EARLY YEARS
1901-1909

In the year after the Boxer Rebellion, the last decade of Manchu rule, there was born at Mid-Autumn Moon the 27th day of September, 1901 a sixth child to a Chinese pastor's home in South China - in the Village of Hong Chek, Hinghwa Prefecture, Fukien Province. It was a boy, but what distinguished him from his elder brother and sisters was his big head. And because he was the first child to be born after the conversion of his mother, and in gratitude was offered to the Lord's Service, Pastor Sung named him Chu Un (the Lord's gift).

In a land of teeming multi-millions which was and is China, eking out a livelihood for a growing family was an ever uphill climb. And so much the more for a poorly paid Chinese pastor. When Chu Un arrived, the family was going through a period of "washed-out poverty", as the Chinese saying goes, so that this extra mouth to feed was not particularly welcome. So, from a very young age, Chu Un had to learn to live a life of frugality.

The Chinese country parsonage under the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, as living standards went in those days, was sparing in household comforts, save for a few sticks of furniture. But though the cottage in which Chu Un lived was lacking in amenities, the world outside was a treasure house of scenic beauty and abundance. Brownish mountain ranges in the pale-blue of morning haze made a broidered border for a panorama of lush green ricefields, tier upon tier, while gurgling streams and leaping brooks made music to the peering skies as the mists lifted before the morning sun. Uphill and downdale little Chu Un would wander, and wonder, in this kaleidoscope of God's country. "Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech where their voice is not heard" (Ps 19:2,3). In these poetic surroundings that spoke so often to his inquiring soul lived the Sung family in that rustic parsonage until the country pastor was promoted 1909 to Assistant Principal of the Methodist Bible School in Hinghwa.

Pastor Sung Hsueh Lien was a man with a quick temper. In this respect Chu Un, above his brothers and sisters, was a chip of the old block. As the boy grew up he began to come into clashes with his disciplinarian father. The bamboo rod that hung on the wall was a constant reminder of fatherly authority. More often than not, it was applied on the bare back of the rebellious young Sung. Not only did Chu Un clash with his father, he was found at odds also with his brothers. In retaliation for his pranks around the house, they would call him by his nickname, "Big Head".

Once a quarrel broke out between "Big Head" and a brother while eating together in the courtyard. That blood from his hothead father surging in his veins, plop came his bowl of steaming-hot rice porridge onto his brother's head, scalding him face and neck. Realising how he would end up for this transgression, he tried to escape by jumping down a well. As the well happened to be covered, he disappeared in no time into hiding under a bed. There he remained, like a mouse, for the good part of the day until Dad found him out at nightfall. The hiding he now got from that bamboo rod, however, brought him into the daylight of his senses. In the solemn stillness that followed the thrashing, however, Father Sung was seen buried in his study in a flood of tears. There did the young Sung catch a glimpse of the mystery of fatherly love contending with fatherly wrath.

On another occasion, in a fit of rage, Big Head charged at a clay water jar like a young bull seeing red. Crash! The water jar crumbled to pieces, but Big Head stood up unhurt!

Though Chu Un was a hothead, he nevertheless had a soft and pliable heart. Meditating on the mystery of life and death in moments of solitude, this is one perplexing problem that vexed his troubled soul. Why must a man die? I don't want to die! It was this morbid fear of death that bridled him to God. In a revival sermon he preached in after years, this is what he said of his first brush with death:

"When I was nine years old (seven or eight by Western reckoning) I saw a small black object placed in front of our door. I asked Mother what it was and she said it was a coffin for three-year old (one to two by Western reckoning) sister to sleep in. Mystery of mysteries! I only knew how lovable little sister was, but Mother was speaking of her death. I entered the room. I saw her face now pale and white. Her hands and feet were ice-cold. I did not realise I had seen death.

I called to her but she did not reply. I came out and saw Mother brimming with tears. I did not know what to do. I did not know how sister died. How was it that I who was older than she had not died? Just then I saw someone lift little sister into the coffin. I called out to Mother. Mother did not listen, nor did anybody else. They carried the coffin out. I asked Mother where they took sister, whether she would return. Mother said they had taken her to the countryside and she would not return. Hearing this I burst into tears, and I asked Mother whether I would become like little sister, and Mother said yes. I grew more gloomy. That night I dreamt I died like sister, and was put into a coffin. I was afraid and cried to Daddy and Mummy, "I won't die, I want to stay with you." I woke myself up with loud sobbings which brought Father and Mother out of bed. I said, "I dreamt that I died. I was afraid. I do not want to die. Death is so frightful. It takes me to the lonely countryside. No, I won't die! I want to live with Daddy and Mummy forever!"

Now, in spite of conflicts of temperament, the Sung parsonage was like any normal home and a happy one at that. Chu Un had a big brother and four older sisters. Four younger brothers were born after him, not counting the younger sister who had died in infancy. With so many eager mouths to feed the larder was more often empty than not. "But godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Tim 6:6). So, after an evening meal of coarse rice and vegetables with a modicum of fish or meat, the parsonage would be filled with songs of praise and worship. "Where Jesus is 'tis heaven there," a famous John Sung chorus, is one he had learnt from the nightly family worship.

Of particular attachment to the father was Chu Un in spite of that bamboo rod. In another sermon John Sung preached in his revival campaigns, he said of him, "My father kept a diary. It is from him that I have acquired the habit of keeping a diary. Every Saturday. he would climb a hill to pray for his Sunday sermon and congregation. He was not a strong man. He was often plagued with coughs. Once he coughed so badly that he almost died. Mother and I got together to pray for him. Thanks be to God, He heard our prayer and healed him. My father was a devout pastor. He served in the ministry for forty-four years. I thank God for such a father who loved me, taught me and fed me with spiritual food. What I am today is all from my father."