177 money to buy weapons. His brother Sun Mei also supported him by selling his cattle. It was with a sum of $ 6,000 3 from Hawai'i and some other funds he raised in Hong Kong that Sun launched the first Can- ton uprising in October 1894. The second uprising, the Waichou uprising in 1900, was funded by donations from Chinese in Hong Kong and a Japanese supporter. Sun Mei was the only one in Hawai'i involved in funding this upris- ing. In a letter addressed to his friend Wo Jin-heng on October 30, 1909, Sun said: In 1 goo, when the Waichou uprising was launched, we needed at least a hundred thousand dollars and more. I got some from Hong Kong, some from Japan. ... I relied on my brother for help. My brother and I had been donating all we had for the revolution and my brother donated almost all he had. Two years ago my brother filed for bankruptcy. ... I am responsible for his bankruptcy. .4 There is no record of the total amount of money Sun Mei gave, but the extensiveness of his contributions is verified by one source, Sun Fo's secretary, Hou Chung-i. Hou said that he heard in the Sun fam- ily discussions that Sun Mei's total contributions to the revolution amounted to $7oo,ooo.5 The funding of the third through the eighth uprisings launched from May 1907 to May 1908 came from overseas Chinese in South- east Asia, Japan, Europe, Canada, the United States, and Hawai'i (Lai Hipp of Hilo sent $1,150) .6 The ninth uprising was mainly funded by overseas Chinese from the United States, and the funds for the tenth uprising in March 1911, the famous Wong Hua Gong uprising, came exclusively from the overseas Chinese all over the world. The Chinese of Hawai'i donated $2,OOO.7 FIRST MILITARY BOND ISSUED IN HAWAI'I To raise funds, Sun issued "military bonds," which were debenture certificates that promised the buyer repayment at ten times the value of the investment, plus special privileges after the revolution suc- ceeded. This was supposed to provide incentives so that more people 178 THE HAWAIIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY would buy the bonds. Later, experience showed that people were more concerned about possible incrimination than about the incen- tives. Many people were afraid to get involved in the revolution because they did not want their relatives in China to be targets of per- secution. In 1904, Sun issued the first "military bond" in Hawai'i (see Fig. 1). The bonds were all printed in Honolulu. Sales were not as good as expected, however, and only $2,000 was collected. When Sun left Honolulu, he took the unsold bonds to San Francisco and collected another $4,ooo.8 DONATIONS FROM THE BROAD MASSES The majority of Sun's supporters were overseas Chinese from the lower middle class, workers, intellectuals, and small merchants. They were not wealthy, but considering their means, they were most gen- erous in supporting the revolution. When Sun talked about over- throwing the oppressive Manchu regime and building a strong and prosperous country that they could be proud of and a government that would protect their legal rights, they responded enthusiastically and gave all they could afford. There were many moving stories of how the masses responded to Sun's appeals and donated whatever they could afford. For example, FIG. 1. Military bond of 1904. The text reads: "us$i was received, to be repaid us$io after the Army succeeds. Date: 1904. Sun Yat-sen." (Lum Chee collection) SUN YAT-SEN S FUND-RAISING ACTIVITIES 179 Wen Phong-fei, the editor of the Tzu You Sun Bo (The Liberty News) in Honolulu in 1910 and 1911, told stories about people coming to the newspaper office to donate money. One day, a worker came and donated twenty dollars although his monthly salary was only a little more than that. He was so sincere that "tears swell in my eyes," said Wen.9 In Honolulu, there were eighteen Chinese students who donated two hundred dollars every month. Each of them would give a little more than ten dollars a month while their monthly allowances were only twenty to thirty dollars.10 Young Wah-duck, whose father was Young Kwong-tat, the president of the Tung Meng Hui Honolulu chapter, said in an interview that when his father received letters or telegrams from Sun Yat-sen asking for donations, he would go to the bank to borrow a sum of money to send to Sun. Afterward, he would go to the members to collect money to pay back the bank. In those days, he said, nobody had that much money. The support of many people, each donating a small sum, helped pay back the loan.11 Lum Chee, a general merchandise store owner in Hilo (the father of co-author Raymond Lum), was a loyal supporter of Sun. He was a member of the Chunghua Kerning Jun (Chinese Revolutionary Army) in Hilo and later a member of the Tung Meng Hui. He donated money on many occasions, and he kept all the bonds and memora- bilia of the revolution. Before he passed away in 1941, he told his son Raymond to keep all these precious documents and one day give them all to China, where they belonged.
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