In 1911, Sun fell in love with his young secretary, Song Qingling. Song was the daughter of one of China’s most Westernized families. Charlie Song, her father, was a Vanderbilt-educated devout Christian, who had made a fortune as an entrepreneur in Shanghai. Sun and Qingling were married in 1915. Song Qingling’s older sister Ailing married a prominent Chinese banker, while her younger sister, Meiling would marry Chiang Kai-shek, tying the Song family deeply to the Chinese republican cause.

Hong Kong Director Mabel Cheung created a film about the three Song sisters in 1997.