This date in 1142 Song General Yue Fei (b. 1103) was killed in prison after running afoul of the official Qin Hui and others in the Song court who wished to appease the Jurchen invaders of North China.
In 1841, one day after the British seized Hong Kong and The Bogue, the Daoguang Emperor declared war on Great Britain, marking the official start of the (first) Opium War.
Today is the birthdate of Madame Sun Yat-sen, Song Qingling (1893-1981). She was the second of the three “Song sisters,” daughters of wealthy Shanghai businessman, Charlie Soong all of whom would marry important figures in China’s history. Song Qingling graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, GA and married Sun Yat-sen, 26 years her senior, in 1915. After spending time in exile in the Soviet Union, she returned to China and held a number of honorary and ceremonial posts in the PRC government, including being the only person to ever hold the title of Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China.
Finally, on this day in 1964, France normalized relations with the People’s Republic of China becoming the 45th country to do so.
