Brief introduction of Sun Yat-sen’s father
Sun Dacheng (1813-1888), the father of revolutionary pioneer Sun Yat-sen. A native of Cuiheng Village, Xiangshan County (now Zhongshan City).
At the age of 16, he worked as an apprentice in a Macau shoe store for three years, and then worked as a shoemaker in a Portuguese shoe store on Ban Zhang Tang Street, Macau, with a monthly salary of four yuan. Married when he returned to his hometown to work as a farmer at the age of 32. Sun Dacheng had no land for his own farming in the countryside, so he rented two and a half acres of his ancestral farmland and four acres of his sister-in-law's Cheng's farmland to grow rice and other grains. After a year of hard work, he received only a meager rental income. In addition to working during the day, Sun Dacheng also worked as a village watchman at night, with an annual salary of 200 jin of grain to help support the family. It was not until 1880 that he resigned from his duties as watchman. He died in the 14th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1888).
Chengda is the word for marriage, and it is a school with the word "cheng", and its next generation is "de". For example, Sun Mei's courtesy name is Dezhang, and Sun Yat-sen's courtesy name is Deming. Due to poverty in Cuiheng Village, Mr. Dacheng, in order to support his wife and children, not only farmed 2.5 acres of his ancestral farmland at a high price, but also mended shoes for others every time there was slack in the village and collected some wages; he also worked for the village at night. By telling the time, one can earn one stone of rice every month to help support the family's expenses. The burden of living for a family of six fell entirely on him, making him breathless. But he has an upright temperament, does not greedy for any ill-gotten gains, and has developed a good family tradition. After dinner, he often rests under the banyan tree near his residence and tells stories to the children. Most of the rich kids in the village looked down upon him. Sometimes he carried manure to fertilize the garden. When he passed by the landlord's house in the village, the landlord Yang Bao insulted him and said, "The manure smells so bad. You are not allowed to carry manure through my door again!" Sun Dacheng did not dare to do so. After making excuses, he walked away silently. Once again, the wife of landlord Yang Qihuan falsely accused Sun Dacheng and his wife of stealing one of her chickens. She threatened to arrest her, but later it was discovered that the chicken had fallen into a manure pit and drowned.
Sun Dacheng has the air of an elder and never cares about other people’s ridicule and scolding of him. He believes that he has done nothing wrong.
He made a living by farming in his early years. At that time, there were 60 to 70 households in Cuiheng Village who were farmers, and the proportion was only 30%. Many of the farmers are early tenant farmers, and homesteaders account for 15% of the village's land. However, the rich, who only account for 5% of the village's households, monopolize 80% of the village's land. Because Cuiheng Village has "poor land and lots of sand and moraine, it is not suitable for farming, and many people from the hometown travel far and wide." In addition to agriculture, there are also overseas Chinese households and small handicraft households who rely on overseas remittances. Among them, three households were sold as slaves and were called lower households. Xiahu Buchu intermarried with Rong Tapingfa. In the small Cuiheng Village, the classes are complicated. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Sun Dacheng originally lived a decent life, but later his family fell into decline and he could not go out to make a living. What's the reason? This can be understood from the memories of Sun Yat-sen's sister Sun Miaoqian: "In the beginning, my father's family was relatively well-off and relied on superstition in Feng Shui, which led to extreme poverty. As a last resort, he even worked as a foreign shoemaker in Macau, with a monthly salary of only four yuan. If After a few years, he began to copy and return. At the age of thirty-three, he married his mother Yang, who was only eighteen years old at that time. "Gong Da reached a Feng Shui master named Zhong from Jiaying Prefecture for a long time. This man has been with his teacher for 18 years. His father Xian Gong was buried in "Emperor's Field" (local name), and his mother Huang was buried in "Huangcaogang" (local name).
Later, the eldest son, Sun Mei, went abroad to work in Honolulu. After working hard, he turned into a business with some savings, and later became prosperous by running a large ranch. A poor farmer has become an agricultural capitalist. He no longer works as a watchman and hires others to help him work on his own land. He is no longer as hardworking as before and can spend his old age in peace.