In 1934, Hyland "Bud" Lyon (1908-1973) traveled thousands of miles from the United States to China across the ocean, settling in Shanghai to follow the long-admired Hollywood star Dee St. Claire. The picture shows Song Xialing, Song Qingling and Song Meiling
Love under passion, although beautiful but short-lived, soon after Claire returned to the United States, Lyon stayed in China, witnessing one of the most chaotic times in China's modern history. The picture shows Song Xialing, Song Qingling and Song Meiling
Lyon has worked as a Hollywood stuntman, an airplane pilot, and a professional aircraft maintenance engineer in Burbank, a suburb of Los Angeles. The picture shows Song Xialing, Soong Qingling, Song Meiling, and Chiang Kai-shek
After arriving in China, Lyon submitted his resume to Air China (CNAC) in the hope of getting a job, but was refused. At the end of 1934, Lyon unexpectedly received an invitation from Zhang Xueliang to assemble his newly purchased aircraft. The picture shows Song Xialing
Two weeks later, Lyon successfully completed the mission. China Airlines, which had already rejected him, decided instead to hire him as a permanent employee. After that, he returned to Zhang Xueliang's work team and served as a co-pilot next to Julius Barr, chief pilot and business manager.
Lyon soon worked with Julius Barr, Chiang Kai-shek's personal pilot, Royal Leonard, and Zhang Xueliang's British business chief, Jimmy Elder, and for the next five years was entrusted with staying with Zhang and his family in important roles as his pilot, mechanic and bodyguard. Therefore, he had more contact with the Song sisters and witnessed the Xi'an Incident.
In order to achieve the best shooting effect, Lyon did not hesitate to spend 2600 US dollars (100 taels of gold that year) to buy the world's most advanced Lycra 15 camera at that time. The picture shows Song Qingling
Today, this camera is also the top collection pursued by collectors of photographic equipment. Lyon also used the best Kodak film of the time, so today we see these photographs as new as they are. The picture shows Song Xialing, Song Qingling and Song Meiling
Lyon left China in 1941 and returned to Los Angeles with six large suitcases containing personal documents and photographs, as well as a safe entrusted by the Zhang family to store intimate belongings.
When Lyon died in 1973, these important historical materials were preserved by his family until they were auctioned at Bonhams Auctions in New York in 2013, bought by Chinese collectors and brought back to China, opening a dusty history.