Sun Yat-sen's close call revealed

The father of the nation, Sun Yat-sen, was saved from death in London by two men who were formerly his professors at medical college in Hong Kong, a descendant of the college's founding dean has revealed.

Philip Manson-Bahr said yesterday that his great-grandfather, Sir Patrick Manson, saved Sun Yat-sen when Dr Sun was detained in London's Chinese embassy as a revolutionary in about 1896.

'Sir Patrick heard that some people in the Chinese embassy had put [Dr Sun] in a barrel and planned to drown him,' Dr Manson-Bahr said. 'While Dr Sun was being held inside the Chinese embassy, a cleaning lady brought a message out.

'Sir Patrick and Sir James Cantlie [also a University of Hong Kong medical faculty founder] went to the Foreign Office to pressure the Chinese embassy.'

Dr Manson-Bahr is in Hong Kong at the invitation of the HKU's medical faculty along with other descendants of faculty founders Sir Patrick Manson and Sir James Cantlie to officiate at a dinner tonight celebrating the faculty's 120th anniversary.

The great-grandnephew of Dr Sun, Peter Sun Bit-tat, who will also attend the dinner, said he was happy to meet descendants of the men who had made great contributions to the university. 'Dr Sun personally told many of our relatives that his revolutionary ideas were developed during his stay in Hong Kong,' Mr Sun said.