Evening star., 1933-08-06

II " the Quietude OF Rue MOllere, IN
the busy and exciting port Of
Shanghai, there Is a modest little
i house that sits inconspicuously on
a small parcel of land. Its win
dows are dark, for inside the blinds
are drawn and outside the shutters are
closed; Sightseers who drive past hop
ing for a glimpse of its occupant are
invariably disappointed.
Yet the house has visitors. Not the
official great; after numerous rebutfs
they have ceased to call. Up to the
small portal trickles a stream OF youth,
the essential distillation of that quality
with which age has little to do. Keen
eyed students come. intellectuals,
artists, writer's, educators. scientists.
Over much of China the woman who
dwells there has captured the living
Observation-Disclosures Sun Yat-sen'
widow Of the great revolutionary VINO
embarked China on its adventures to-
ward modernism.
Today Madame Suns property con-
sists of little besides this house, left to
her by her husband Inside the fur
nishings are simple and in a Chinese
sort OF way comfortable. but nothing
luxurious. All that was really rich has
gone back to the Chinese people; what
DR.. Sun did not sell to finance his
great work has been disposed of by his
widow, who has kept faith unswervlnsly
with the same purpose. Intimate
friends of hers tell me she owns but
half a dozen dresses; she rarely wears
jewelry of any kind. and except Tor
some inexpensive heirlooms. gifts from
a remarkable woman, her mother. she
owns none; or a sparse annual m
come left to her, she devotes all but
VI m OfnerS
Stands Almost Alone.
Strange destiny for the widow OF a
Chinese politician! In China, as over
much of the world, politics Is game
of grab. Oficials in lucrative posts
make fortunes in a few months, then
retire to dwell in inutile ease in the
foreign settlements and join the best
people They live in palatial homes,
their wives fingers are dressed in dia-
monds and jade. Any OF them would
quickly scrap the rings on her finge3
for a welcome from Madame Sun, but
the gesture does not come. Society"
for what the word denotes to the but
terfly type Of officials wife, does not
interest her; she IS absorbed with So
ciety in its broadest meaning.
Almost alone, of all the once earnest
patriots, Madame Sun has maintained
the original stride of the revolution.
Almost alone, of all the former follow
ers Of Dr. Sun in the Kuomintang. she
has fearlessly insisted upon the literal
conception Of his tri-principled revo-
lutionary document, the San Min Chu
I. She has stood steadfastly for the
immediate awakening, emancipation
and enfranchisement OF Chinas mil
lions, the regeneration of the nation
on a broad socio-democratic basis, and
death to the tyranny of militarism. Her
amazing struggle to uphold her hus-
bands ideals has been a bitter one,
and through it shines the radiant per-
sonality Of an extraordinary woman
warmly human. indisputably sincere, in
tellectually brilliant, hater Of deceit
and hypocrisy, but magnantmous as q
Gandhi.
I have never met any one who in
spires such instant trust and affection
as Madame Sun. Unquestioned in
tegrity like hers is rare enough any
where, but in an Orient where self
seeking intrigue, compromise and men
dacity are taken for granted, such
character glows with sublime light.
She seems devoid Of personal ambitions,
incapable of selfish acts or half-truths.
About her there are certain qualities
of grace, Of gentleness and compassion
curiously reminiscent Of DR.. Sun. Her
championship of the masses OF China is
no mere attitude She has sacrificed
comfort, social popularity and the con-
veniences Of wealth; individual cases Of
aid rendered by her to the sick and
starving poor abound, and through
her own career of service she has in
spired the better men and women OF
China.
Educated in America.
Soong Ching ling, which Is her
maiden name, and which she now
uses, has been a revolutionary for the
last II years. Educated at home and
in Christian schools in China, she went
next to America, where she graduated
from Wesleyan College, in Macon. Ga,
in 1918. She came home, in 1914. to
find the republic temporarily over
thrown by Yuan Shih-kai. She had
joined the Kuomintang at the age OF
l9, and now she fled to Japan. where
she met Dr. Sun Yat-sen. They were
married in 1915, and she was associated
with him as a leader Of the party till
his death in 1925.
During the success of the nationalist
movement she became a leader OF
China's militant youth. was a member
land nominally still Is today, and as
sumed a prominent role in the revolu-
ton. She worked tirelessly to interest
the masses in her late husbands prin-
ciples. When the Kuomintang split, in
1927, and the San Min Chu I began
to be replaced by militaristic concept
of society, she left China and did not
return again till 1890
Her position in China today Is
unique. A widow Of DR.. Sun, whom
the Kuomintang has elevated to the
status of a national god, she is fore
most among Chinese women. Every
where Chinese love and respect her
with q reverence akin to worship. In
Nanking stands the magnificent maui
soleum of her husband, and there
gather the nations rulers to bow and
pay homage. A memorial almost as
splendid has been erected at Canton,
and others are scattered throughout
cities Of China At shrines from
Kwangtung to Peiping men revere the
great Sun, while the cause to which
he devoted his life, Soong Ching-ling
asserts Is scrupulously ignored.
Any office in the land might be hers.
Nearly every honor conceivably has
been offered to induce her to recognize
the Nanking government as the legiti-
mate heir of DR.. Sun Yat-sen. At Nam
A. Z. &nN