China Post: Sun Yat-sen not born in US: KMT  (June 7)

The United States may have a document to show that Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China, had U.S. citizenship, but his birth in China's Guangdong Province remains an undisputable truth, an official from the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) said yesterday.  

His Hawaiian birth certificate was an expedient measure taken when he was in the thick of the revolution to overthrow the Ching Dynasty, Shao Ming-huang, curator of the KMT Historical Archive, said yesterday.

According to a spokeswoman for the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Sun Yat-sen was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, as attested by a 1904 official U.S. immigration document.

The fate of the revolution was in the balance in 1904, a decade after Sun's founding of the Revive China Society (興中會), when some overseas Chinese leaders suggested to him he had better obtain U.S. citizenship if he wanted to move about freely and to continue seeking support for his revolution in the United States, Shao said.

Sun was then a wanted man in China and was harassed by royalists in the United States, he added.

Some overseas Chinese leaders and Sun's relatives in San Francisco worked together to help Sun secure a Hawaiian birth certificate and, subsequently, a U.S. citizenship, Shao continued.

“This is of course an expedient measure adopted in the interest of the revolution. As such, it cannot change the fact that he was born in Tsui-heng Vilage (翠亨村),” Shao was quoted as saying.

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Radio Taiwan: ROC founding father Dr. Sun's US citizenship a matter of convenience (June 7)

An official document to be released by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) next month shows that Dr. Sun Yat-sen—the founding father of the Republic of China—has US citizenship. The AIT is the de facto US embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official ties.

AIT spokeswoman Sheila Paskman said on Monday that Sun's attempts at revolution in dynastic China put him on the Qing government's wanted list. She said that because he had trouble entering the United States due to that country's Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the US immigration authorities decided to issue a document in 1904 that says Sun was born in Honolulu and has US citizenship.

"He went to the United States quite often because a lot of people in the US supported his revolution," said Paskman. "He went there to raise funds. People helped him get US citizenship so that he could easily get to the US from China."

Ruling Kuomintang official Shao Ming-huang said while Sun held US citizenship, that doesn't change the fact that Sun was born in China's Guangdong Province in 1866. Shao also said Dr. Sun's US citizenship was only to make things easier for him.

"It was difficult for Sun to push for his revolutionary attempts at that time," said Shao. "He was either denied entry to other countries or otherwise harassed. So, in March 1904, the Hawaii government issued him a birth certificate."

The document will be on display at a special exhibition called "Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the United States". That will open on July 4th in Taipei.

Meanwhile, Paskman said Sun went to Punahou School in Hawaii, today's Oahu College, which is also US President Barack Obama's alma mater.

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Document suggests Sun Yat-sen was born in the US (June 7)

American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson Sheila Paskman yesterday said a US government document from 1904 showed that Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and that Sun had been issued a document showing that he was a US citizen — claims the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) quickly denied.

During an interview with the Central News Agency, Paskman said that to celebrate the centenary of the ROC this year, the AIT had planned a special exhibition with Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in conjunction with US celebrations of its Independence Day.

In the process, she said, a document from 1904 was unearthed in the US National Archives stating that the US had given Sun legal status as a US citizen.

The document will be on display at the “Special Exhibition of Sun Yat-sen and the US” on July 4, Paskman said, adding that whether Sun’s birth certificate which shows he was born in Honolulu would be included was under negotiation.

Paskman said that while looking for information on Sun, she came across data showing Sun had once attended Oahu College, now called Punahou School, of which US President Barack Obama is an alumnus.

Most history textbooks state that Sun was born on Nov. 12, 1866, in Cuiheng Village, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province, China.

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SB: Sun Yat-sen’s strong links to Hawaii

IMAGE: Sun Yat Sen Territory of Hawaii Birth Certificate

More: Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his views about Hawaiian sovereignty