Christian Baptism
Sun was later baptized in Hong Kong by an American missionary of the Congregational Church of the United States to his brother's disdain. The minister would also develop a friendship with Sun. Sun attended To Tsai Church (道濟會堂, founded by the London Missionary Society in 1888) while he studied Western Medicine in Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (香港華人西醫書院). Sun pictured a revolution as similar to the salvation mission of the Christian church. His conversion to Christianity was related to his revolutionary ideals and push for advancement. Sun later became the godfather of Paul Linebarger, a science-fiction writer.
Sun Yat-sen was married to Soong Ching-Ling. Soong Ching-Ling's sister, Soong May-Ling, was married to Chiang Kai-shek, and thus the two leaders were brothers-in-law through marriage to the Soong sisters. Soong Ching-Ling's father was an American-educated Methodist minister Charlie Soong, who made a fortune in banking and printing; though he had been a personal friend of Sun's, he was enraged when Sun announced his intention to marry Ching-ling because, as Sun was himself a Christian and already married with three children, Charlie viewed Sun's actions as running directly against their shared religion. Their mother was Ni Kwei-tseng (倪桂珍 Ní Guìzhēn).
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Famous quotes containing the words christian and/or baptism:
“We must choose. Be a child of the past with all its crudities and imperfections, its failures and defeats, or a child of the future, the future of symmetry and ultimate success.”
—Frances E. Willard 1839–1898, U.S. president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union 1879-1891, author, activist. The Woman’s Magazine, pp. 137-40 (January 1887)
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
—Bible: New Testament Matthew, 3:17.
A “voice from heaven,” following the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.