Chen Pufen, formerly known as Xiangling, also known as Ruifen, was born in Xin'an Village, Tong'an County, Fujian Province. His father was a langzhong who went to Hong Kong in the mid-19th century to earn a living as a Xiamen merchant. Born in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong, Chen Pufen is known as "Chen Sigu" because of her seniority. Her parents died early since she was a child, and she had never read a book, but she had learned a good martial art. In 1891, at Tuen Mun Christ Church, she was introduced by her friend Chen Shaobai to the 26-year-old Sun Yat-sen at the age of 18. At that time, Sun Yat-sen was studying at the Liya Western Medical College in Hong Kong, and it was only a year before he graduated.
After a brief greeting, Sun Yat-sen promoted his idea of national salvation as usual. Chen Pufen was impressed by Sun Yat-sen's lofty ambitions, and his admiration sprang up, and he immediately expressed his desire to join the revolution.
The same ambition led the young couple, who were in love with each other, to quickly form a revolutionary partnership, and they lived in a rented house in the Red House in Tuen Mun to jointly plan the anti-Qing campaign.
In the nearly 20 years that followed, Chen Followed Sun Yat-sen in Hong Kong, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Japan, Nanyang, Vietnam and other places. On the one hand, Chen Pufen served as Sun Yat-sen's nurse and guard, taking care of his daily life and defending his safety; on the other hand, she acted as his liaison, delivering confidential letters and receiving arms; on the other hand, she was also everyone's waiter, washing and cooking for comrades who came and went. Liao Zhongkai, Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Hanmin, Feng Free and others were all cared for and received by her.
Chen Pufen can ride a horse, can make a gun, fight with the army many times, bravely kill the enemy, rush to treat the wounded, known as "a strong female master", comrades have honored her as "fourth sister" and "Lady Sun". In 1895, when preparing for the Guangzhou Uprising, she and Lu Haodong were each responsible for a batch of guns, ammunition, daggers and other weapons, and as a result, Lu Haodong's handling was seized, resulting in the failure of the uprising; and what she handled was hidden because of the large number of hiding places, and there was no mistake.
Liu Chengyu, a veteran revolutionary, once wrote a poem praising Chen Pufen for "looking at the door to stay in the house, and he zeng saw the fine children; only Xiangling Xianguo concubine can float white hair and speak of micro-hours."
In 1912, Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanjing, but Chen Pufen, who had been born and died, chose to retire after success. Why she quit, some people speculate that because she thinks her existence will affect sun Yat-sen's image; others think that because Sun Yat-sen opposed to concubines and has not been given a name, Chen Pufen is somewhat disappointed; others speculate that she suffered from very serious tuberculosis, left Sun Yat-sen to return to Hong Kong for medical treatment, and then because of the emergence of Soong Ching-ling, it was hopeless to reunite.
And she herself explained it this way in 1942: "I opposed the Qing Dynasty with Zhongshan and established the Republic of China, and my desire to save the country and save the people has been fulfilled." I know that I was born poor, my knowledge is limited, and I voluntarily separated, not that Zhongshan abandoned me, and he treated me not thinly, nor did he fail me. She regarded wealth and glory as a floating cloud, lived a simple life, and always kept the hairstyle of a female student in the early years of the Republic of China.
Although Sun Yat-sen did not give Chen Pufen a name, in the eyes of the Sun clan, she was Sun Yat-sen's wife. In the Sun family tree, Chen Pufen ranks after his wife Lu Mufen and before Song Qingling. As Sun Yat-sen's first revolutionary companion, she participated in the organizational preparations for successive uprisings, paid a lot for Sun Yat-sen and the revolution, and won the deep respect of comrades. So much so that in 1915, when Sun Yat-sen wanted to divorce her original partner Lu Muzhen and marry Soong Ching-ling, some Kuomintang elders were afraid of damaging the image of the leader on the one hand, and on the other hand, they were also strongly opposed to her and Lady Lu's grievances.
After breaking up with Sun Yat-sen, Chen Pufen lived in Macau with Sun Yat-sen's brother Sun Mei and other members of the Sun clan. In 1914, he went to Malaysia to settle in Penang alone. She keeps a low profile and never flaunts her special experiences. However, because she had long followed Sun Yat-sen in revolutionary work such as propaganda and fundraising in various parts of Nanyang, the local overseas Chinese still honored her as "Lady Sun". Whenever she missed Sun Yat-sen, she would open the box, take out a gold watch that Sun Yat-sen had given her wrapped in layers of satin, and stroke it for a long time.
On March 12, 1925, when the news of Sun Yat-sen's death reached Nanyang, she lost her voice and wept bitterly. "Although I was separated from Zhongshan, my heart was still connected, and when he was critically ill in Beijing, I dreamed of him flying in the air almost every night," she said. "Chen Pufen set up an altar for seven days, and the affection was extraordinary, and it was spread as a good story in the local area.
When Sun Yat-sen was seriously ill, after explaining the state affairs, he once said vigorously: "I want to sleep on the ground." Song Qingling and his comrades all said: "The ground is cold, and you can't sleep." Sun Yat-sen added, "It's better to have ice." Everyone thought he was critically ill and talking nonsense, and Song Qingling was so uncomfortable that he shed tears.
Two years later, Sun Yat-sen's eldest son, Sun Ke, went to Nanyang to visit Chen Pufen, and when she talked about this period, she burst into tears. It turned out that this was a dialogue between her and Sun Yat-sen when they were in love. At that time, they rented a house in Tuen Mun, and the Qing government was very dissatisfied with Sun Yat-sen's anti-Qing remarks. In order to prevent the Qing government's minions from arresting people in the middle of the night, Chen Pufen, who had practiced lying on the ground, had to sleep on the ground, so that once someone came, she would hear the movement earlier when she lay on the ground, so that Sun Sun Could get out as soon as possible. As a result, there is such a dialogue between the two. Sun Yat-sen proposed: "I want to sleep on the ground." She said, "It's cold underground." Sun Yat-sen then said, "It's better to have ice." ”
Generally speaking, a person's whispers before death often reflect the most memorable things in his life. Sun Yat-sen was still worried about her when he was dying, so it can be seen that he has a deep affection for her, and for a woman, what could be happier than this?
She accompanied Sun Yat-sen for many years, but nothing came out, in 1915 in Penang, she raised a baby girl surnamed Su, named Sun Zhongying, and the mother and daughter were dependent on each other. In 1932, Chen Pufen returned to Hong Kong and Macao at the invitation of Sun Kezhi to live. A year later, he was taken by Sun Ke to live in Ershatou, Dongshan, Guangzhou, to help him take care of his two sons who were studying in middle school. Sun Zhongying, the adopted daughter, went to Honolulu, Hawaii, to attend university and fell in love with Sun Yat-sen's nephew Sun Qian. Sun Qian is seven years older than Sun Zhongying, although sun Zhongying is Sun Qian's aunt in terms of generations, but because the two have been together for many years, have deep feelings, and have no blood relationship, with the support of Sun Ke, the two married in Milan, Italy in 1937.
Although Chen Pufen was not able to be with Sun Yat-sen later, she was successively raised by Sun Mei, Sun Ke, Sun Qian and others, and was regarded as the elder of the family, and Lady Lu also had a good relationship with her. At the beginning, Lady Lu repeatedly persuaded Sun Yat-sen to take a concubine, just for Chen Pufen. In the autumn of 1949, Sun Ke celebrated the 83rd birthday of his mother, Mrs. Lu, when the two ladies walked down the stairs arm in arm, like sisters, and the relatives and friends present warmly applauded.
In 1962, Chen Pufen died of illness at the age of 88.