THE SOONG FAMILY 151 



She refused every offer of office and emoluments from the new government 

 and went back to her exile in Europe. But the Sino- Japanese troubles 

 brought her home once more. 



She threw herself into the thick of the fight for Chinese sovereignty, 

 organized the women for political action and for relief and hospital work in 

 Shanghai. These intense labors brought about a nervous breakdown in the 

 Spring of this year from which she is slowly recuperating. She is the true 

 Oriental widow in her devotion to the memory and the ideals of her hus- 

 band, and China honors her for it. As the writer in Asia, already referred 

 to, says: "As the widow of Sun Yat-Sen, Madam Sun is sacred. The 

 contrast between her own shy delicacy and grace and the tremendous name 

 she bears, is truly dramatic : it makes her a figure of romance." 



Revolutions may break down old idols but they soon erect new ones, 

 for the mob cannot live without them. The "Little Father" of Russia is 

 dead, but the memory of Lenin is alive; the "Heaven-Born" of Peking is in 

 exile, but the mausoleum at Nanking still speaks to the crowds. 



GENERAL REMARKS 



The Soongs are physically a vigorous and well-set-up race; the daughters 

 are beautiful and the sons are handsome, an indication of good structure and 

 functioning. An interesting change in their psychology consists in the 

 fact that while their mode and manner of living is entirely modeled after 

 Western patterns and while the daughters assumed Christian "given" 

 names, they have abandoned these and have returned to their Chinese 

 "given" names. Their Western culture seems to have made them not 

 less but more Chinese in their patriotism and devotion to their people. 

 Madame Sun Yat-Sen, for instance, is the most patriotic of the six Soongs, 

 but she has never mastered Mandarin Chinese and speaks only the Shanghai 

 dialect. In the present crisis with Japan, each member, both in the direct 

 line and by marriage, has manifested the greatest concern about the cultural 

 and territorial integrity of China and has fought the aggressor tooth and 

 nail. 



Here is a family unable to trace its pedigree back for ninety-six genera- 

 tions as one of my correspondents informed me he could do with his family, 

 a family whose progenitor most likely changed his patronym for reasons 

 sufficient unto himself; but a family of vigorous physical and mental stock, 

 alert, capable, and above all else honest to the point of a fault in the midst 

 of a welter of political and commercial corruption. Such men are worth 

 thousands of shrewdly calculating acquisitive individuals who always look 

 out for their own advantage. These men will save China, and such men 

 will save America. And the aim of eugenics consists ultimately in producing 

 such families, whether with or without a pedigree. 



